About the role
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 SQL environments. * 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
Originally posted on Himalayas