Senior Systems Engineer (AWS Data Engineer)

Syms Strategic Group, LLC (SSG)•Newport News, VA

6d•Remote

About The Position

Syms Strategic Group (SSG) is seeking a talented Senior Systems Engineer (Amazon Web Services (AWS) Data Engineer) to lead the next phase of the healthcare data platform modernization. This role involves evolving the current Microsoft Structured Query Language Server (MSSQL) eXtensible Markup Language (XML) object store toward a scalable, cloud-native AWS data architecture. The goal is to enable business stakeholders and analysts to seamlessly run performant, SQL-based reports and queries against the healthcare data. The engineer will evaluate and decide on the right AWS data strategy, recommend optimal AWS-native data storage and query architecture, and design and build the reporting and query layer for non-technical users. This includes architecting the migration path for XML object store data, building data catalogs, schemas, and metadata management, and optimizing query performance and cost. The role requires close collaboration with business stakeholders to understand reporting requirements and translate them into data models, and with backend C#/.Net engineers to ensure clean data flows. Additionally, the engineer will implement CI/CD pipelines, apply Infrastructure as Code (IaC) practices, and document architecture decisions clearly.

Requirements

8+ years’ experience in software or data engineering with a strong AWS focus
Proven experience architecting and executing cloud data platform migrations in production enterprise or healthcare environments
A track record of evaluating and selecting AWS data services to meet business reporting and query requirements
Experience delivering reporting or analytics solutions that serve non-technical business users
Deep hands-on AWS experience across data-oriented services (S3, Athena, Glue, Aurora, DynamoDB, Redshift, OpenSearch, Lambda, Identity Access Management (IAM), Cloudwatch)
Strong SQL skills, with an ability to design relational query layers over semi-structured or non-relational data (XML, JSON)
Experience working with XML-heavy data stores (parsing, querying, and transforming XML at scale)
An ability to evaluate trade-offs across AWS data services and make architecture recommendations based on cost, performance, and business requirements
Familiarity with AWS analytics and reporting services, including Athena, QuickSight, Redshift, or equivalent Business Intelligence (BI) tooling
Proficiency with Git and GitHub, branching strategies, pull requests, and collaborative workflows
Familiarity with CI/CD practices and AWS-native tooling (CodePipeline, CodeBuild, and CodeDeploy)
IaC experience (AWS CDK, Cloud Formation, or Terraform)
A strong ability to communicate technical architecture decisions and trade-offs to non-technical stakeholders
Experience gathering and translating business reporting requirements into technical data models
Comfort driving ambiguous architecture decisions to resolution with limited direction
Experience with Agile methodologies (Scrum, Kanban) and JIRA
Strong documentation habits, including architecture diagrams, data dictionaries, and migration runbooks

Nice To Haves

Electronic Data Interchange X.12 (EDI) Medical Claims
X.12, Medical Claims (837, 835, 277CA, etc), Health Level (HL7), Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR)
Familiarity with C#/.Net backend services for integration touchpoints
Experience with Entity Framework migration or depreciation projects
Knowledge of HIPAA compliance requirements in cloud data architecture
Experience with healthcare payer/PBM systems, clearinghouses, or pharmacy operations
Experience working with remote U.S. based teams (Not Offshore teams)
AWS Certification(s)

Responsibilities

Lead the next phase of the healthcare data platform modernization
Continue the evolution from a Microsoft Structured Query Language Server (MSSQL) eXtensible Markup Language (XML) object store toward a scalable, cloud-native AWS data architecture
Enable business stakeholders and analysts to run performant, SQL-based reports and queries against the healthcare data seamlessly
Evaluate and decide the right AWS data strategy for the team’s platform
Evaluate and commend the optimal AWS-native data storage and query architecture for the XML object store data, assessing options such as Simple Storage Service (S3) + Athena, Aurora, DynamoDB, Redshift, and OpenSearch based on query patterns, reporting needs, cost, and scalability
Design and build the reporting and query layer that allows business stakeholders and non-technical users to run relational SQL queries against healthcare data using familiar tooling
Architect the migration path for XML object store data from MSSQL into the target AWS platform, defining storage formats, partitioning strategies, and data organization for optimal query performance
Build and maintain AWS data catalog(s), schemas, and metadata management so that object store data is discoverable and queryable by business users
Optimize query performance and cost across chosen AWS services – partitioning, compression, file formats, and query pattern tuning
Work directly with business stakeholders and analysts to understand reporting requirements and translate them into durable, performant data models and query patterns
Collaborate with backend C#/.Net engineers to ensure data flows cleanly from Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) processing pipelines into the new data layer
Implement and maintain Continuous Integration/Continuous Delivery (CI/CD) pipelines for data infrastructure using AWS-native tooling (CodePipeline, CodeBuild, and CodeDeploy)
Apply Infrastructure as Code (IaC) practices using AWS Cloud Development Kit (CDK), CloudFormation, or Terraform
Document architecture decisions, data flows, and data dictionaries clearly for both technical and non-technical audiences