Data Platform Engineer (Senior) (Onsite)

Job Title: Data Platform Engineer (Senior) (Onsite)

Location: Linthicum, MD, 21090

Duration: Upto 7 Years

Position Description: The Senior Data Platform Engineer will be expected to architect, deploy, and operate the enterprise AWS data platform infrastructure that supports analytics and data-sharing initiatives. This role is infrastructure-focused, bridging DevOps/DataOps and data engineering to deliver a secure, governed, and performant platform for agency data consumers. The Systems Architect (Senior) is responsible for developing business, data, systems, and infrastructure models to develop enterprise architectures. His/her responsibilities include performing the following tasks:

●       Developing plans for migrating architectures

●       Developing technical reference models to include hardware/software standards

●       Engineering integrated hardware and software solutions to meet mission requirements.

●       Architect and maintain the core AWS data platform: S3-based data lake, Redshift Serverless or provisioned clusters, AWS Glue catalog, Athena, and Lake Formation.

●       Design and enforce data access control, row/column-level security, and data sharing policies using AWS Lake Formation and IAM.

●       Build and maintain DataOps pipelines, infrastructure-as-code (Terraform/CDK), and CI/CD workflows for platform deployments.

●       Manage platform observability by implementing monitoring, alerting, and cost-governance dashboards (CloudWatch, AWS Cost Explorer, NewRelic).

●       Evaluate, integrate, and operationalize new AWS platform services aligned with agency modernization roadmap.

●       Support multi-account AWS environment management (AWS Organizations, Control Tower, Service Control Policies).

●       Establish and enforce data platform standards, best practices, and technical runbooks.

●       Collaborate with security/compliance teams to maintain FedRAMP compliance, NIST controls, and system authorization documentation.

●       Provide Tier 2/3 platform support; triage and resolve performance, availability, and data quality incidents.

●       Mentor junior data engineers and contribute to platform capability roadmap.

Education: This position requires a Bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university in Computer Science, Information Systems or a related field; or three (3) years of equivalent experience in a related field. (Note: A Master’s degree in Information Technology is a plus.)

 The following is also required:

●       8+ years of experience in data platform, cloud infrastructure, or DataOps engineering.

●       Deep expertise with AWS data and analytics services: S3, Glue, Redshift, Athena, Lake Formation, EMR.

●       Strong infrastructure-as-code skills (Terraform, AWS CDK, or CloudFormation).

●       Experience managing multi-account AWS environments with governance guardrails.

●       Solid understanding of data security: encryption at rest/in transit, IAM least-privilege, VPC networking for data services.

●       Experience with CI/CD pipelines (CodePipeline, GitHub Actions, Jenkins) applied to data platform releases.

●       Familiarity with FedRAMP, FISMA, or NIST 800-53 controls in an AWS context.

General Experience: The proposed candidate must have experience performing architecture related work on at least five IT systems.

Specialized Experience: The proposed candidate must have the following experience in performing a significant role in all aspects of architecture related work on at least two large IT systems:

●       Experience with AWS Control Tower, Organizations, and Service Control Policies for enterprise governance.

●       Familiarity with platform engineering concepts: data mesh, data products, and self-service analytics.

●       Experience with Databricks on AWS or Amazon EMR Serverless.

●       Knowledge of FinOps practices for cloud data cost optimization.

●       Background in government IT modernization or digital transformation programs.

Preferred Certifications

●       AWS Certified Data Analytics — Specialty

●       AWS Certified Solutions Architect — Professional

●       AWS Certified DevOps Engineer — Professional

●       HashiCorp Certified Terraform Associate