Senior Data Engineer: Scalable DBs for ML Workflows

The Applied Research Laboratory at Penn State University; University Park (TX); On-site; USD 122,000 - 266,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

75% tuition discount

Comprehensive benefits package

Job summary

Applied Research Laboratory (ARL) at Penn State University seeks a Senior Data Engineer to design scalable, high-performance database solutions for data science and ML workflows. You will work with data scientists to optimize access patterns, and lead PostgreSQL schema design, indexing and partitioning while evaluating MongoDB, Neo4j, Redis, Cassandra and other systems.

Located in State College, PA or Reston, VA, the role supports hybrid/onsite work with clear security and governance

Qualifications

• 5+ years in data engineering, database architecture or related roles.
• Expert-level PostgreSQL: schema design, indexing, partitioning, replication.
• Experience with relational and non-relational databases and ML data needs.
• Familiarity with cloud database services and SQL scripting (Python preferred).
• Ability to collaborate with data scientists and software teams.

Responsibilities

• Design and maintain scalable, high-performance database solutions for data science workflows.
• Partner with data scientists to optimize data access patterns and storage strategies.
• Lead PostgreSQL schema design, indexing, partitioning and query optimization.
• Evaluate MongoDB, Neo4j, Redis, Cassandra and other systems for clear advantages.
• Improve data pipelines for structured and unstructured data; ensure data governance.

Skills

PostgreSQL

Data modeling

SQL

Python

Communication

Education

Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in CS/Engineering/Data Science

Tools

MongoDB

Neo4j

Redis

Cassandra

Airflow

dbt

AWS RDS/Aurora

Job description

Applied Research Laboratory (ARL) at Penn State University seeks a Senior Data Engineer to design scalable, high-performance database solutions for data science and ML workflows. You will work with data scientists to optimize access patterns, and lead PostgreSQL schema design, indexing and partitioning while evaluating MongoDB, Neo4j, Redis, Cassandra and other systems.

Located in State College, PA or Reston, VA, the role supports hybrid/onsite work with clear security and governance