Data Engineer - Legacy Systems & AI Workflows

Groundswell; Washington (District of Columbia); On-site; USD 90,000 - 175,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, dental, vision

401K with 4% match

Paid time off

Tuition reimbursement

Flexible schedule

On-site gym and childcare

Job summary

Groundswell is seeking a Data Engineer to build secure, scalable data capabilities for a mission-focused platform used by federal agencies. You will implement batch and streaming ETL/ELT pipelines, onboard legacy data sources, and ensure data quality and governance in controlled environments. The role requires 5+ years of experience, proficiency in Python/Java, and work with SOAP/REST APIs.

U.S. citizenship and ability to obtain Public Trust are required.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Mathematics, Statistics, or related field.
• 5+ years in professional data engineering with production pipelines.
• Proficiency in Python, Java, or R for data engineering tasks.
• Experience with SOAP APIs for data interaction.
• Knowledge of data security, governance, and access controls in regulated environments.
• Ability to document technical decisions and work with cross-functional teams.
• U.S. Citizen and ability to obtain Public Trust Clearance.

Responsibilities

• Design, build, and operate batch and streaming ETL/ELT pipelines.
• Onboard legacy data sources, review schemas, mappings, and ownership.
• Create automated data-quality checks with monitoring and alerts.
• Automate deployments using SOAP APIs and workflow orchestration.
• Troubleshoot distributed data systems and communicate recovery plans.
• Collaborate with engineers, data scientists, and stakeholders to deliver data products.

Skills

Python

Java

SOAP APIs

SQL

AWS

Jupyter Notebook

Education

Bachelor's degree in CS/Engineering/Math

Tools

AWS

Databricks

SOAP/REST APIs

Parquet/JSON/XML

Job description

Who Are We?

Groundswell is a premier technology integrator and solution provider, resolutely committed to solving the most complex challenges facing federal agencies today. Our name, Groundswell, represents our commitment to be an unstoppable, seismic change in government. Ours is a small company culture with big company reach and results. Are you ready to be audacious, be bold and drive change at a rapid pace? Join us, where we'll make a greater impact together.

What You'll do:

Groundswell is seeking an experienced Data Engineer to build secure, reliable data capabilities for a mission-focused platform that connects authoritative sources, operational data, and analytical services. This role spans data ingestion, integration, quality, governance, and pipeline operations. You will help make complex data usable and trustworthy by designing repeatable workflows that preserve provenance, enforce access controls, and support decision-ready applications and AI-enabled capabilities in controlled environments.

What You'll Do

• Design, develop, and operate batch and streaming ETL/ELT pipelines that ingest data from multiple structured and semi-structured sources into secure cloud data platforms.
• Onboard legacy data sources by reviewing schemas, mappings, interfaces, validation rules, ownership, and operational support procedures.
• Build automated data-quality checks for completeness, accuracy, consistency, timeliness, and referential integrity, with actionable monitoring and alerting.
• Automate deployments and pipeline operations using SOAP APIs, workflow orchestration, and environment-specific configurations.
• Troubleshoot failures across distributed data systems using logs, metrics, lineage, and operational signals; communicate root causes and recovery plans clearly.
• Collaborate with software engineers, cloud engineers, data scientists, security teams, architects, and customer stakeholders to translate mission needs into measurable data products.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Mathematics, Statistics, or a related technical field.
• 5+ years of professional data engineering experience, including production pipeline development and operations.
• Proficiency in Python, Java, R, or other programming language used for data engineering.
• Experience with legacy systems that utilize SOAP APIs for data interaction.
• Experience implementing data-quality frameworks, validation processes, monitoring, and alerting for production pipelines.
• Working knowledge of data security, access controls, encryption, auditability, and governance in a regulated, restricted, or compliance-oriented environment.
• Experience working with APIs (SOAP/REST) and structured data formats such as JSON, XML, CSV, and Parquet.
• Ability to document technical decisions and collaborate with multidisciplinary teams and customer stakeholders.
• Must be a U.S. Citizen per contract requirements.
• Must be able to obtain and maintain a Public Trust Clearance in accordance with contract requirements.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience building preprocessing, chunking, filtering, metadata-enrichment, or evaluation pipelines for LLM and other AI/ML workflows.
• Experience operating data platforms with segmented networks, limited connectivity, strict change control, or formal authorization requirements.
• Strong SQL expertise, including query optimization, data modeling, joins, window functions, and analysis of large datasets.
• Experience with Jupyter Notebook or other equivalent tools for analyzing data.
• Experience with Python libraries such as numpy, pandas, and other libraries like this.
• Hands-on experience with at least one major cloud provider, with AWS experience strongly preferred.
• Extra consideration given to those with C3.ai experience.
• Active Public Trust Clearance.
• Preference given to candidates local to the Washington, DC metro area

Certifications

• AWS Data Engineer Certification, Databricks, cloud data engineering, or other relevant professional certification is preferred.

Why You'll Never Want to Leave:

• Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision plans
• Flexible Spending Account
• 4% 401K Match (immediate vesting)
• Paid Time Off
• Tuition reimbursement, certification programs, and professional development
• Flexible work schedule
• On-site gym and childcare option

The salary range for this role takes into account the wide range of factors that are considered in making compensation decisions, including but not limited to skill sets, experience and training; licensure and certifications; and other business and organizational needs. The disclosed range estimate has not been adjusted for any applicable geographic differential associated with the location at which the position may be filled. At Groundswell, it is not typical for an individual to be hired at or near the top of the range for their role, and compensation decisions are dependent on the facts and circumstances of each case. A reasonable estimate of the current range is:

$89,886.00 - $175,444.00

NOTE:

Groundswell does not accept unsolicited resumes through or from search firms or staffing agencies. All unsolicited resumes will be considered the property of Groundswell, and Groundswell will not be obligated to pay a placement fee.

Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, pregnancy, genetic information, disability, status as a protected veteran, or any other protected category under applicable federal, state, and local laws.

Read a copy of the Company's Non-Discrimination Policy Statement.

Additional Resources:

• EO 13496 Notification of Employee Rights under NLRA
• Know your rights: Workplace Discrimination is Illegal

Disability Accessibility Accommodation: If you are an individual with a disability and would like to request a reasonable accommodation as part of the employment selection process, please contact us [e-mail]703-639-1777.