Senior Data Engineer

Senior Data Engineer Position Overview We are seeking a Senior Data Engineer to support a large-scale, mission-critical data platform for a regulated U.S. government program. This role focuses on designing, building, and maintaining scalable data pipelines and analytics-ready data environments in the cloud. The ideal candidate brings deep experience with SQL, Python, and Snowflake, strong data modeling fundamentals, and a disciplined engineering mindset suitable for high-trust environments. This position requires U.S. Person status due to the nature of the work. Key Responsibilities • Design, develop, and maintain scalable, reliable data pipelines supporting analytics, reporting, and downstream applications • Build and optimize data ingestion, transformation, and aggregation workflows using SQL and Python • Implement and manage data models in Snowflake optimized for performance, cost, and analytical use cases • Partner with data analysts, data scientists, and application teams to translate business and mission requirements into technical solutions • Ensure data quality, consistency, and integrity through validation frameworks and automated checks • Optimize query performance, warehouse usage, and storage strategies within Snowflake • Support batch and near-real-time data processing patterns as required by the platform • Contribute to data architecture decisions, standards, and best practices • Develop and maintain technical documentation for data pipelines, schemas, and operational processes • Participate in code reviews and mentor junior engineers as needed • Support production operations, troubleshooting, and root-cause analysis for data issues Required Qualifications • 7–10 years of experience in data engineering, data warehousing, or backend data platform development • Advanced SQL expertise, including complex transformations, performance tuning, and query optimization • Strong Python experience for data processing, orchestration, and automation • Hands-on experience designing and operating Snowflake data warehouses in production environments • Solid understanding of data modeling concepts (dimensional, relational, and analytical models) • Experience building ETL/ELT pipelines and working with structured and semi-structured data • Familiarity with cloud-based data architectures and modern data engineering practices • Strong problem-solving skills and the ability to work independently in a fast-moving environment • Excellent communication skills and comfort working with cross-functional stakeholders • U.S. Person status required Nice to Have • Experience with data orchestration tools (e.g., Airflow or similar) • Exposure to DevOps or DataOps practices, including CI/CD for data pipelines • Experience working in regulated, government, or defense-related environments • Familiarity with data governance, lineage, and metadata management concepts