Data Engineer Junior

Socket.dev; San Antonio (TX); On-site; USD 65,000 - 95,000; Full time

Job summary

ASM Research in San Antonio, TX, seeks a Junior Data Engineer to design, develop, and maintain data pipelines for analytics and regulatory reporting. You will help build scalable workflows, implement transformation logic, and ensure data quality across mission-critical systems.

Collaborate with analysts, data scientists, and security teams to deliver reliable datasets and support governance and lineage tracking, driving continuous improvement of the data platform’s performance.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in CS/IS/Data Eng or related field, or equivalent experience.
• Typically 1–3 years of data engineering or analytics pipeline experience.
• Hands-on with Python and SQL for pipelines; Spark exposure preferred.
• Experience with relational and non-relational data stores in enterprise environments.
• Familiarity with data quality practices and monitoring.
• Ability to obtain SECRET-level security clearance; US citizenship required.

Responsibilities

• Develop, operate, and maintain automated ETL/ELT pipelines using Python, SQL, or Spark.
• Implement data models, schemas, and storage in relational and non-relational stores.
• Apply data quality validation, anomaly detection, and automated testing.
• Support orchestration with Airflow or similar schedulers.
• Optimize processing with indexing, partitioning, and distributed computing.
• Implement data security controls and access management with security teams.
• Track and document data lineage and metadata for governance.
• Troubleshoot pipeline issues and coordinate with cross-functional teams.
• Collaborate with analysts, data scientists, and stakeholders on scalable solutions.

Skills

Python

SQL

Spark

Data modeling

Data governance

Analytical thinking

Security awareness

US citizenship

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Data Engineering, or related field

Tools

Apache Airflow

NoSQL

Data Lakes/Warehouses

Job description

Position Overview

The Junior Data Engineer supports the design, development, and maintenance of data pipelines and infrastructure that enable efficient data ingestion, processing, and storage within a regulated enterprise environment. The role focuses on building scalable data workflows, implementing transformation logic, and ensuring data quality and integrity across mission-critical systems for analytics and reporting. The engineer collaborates with analysts, data scientists, and security teams to deliver reliable datasets, contribute to data governance and lineage tracking, and drive continuous improvement of data platform performance and reliability.

Key Responsibilities

• Develop, operate, and maintain automated ETL/ELT pipelines using tools such as Python, SQL, or Spark to process structured and unstructured data across enterprise data platforms.
• Implement data models, schemas, and storage solutions in relational and non-relational databases, including data lakes and data warehouses, to support analytics and reporting requirements.
• Apply data quality validation techniques, including anomaly detection, schema enforcement, and automated testing frameworks, to ensure accuracy, completeness, and consistency of data.
• Support orchestration and scheduling of data pipelines using workflow managers such as Apache Airflow or similar tools, ensuring reliable, repeatable execution.
• Optimize data processing performance through indexing, partitioning, and distributed computing approaches to meet latency and throughput targets.
• Implement data security controls, including encryption, access management, and adherence to applicable federal data protection standards, in coordination with security teams.
• Track and document data lineage and metadata in support of data governance, auditability, and regulatory reporting expectations.
• Troubleshoot pipeline failures, latency issues, and data inconsistencies across integrated systems, coordinating with cross-functional teams to resolve root causes.
• Collaborate with data scientists, analysts, and business stakeholders to translate analytics requirements into scalable, maintainable data solutions and improvements to the data platform.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Data Engineering, or a related field; or equivalent relevant experience in data engineering or data development.
• Typically 1-3 years of experience in data engineering, data development, or a closely related field supporting data pipelines, databases, or analytics platforms.
• Hands-on experience with Python and SQL for building data pipelines, transformations, and queries; exposure to distributed processing frameworks such as Spark is strongly preferred.
• Experience working with both relational and non-relational data stores (e.g., SQL databases, NoSQL, data lakes, or warehouses) in an enterprise or federal IT environment.
• Familiarity with data quality practices, including validation rules, automated testing, and monitoring of data reliability.
• Ability to obtain and maintain a SECRET-level security clearance as required by the client environment.
• U.S. Citizenship required to meet federal staffing and clearance requirements.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with cloud data services on platforms such as AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud (e.g., managed databases, data lakes, orchestration services).
• Familiarity with big data ecosystems such as Hadoop or Spark, including experience tuning jobs or managing distributed data processing.
• Exposure to data governance frameworks, metadata management, and lineage tools in regulated or federal environments.
• Experience working with workflow orchestration tools such as Apache Airflow or similar schedulers in production environments.

Compensation Ranges

Compensation ranges for ASM Research positions vary depending on multiple factors; including but not limited to, location, skill set, level of education, certifications, client requirements, contract-specific affordability, government clearance and investigation level, and years of experience. The compensation displayed for this role is a general guideline based on these factors and is unique to each role. Monetary compensation is one component of ASM's overall compensation and benefits package for employees.

EEO Requirements

It is the policy of ASM that an individual's race, color, religion, sex, disability, age, sexual orientation or national origin are not and will not be considered in any personnel or management decisions.

We affirm our commitment to these fundamental policies.

All recruiting, hiring, training, and promoting for all job classifications is done without regard to race, color, religion, sex, disability, or age.

All decisions on employment are made to abide by the principle of equal employment.

Physical Requirements

The physical requirements described in "Knowledge, Skills and Abilities" above are representative of those which must be met by an employee to successfully perform the primary functions of this job.

(For example, "light office duties" or "lifting up to 50 pounds" or "some travel" required.)

Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with qualifying disabilities, who are otherwise qualified, to perform the primary functions.

Disclaimer

The preceding job description has been designed to indicate the general nature and level of work performed by employees within this classification.

It is not designed to contain or be interpreted as a comprehensive inventory of all duties, responsibilities and qualifications required of employees assigned to this job.