Junior Data Engineer

The Bison Group LLC•Springfield, VA

About The Position

As a Junior Data Engineer, you will support a National Security mission to position NGA as the enterprise and community GEOINT data provider. The role focuses on improving how analysts, customers, and end users access, discover, stage, link, produce, reintegrate, and deliver intelligence. You will partner with experienced engineers and mission teams to improve reliable data delivery across cloud and enterprise environments. The work schedule is Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. A TS/SCI CI Poly clearance is required. A bachelor's or master's degree in computer science, information systems, engineering, mathematics, or a related field is required; equivalent education and experience may be considered. The stated minimum experience is 1–3 years of relevant experience with a bachelor's degree. The Bison Group offers benefit options including medical, dental, vision, life, and disability insurance, as well as accrued PTO including vacation, sick leave, and holidays.

Requirements

Experience with geospatial or imagery data is required only for assignments that use those sources; otherwise, experience with comparable structured and unstructured data is acceptable.
Experience writing code in Python, R, Scala, JavaScript, or C++, with documentation for reproducibility, and the ability to write readable, tested, and documented code using Git.
Strong knowledge and experience of visual programming or object-oriented modeling workflows to automate data acquisition.
Practical experience with ETL/ELT workflows, relational data, and common structured or semi-structured data formats.
Ability to apply data validation and analytical techniques to investigate data quality issues and assess the results of a solution.
Experience developing, testing, and supporting data pipelines or integrations in a team environment.
Ability to select and apply appropriate data transformation approaches, explain tradeoffs, and recognize when an issue needs senior review.
Working knowledge of data modeling, metadata, or data catalog concepts.
Exposure to cloud data platforms or tools such as AWS, Spark, Hadoop, Hive, Elasticsearch, or Tableau; specific tools depend on the assigned work.
TS/SCI CI Poly clearance required.
Bachelor’s or master’s degree in computer science, information systems, engineering, mathematics, or a related field; equivalent education and experience may be considered.
1–3 years of relevant experience with a bachelor’s degree.

Nice To Haves

AI/ML experience.
Knowledge of metadata standards.
Knowledge and experience with search tools, search results organization, and the implications of metadata organization, indexing, and catalog content.
Experience in GIS-related applications.

Responsibilities

Design, build, test, and maintain data pipelines and ETL/ELT workflows for analytics, reporting, and mission operations.
Develop and maintain API connectors and integrations that ingest data from internal platforms and external services.
Create and improve data models and processing workflows to meet established performance, scale, and reliability needs.
Implement data validation, quality checks, monitoring, and documentation for assigned data products and workflows.
Work with mission stakeholders, analysts, and architects to clarify requirements and deliver maintainable technical solutions.
Troubleshoot pipeline and data integration issues, support production deployments, and communicate risks or complex issues to the team.