Senior Data Engineer

Colvin Run; Northern (KY); Hybrid; USD 150,000 - 185,000; Full time

Job summary

Colvin Run Networks in Northern Virginia is seeking a Senior Data Engineer to design and operate data pipelines that feed dashboards and AI models for national security missions. You will own data quality from source to screen, blending engineering with hands-on analysis.

Responsibilities include building ETL/ELT pipelines, modeling data in lakes and warehouses, exposing data through APIs, and enforcing governance and security controls, while collaborating with analytics and software engineers.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in a related field.
• 8+ years of relevant experience.
• Production experience building and running ETL or ELT pipelines.
• Strong SQL and Python skills.
• Experience with relational databases and data lakes/warehouses.
• Experience building APIs or service layers that expose data.
• Experience applying data quality, security, and governance controls.
• U.S. citizen eligible for Top Secret clearance.

Responsibilities

• Build pipelines: Design, build, and monitor ETL/ELT pipelines moving data from sources into shared stores.
• Model the data: Configure databases, data lakes or warehouses, and feature stores; write transformations.
• Serve the data: Expose data and model outputs via APIs and service layers.
• Measure mission performance: Provide data behind readiness and performance measures.
• Protect data quality: Implement data quality checks, lineage tracking, and governance.
• Analyze with the team: Collaborate with analysts and engineers to identify patterns to build.

Skills

SQL

Python

Relational Databases

Data Lake/Warehouse

APIs

Data Governance

Security

Education

Bachelor's degree

Tools

Databricks

Spark

AWS

Azure

Job description

Senior Data Engineer

Location: Northern Virginia, Hybrid.

Position: Full-time, reporting to Program leadership.

Access: U.S. citizenship required, with the ability to obtain a Top Secret security clearance.

The likely salary range for this position is $150,000 to $185,000 per year. Salary is set based on experience, and this range is not a guarantee of compensation.

Start Date: Confirmed in the first conversation.

Colvin Run Networks builds mission-driven intelligent systems for national security and other high-stakes government missions. We apply commercial innovation to operational missions, an approach we call reverse dual use. As mission timelines outpace the acquisition system, we work at startup velocity with enterprise credibility. We build solutions that a program office can stand behind, and that operators want to use.

This role supports a federal civilian agency modernization program that applies AI and modern data tools to 24/7 operations, readiness, and crisis response.

About the job

The agency needs to see its own operations clearly, and much of that information still moves through manual reports. You build the data pipelines that change that. You design how data is ingested, transformed, and served to the dashboards, performance measures, and AI models the team builds.

You own data quality from the source system to the screen, and the role mixes engineering with hands-on analysis.

What you'll do

• Build pipelines: Design, build, and monitor ETL and ELT pipelines that move data from operational sources into shared data stores.
• Model the data: Configure databases, data lakes or warehouses, and feature stores, and write the transformation and feature engineering that the analytics and AI work depend on.
• Serve the data: Expose data and model outputs through APIs and service layers that applications and dashboards can call.
• Measure mission performance: Supply the data behind readiness and performance measures, such as detection and escalation times and reduction in manual workload.
• Protect data quality: Apply data quality checks, lineage tracking, access controls, and governance that meet agency standards.
• Analyze with the team: Explore the data with analysts and engineers to find the patterns worth building for.

Required qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in computer science, engineering, information systems, mathematics, or a related field.
• 8 or more years of relevant experience.
• Production experience building and running ETL or ELT pipelines.
• Strong SQL and Python skills.
• Experience with relational databases and with a data lake or warehouse.
• Experience building APIs or service layers that expose data.
• Experience applying data quality, security, and governance controls.
• Must be a U.S. citizen with the capability of obtaining a Top Secret security clearance.

Desired Experience

• Work with Databricks, Spark, or a comparable platform, and with AWS or Azure.
• Support for machine learning teams through feature engineering or feature stores.
• Statistics or exploratory data analysis.
• Feeding dashboards in a business intelligence tool such as Power BI.
• Work with federal data and security requirements.

How we work

We hire and review against REACH:

• Rigor: We think deeply and act decisively. Sound judgment, data, and critical thought separate signal from noise. We ask "what needs to be true?" and stay grounded in facts, not assumptions.
• Excellence: We deliver results that are fast, intuitive, and impactful. We focus on what the client truly needs and take pride in solutions people want to adopt. Quality is how we earn trust.
• Agility: "That's not my job" is not part of our vocabulary. We take ownership, adapt quickly, and find solutions rather than roadblocks, flexible under pressure, whatever the role.
• Commitment: We believe in the mission we serve and never stop improving. We are our own biggest critics because we care about the outcome. Our ethics are non-negotiable.
• Humility: Egos low, standards high. We listen, stay curious, and seek feedback. We speak with radical candor, assume good intent, and put the team's success over individual credit.

Veterans and military spouses are encouraged to apply.

Colvin Run Networks is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We consider applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, or any other protected status.