Data Operations Engineer (TS/SCI)

Zachary Piper Solutions; San Diego, Northern (CA, KY); Hybrid; USD 150,000 - 230,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, dental, vision benefits

401k plan

Paid time off 20 days

11 federal holidays

Job summary

Zachary Piper Solutions is seeking a TS/SCI cleared Data Operations Engineer to support the United States Air Force's Joint Fires Network in San Diego, CA.

The role focuses on managing real-time data ingest operations, monitoring data quality, and delivering mission-critical data feeds.

Qualifications

• Must have active TS/SCI clearance.
• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Mathematics, Engineering, Physics, Information Systems, or related field.
• 5-15 years of experience in data engineering or related field.
• At least 1+ years of experience with real-time data streaming.
• Strong experience handling structured and unstructured data across various formats.
• Proficiency with Python.
• Experience with JSON or XML.
• Experience with data streaming tools listed in qualifications.
• Experience with Linux OS.

Responsibilities

• Support continuous data ingest operations and monitor data feeds and pipeline health.
• Visualize and interpret data findings through dashboards for leadership and users.
• Collaborate with platform, software, and data engineering teams to reconfigure pipelines for reliability.
• Work with data in Excel, CSV, JSON, and XML formats.
• Develop and maintain software to automate monitoring of real-time data feeds and alerts.
• Identify and implement improvements in ingest performance and reliability.
• Assist in designing and implementing web-based collaboration and reporting tools.
• Demonstrate proficiency in Python or Bash scripting for analytics and automation.
• Utilize open-source analytics and visualization tools to monitor system performance.

Skills

Python scripting

Data visualization

Data engineering

Scripting

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Mathematics, Engineering, Physics, Information Systems, or related field

Tools

Kafka

Pulsar

Flink

Storm

Samza

Spark

Beam

Redpanda

NiFi

Confluent Platform

AWS Kinesis Data Streams/Firehose

AWS MSK

Google Dataflow (stream mode)

RabbitMQ

NATS Jetstream

ZeroMQ

Linux OS

Job description

Zachary Piper Solutions is seeking a TS/SCI cleared Data Operations Engineer to support the United States Air Force's Joint Fires Network program in San Diego, California. This full‑time, on‑site role focuses on managing real‑time data ingest operations, monitoring data quality, and supporting the delivery of mission‑critical data feeds. The ideal candidate will have strong experience in data engineering, scripting, data visualization, and operational support within technical environments.

Period of Performance (Contract Length):

• 5 years.
• Program has been awarded and is live.
• Currently in month 7 out of 5 years.

Location and Work Environment:

• Full‑time on‑site role in San Diego, California, supporting operational data pipelines and mission systems. Travel up to 15% to Oahu, Hawaii may be required, including long‑distance trips to additional government or contractor facilities.
• Position operates in a low supervision independent capacity, working with cross-domain groups across the nation.

Responsibilities:

• Support continuous data ingest operations, monitoring data feeds, pipeline health, and overall data quality.
• Visualize and interpret data findings through dynamic reports and dashboards for leadership and users.
• Use data manipulation and visualization tools to communicate real‑time and historical trends.
• Collaborate with platform, software, and data engineering teams to reconfigure pipelines for improved reliability.
• Work with data in multiple formats including Excel, CSV, JSON, and XML.
• Support incident management processes including issue documentation, resolution, and root‑cause analysis for recurring data outages.
• Develop and maintain software to automate monitoring of real‑time data feeds, including alerts for timeliness, lineage, volume, and distribution issues.
• Leverage historical pipeline data to identify improvements in ingest performance and reliability.
• Assist with designing, developing, testing, and implementing web‑based collaboration and reporting tools.
• Demonstrate proficiency in Python or Bash scripting for analytics, automation, and data operations.
• Utilize open‑source analytics and visualization tools to monitor system performance.

Qualifications:

• Must have an active TS/SCI clearance
• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Mathematics, Engineering, Physics, Information Systems, or related field.
• 5-15 years of experience in data engineering or related experience
• At least 1+ years of experience with real-time data streaming
• Strong experience handling structured and unstructured data across various formats.
• Proficiency with Python
• Experience with JSON or XML
• Experience with any of the following data streaming tools such as: Apache (Kafka, Pulsar, Flink, Storm, Samza, Spark, Beam, Redpanda, or NiFi), Confluent Platform, StreamNative Platform, Cloudera Streaming, AWS Kinesis Data Streams/Firehose, AWS MSK, Google Cloud Data Stream, Google Dataflow (stream mode), RabbitMQ, NATS Jetstream, ZeroMQ.
• Experience with Linux OS

Preferred Experience:

• Experience with intelligence and C2 data sets (ELINT, COMINT, MASINT, GEOINT).
• Knowledge of data mining, data modeling, statistics, and machine learning.
• Familiarity with Kubernetes cluster deployment and management.

Compensation:

• Pay range: $150,000 - $230,000 (Based on years of relevant experience)

Benefits:

• Comprehensive benefits package including medical, dental, vision, 401k, 20 days of paid time off, 11 federal holidays, and sick leave.

Application Period: Opens on 08/10/2026 and will be accepted for at least 30 days from the posting date.

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