Senior Data Architect

Overview

We are seeking a highly skilled Senior Data Architect to support mission-critical national security programs. The ideal candidate will bring deep expertise in enterprise data architecture, Big Data technologies, and analytics platforms, with a strong background designing and implementing scalable data solutions in complex environments.

This role will lead the architecture, design, and development of large-scale data platforms supporting analytics, artificial intelligence, machine learning, and enterprise reporting initiatives. The successful candidate will work closely with stakeholders, architects, and development teams to deliver innovative data solutions that support critical mission objectives.

Responsibilities
- Lead the design and implementation of enterprise data architecture solutions for large-scale analytics environments.
- Architect, develop, and maintain Big Data solutions leveraging Hadoop ecosystem technologies.
- Design data models, data pipelines, and cloud-based data architectures supporting advanced analytics and business intelligence needs.
- Collaborate with business stakeholders, project managers, architects, and engineering teams to define and implement data strategies.
- Provide technical leadership and mentorship to data engineering and development teams.
- Establish architecture standards, governance processes, and best practices for data management and analytics.
- Troubleshoot and optimize Hadoop environments, ensuring scalability, performance, and reliability.
- Support Agile development initiatives and participate in architecture reviews, technical planning, and solution design sessions.
- Serve as a liaison between technical teams and customers to ensure successful delivery of data solutions.

Required Qualifications
- Active Top Secret clearance.
- Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Engineering, or a related technical field.
- 10-15 years of data architecture, data engineering, or data analytics and overall IT experience.
- 3-5+ years of hands-on experience supporting Big Data and leading data-focused initiatives involving analytics, machine learning, AI, or enterprise data management.
- Strong expertise with the Hadoop ecosystem and distributed data processing platforms.
- Extensive experience designing, developing, and supporting applications within Hadoop environments.
- Hands-on experience with Spark, Scala, Kafka, Hive, Pig, HCatalog, Sqoop, and Hadoop administration.
- Experience developing solutions using Python, Scala, Java, or R.
- Strong UNIX/Linux administration and shell scripting experience.
- Experience with Hadoop performance tuning, troubleshooting, and best practices.
- Knowledge of data warehousing, business intelligence, and enterprise data management concepts.
- Experience with NoSQL databases such as HBase, MongoDB, or Cassandra.
- Experience with DevOps and CI/CD tools such as GitHub and Jenkins.
- Experience working within Agile/Scrum development environments.
- Strong communication skills and the ability to work directly with customers, project managers, and architects.

Preferred Qualifications
- Experience with Talend and Hadoop-based data integration solutions.
- Experience developing MapReduce applications.
- Familiarity with Jira and change/configuration management processes.
- Experience with enterprise scheduling tools such as ZENA.
- Experience with ColdFusion.
- Master's degree in Computer Science, Mathematics, Statistics, or a related field.