Senior Data Engineer; Public Trust Security Clearance

Position: Senior Data Engineer (Public Trust) with Security Clearance

Location

Bethesda, MD (Hybrid)

Clearance: Public Trust (Role may require additional background investigations)

Employment Type

Full-Time; U.S. Citizenship Required Position Overview

Praescient Analytics is seeking an experienced Senior Data Engineer to support a major federal data modernization and analytics program. This role is responsible for the design, development, optimization, and operational support of scalable, secure, and high‑quality data pipelines that enable advanced analytics, machine learning, and AI‑driven decision support in a regulated government environment. The Senior Data Engineer plays a critical role in the client's transition from legacy, on‑premises systems to a cloud‑native, open‑source analytics ecosystem built on Microsoft Azure.

This position ensures that data is reliable, performant, well‑governed, and readily consumable by data scientists, analysts, and AI/ML engineers supporting mission‑critical use cases. Key Responsibilities

• Design, build, and maintain production‑grade ETL/ELT pipelines to ingest, transform, and curate large volumes of structured and unstructured data.
• Develop data workflows using Python‑based frameworks and Microsoft Azure services, ensuring scalability, reliability, and fault tolerance.
• Optimize data pipelines for performance, cost efficiency, and maintainability.
• Architect and implement data solutions within Microsoft Azure:
• Azure Data Lake Storage (ADLS Gen2)
• Azure SQL and related data services
• Azure Synapse Analytics
• Design and manage workflow orchestration using Azure Data Factory (or equivalent) for scheduling, monitoring, and automation.
• Build and maintain Python‑based data services and utilities using open‑source libraries such as Pandas, Num Py, and related frameworks.
• Implement logging, monitoring, alerting, and performance tuning to support operational reliability.
• Apply data governance best practices, including data lineage, reproducibility, auditability, and compliance with federal standards.
• Maintain comprehensive documentation, including data dictionaries, pipeline designs, and process flows.
• Work closely with data scientists, AI/ML engineers, analysts, architects, and Agile project managers to ensure data pipelines meet analytical and operational requirements. Required Qualifications
• Experience:
• Minimum of 5+ years of experience designing, building, and operating data pipelines supporting analytics and/or machine learning.
• Demonstrated experience working with large‑scale datasets in production environments.
• Proven experience supporting cloud‑based data platforms.
• Bachelor's degree in Data Science, Computer Science, Engineering, Statistics, or related field – or equivalent professional experience.
• Technical

Skills

• Strong proficiency in Python (Pandas required; Num Py, scikit‑learn, and related libraries preferred).
• Advanced SQL skills and experience integrating relational data sources.
• Hands‑on experience with Microsoft Azure, including Azure Data Lake Storage and Azure SQL.
• Experience with workflow orchestration tools such as Azure Data Factory.
• Familiarity with open‑source data processing and ETL frameworks.
• Experience with logging, monitoring, and performance optimization for data systems.
• Proficiency with Git‑based version control and collaborative development practices.
• Clearance: Minimum of a Public Trust (U.S. Citizenship required). Preferred Qualifications
• Master's degree or higher in Data Science, Computer Science, Engineering, Statistics, or related field – or equivalent professional experience.
• Microsoft Azure certifications (e.g., Azure Data Engineer Associate) strongly preferred.
• Experience working in federal, public‑sector, or other regulated environments.
• Familiarity with data engineering patterns for secure, scalable systems.
• Experience supporting AI/ML workloads, feature engineering pipelines, or near‑real‑time analytics. What You Can Expect From Us
• Real opportunity for career growth in an environment where your achievements will be celebrated.
• Constant collaboration with numerous teams to ensure client success.
• A team that respects and embraces your ideas and expertise.
• Coworkers motivated by pursuing excellence, rather than the prospect of…