Data Engineer, Lead

Booz Allen Hamilton; McLean (VA); On-site; USD 78,000 - 176,000; Full time

Job summary

Booz Allen Hamilton seeks a Lead Data Engineer to design enterprise data platforms and retrieval services for AI applications. You will build pipelines, knowledge indexes, and data architectures that ground agents in authorized enterprise information. You will work with source-system owners and engineering teams to define data contracts, integrate structured and unstructured sources, maintain permissions, lineage, quality, and freshness.

U.S. citizenship is required.

Qualifications

• Experience designing or implementing enterprise data platforms and lakehouse architectures.
• Experience in SQL and Python with developing, testing, and operating ETL or ELT pipelines.
• Experience defining data models, schemas, data contracts, APIs, and access patterns.
• Experience with data governance, lineage, quality controls, and monitoring.
• Knowledge of retrieval-augmented generation, embeddings, vector indexes, and semantic search.
• Ability to troubleshoot ingestion and retrieval failures and assess data quality.
• Ability to translate enterprise requirements into architecture decisions and governance patterns.
• Ability to implement and maintain ingestion, transformation, indexing, and retrieval services.
• Ability to obtain and maintain a Public Trust or Suitability/Fitness determination.

Responsibilities

• Design data architectures and build pipelines, knowledge indexes, and retrieval services.
• Collaborate with source-system owners to define data contracts and integrate sources.
• Maintain permissions, lineage, quality, and freshness of data.
• Coordinate with AI Engineering on retrieval behavior and response quality.

Skills

Enterprise data platforms

SQL

Python

ETL/ELT pipelines

Data models & schemas

Data governance

Retrieval augmentation

Public Trust clearance

Bachelor's degree

Education

Bachelor's degree

Tools

Databricks

Spark

Delta Lake

Vector databases

Job description

Join a culture of empowerment and connectivity.

Develop your craft

Learn the skills you need to accelerate your career.

Discover benefits that support your life and work.

Innovate with intention

Build mission-ready tech that protects the nation.

Make enterprise data and knowledge usable, governed, and dependable for AI applications. You will design data architectures and build the pipelines, knowledge indexes, and retrieval services that ground agents in authorized enterprise information.

You will work with source-system owners and engineering teams to define data contracts, integrate structured and unstructured sources, and maintain permissions, lineage, quality, and freshness. You will own the reliability of data and retrieval services while partnering with AI Engineering on application retrieval behavior and response quality. Architect positions emphasize architecture and governance decisions, engineer positions emphasize pipeline, connector, and service implementation. Due to the nature of work performed within this facility, U.S. citizenship is required.

Join us. The world can't wait.

You Have:

• Experience designing or implementing enterprise data platforms, lakehouse architectures, and integrations for structured and unstructured data
• Experience in SQL and Python, with developing, testing, and operating ETL or ELT pipelines
• Experience defining data models, schemas, data contracts, APIs, and access patterns that support downstream applications
• Experience with data governance, source permissions, lineage, quality controls, and monitoring for freshness and availability
• Knowledge of retrieval-augmented generation, embeddings, vector indexes, and semantic or hybrid search
• Ability to troubleshoot ingestion and retrieval failures and assess relevance, latency, scalability, and data quality
• Ability to translate enterprise requirements into architecture decisions, integration standards, and governance patterns
• Ability to implement and maintain ingestion, transformation, indexing, synchronization, and retrieval services
• Ability to obtain and maintain a Public Trust or Suitability/Fitness determination based on client requirements
• Bachelor's degree

Nice If You Have:

• Experience with Databricks, Spark, Delta Lake, vector databases, or comparable platforms
• Experience with permission-aware retrieval, metadata enrichment, incremental ingestion, or knowledge engineering
• Experience delivering reusable customer connectors and data services for production AI applications

Vetting:

Applicants selected will be subject to a government investigation and may need to meet eligibility requirements of the U.S. government client.

Compensation

At Booz Allen, we celebrate your contributions, provide you with opportunities and choices, and support your total well-being. Our offerings include health, life, disability, financial, and retirement benefits, as well as paid leave, professional development, tuition assistance, work-life programs, and dependent care. Our recognition awards program acknowledges employees for exceptional performance and superior demonstration of our values. Full-time and part-time employees working at least 20 hours a week on a regular basis are eligible to participate in Booz Allen’s benefit programs. Individuals that do not meet the threshold are only eligible for select offerings, not inclusive of health benefits. We encourage you to learn more about our total benefits by visiting the Resource page on our Careers site and reviewing Our Employee Benefits page.

Salary at Booz Allen is determined by various factors, including but not limited to location, the individual’s particular combination of education, knowledge, skills, competencies, and experience, as well as contract-specific affordability and organizational requirements. The projected compensation range for this position is $77,600.00 to $176,000.00 (annualized USD). The estimate displayed represents the typical salary range for this position and is just one component of Booz Allen’s total compensation package for employees. This posting will close within 90 days from the Posting Date.

Data Engineer, Lead

The Opportunity:

Make enterprise data and knowledge usable, governed, and dependable for AI applications. You will design data architectures and build the pipelines, knowledge indexes, and retrieval services that ground agents in authorized enterprise information.

You will work with source-system owners and engineering teams to define data contracts, integrate structured and unstructured sources, and maintain permissions, lineage, quality, and freshness. You will own the reliability of data and retrieval services while partnering with AI Engineering on application retrieval behavior and response quality. Architect positions emphasize architecture and governance decisions, engineer positions emphasize pipeline, connector, and service implementation. Due to the nature of work performed within this facility, U.S. citizenship is required.

Join us. The world can't wait.

You Have:

• Experience designing or implementing enterprise data platforms, lakehouse architectures, and integrations for structured and unstructured data
• Experience in SQL and Python, with developing, testing, and operating ETL or ELT pipelines
• Experience defining data models, schemas, data contracts, APIs, and access patterns that support downstream applications
• Experience with data governance, source permissions, lineage, quality controls, and monitoring for freshness and availability
• Knowledge of retrieval-augmented generation, embeddings, vector indexes, and semantic or hybrid search
• Ability to troubleshoot ingestion and retrieval failures and assess relevance, latency, scalability, and data quality
• Ability to translate enterprise requirements into architecture decisions, integration standards, and governance patterns
• Ability to implement and maintain ingestion, transformation, indexing, synchronization, and retrieval services
• Ability to obtain and maintain a Public Trust or Suitability/Fitness determination based on client requirements
• Bachelor's degree

Nice If You Have:

• Experience with Databricks, Spark, Delta Lake, vector databases, or comparable platforms
• Experience with permission-aware retrieval, metadata enrichment, incremental ingestion, or knowledge engineering
• Experience delivering reusable customer connectors and data services for production AI applications

Vetting:

Applicants selected will be subject to a government investigation and may need to meet eligibility requirements of the U.S. government client.

Compensation

At Booz Allen, we celebrate your contributions, provide you with opportunities and choices, and support your total well-being. Our offerings include health, life, disability, financial, and retirement benefits, as well as paid leave, professional development, tuition assistance, work-life programs, and dependent care. Our recognition awards program acknowledges employees for exceptional performance and superior demonstration of our values. Full-time and part-time employees working at least 20 hours a week on a regular basis are eligible to participate in Booz Allen’s benefit programs. Individuals that do not meet the threshold are only eligible for select offerings, not inclusive of health benefits. We encourage you to learn more about our total benefits by visiting the Resource page on our Careers site and reviewing Our Employee Benefits page.

Salary at Booz Allen is determined by various factors, including but not limited to location, the individual’s particular combination of education, knowledge, skills, competencies, and experience, as well as contract-specific affordability and organizational requirements. The projected compensation range for this position is $77,600.00 to $176,000.00 (annualized USD). The estimate displayed represents the typical salary range for this position and is just one component of Booz Allen’s total compensation package for employees. This posting will close within 90 days from the Posting Date.

Identity Statement

As part of the hiring process, we will ask you to complete an identity verification process that leverages advanced biometrics and artificial intelligence to ensure authenticity and protect against identity fraud. You are expected to be on camera during interviews and assessments. We reserve the right to take your picture to verify your identity and prevent fraud.

Candidate AI Usage Policy

AI is a part of our daily work at Booz Allen, and we are committed to the responsible and ethical use of AI tools. However, we want to ensure a fair candidate process based on your own skills and knowledge. As part of this commitment, the use of artificial intelligence (AI) or other tools to assist with responses during interviews (whether in-person or virtual) is prohibited unless permission is explicitly provided.

Work Model

Our people-first culture prioritizes the benefits of collaboration. To support engagement and effective communication, employees working virtually are generally expected to have their cameras on during meetings.

• Remote: If this position is listed as remote, there may still be occasions when you are required to work in person at a Booz Allen or customer facility.
• Hybrid: If this position is listed as hybrid, you will be expected to work from a Booz Allen or customer facility, in alignment with your leadership's expectations and the needs of the role.
• Onsite: If this position is listed as onsite, work will primarily be performed full-time at a customer facility, where employees will collaborate directly with colleagues and customers as required by the role.

Commitment to Non-Discrimination

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to disability, status as a protected veteran or any other status protected by applicable federal, state, local, or international law.