Data Operations Engineer (Hybrid)

Huntington Ingalls Industries; Columbia (MD); Hybrid; USD 138,000 - 195,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

100% health coverage

401k with match 10%

PTO + holidays

Education allowances

Job summary

Enlighten seeks a Data Operations Engineer to lead the DataOps team, ensuring reliable, high-speed data delivery for mission-critical datasets. This hybrid role combines deep technical work with strong customer-facing collaboration, serving as the primary liaison between stakeholders and engineering to translate requirements into automated data workflows.

You will guide system engineering, optimize pipelines, and implement automated quality gates while coordinating across teams to keep data

Qualifications

• Secret level U.S. Government clearance required.
• 9+ years in technical operations, systems engineering, or data management with a Bachelor’s degree; OR 7 years relevant experience with Masters; OR HS diploma with 13 years relevant experience.
• Experience with distributed systems and cloud platforms.
• Strong observability and log analysis skills.
• Deep understanding of data standards and formats (JSON/XML).
• Fluency in managing ETL processes for rapid analytics.
• SQL used for data validation within teams and with customers.
• Scripting using Python or Java for automation.
• Excellent technical communication to non-technical stakeholders.
• Must obtain Security+ within 60 days of hire.
• Hybrid work: 1–2 days per week at Columbia, MD office.

Responsibilities

• Lead the DataOps team to ensure reliability, uptime, and fast delivery of data sets.
• Serve as primary technical liaison between customer and technical team.
• Translate mission requirements into actionable engineering tasks.
• Oversee deployment and maintenance of data flows using templates and libraries.
• Tune cluster performance and monitor pipelines to minimize latency.
• Drive evolution of data platform toward automated, proactive operations.
• Coordinate scripts and workflows across ecosystem areas.
• Implement automated Quality Gates and schema validations for production.
• Troubleshoot dataflow issues across distributed systems and cloud environments.

Skills

Secret clearance

Data operations experience

Distributed systems

Observability

ETL management

SQL data validation

Python/Java scripting

Technical communication

Hybrid work readiness

Security+ readiness

Education

Bachelor’s degree

Master’s degree

High School diploma

Tools

Messaging queues

Data orchestration engines

Cloud-native storage

Job description

Search by Keyword (use Keyword for Remote Positions)

Select how often (in days) to receive an alert:

Data Operations Engineer (Hybrid) - 30039

Location: Columbia, MD, Maryland, United States

Enlighten, honored as a Top Workplace from USA Today, is a leader in big data solution development and deployment, with expertise in cloud-based services, software and systems engineering, cyber capabilities, and data science. Enlighten provides continued innovation and proactivity in meeting our customers’ greatest challenges.

We recognize that the most effective environment for your projects doesn’t always look the same. Our hybrid work approach ensures that you can make lasting relationships with your team and collaborate in-person to get the job done—while having the flexibility to work from home when needed to achieve focused results.

Why Enlighten?

At Enlighten, our team’s unwavering work ethic, top talent and celebration of innovative ideas have helped us thrive. We know that our employees are essential to our company’s success, so we seek to take care of you as much as you take care of us. Here are a few highlights of our benefits package:

• 100% paid employee premium for healthcare, vision and dental plans.
• 10% 401k benefit.
• Generous PTO + 10 paid holidays.
• Education/training allowances.

Anticipated Salary Range:$137,510.00-$195,000.00. The salary range for this role is intended as a good faith estimate based on the role's location, expectations, and responsibilities. When extending an offer, Enlighten takes a variety of factors into consideration which include, but are not limited to, the role's function, internal equity and a candidate's education or training, work experience, certifications and key skills. Occasionally positions/roles may include additional non-recurrent compensation and will be addressed by the recruiter during the interview process.

Job Description

As a member of the Data Operations Team at Enlighten, you will lead a technically focused team responsible for the reliability, uptime, and speed-to-delivery of mission-critical data sets. This role requires a heavy focus on customer interface, serving as the primary technical point of contact for stakeholders. You will translate complex mission requirements into technical workflows, ensuring that our data pipelines are automated, documented, and precisely aligned with customer needs.

This position focuses on the systems engineering and platform stability required to manage high-velocity data across complex ecosystems. You will oversee the transition from reactive data fixing to an adaptive, self-healing platform, managing the “Flow Owners” who monitor, troubleshoot, and optimize data infrastructure while maintaining high-touch communication with the client.

#LI-DS1 #Mid-Senior Level

• Customer Interface & Engagement: Serve as the lead liaison between the customer and the technical team. You will manage expectations, communicate technical roadmaps, and translate mission-specific data needs into actionable engineering tasks.
• Operational Leadership: Help manage the daily operations of the DataOps team, focusing on accelerating data availability and minimizing the latency between initial data identification and final database availability.
• Systems Engineering Oversight: Oversee the deployment and maintenance of data flows using standardized templates and core libraries provided by the Engineering team.
• Performance Tuning: Responsible for immediate cluster performance tuning and pipeline monitoring to ensure data health and discovery latency are minimized.
• Strategic Alignment: Drive the technical evolution of the data platform, moving the organization from a reactive maintenance state toward a proactive, automated, and adaptive operational model.
• Ecosystem Coordination: Facilitate technical exchanges to ensure scripts, flow strategies, and wins in one area of the ecosystem are adapted and utilized across others.
• Quality Governance: Implement automated “Quality Gates” and schema validations to ensure data integrity before it reaches production environments.
• Technical Troubleshooting: Lead the decomposition of complex technical problems and troubleshoot systemic dataflow issues across distributed messaging, orchestration, and cloud environments.
• Other duties as assigned.

Minimum Qualifications

• Clearance Requirement: Must currently have and maintain an active Secret level U.S. Government Security Clearance; U.S. Citizenship required.
• Must have 9+ years in technical operations, systems engineering, or data management with a Bachelor’s degree; OR 7 years relevant experience with Masters in related field; OR High School Diploma or equivalent and 13 years relevant experience.
• Distributed Systems & Cloud Platforms: Proven experience managing high-volume data flow and storage solutions, specifically distributed messaging queues, data orchestration engines, and cloud-native storage.
• Observability & Log Analysis: Strong familiarity with enterprise observability platforms and log analysis tools for monitoring system health and minimizing data discovery latency.
• Data Standards: Deep understanding of network data, metadata fill rates, and various log formats such as JSON and XML.
• ETL Management: Fluency in managing extraction, translation, and loading (ETL) processes to enable rapid analytics.
• Data Validation: Experience with Structure Query Language (SQL) for the purposes of data validation in conjunction with members of the team and the customer.
• Scripting for Automation: Ability to utilize scripting languages (e.g., Python or Java) to implement shared libraries that automate repetitive tasks and improve operational efficiency.
• Technical Communication: Exceptional ability to communicate technical concepts to non-technical stakeholders and translate customer mission requirements into technical specifications.
• Must be able to obtain Security+ certification within 60 days of hire.
• Must be able to work in a hybrid environment, spending an average of 1-2 days per week at our Columbia, MD office. Flexibility is essential to adapt to schedule changes as needed.

Preferred Requirements

• Can also consider candidates with a current TS/SCI.
• Customer Success Background: Prior experience in a technical account management or customer-facing engineering role.
• Scalable Architectures: Experience with distributed data processing and cloud-native storage solutions.
• Security Operations: Prior experience supporting cyber or network security operations.
• Governance & Access: Knowledge of implementing automated Attribute Based Access Control (ABAC) or data masking within production pipelines.

We have many more additional great benefits/perks that you can find on our website at www.enlighten.com.