Job DescriptionStrategic ACI is seeking a Senior Data Architect / Engineer to design, build, and govern the Enterprise Data Layer of a Digital Engineering Ecosystem supporting NGA - the authoritative control point (ASoT foundation) for engineering data spanning requirements, architectures, models, cost, schedule, test, and operational artifacts.
This role owns the Data Fabric and Data Mesh implementation, integration APIs, and the data model/ontology governance that allow the ecosystem to expand beyond systems engineering & architecture (SE&A) data into financial management, contract management, workforce, portfolio, budget/schedule, and risk/mission performance domains over time. As a senior-level engineering role, this position leads the technical/engineering portion of major program workstreams and ensures deliverables meet established quality standards within time and budget constraints.
Salary will be commensurate within the advertised range, based on applicable qualifications.
Responsibilities:- Design and stand up the enterprise Data Fabric and Data Mesh as the authoritative control point for engineering data, enforcing a governed ASoT and continuous Digital Thread synchronization across tools and programs.
- Develop and maintain the data model, metadata model, ontology, schemas, and translation services that standardize enterprise architecture and engineering data.
- Build and operate data pipelines integrating relational, vector, and graph databases, search, and catalog capabilities (e.g., PostgreSQL, TimescaleDB, pgvector, Neo4j, OpenSearch, OpenMetadata, Argo Workflows).
- Implement standardized APIs (OpenAPI/REST) and data lake integration (on-prem or cloud object storage) to enable federated, secure data sharing across organizational and TS/SCI boundaries.
- Deliver dashboards and portfolio management views supporting Enterprise Architecture & Business Intelligence stakeholder needs.
- Support baseline governance controls for data consistency, lifecycle alignment, and distributed execution across programs and mission teams.
- Produce release-based deliverables including deployment source code, data model and ontology documentation, and schema artifacts for the Data Fabric.
Qualifications:Required:- Active TS/SCI clearance and the ability to pass a CI polygraph within 30 days.
- Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Data Engineering, Information Systems, or a related field, or additional relevant experience in lieu of a degree.
- 15+ years of data architecture/engineering experience, including enterprise-scale data integration.
- Hands-on experience with relational, graph, and/or vector databases (e.g., PostgreSQL, Neo4j, pgvector) and data pipeline orchestration (e.g., Argo Workflows, Airflow, or comparable).
- Experience designing data mesh/data fabric architectures, metadata cataloging, and search infrastructure (e.g., OpenSearch, Elasticsearch).
- Strong API design experience using OpenAPI/REST standards and integration with cloud or on-prem data lakes.
Desired:- Experience supporting NGA, DoD, or Intelligence Community enterprise data or digital engineering programs.
- Experience with BI/dashboarding tools such as Power BI or Superset for portfolio and acquisition management reporting.
- Familiarity with digital engineering data domains (requirements, cost, schedule, test, operations) and Digital Thread concepts.
- Exposure to Kubernetes-based, cloud-native deployment of data services (AWS EKS, Azure AKS, or on-prem RKE2/NKP).
- Data governance certifications or equivalent experience with IC/DoD data standards and interoperability requirements.
