Data Specialist

Spatial Front, Inc; Arlington (VA); Hybrid; USD 85,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

Spatial Front, Inc. in Arlington, VA, is seeking a Data Specialist to manage Apache Kafka infrastructure for PeopleSoft HCM. The ideal candidate will have extensive experience with Kafka administration in secured environments, strong troubleshooting skills, and a bachelor's degree.

This full-time, hybrid position requires a U.S. citizenship and an active Secret security clearance. Join our award-winning team and contribute to data operations in a dynamic work environment.

Qualifications

• 3+ years of experience in systems, middleware, or integration support.
• Hands-on experience in administering on-premises Kafka environments.
• Experience with Kafka administration best practices and performance tuning.
• Must be a U.S. Citizen with an active Secret security clearance.

Responsibilities

• Administer Apache Kafka infrastructure supporting PeopleSoft HCM.
• Install, configure, patch, and troubleshoot Kafka brokers and clusters.
• Monitor cluster health, throughput, and coordinate incident resolutions.
• Collaborate with teams for stable production support.

Skills

Apache Kafka administration

Scripting and automation

Operational discipline

Troubleshooting skills

Experience with data platforms

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or related field

Tools

Linux

UNIX/Solaris

Job description

Description

Spatial Front, Inc. (SFI), a two-time USAToday Top Workplaces awardee and Washington Top Workplaces honoree, is seeking a Data Specialist to support our growing team. The ideal candidate will support the administration, sustainment, security, and continuous improvement of on-premises data integration, streaming, and data operations infrastructure supporting PeopleSoft HCM in a secured federal environment.

This role is centered on Apache Kafka administration across Linux and broader UNIX/Solaris-based environments, while also supporting related data movement, messaging, integration, and operational tooling used to keep enterprise data flowing reliably. The ideal candidate will combine strong Kafka administration and troubleshooting skills with scripting, automation, operational discipline, and experience supporting enterprise data platforms in highly secured networks.

Work Location

Hybrid, On-site - Arlington, VA

Key Responsibilities

• Administer, monitor, and sustain Apache Kafka infrastructure and related data platform components supporting PeopleSoft HCM and enterprise integrations in a secured, on-premises environment.
• Install, configure, patch, upgrade, maintain, and troubleshoot Kafka brokers, clusters, topics, partitions, and supporting data services across Linux and UNIX/Solaris-based environments.
• Manage topic provisioning, replication, retention, consumer groups, access controls, certificates, secure connectivity, and core data flow configurations in accordance with enterprise security and operational requirements.
• Develop and maintain scripts, automations, runbooks, SOPs, and operational procedures to improve platform reliability, reduce manual effort, and support repeatable data operations administration.
• Monitor cluster health, throughput, latency, consumer lag, disk utilization, JVM performance, logs, alerts, and related data jobs or interfaces; investigate incidents and coordinate timely resolution.
• Support platform hardening, audit readiness, change control, and compliance with security requirements in highly secured or DISA-aligned network environments.
• Support high availability, backup and recovery, capacity planning, failover readiness, and environment support across development, test, and production data environments.
• Collaborate with application, middleware, ETL, database, infrastructure, and cybersecurity teams to support data movement, integration patterns, operational readiness, and stable production support.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Engineering, or a related field; equivalent relevant experience may be considered.
• 3+ years of systems, middleware, data platform, or integration support experience, including hands‑on experience supporting Apache Kafka or similar enterprise messaging, streaming, or data integration platforms.
• Hands‑on experience administering on‑premises Kafka environments on Linux, with familiarity supporting broader UNIX/Solaris infrastructure, including monitoring, patching, troubleshooting, and operational support in enterprise data environments.
• Experience with Kafka administration best practices such as broker and topic management, replication and retention strategy, performance tuning, logging and monitoring, security configuration, and scripting or automation; experience with broader data tools, integration support, or operational data management is a plus.
• Must be a U.S. Citizen with an active Secret security clearance or the ability to obtain one; experience in secured federal or DoD environments preferred.

Desired Skills

• Familiarity with PeopleSoft HCM architecture, interfaces, batch processing, enterprise integration patterns, and operational data flows.
• Experience with Kafka security and operations concepts such as TLS/SSL, SASL, ACLs, certificate management, HA/DR, consumer/producer troubleshooting, and support of related data movement or integration tooling.
• Knowledge of runbooks, SOPs, change management, backup and recovery, incident management, problem management, and capacity planning for enterprise data and integration platforms.
• Ability to collaborate across application, integration, data, security, and operations teams in a structured sustainment environment.

Additional Information

• Clearance: Must be a U.S. Citizen with an active Secret security clearance or the ability to obtain one.
• Work Environment: Onsite/Hybrid as required by the contract and program environment.
• This is a full‑time, W2 position.
• No agencies, third parties, or Corp-to-Corp submissions.
• Spatial Front Inc. is an Equal Opportunity Employer — all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, or protected veteran status.
• SFI participates in E‑Verify.