Position: Senior Data Engineer
Location: Alexandria, VA
Work Environment: Hybrid
Clearance Required: Secret
Status: Contingent Upon Contract Award
Knowesis, Inc. is seeking a highly skilled and forward-thinking Senior Data Engineer to support the Department of Defense (DoD), Office of Inspector General (OIG), Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO). This key technical role will lead the design, development, and optimization of data pipelines, architectures, and analytics platforms that enable secure, scalable, and mission-aligned data operations across the enterprise. The Senior Data Engineer will collaborate closely with program leadership, cybersecurity teams, and business analysts to ensure data integrity, accessibility, and performance. This role demands a deep understanding of modern data engineering practices, cloud-native technologies, and federal data governance standards.
The DoD OIG mission is to detect and deter fraud, waste, and abuse in DoD programs and operations; promote the economy, efficiency, and effectiveness of the DoD; and help ensure ethical conduct throughout the DoD. The DoD OIG keeps the Secretary of Defense and the Congress informed of fraud, waste, abuse, and program deficiencies identified through its oversight work. The DoD OIG’s administrative and criminal investigators, auditors, evaluators, and support staff operate globally, conducting investigations, audits, evaluations, and mission support activities to accomplish the DoD OIG’s mission. The DoD OIG, OCIO is responsible for installing, maintaining, operating, and supporting all DoD OIG Information Technology (IT) systems and communication capabilities for approximately 2000 end users and over 60 locations around the globe. Due to the independence of the DoD OIG, the OCIO provides the full spectrum of IT services necessary to support the OIG mission including database support, storage management, transition management, application services, mobile device management, IT asset management, domain services, network transport, and service desk.
To be eligible for this position, candidates must possess U.S. Citizenship without the need for sponsorship, both now and in the future. Applicants without proof of U.S. Citizenship will not be considered due to the position’s security clearance requirements.
The Job Duties and Responsibilities include but are not limited to the following:
- Design, build, and maintain robust data pipelines and ETL/ELT processes to support enterprise reporting, analytics, and operational systems.
- Develop and optimize data architectures that ensure scalability, performance, and security across structured and unstructured datasets.
- Implement data integration solutions that align with DoD OIG OCIO’s modernization goals and support cross-functional interoperability.
- Collaborate with stakeholders to translate business requirements into technical specifications and data models.
- Ensure compliance with federal data governance, privacy, and security standards, including FISMA, NIST, and DoD directives.
- Support the development of dashboards, reports, and visualizations by enabling clean, well-structured data delivery to downstream systems.
- Conduct data profiling, cleansing, and validation to maintain high data quality and reliability.
- Provide technical leadership and mentorship to junior data engineers and analysts.
- Document data flows, architecture diagrams, and operational procedures to support transparency and continuity.
- Participate in Agile ceremonies and contribute to sprint planning, backlog grooming, and iterative delivery cycles.
- Identify opportunities for automation, performance tuning, and cost optimization across data platforms.
Required Qualifications:
- Bachelor’s degree from an accredited University or College in Computer Science, Data Science, Information Systems.
- Minimum 8 years’ experience in strategic and operations planning and/or business analysis
- Minimum 8 years’ experience in at least three disciplines, such as business, information, solution or technical architecture, application development, middleware, information analysis, database management or operations in a multitier environment
- Proficiency in SQL, Python, and/or Scala for data manipulation and pipeline development.
- Experience with cloud platforms (e.g., AWS, Azure, GCP) and associated data services (e.g., Redshift, Snowflake, Databricks, BigQuery).
- Strong understanding of data warehousing concepts, dimensional modeling, and real-time data streaming.
- Familiarity with Agile development methodologies and DevOps practices.
- Experience supporting federal or DoD programs, with knowledge of applicable data security and compliance frameworks.
- Ability to communicate complex technical concepts clearly to non-technical stakeholders..
Preferred Qualifications:
- Experience with tools such as Apache Spark, Kafka, Airflow, or similar orchestration frameworks.
- Knowledge of CMMI, ITIL, and Agile delivery models in federal environments.
- Familiarity with data visualization platforms (e.g., Power BI, Tableau) and business intelligence workflows.
- Prior experience supporting system modernization or digital transformation initiatives.
- Certifications in cloud architecture, data engineering, or Agile methodologies.
- Experience supporting federal or DoD programs.
- Master’s degree in Computer Science, Data Science, Information Systems.
Benefits:
- Health (PPO & HDHP) Paid Time Off
- Company Paid STD & LTD, and Basic Life Insurance
- 401k Company Match
- Paid Time Off
- Multiple Voluntary Products
Knowesis is committed to providing equal employment opportunities to all individuals based on merit and qualifications. We prohibit discrimination in all aspects of employment as required by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act and other applicable federal laws. Our company values all applicants and employees and fosters a work environment where everyone is treated with respect and dignity.