Data Engineer – Legacy Systems & AI Workflows

Groundswell is seeking an experienced Data Engineer to deliver secure data ingestion, integration, and pipeline operations for a mission-focused platform, including AI-enabled capabilities in controlled environments.

Responsibilities

• Design, develop, and operate batch and streaming ETL/ELT pipelines ingesting data from multiple structured and semi-structured sources into secure cloud data platforms.
• Onboard legacy data sources by reviewing schemas, mappings, interfaces, validation rules, ownership, and operational support procedures.
• Create automated data-quality checks for completeness, accuracy, consistency, timeliness, and referential integrity with monitoring and alerting that drive action.
• Automate deployments and pipeline operations using SOAP APIs, workflow orchestration, and environment-specific configuration.
• Troubleshoot distributed data system failures using logs, metrics, lineage, and operational signals; clearly communicate root cause and recovery plan.
• Partner with software engineers, cloud engineers, data scientists, security teams, architects, and customer stakeholders to translate mission needs into measurable data products.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Mathematics, Statistics, or a related technical field.
• 5+ years of professional data engineering experience, including production pipeline development and operations.
• Proficiency in Python, Java, R, or another programming language used for data engineering.
• Experience with legacy systems that use SOAP APIs for data interaction.
• Experience implementing data-quality frameworks, validation processes, monitoring, and alerting for production pipelines.
• Working knowledge of data security and governance in restricted or compliance-oriented environments, including access controls, encryption, and auditability.
• Experience working with APIs (SOAP/REST) and structured data formats including JSON, XML, CSV, and Parquet.
• Ability to document technical decisions and collaborate with multidisciplinary teams and customer stakeholders.
• Must be a U.S. Citizen per contract requirements.
• Must be able to obtain and maintain a Public Trust Clearance per contract requirements.

Technologies

• Python, Java, R
• SOAP APIs, SOAP/REST
• JSON, XML, CSV, Parquet
• Jupyter Notebook, numpy, pandas
• AWS, Databricks
• LLM, AI/ML, C3.ai

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience building preprocessing, chunking, filtering, metadata enrichment, or evaluation pipelines for LLM and other AI/ML workflows.
• Experience operating data platforms with segmented networks, limited connectivity, strict change control, or formal authorization requirements.
• Strong SQL skills including query optimization, data modeling, joins, window functions, and analysis of large datasets.
• Experience with Jupyter Notebook or equivalent tools for data analysis.
• Hands-on experience with Python libraries such as numpy and pandas.
• Hands-on experience with at least one major cloud provider; AWS experience strongly preferred.
• Extra consideration for C3.ai experience.
• Active Public Trust Clearance.
• Preference for candidates local to the Washington, DC metro area.

Benefits

• Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision plans
• Flexible Spending Account
• 4% 401K Match (immediate vesting)
• Paid Time Off
• Tuition reimbursement, certification programs, and professional development
• Flexible work schedule
• On-site gym and childcare option

Additional Notes

• Location: McLean, VA (onsite)
• Salary: USD 89,886 - 175,444 per year
• Groundswell does not accept unsolicited resumes through or from search firms or staffing agencies; unsolicited resumes become the property of Groundswell and no placement fee is owed.
• Disability accommodation: contact [email protected] or 703-639-1777 to request reasonable accommodation during the selection process.

Required Clearance

• Public Trust Clearance required per contract requirements.

Certifications

• AWS Data Engineer Certification, Databricks, cloud data engineering, or other relevant professional certification is preferred.

Employee Rights (Posted Resources)

• EO 13496 Notification of Employee Rights under NLRA
• Know your rights: Workplace Discrimination is Illegal