Data Engineering Team Lead

Steampunk; McLean (VA); On-site; USD 130,000 - 160,000; Full time

Job summary

Steampunk is seeking a seasoned Data Engineering Team Lead in the McLean, VA area to mentor a team of data engineers and deliver enterprise-grade data platforms, pipelines, and migrations for clients. You will drive technical direction, oversee ETL and BI solutions, and collaborate across enterprise architecture teams to align data strategies.

The role requires 10+ years in data engineering, strong leadership, and hands-on experience with Hadoop/Spark/Kafka, Databricks, and cloud data services.

Qualifications

• Ability to obtain and maintain a U.S. government security clearance.
• Bachelor's degree and 10+ years of total experience.
• 8+ years of direct experience in Data Engineering with Hadoop, Spark, Kafka, and related tools.
• Experience with SQL and NoSQL databases (PostgreSQL, Cassandra).
• Experience with ETL/ELT workflows (Airflow, Luigi, Azkaban).
• Cloud services across AWS, Azure, or GCP.
• Data streaming systems (Spark-Streaming, Storm).
• Databricks and Microsoft Purview experience.
• Security platform exposure (Wiz or similar) is a plus.

Responsibilities

• Lead, mentor, and provide technical oversight for a team of data engineers, ensuring successful delivery of complex data migrations with performance and reliability.
• Oversee design and optimization of ETL processes, BI tools, and reporting solutions.
• Act as primary technical liaison for data product customization and enterprise architecture alignment.
• Define best practices for cloud-based data warehouses and data platforms on AWS, Azure, or GCP.
• Lead design and optimization of scalable data solutions using Databricks.
• Leverage Purview for data cataloging, lineage, and metadata management.
• Set technical direction, conduct code reviews, and coach team members.
• Facilitate Agile methodologies and sprints across the data engineering team.
• Contribute to AI & Data Exploitation Practice growth.

Skills

Leadership

Mentorship

Communication

Customer service

Problem solving

Agile methodologies

Code reviews

Education

Bachelor's degree

Tools

Hadoop

Spark

Kafka

PostgreSQL

Cassandra

Azkaban

Luigi

Airflow

Azure

AWS

GCP

Storm

Spark-Streaming

Solr

Lucene

Elasticsearch

Python

Java

C++

Scala

Databricks

Microsoft Purview

Wiz

Palo Alto Cortex

SQL

Job description

Overview

We are looking for a seasoned Data Engineering Team Lead to work with our team and our clients to develop enterprise grade data platforms, services, and pipelines. We are looking for more than just a \"Data Engineering Team Lead\", we need a technologist with excellent communication and customer service skills and a passion for data, problem solving, and mentorship.

Contributions

• Lead, mentor, and provide technical oversight for a team of data engineers, ensuring successful delivery of complex data environment migrations with optimal performance and reliability.
• Oversee and guide the assessment, design, and optimization of ETL processes, workflows, business intelligence tools, and reporting solutions.
• Act as the primary technical liaison for addressing strategic inquiries related to data product customization, integration strategies, enterprise architecture alignment, and overall functionality.
• Define best practices and technical standards for cloud-based database and data warehousing solutions leveraging platforms such as AWS, Azure, or GCP.
• Lead the design, development, and optimization of scalable data solutions using Databricks.
• Leverage Microsoft Purview to support data cataloging, lineage, metadata management, and integration across the data environment.
• Set technical direction, conduct code reviews, and coach team members.
• Facilitate Agile methodologies and development practices across the data engineering team, coordinating sprints, backlog grooming, and iterative delivery cycles.
• You will contribute to the growth of our AI & Data Exploitation Practice!

Qualifications

• Ability to obtain and maintain a U.S. government security clearance.

• Bachelor's degree and 10+ years of total experience.

• 8+ years of direct experience in Data Engineering, including experience with tools such as:

  • Big data tools: Hadoop, Spark, Kafka, etc.

  • Relational SQL and NoSQL databases, including Postgres and Cassandra.

  • Data pipeline and workflow management tools: Azkaban, Luigi, Airflow, etc.

  • Cloud services across AWS, Azure, or GCP.

  • Data streaming systems: Storm, Spark-Streaming, etc.

  • Search tools: Solr, Lucene, Elasticsearch.

  • Programming and scripting languages: Python, Java, C++, Scala, etc.

• Experience with Microsoft Purview.

• Experience with Databricks.

• Experience with Wiz or similar cloud security platforms, such as Palo Alto Cortex, preferred.

• Advanced working SQL knowledge and experience working with relational databases, query authoring and optimization (SQL), as well as working familiarity with a variety of databases.

• Experience with message queuing, stream processing, and highly scalable ‘big data’ data stores.

• Experience manipulating and processing large, disconnected structured and unstructured datasets to support analysis and extract value.

• Experience constructing complex queries to analyze results using databases or in a data processing development environment.

• Experience with data modeling tools and processes.

• Experience architecting transactional data systems and data warehouses.

• Experience aggregating results and/or compiling information for reporting from multiple datasets.

• Experience working in an Agile environment.

• Experience mentoring and coaching Data Engineers.

• Experience supporting project teams of developers and data scientists building web-based interfaces, dashboards, reports, and analytics/machine learning models.

About steampunk

Steampunk relies on several factors to determine salary, including but not limited to geographic location, contractual requirements, education, knowledge, skills, competencies, and experience. The projected compensation range for this position is $130,000 to $160,000. The estimate displayed represents a typical annual salary range for this position. Annual salary is just one aspect of Steampunk’s total compensation package for employees. Learn more about additional Steampunk benefits here.

Steampunk is aChange Agentin the Federal contracting industry, bringing new thinking to clients in the Homeland, Federal Civilian, Health and DoD sectors. Through ourHuman-Centered delivery methodology, we are fundamentally changing the expectations our Federal clients have for true shared accountability in solving their toughest mission challenges. If you want to learn more about our story, visithttp://www.steampunk.com.

We are an equal opportunity employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law. Steampunk participates in the E-Verify program.