Data Engineer/Metadata Engineer - TS/SCI Required

Partner Forces LLC; Arlington (VA); On-site; USD 110,000 - 160,000; Full time

Job summary

Partner Forces LLC in Arlington, VA is seeking a hands-on Data Engineer / Metadata Engineer to support a federal cybersecurity client. You will design and optimize data pipelines, ensure data is organized, understandable, and trusted.

Work involves building data models, warehouses, data lakes, and metadata catalogs, plus implementing governance, lineage, and automation. Collaboration with stakeholders and security clearance required to handle sensitive mission data.

Qualifications

• US Citizenship required.
• Active Top Secret security clearance.
• 3–7 years in data engineering or related field.
• Hands-on ETL/ELT pipeline design experience.
• Strong SQL and database experience.
• Experience with data warehousing and large-scale data environments.
• Knowledge of metadata management, data lineage, data catalogs, and data governance.
• Experience with Azure, AWS, or GCP.
• Ability to troubleshoot complex data problems.
• Strong communication and collaboration with stakeholders.

Responsibilities

• Design, build, and optimize scalable data pipelines.
• Integrate structured and unstructured data from multiple sources.
• Build and support data models, warehouses, data lakes, and lakehouse environments.
• Develop automation and monitoring to improve pipeline reliability and quality.
• Maintain metadata repositories and data catalogs.
• Support automated metadata collection, classification, and enrichment.
• Establish and maintain data lineage to help users understand data origin and use.
• Define and implement data governance practices including ownership and quality controls.
• Identify opportunities to improve data quality, consistency, accessibility, and trust.
• Support cloud environments across Azure, AWS, or GCP.
• Develop automation-first approaches to data management and platform operations.
• Collaborate with stakeholders to translate business needs into practical solutions.
• Support data powering analytics, reporting, AI/ML, and mission capabilities.

Skills

ETL/ELT pipelines

SQL

Data modeling

Data governance

Data lineage

Data catalogs

Cloud platforms

Data warehousing

Stakeholder communication

Collaboration with stakeholders

Tools

Azure/AWS/GCP

Job description

About this position

About Partner Forces

Partner Forces is a management consulting firm helping homeland security organizations solve some of their most pressing and complex challenges. We partner with government agencies and industry to strengthen national security and critical infrastructure through expertise in strategy, program management, stakeholder engagement, technology implementation, preparedness, and business transformation.

At Partner Forces, we're more than consultants—we're trusted advisors. We work alongside our clients to solve meaningful problems, deliver actionable solutions, and make a lasting impact. As a growing firm, every employee has the opportunity to contribute not only to our clients' success, but also to the future of Partner Forces. We believe great consultants are developed through collaboration, mentorship, continuous learning, and meaningful opportunities to lead.

Our culture is grounded in six core values: Integrity, Excellence, Positivity, Candor, Determination, and Teamwork. These values shape how we work with our clients, support one another, and grow together. We believe that when our people thrive, our clients do too, which is why we invest in our employees' well-being, professional development, and long-term success.

Partner Forces is an equal opportunity employer. We do not discriminate based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law. We are committed to fostering a workplace where everyone feels valued and respected. If you require a reasonable accommodation during the application process, please contact us at [e-mail] .

What we are looking for:

Partner Forces is looking for a hands-on Data Engineer / Metadata Engineer to support a mission-focused federal cybersecurity client. We’re looking for someone who enjoys getting underneath the data and making it work better. You’ll help build and improve the pipelines, platforms, and processes that move data across systems while also helping ensure that data is organized, understandable, discoverable, and trusted. This is a great fit for someone who brings strong technical data engineering experience and is equally comfortable thinking about the bigger picture of how data is governed, cataloged, and used across an organization. At Partner Forces, we value curious problem solvers who are comfortable jumping into complex environments, asking good questions, collaborating with technical and nontechnical stakeholders, and finding practical ways to make things better.

What you'll do:

• Design, build, and optimize scalable data pipelines and ETL/ELT processes
• Integrate structured and unstructured data from multiple internal and external sources
• Build and support data models, databases, data warehouses, data lakes, and lakehouse environments
• Develop automation and monitoring to improve the reliability, performance, and quality of data pipelines
• Build and maintain metadata repositories and data catalogs that make data easier to find, understand, and use
• Support automated metadata collection, classification, and enrichment
• Establish and maintain data lineage to help users understand where data comes from, how it changes, and where it is used
• Help define and implement data governance practices, including data ownership, stewardship, quality controls, and standards
• Identify opportunities to improve data quality, consistency, accessibility, and trust
• Support cloud-based data environments and integrations across platforms such as Azure, AWS, or GCP
• Develop automation-first approaches to data management and platform operations
• Partner with stakeholders to understand business and mission needs and translate them into practical technical solutions
• Support data that powers analytics, reporting, AI/ML, and other mission capabilities

Qualifications

• Must be a US Citizen.
• An active Top Secret security clearance
• Approximately 3 to 7 years of experience in data engineering, metadata engineering, data platforms, or a closely related technical field
• Hands-on experience designing or building ETL/ELT processes and data pipelines
• Strong experience with SQL and relational or nonrelational databases
• Experience with data warehousing, large-scale data processing, or modern data platform environments
• Experience with data modeling and integrating data from multiple sources
• Understanding of metadata management, data lineage, data catalogs, and data governance
• Experience working in at least one major cloud environment such as Azure, AWS, or GCP
• Ability to troubleshoot complex data problems and develop practical solutions
• Strong communication skills and the ability to work collaboratively with both technical teams and mission stakeholders