Data Engineer (AI) Senior Engineer (4798) (TS/SCI) (Ft. Belvoir, VA - Nolan Bldg)

Smartronix•Fort Belvoir, VA

45d•Onsite

About The Position

SMX is seeking a Data Engineer (AI) Senior Engineer to contribute to the development and sustainment of data pipelines and data services that enable AI/ML capabilities within Army Intelligence mission environments. This role focuses on preparing transforming, and delivering reliable data to support model training, inference, and analytic workflows. The Data Engineer (AI) Senior Engineer partners with AI/ML engineers, analysts, platform teams, and mission leadership to align data capabilities with operational outcomes, security, and governance. This is a full-time onsite position in Ft. Belvoir, VA.

Requirements

Active TS security clearance and eligible for SCI and NATO read-on prior to starting work
Meet all requirements to receive a privileged user account on a TS/SCI information system (e.g. Army Cloud Computing Service Provider) prior to starting work. The requirements are currently defined in DoDD 8140.01.
Security+ or related DoDD 8140-relevant certification.
Master's degree in Computer Science, Data Science, Engineering, or a related technical field and 3+ years of experience in data engineering or large-scale data processing in an AI/ML-supporting capacity, or
Bachelor's Degree and in Computer Science, Data Science, Engineering, or a related technical field and 7+ years of experience in data engineering or large-scale data processing in an AI/ML-supporting capacity.
Hands-on experience with data engineering or large-scale data processing.
Experience with programming and/or scripting languages (e.g., Python, SQL, Bash).
Familiarity with cloud platforms, data storage systems, and workflow orchestration tools.
Understanding of containerization and CI/CD principles.
Familiarity with military operations, intelligence workflows, and digital platforms.
Ability to work within the constraints of military security and compliance standards.
Able to work closely with model developers, analysis, and platform engineers to understand data requirements and operational context.
Strong problem-definition and solution-development skills to troubleshoot and optimize data operations in support of AI/ML systems.
Excellent communication and interpersonal skills for effective collaboration with diverse teams.
Support new team member onboarding and assist with training materials as needed.

Nice To Haves

Background in data privacy, ethical AI deployment, or regulated industries
AWS Certified Security - Specialty or equivalent cloud certifications.

Responsibilities

Build, maintain, and optimize ETL/ELT pipelines that supply structured and unstructured data to AI/ML workflows.
Implement data ingestion, cleansing, transformation, normalization, and feature preparation steps according to established methods.
Ensure pipelines are reliable, repeatable, and well-documented.
Perform data profiling, validation, and integrity checks to ensure high-quality inputs to AI/ML models.
Monitor data pipeline performance and data flow health; document and escalate issues to senior engineers.
Contribute to improving data observability and traceability.
Employ Agile methodologies for project management.
Manage deployment pipelines, containerization, and CI/CD workflows for AI services in the cloud to ensure reproducible data operations.
Implement robust monitoring, observability, and performance tracking for AI-supporting data systems.
Provide training and technical support to military personnel to ensure effective adoption and utilization of AI technologies.
Document integration architecture, processes, and operational dependencies, to include data structures, transformation logic, data lineage, pipeline workflows, and operational procedures.
Ensure compliance with military security, privacy and governance standards for AI-supporting data systems.
Ensure processes and procedures leverage changes in data engineering and AI/ML governance best practices.