Senior Data Engineer

VivSoft Technologies LLC; United States; Remote; USD 160,000 - 180,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, Dental, Vision (employer-paid

Life Insurance

PTO (flex/combined)

401K with employer match

Dev training reimbursement

Job summary

VivSoft Technologies LLC seeks a Senior Data Engineer to join a USAF program, building a secure data platform and scalable lakehouse on AWS using Spark, Iceberg, and cloud-native tools. You will mentor engineers and drive data governance, quality, and cost controls.

You will lead design decisions, integrate with Grafana dashboards, and collaborate with Data Scientists, Cloud Engineers, and stakeholders across the organization.

Qualifications

• Active Secret Clearance required.
• 8+ years of experience in Data Engineering or large-scale data platform development.
• Expertise in Apache Spark, including performance tuning, partitioning, memory optimization, and handling data skew.
• Strong Python or Scala and advanced SQL development.
• Experience with Apache Iceberg or Delta Lake.
• Strong understanding of distributed query engines (Athena, Trino, Spark SQL).
• Hands-on AWS experience (S3, Glue, EMR, Athena, EC2, SQS).
• Experience with Apache Airflow for orchestration.
• Terraform and IaC proficiency; Kubernetes experience.
• Experience developing dashboards and data products (Grafana).
• Knowledge of data quality, governance, lineage, and access control.

Responsibilities

• Architect, build, and manage a cloud-based lakehouse on AWS using Iceberg, S3, and Glue Catalog.
• Develop and optimize Spark data pipelines on EMR and Kubernetes.
• Design event-driven ingestion using S3 events and SQS.
• Optimize queries across Athena, Trino, and Spark SQL.
• Orchestrate ETL pipelines with Apache Airflow.
• Manage infrastructure with Terraform and IaC practices.
• Develop, publish, monitor, and maintain data products and dashboards.
• Implement data quality, governance, lineage, and access controls.

Skills

Secret Clearance

Data engineering

Python/Scala

SQL

Spark tuning

Distributed queries

Technical leadership

Stakeholder comms

Mentoring

Cloud data platforms

Data governance

Dashboards

Tools

Apache Spark

Apache Iceberg

Delta Lake

AWS S3

AWS Glue

AWS EMR

Athena

Trino

Spark SQL

Airflow

Terraform

Kubernetes

Grafana

dbt

Helm

GitOps

SQS

Job description

Job Title: SeniorData Engineer

Location: Remote

Position Type: Full-Time

Clearance Required: Secret Clearance

About the company

At VivSoft, we aim to solve complex federal problems using emerging and open technologies in a collaborative and rewarding environment. VivSoft is a diverse team of strategists, engineers, designers, and creators experienced in building high-performance, effective software, with a focus on impactful organisational design and software delivery dynamics. We build secure Software Factories based on DoD reference designs and NIST Frameworks for Cloud and DevSecOps. These factories deliver AI/ML Applications, Data Science Platforms, Blockchain and Microservices for DoD, Healthcare and Civilian Agencies

Job Summary

We are seeking a Senior Data Engineer to support a United States Air Force (USAF) program responsible for building and operating a modern, scalable, and secure data platform. This role will lead the design and optimization of an enterprise lakehouse architecture on AWS, leveraging Apache Iceberg, Apache Spark, and cloud-native technologies to enable advanced analytics, AI/ML initiatives, and operational reporting. The ideal candidate will possess deep expertise in large-scale data platforms, distributed processing, data governance, and cloud infrastructure while providing technical leadership and mentoring across engineering teams.

Key Responsibilities

• Architect, build, and manage a cloud-based lakehouse environment using Apache Iceberg, AWS S3, and AWS Glue Catalog.
• Develop and optimize Apache Spark data pipelines on EMR and Kubernetes environments.
• Design and implement event-driven data ingestion solutions using S3 events and Amazon SQS.
• Optimize query performance across Athena, Trino, and Spark SQLenvironments.
• Orchestrate data workflows and ETL pipelines using Apache Airflow.
• Manage infrastructure deployment and automation using Terraform.
• Develop, publish, monitor, and maintain data products and analytical dashboards.
• Implement data quality, governance, lineage, access controls, and cost management best practices.
• Create technical documentation, architectural designs, and operational runbooks.
• Provide technical leadership and mentorship to junior engineering team members.

Required Skills

• Must possess an active Secret Clearance
• 8+ years of professional experience in Data Engineering or large-scale data platform development.
• Expertise in Apache Spark, including performance tuning, partitioning, memory optimization, and handling data skew.
• Strong proficiency in Python or Scala and advanced SQL development.
• Experience with open table formats such as Apache Iceberg (preferred) or Delta Lake.
• Strong understanding of distributed query engines, including Athena, Trino, and Spark SQL.
• Hands-on experience with AWS services, including S3, Glue, EMR, Athena, EC2, SQS, and event-driven architectures.
• Experience with Apache Airflow for workflow orchestration.
• Proficiency with Terraform and Infrastructure as Code (IaC).
• Experience working with Kubernetes environments.
• Experience developing dashboards and data products using Grafana or similar visualization platforms.
• Strong understanding of data quality, data governance, lineage, and access control frameworks.
• Excellent technical leadership, mentoring, and stakeholder communication skills.
• Ability to translate business, operational, and analytics requirements into scalable data platform solutions.
• Strong collaboration skills with Data Scientists, AI Engineers, Cloud Engineers, and business stakeholders.
• Proven ability to lead technical discussions and mentor junior engineers.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Strong attention to detail regarding data quality, governance, lineage, security, and operational reliability.

Preferred Skills

• Experience operating and maintaining Apache Iceberg tables at enterprise scale.
• Experience with Trino administration and performance optimization.
• Knowledge of dbt or similar data transformation frameworks.
• Experience with Helm and GitOps deployment methodologies.
• Experience evaluating and implementing modern data visualization platforms beyond Grafana.
• Familiarity with data catalog, metadata management, lineage, and governance tools.
• AWS Data Analytics Certification and/or Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA).
• Prior DoD, USAF, or Federal Government data platform experience.
• Experience supporting AI/ML, data science, or advanced analytics workloads in cloud environments.

Benefits

• Comprehensive Medical, Dental, and Vision Plans (Healthcare benefits are 100% employer-paid for employees only)
• Life Insurance
• Paid Time Off (Flexible/Combined PTO, Bereavement Leave, 11 Company Paid Holidays)
• 401K Retirement Plan with employer match
• Professional Development Training Reimbursement

Salary Range: $160K to $180K per Annually