Senior Data Engineer

Steampunk, Inc.; McLean (VA); On-site; USD 140,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Steampunk is seeking a seasoned Senior Data Engineer to architect and implement enterprise-grade data platforms, pipelines, and services for clients. You will combine technical leadership with strong communication to solve complex data problems.

The role emphasizes cross-functional collaboration, end-to-end data integration, and applying Medallion Architecture patterns to deliver analytics-ready foundations in AWS environments.

Qualifications

• Requires public trust with US government.
• Bachelor’s degree with 10+ years experience or Master’s with 8+ years, etc.
• Experience in building scalable data pipelines and platforms.
• Strong programming in Python, Java, or Scala.
• Advanced SQL, data modeling, and large-scale relational DBs.
• Hands-on with relational and NoSQL databases.
• End-to-end data pipelines ingesting and unifying data from multiple sources.
• Experience with structured, semi-structured, and unstructured data.
• Experience with Airflow or similar orchestration tools.
• Understanding of data architecture patterns (Bronze/Silver/Gold).
• Experience with AWS data services (S3, Glue, EMR, Lambda, Redshift).
• Data quality, integrity, and monitoring practices.
• Ability to work with large, complex datasets and cross-functional teams.

Responsibilities

• Lead migration of data environments focusing on performance and reliability.
• Assess ETL jobs, workflows, BI tools, and reports.
• Address inquiries on customization, integration, and enterprise features.
• Design and build data warehouses in cloud environments (AWS preferred).
• Support Agile software development lifecycle.
• Contribute to Steampunk’s Data Exploitation Practice growth.

Skills

Python

Java

Scala

SQL

Data modeling

ETL

Airflow

Cloud AWS

PostgreSQL

NoSQL

Education

Bachelor's degree + 10+ years

Master’s degree + 8+ years

Associate's degree + 12+ years

No degree + 14+ years

Tools

PostgreSQL

Cassandra

DynamoDB

MongoDB

Elasticsearch/OpenSearch

Redshift

S3

Glue

EMR

Job description

We are looking for seasoned Senior Data Engineer to work with our team and our clients to develop enterprise grade data platforms, services, and pipelines. We are looking for more than just a \"Senior Data Engineer\", but a technologist with excellent communication and customer service skills and a passion for data and problem solving.

Contributions

• Lead and architect migration of data environments with performance and reliability
• Assess and understand the ETL jobs, workflows, BI tools, and reports
• Address technical inquiries concerning customization, integration, enterprise architecture and general feature / functionality of data products
• Experience in crafting database / data warehouse solutions in cloud (Preferably AWS. Alternatively Azure, GCP)
• Support an Agile software development lifecycle
• You will contribute to the growth of our Data Exploitation Practice!

Qualifications

• Ability to hold a position of public trust with the US government
• Bachelor's degree and 10+ years of work experience; OR Master’s degree and 8+ years of work experience; OR Associate's degree and 12+ years of work experience; OR No degree and 14+ years of work experience
• Experience in Data Engineering, building scalable data pipelines and platforms.
• Strong programming experience in Python, Java, or Scala.
• Advanced SQL expertise, including query optimization, data modeling, and working with large-scale relational databases.
• Hands-on experience with both relational (e.g., PostgreSQL) and NoSQL databases (e.g., Cassandra, DynamoDB, MongoDB).
• Proven experience designing and building end-to-end data pipelines that ingest, transform, and unify data from multiple disparate sources.
• Experience working with structured, semi-structured, and unstructured data (e.g., JSON, logs, documents, PDFs), including parsing and normalization.
• Experience with data pipeline orchestration tools such as Airflow, Luigi, or equivalent.
• Strong understanding of data architecture patterns, including layered approaches such as Medallion Architecture (Bronze/Silver/Gold).
• Experience designing unified data platforms that consolidate data from multiple formats and sources into an analytics-ready foundation.
• Experience with data modeling, schema design, and handling schema evolution.
• Experience with cloud platforms, preferably AWS (e.g., S3, Glue, EMR, Lambda, Redshift), or equivalent.
• Experience ensuring data quality, integrity, and reliability, including validation and monitoring practices.
• Ability to work with large, complex, and disconnected datasets and derive meaningful structure.
• Experience working in Agile environments and collaborating with cross-functional teams.

Preferred

• Experience with search and indexing technologies such as Elasticsearch, OpenSearch, Solr, or Lucene.
• Experience integrating legacy systems with modern cloud-based data platforms, including data migration and transformation.
• Familiarity with data governance, lineage, and metadata management practices.
• Experience building data systems that support user-facing applications, analytics platforms, or search systems.
• Experience working in design-driven, cross-functional teams (product, UX, engineering).
• Experience supporting AI/ML workflows, including feature engineering and data preparation.

Nice To Have

• Experience with vector databases and embeddings for semantic search or retrieval use cases (e.g. Weaviate, Pinecone, PostgreSQL pgvector).
• Familiarity with LLM-powered systems, including Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) or natural language search.
• Experience with graph databases (e.g., Neo4j, Amazon Neptune) and modeling complex relationships.
• Experience designing systems for modern search or information retrieval use cases.
• Experience with CI/CD pipelines and modern DevOps practices.
• Experience with distributed data processing frameworks such as Spark (PySpark preferred).
• Familiarity with streaming or real-time data processing (e.g., Kafka, Spark Streaming).

About Steampunk

Steampunk relies on several factors to determine salary, including but not limited to geographic location, contractual requirements, education, knowledge, skills, competencies, and experience. The projected compensation range for this position is $140,000 to $180,000. The estimate displayed represents a typical annual salary range for this position. Annual salary is just one aspect of Steampunk’s total compensation package for employees. Learn more about additional Steampunk benefits here.

Identity Statement

As part of the application process, 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.

Steampunk is a Change Agent in the Federal contracting industry, bringing new thinking to clients in the Homeland, Federal Civilian, Health and DoD sectors. Through our Human-Centered delivery methodology, we are fundamentally changing the expectations our Federal clients have for true shared accountability in solving their toughest mission challenges. If you want to learn more about our story, visit http://www.steampunk.com.

We are an equal opportunity employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law. Steampunk participates in the E-Verify program.