Data Engineer - Top Secret Clearance

Location: Springfield, VA (On-site ~2 days a week) Clearance: Top Secret Required Position Overview As a Data Engineer, you will work closely with O&M, development, product, design, and client teams to maintain, enhance, and deliver secure data infrastructure and search capabilities across client domains. The role requires experience building scalable, real-time data streaming architectures, designing CDC pipelines, and ensuring data is accessible, reliable, and mission-ready. You will help build, modernize, and sustain data workflows using AWS Cloud, OpenShift, and related technologies while supporting secure deployment, system performance, and continuous improvement. Responsibilities • Design, build, and maintain robust Change Data Capture (CDC) pipelines extracting data from MySQL databases using Debezium and routing to Apache Kafka. • Develop and optimize Apache Flink applications to consume Debezium topics, perform complex multi-table joins, and output denormalized records back to Kafka. • Configure and manage Vector pipelines to consume Flink-processed Kafka topics, perform object remapping, and reliably sink data into OpenSearch. • Architect OpenSearch data management workflows, including the design and implementation of custom ingest pipelines, index templates, and lifecycle policies. • Leverage AI skills to enhance data enrichment processes, implement vector/semantic search capabilities within OpenSearch, and support advanced analytics. • Deploy, scale, and maintain data infrastructure on OpenShift using Helm charts and ArgoCD following GitOps best practices. • Monitor system health, tune performance across the entire data streaming lifecycle (Kafka, Flink, OpenSearch), and ensure high availability and fault tolerance. • Collaborate with backend engineers to ensure OpenSearch indexes are highly optimized for performant querying by downstream NestJS applications. • Perform root cause analysis for system, application, data pipeline, and end-user issues, assisting Tier 2 support teams with complex problem resolutions. • Maintain technical documentation related to data architecture, data flows, APIs, system configurations, and operational procedures while supporting system security coordination. • Support occasional after-hours and weekend work for operational issue resolution, production deployments, data migrations, and maintenance windows. Required Skills • 7+ years of experience building scalable, real-time data streaming architectures and CDC patterns. • Hands-on experience with Apache Kafka and deep proficiency in writing complex stream processing jobs using Apache Flink. • Extensive experience with OpenSearch (or Elasticsearch), including cluster management, writing ingest pipelines, managing index templates, and writing complex, optimized search queries. • Applied knowledge of integrating AI/ML models into data pipelines, working with vector databases (e.g., OpenSearch k-NN), or building AI-driven data products. • Experience with Debezium for CDC and Vector (by Datadog) for observability and data routing. • Proven experience deploying applications in Kubernetes/OpenShift environments with strong familiarity with infrastructure-as-code and deployment workflows using Helm and ArgoCD. • Ability to work closely with software engineers (particularly those using Node.js/NestJS) to define data contracts and query patterns. • Ability to design, develop, and operate highly available data services across availability zones and regions. • Self-starter with strong problem-solving, analytical, decision-making, and verbal and written communication skills. Preferred Skills: • Experience working with cloud platforms such as AWS. • Support for data quality, data validation, metadata management, and data governance practices. • Familiarity with secure software development practices, vulnerability remediation, access control, and compliance requirements in federal or classified environments. • Familiarity with Agile, Scrum, SAFe, or other iterative development methodologies, with experience delivering solutions to government customers. • Experience serving in an "on-call" role supporting emergency response to application or system issues on occasion. Certifications: • Security+ certification is preferred. • Other relevant certifications include CCNA, CCNP, CISA, CISSP, and CISM. Years of Experience : 5 years+ Education: Bachelors Degree Salary: $140,000 - $170,000 About Metric5 Metric5 is a small business with big company benefits. We have a passionate team of smart, fun, caring professionals, and we are here for the long haul. Join our growing team in a business where your contributions make an enormous impact. Our organization offers a comprehensive employee benefits package, continuous professional development, with a best in class company culture that is enjoyable to work in and supports the growth of each of our professionals. Our benefits include: Health & Dental Insurance with 100% of individual coverage paid for by the company Vision Insurance Life & Short Term Disability Insurance 401K with company match (employees are immediately vested) Paid Vacation 9 Paid Holidays per year (plus 2 paid floating holidays) Parental Leave Employee Bonuses Professional Development Reimbursement Program Tuition Assistance Program Metric5 is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or status as a protected veteran.