Senior AI Data & Knowledge Architect Lead

Booz Allen Hamilton; McLean (VA); On-site; USD 143,000 - 266,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health benefits

Life insurance

Disability benefits

Retirement plan

Paid leave

Professional development

Tuition assistance

Work-life program

Dependent care

Recognition awards

Job summary

Booz Allen Hamilton is seeking a Senior AI Data & Knowledge Architect Lead to design data platforms, lakehouse architectures, and end-to-end pipelines. You will build knowledge indexes and retrieval services grounding AI agents in authorized enterprise information.

You will work with data owners and engineering to define contracts, manage permissions, lineage, and data quality, and ensure reliable ingestion and retrieval for AI applications.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of experience designing or implementing enterprise data platforms and lakehouse architectures.
• Experience defining data models, schemas, data contracts, APIs, and access patterns for downstream apps.
• Experience with data governance, permissions, lineage, quality controls, and monitoring.
• Proficient in SQL and Python for ETL/ELT
• Knowledge of retrieval-augmented generation, embeddings, vector indexes, and semantic/hybrid search.
• Ability to translate enterprise requirements into architecture decisions and governance patterns.

Responsibilities

• Design data architectures and build pipelines, knowledge indexes, and retrieval services ground agents in authorized information.
• Collaborate with source-system owners and engineering to define data contracts and integrate sources.
• Own data reliability and retrieval services, coordinating with AI Engineering on retrieval behavior and response quality.

Skills

Data platform design

Lakehouse architecture

Data contracts & APIs

Data governance

ETL/ELT pipelines

SQL

Python

RAG knowledge

Embeddings

Vector indexes

Data quality

Governance patterns

Education

Bachelor's degree

Tools

Databricks

Spark

Delta Lake

Vector databases

Job description

Senior AI Data & Knowledge Architect Lead The Opportunity

Make enterprise data and knowledge usable, governed, and dependable for AI applications.

You will design data architectures and build the pipelines, knowledge indexes, and retrieval services that ground agents in authorized enterprise information.

You will work with source-system owners and engineering teams to define data contracts, integrate structured and unstructured sources, and maintain permissions, lineage, quality, and freshness.

You will own the reliability of data and retrieval services while partnering with AI Engineering on application retrieval behavior and response quality.

Due to the nature of work performed within this facility, U.S. citizenship is required.

Join us. The world can't wait.

You Have:

• 10+ years of experience in designing or implementing enterprise data platforms, lakehouse architectures, and integrations for structured and unstructured data
• Experience in defining data models, schemas, data contracts, APIs, and access patterns that support downstream applications
• Experience with data governance, source permissions, lineage, quality controls, and monitoring for freshness and availability
• Experience with developing, testing, and operating ETL or ELT pipelines, including proficiency in SQL and Python
• Knowledge of retrieval-augmented generation, embeddings, vector indexes, and semantic or hybrid search
• Ability to troubleshoot ingestion and retrieval failures and assess relevance, latency, scalability, and data quality
• Ability to translate enterprise requirements into architecture decisions, integration standards, and governance patterns
• Bachelor's degree

Nice If You Have:

• Experience with Databricks, Spark, Delta Lake, vector databases, or comparable platforms
• Experience with permission-aware retrieval, metadata enrichment, incremental ingestion, or knowledge engineering
• Experience in delivering reusable customer connectors and data services for production AI applications

Compensation

At Booz Allen, we celebrate your contributions, provide you with opportunities and choices, and support your total well-being.

Our offerings include health, life, disability, financial, and retirement benefits, as well as paid leave, professional development, tuition assistance, work-life programs, and dependent care.

Our recognition awards program acknowledges employees for exceptional performance and superior demonstration of our values.

Full-time and part-time employees working at least 20 hours a week on a regular basis are eligible to participate in Booz Allen’s benefit programs.

Individuals that do not meet the threshold are only eligible for select offerings, not inclusive of health benefits.

We encourage you to learn more about our total benefits by visiting the Resource page on our Careers site and reviewing Our Employee Benefits page.

Salary at Booz Allen is determined by various factors, including but not limited to location, the individual’s particular combination of education, knowledge, skills, competencies, and experience, as well as contract-specific affordability and organizational requirements.

The projected compensation range for this position is $142,900.00 to $266,000.00 (annualized USD).

The estimate displayed represents the typical salary range for this position and is just one component of Booz Allen’s total compensation package for employees.

This posting will close within 90 days from the Posting Date.

Identity Statement

As part of the hiring process, we will ask you to complete an identity verification process that leverages advanced biometrics and artificial intelligence to ensure authenticity and protect against identity fraud.

You are expected to be on camera during interviews and assessments.

We reserve the right to take your picture to verify your identity and prevent fraud.

Candidate AI Usage Policy

AI is a part of our daily work at Booz Allen, and we are committed to the responsible and ethical use of AI tools. However, we want to ensure a fair candidate process based on your own skills and knowledge. As part of this commitment, the use of artificial intelligence (AI) or other tools to assist with responses during interviews (whether in-person or virtual) is prohibited unless permission is explicitly provided.

Work Model

Our people-first culture prioritizes the benefits of collaboration. To support engagement and effective communication, employees working virtually are generally expected to have their cameras on during meetings.

• Remote: If this position is listed as remote, there may still be occasions when you are required to work in person at a Booz Allen or customer facility.
• Hybrid: If this position is listed as hybrid, you will be expected to work from a Booz Allen or customer facility, in alignment with your leadership's expectations and the needs of the role.
• Onsite: If this position is listed as onsite, work will primarily be performed full-time at a customer facility, where employees will collaborate directly with colleagues and customers as required by the role.

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.

About Booz Allen

Booz Allen is an advanced technology company. We build commercial-grade products and solutions for America’s most critical defense, civil, and national security priorities.

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.

Know Your Rights Poster Accommodations

Applicants who need a reasonable accommodation for any part of the application, hiring, or employment process because of a disability, a sincerely held religious belief, practice, or observance, or as otherwise required by applicable law should contact the Booz Allen Help Desk by calling 1-877-927-8278 or sending an email to [e-mail]. We will review requests on an individualized basis and provide reasonable accommodations consistent with applicable law.

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