Senior Data Engineer

Unchain Data; Washington (District of Columbia); Hybrid; USD 120,000 - 160,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

401K plan with up to 5% employer contribution

Fully funded top-tier health benefits plan

Flexible Vacation Policy

Individualized growth opportunities

Remote work flexibility

Job summary

Unchain Data is looking for a Senior Data Engineer to design secure data solutions and enhance data accessibility. You will develop resilient ETL/ELT pipelines and support AI operations, all while working with a collaborative team.

The ideal candidate will have 5+ years of experience, a degree in Computer Science, and strong skills in Python and cloud databases. Benefits include a competitive salary, flexible vacation, and comprehensive health coverage.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of professional experience in data engineering or a related role.
• Proven experience architecting scalable relational and non-relational (SQL/noSQL) schemas.
• Expertise in maximizing system performance through advanced query tuning.

Responsibilities

• Design and implement robust, cloud-based data storage solutions.
• Develop and maintain resilient ETL/ELT pipelines for real-time streaming and batch processing.
• Build and manage data access layers, including REST APIs and streaming services.

Skills

Python

Data architecture

Performance engineering

Data orchestration (Dagster, Apache Airflow)

Systems thinking

Version control (Git)

Education

Bachelor's degree or higher in Computer Science, Engineering, or Data Science

Tools

AWS RDS

Azure Database

pytest

SQLAlchemy

Job description

About Us

VIA is the digital infrastructure company mission-critical organizations rely on when speed and security matter most. The Department of War, government agencies, and global enterprises depend on VIA to disrupt corruption, defend critical infrastructure, and deliver humanitarian aid. VIA's products span agentic AI, zero-trust identity, quantum-resistant data, and offline stablecoin payments. Every human and agentic AI action is intentionally captured, attributed, and defensible. Designed for sub-second speed and multi-decade defensibility.

The Role

As a Senior Data Engineer at VIA, you will play a pivotal role in the growth of our solutions. You will build the foundation that empowers our customers to harness AI for human-centric, data-driven decision-making. You will work cross-functionally with a high-performing team of data professionals, developers, DevOps, and Client Delivery specialists who are already pushing the boundaries of what's possible with AI.

Individuals who excel in this role are motivated by solving complex data accessibility challenges, holding a high bar for data quality and availability, and improving performance.

Responsibilities

• Architect secure solutions: Design and implement robust, cloud-based data storage solutions, optimizing schemas for multi-tenant environments while ensuring data accessibility and security and a high standard of trust and transparency
• Engineer data pipelines: Develop, deploy, and maintain resilient ETL/ELT pipelines for both real-time streaming and batch processing, ensuring seamless data flow from raw ingestion to production-ready applications
• Facilitate data accessibility: Build and manage data access layers, including REST APIs and streaming services, to empower downstream users
• Drive data governance and best practices: Contribute across teams to recommend tools, processes, and best practices for maintaining data health, integrity, and security
• Operationalize AI models: Support AI operations (MLOps) by managing versioning, containerization, and deployment of AI models
• Monitor and optimize infrastructure: Build monitoring and alerting systems to track data health and system performance, proactively identifying and remediating bottlenecks

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree or higher in Computer Science, Engineering, or Data Science
• 5+ years of professional experience in data engineering or a related role
• Core engineering: A strong foundation in Python (or equivalent), including testing frameworks (e.g., pytest) and ORMs (e.g., SQLAlchemy)
  • You understand modularity and how to define clear scopes and responsibilities within a large codebase
• Data architecture: Proven experience architecting scalable relational and non-relational (SQL/noSQL) schemas
  • You manage the end-to-end database lifecycle, from initial design to production maintenance
• Performance engineering: Expertise in maximizing system performance through advanced query tuning, strategic indexing, and execution plan analysis to eliminate technical bottlenecks
• Cloud infrastructure: Experience with one or more cloud-based databases (e.g., AWS RDS, Azure Database)
  • You are comfortable configuring compute resources, backups, and geolocation requirements
• Data orchestration: Experience building resilient pipelines using frameworks such as Dagster or Apache Airflow
  • You have a track record of maintaining data health for both real-time streaming and batch processing
• Systems thinking: A strong understanding of how data infrastructure integrates into the broader application architecture
• Professional standards: Experience with modern software development practices, including version control (Git), CI/CD pipelines, and a commitment to high-quality, maintainable code

What It Takes to Be a Successful VIAneer

• Self-motivated and passionate about leaving everything they touch better than how they found it
• Firm believers that people should love what they do and are eager to build a culture that enables them to do their best work
• Creative problem solvers who respectfully challenge the status quo in the pursuit of excellence
• People who lead discussions with curiosity and value diverse perspectives
• Eager to explore new ideas, understand the power of feedback, and constantly seek opportunities to grow and develop their skills
• Strong team players who thrive in collaborative environments and celebrate the success of others

Benefits

• Compensation: Salary range of $120,000 - $160,000 USD per year, 401K plan with up to 5% employer contribution
• Health: A fully funded, top-tier health benefits plan, including vision and dental coverage, fully covered from day one, for your whole family
• Family Support: Up to 24 weeks paid parental leave, a 4-week paid ramp-back program, and a $10K family forming benefit (covering fertility treatments, adoption, and surrogacy)
• Time off: Flexible Vacation Policy with no set annual limit or accrual period, Summer Fridays, and an extended holiday period in December
• Remote work: Ability to enjoy the best of both worlds with flexibility to work from home as needed, as well as access to four well-located offices, designed for collaboration and stocked with everything you could need. Opportunities to work remotely from eligible locations for up to 2 months per year
• Growth: Individualized growth opportunities, including internal and external mentorship panels, custom goals and feedback sessions, and access to learning and development programs, including VIA's leadership program. A dedicated wellness advisor to help you navigate the programs and opportunities available at VIA
• Transit: Benefits to support commuting costs
• Connection: In-person events to foster team bonding and collaboration across different teams