Lead Data Engineer

MITRE; McLean (VA); On-site; USD 155,000 - 233,000; Full time

Job summary

MITRE in McLean, VA seeks an experienced Data Engineer to design and operate secure, scalable data platforms supporting national security and health initiatives.

You will work across data modeling, processing, and governance, crafting pipelines in cloud and on‑prem environments while applying modern engineering practices and collaboration with cross‑functional teams.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in CS, Software Engineering, IT, or related field with 8 years of relevant experience.
• Advanced hands‑on proficiency with data engineering approaches including distributed data processing, cloud platforms, data lakehouse architectures, ETL orchestration, data modeling, and governance.
• Must be eligible to obtain and maintain a Top Secret U.S. Government security clearance; U.S. Citizen.
• Minimum 3 days per week on-site.

Responsibilities

• Design, build, and operate secure, scalable, and maintainable data platforms and pipelines in cloud and on‑prem environments.
• Develop batch and streaming data-processing solutions for structured, semi-structured, and unstructured data.
• Create data models, schemas, interfaces, and storage architectures to support mission and analytical needs.
• Evaluate and improve data quality, lineage, governance, access controls, and secure data handling.
• Translate sponsor needs into technical requirements and engineering solutions.
• Lead technical workstreams or complex projects with multiple contributors and risks.
• Mentor engineers and transfer knowledge across teams.

Skills

Python

SQL

Distributed Data Processing

Data Modeling

Data Governance

Cloud Platforms

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or related field

Master's degree in CS (preferred)

PhD in CS (preferred)

Tools

Docker

Kubernetes

Airflow

Dagster

NiFi

Databricks

Job description

At MITRE, your passion fuels work that impacts our nation and improves lives. This is where your skills strengthen national security, cybersecurity, health, transportation, and citizen services. We’re a nonprofit engineering, applied research, and advanced technology organization working in the public interest. With objectivity and integrity at our core, we lead federally funded research and development centers for U.S. government agencies – collaborating with industry and academia to deliver integrated, high-impact solutions that advance our nation’s health, security, and prosperity. Our people tackle the toughest technical challenges, supported by competitive benefits, meaningful career development, and a culture of innovation, collaboration, and technical excellence. Choose MITRE for a career with purpose — and help shape the future.

Department Summary

MITRE’s Data Science and Engineering department is looking for qualified applicants to bring their advanced data engineering skills to bear on solving problems of critical national importance. MITRE’s diverse work program provides opportunities to apply your expertise and creative thinking in challenging domains such as national security, intelligence, transportation, and healthcare. Employees may also participate in MITRE’s internal research and development program, which provides funding for innovative applied research that addresses our sponsors’ hardest problems.

Roles & Responsibilities

The successful candidate for this position is an experienced Data Engineer who combines strong foundations in computer science and software engineering with hands‑on experience designing and implementing data systems to solve mission problems. This role requires practitioners with expertise in data modeling, processing, infrastructure engineering, and operational deployment. Our organization values innovation and believes that keeping up with the latest research and technologies is essential.

Expectations for this position are as follows

• Design, build, and operate secure, scalable, and maintainable data platforms and pipelines in cloud-based and self-hosted environments.
• Develop batch and streaming data-processing solutions for structured, semi-structured, and unstructured data.
• Create data models, schemas, interfaces, and storage architectures that support mission and analytical requirements.
• Evaluate and improve data quality, lineage, governance, access controls, and secure data-handling practices.
• Translate sponsor and stakeholder needs into technical requirements and practical engineering solutions.
• Diagnose complex system, performance, reliability, and data-quality problems.
• Evaluate emerging data technologies and recommend their use when they provide meaningful mission or engineering benefits.
• Establish and promote software engineering practices such as automated testing, version control, code review, modular design, observability, and continuous integration.
• Communicate complex technical concepts clearly to both technical and non-technical audiences.
• Contribute to applied research, prototypes, and technical publications, as appropriate.
• Lead technical workstreams or complex projects involving multiple contributors, dependencies, risks, and stakeholders.
• Mentor engineers and transfer technical knowledge across teams.

However it is not required that a candidate has experience in all of these areas.

Data Engineering

• Distributed Data Processing and Big Data Architectures, such as Spark, Hadoop, Ray, Dask
• Data Storage and Data Lakehouse Architectures, such as RDBMS, Amazon S3, Iceberg, Delta Lake
• Cloud-based Data Platforms, such as Databricks, Palantir Foundry, Microsoft Fabric, and Amazon EMR
• Data Pipeline/ETL Development, Integration, and Orchestration, such as Airflow, Dagster, NiFi
• Batch and Streaming Data Processing
• Data Modeling, Schema Design, and Data Quality Assessment
• Data Governance, Access Controls, and Secure Data Handling
• Performance Optimization and Reliability Engineering

Software Development

• Computer Programming and Databases – Advanced proficiency in Python and SQL required
• Software Engineering Best Practices (e.g., version control, testing, modular design)
• Linux-based Development Environments, Git, and Cloud Platforms
• Use of Containerization and Orchestration, such as Docker and Kubernetes

Basic Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Information Systems, Information Technology, or related field with 8 years of relevant experience.
• Advanced, hands‑on proficiency with Data Engineering approaches, including distributed data processing, cloud-based data platforms, data lakehouse architectures, ETL orchestration, data modeling, and data governance.
• Must be eligible to obtain and maintain a Top Secret U.S Government issued Security Clearance. Per the U.S. Government’s eligibility requirements, you must be a U.S Citizen to be considered for a security clearance.
• This position requires a minimum of 3 days per week on-site.

Preferred Qualifications

• Master’s degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Information Systems, Information Technology, or related field with 6 years of relevant experience; PhD in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Information Systems, Information Technology, or related field with 3 years of relevant experience.
• Active DoD Top Secret Clearance.

This requisition requires the candidate to have a minimum of the following clearance(s)

None

This requisition requires the hired candidate to have or obtain, within one year from the date of hire, the following clearance(s)

Top Secret

Salary compensation range and midpoint

$155,200 - $194,000 - $232,800 Annual

Work Location Type

Onsite

Commitment to Non-Discrimination

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to disability, status as a protected veteran or any other status protected by applicable federal, state, local or international law.

MITRE intends to maintain a website that is fully accessible to all individuals. If you are unable to search or apply for jobs and would like to request a reasonable accommodation for any part of MITRE’s employment process, please email [e-mail] for general support and [e-mail] for intern positions. This service is for individuals requiring reasonable accommodation requests. Please note that vendor solicitations will not receive a reply.

Benefits information may be found here.

Copyright © 1997-2026, The MITRE Corporation. All rights reserved. MITRE is a registered trademark of The MITRE Corporation. Material on this site may be copied and distributed with permission only.