Senior Data Engineer

Jobtailor; Newport News (VA); On-site; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Jobtailor in Newport News, Virginia seeks a senior Data Engineer to design, develop, and maintain scalable data pipelines, ETL/ELT processes, and cloud databases on Azure. You will implement data validation, lineage, and security-compliant data operations.

Collaborating with Data Architects, DBAs, and analysts, you will optimize performance, automate deployments with CI/CD, and contribute to data products for reporting and analytics, while meeting DoD security and compliance requirements.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s or higher in Engineering, Science, or IT.
• 5+ years of experience in data engineering, database development, or ETL/ELT development.
• Proficiency in SQL, Python, or Scala for data transformation.
• Experience with relational database design, indexing, partitioning, and query optimization.
• Knowledge of data quality, validation frameworks, and data governance principles.
• Understanding of DoD security and compliance requirements for data handling.
• Secret or TS clearance
• Certification in Microsoft Azure Data Engineering or Azure Database Administrator preferred
• Experience with Databricks, Spark, or big data processing preferred

Responsibilities

• Design, develop, and maintain scalable data pipelines, data integration solutions, and data systems.
• Develop ETL/ELT pipelines using Azure Data Factory, Synapse Pipelines, or other data integration tools.
• Develop, optimize, and maintain relational and cloud-based databases such as Azure SQL and Synapse.
• Implement data validation, cleansing, and transformation logic.
• Monitor and tune database performance, including query optimization, indexing, and resource allocation.
• Ensure data lineage, metadata tracking, and database documentation for audit and compliance.
• Collaborate with Data Architects, application developers, DBAs, analysts, and visualization developers.
• Support database security, availability, and backup/recovery strategies.
• Automate pipeline and database deployment using CI/CD practices and infrastructure-as-code
• Troubleshoot and resolve pipeline failures, data inconsistencies, and database performance or integration issues.
• Lead complex data engineering efforts and develop reliable, analytics-ready datasets and data products supporting reporting, visualization, and data-driven decision-making

Skills

SQL Proficiency

Python or Scala

Data Pipeline Development

Data Transformation

Data Governance

DoD Security Compliance

Database Performance Tuning

Education

Bachelor’s or higher in Engineering, Science, or IT

Tools

Azure Data Factory

Synapse Pipelines

Databricks

Spark

CI/CD

Job description

• Design, develop, and maintain scalable data pipelines, data integration solutions, and data systems
• Develop ETL/ELT pipelines using Azure Data Factory, Synapse Pipelines, or other data integration tools
• Develop, optimize, and maintain relational and cloud-based databases such as Azure SQL and Synapse
• Implement data validation, cleansing, and transformation logic
• Monitor and tune database performance, including query optimization, indexing, and resource allocation
• Ensure data lineage, metadata tracking, and database documentation for audit and compliance
• Collaborate with Data Architects, application developers, DBAs, analysts, and visualization developers
• Support database security, availability, and backup/recovery strategies
• Automate pipeline and database deployment using CI/CD practices and infrastructure-as-code
• Troubleshoot and resolve pipeline failures, data inconsistencies, and database performance or integration issues
• Lead complex data engineering efforts and develop reliable, analytics-ready datasets and data products supporting reporting, visualization, and data-driven decision-making

Requirements

• CompTIA Security+ certification
• Bachelor’s or higher in Engineering, Science, or IT
• 5+ years of experience in data engineering, database development, or ETL/ELT development
• Proficiency in SQL, Python, or Scala for data transformation
• Experience with relational database design, indexing, partitioning, and query optimization
• Knowledge of data quality, validation frameworks, and data governance principles
• Understanding of DoD security and compliance requirements for data handling
• Secret or TS clearance
• Certification in Microsoft Azure Data Engineering or Azure Database Administrator preferred
• Experience with Databricks, Spark, or big data processing preferred
• Familiarity with metadata management, data cataloging, or data lineage tools preferred
• Experience with performance tuning, backup/recovery, and high-availability database architectures preferred

Core Competencies

Demonstrates expertise in designing and developing scalable data pipelines and integration solutions, with a strong focus on ETL/ELT processes using Azure Data Factory and SQL. Proficient in database performance tuning, data governance, and ensuring compliance with security standards.

Highest-signal resume keywords

• ETL/ELT Development
• Azure Data Factory
• SQL Proficiency
• CompTIA Security+ Certification
• Data Governance Principles

Hard Skills

• Data Pipeline Development
• Database Performance Tuning
• Data Transformation
• Relational Database Design
• Query Optimization
• Data Validation
• Data Cleansing
• Data Integration Solutions
• Metadata Management
• Big Data Processing

Soft Skills

• Collaboration
• Problem-Solving
• Troubleshooting

Certifications & Qualifications

• CompTIA Security+
• Microsoft Azure Data Engineering Certification
• Azure Database Administrator Certification

Industry Keywords

• Data Engineering
• Data Quality
• Data Governance
• DoD Security Compliance
• Database Security

Tools & Technologies

• Azure SQL
• Synapse Pipelines
• Databricks
• Spark
• CI/CD Practices