Senior Data Architect for ML Data Platforms

Penn State; Reston (VA); Hybrid; USD 146,000 - 319,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

75% tuition discount

Health/dental/vision insurance

Robust retirement plans

Job summary

Penn State’s ARL seeks a Senior Data Engineer to architect and optimize data systems empowering data scientists to research, train, and deploy ML algorithms. The role emphasizes PostgreSQL expertise, schema design, and cross-functional collaboration.

The candidate will evaluate NoSQL/graph/time-series options, guide tool selection, and ensure data governance across storage environments, while aligning with security requirements and lifecycle management.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience in data engineering, database architecture, or related technical roles.
• Expert-level proficiency in PostgreSQL (query tuning, schema design, indexing, partitioning, replication).
• Experience with non-relational databases and cloud database services.

Responsibilities

• Design and maintain scalable, high-performance database solutions for data science workflows and ML experimentation.
• Partner with data scientists to understand data access patterns and storage strategies.
• Lead efforts to optimize data pipelines for structured and unstructured data.

Skills

PostgreSQL

Data modeling

SQL

Python

NoSQL

Query optimization

Data pipelines

Communication

Education

Bachelor's or Master’s in CS/EE/related

Tools

MongoDB

Neo4j

Redis

Cassandra

AWS RDS

Job description

Penn State’s ARL seeks a Senior Data Engineer to architect and optimize data systems empowering data scientists to research, train, and deploy ML algorithms. The role emphasizes PostgreSQL expertise, schema design, and cross-functional collaboration.

The candidate will evaluate NoSQL/graph/time-series options, guide tool selection, and ensure data governance across storage environments, while aligning with security requirements and lifecycle management.