Senior Data Architect for ML & Data Science Pipelines

The Pennsylvania State University; Ferguson Township (PA); On-site; USD 159,000 - 266,000; Full time

Job summary

The Pennsylvania State University is seeking a Senior Data Engineer to architect and optimize data systems for AI/ML workflows in the ARL. You will collaborate with data scientists to design scalable PostgreSQL solutions, integrate NoSQL/graph/time-series databases, and guide tool selection based on data use cases.

Located in State College, PA or Reston, VA, this role requires deep PostgreSQL expertise, SQL proficiency, and experience with cloud databases.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience in data engineering, database architecture, or related roles.
• Expert-level proficiency in PostgreSQL (schema design, indexing, partitioning, replication).
• Experience with non-relational databases (MongoDB, Cassandra, Neo4j, Redis, or DynamoDB).
• Familiarity with ML workflows and data consumption for training/evaluation/deployment.
• Experience with cloud database services (AWS RDS/Aurora, GCP Cloud SQL, Azure Database).
• Proficiency in SQL and one or more scripting languages (Python preferred).
• Excellent communication and collaboration skills with data scientists, ML engineers, and software developers.

Responsibilities

• Design and maintain scalable, high-performance database solutions to support data science workflows and ML experimentation.
• Partner with data scientists to understand data access patterns and develop storage strategies that accelerate analysis and model training.
• Serve as the internal subject matter expert on PostgreSQL—including schema design, indexing, partitioning, and query optimization.
• Evaluate and integrate alternative database technologies (MongoDB, Neo4j, Redis, Cassandra) where advantageous.
• Lead efforts to optimize data pipelines for both structured and unstructured data used in algorithm development.
• Ensure data integrity, security, and governance across storage systems.
• Implement monitoring, automation, and performance-tuning tools for all database environments.
• Advise on data lifecycle management balancing accessibility with efficiency and compliance.

Skills

PostgreSQL

SQL

Python

Data modeling

Education

Bachelor's or Master's in CS/Data Engineering

Tools

MongoDB

Cassandra

Neo4j

Redis

DynamoDB

AWS RDS/Aurora

GCP Cloud SQL

Azure Database

Job description

The Pennsylvania State University is seeking a Senior Data Engineer to architect and optimize data systems for AI/ML workflows in the ARL. You will collaborate with data scientists to design scalable PostgreSQL solutions, integrate NoSQL/graph/time-series databases, and guide tool selection based on data use cases.

Located in State College, PA or Reston, VA, this role requires deep PostgreSQL expertise, SQL proficiency, and experience with cloud databases.