Data Engineer

Data Engineer

Home Office: Arlington, VA

At Elder Research Inc., a recognized leader in data science and machine learning solutions, we pride ourselves in our ability to find creative, cutting edge solutions to real-world problems. We are looking for innovative and inquisitive self-starters who enjoy understanding a problem space and building fast, efficient, and tractable data infrastructure to deliver real value for our clients. As a member of the Elder Research team, you will join a functional team of accomplished Data Scientists and Software Engineers that deliver custom analytic solutions. Some of your responsibilities will include: wrangling and fusing large and disparate data sets, assisting in the deployment of models and algorithms, automating the entire data pipeline, and communicating model results through user-focused data visualizations.

Job Description

Under little or no supervision, the Data Engineer is responsible for the development of analytical solutions and databases. Develops specifications for the most efficient database solutions. Supports the evaluation and selection of solutions that meets customer requirements. Good working knowledge and hands-on experience with key software platform architectures, web servers, application servers, and relational databases. Performs work involved in one or more of the phases of developing software used in products or services provided to the customer. Designs and implements enterprise infrastructure and platforms required for cloud computing. Analyzes system requirements and ensures that systems will be securely integrated with current applications. Has a deep understanding of system development in cloud environments, including Software as Service (SaaS), Platform as Service (PaaS), or Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS). Designs and builds relational databases for data storage or processing. Develops strategies for warehouse implementation, data acquisition, and archive recovery. May evaluate new data sources for adherence to the organization's quality standards and ease of integration. Provide consultation on complex projects and is considered to be a top-level contributor/specialist. Key member of a data science project team supporting analytic development.

Essential Functions:

• Work collaboratively with data scientists, business consultants, and software engineers to create and deploy dynamic data applications that help our customers make meaningful business decisions.
• Develop and deploy robust data pipelines and end-to-end systems
• Participate in every stage of the engineering lifecycle, from ideation and requirements gathering through implementation, testing, deployment, and maintenance
• Provide leadership and coordination for certain stages of the engineering lifecycle as needed
• Perform other technical tasks as needed, including writing project reports, managing, implementing, and/or maintaining technical infrastructure, etc.
• Ability and the willingness to tailor applications to a client’s business goals using an iterative methodology.
• Ability to consider both long-term stability and scalability while taking a user-focused approach to development and deployment.
• Communicate clearly both verbally and in writing to teammates and clients
• Ability to work independently in a collaborative, dynamic, cross-functional environment
• Travel to and work on-site at clients both local and non-local. Number of days at client site vary depending on project requirements

Required Skills

• Eight (8) years relevant experience data architecture, Computer Science, Engineering, Information Systems or related technical discipline in applied data science research or big data analytics.
• Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Systems or related technical discipline. A Master’s degree may be substituted for up to two (2) years of experience. A PhD may be substituted for up to five (5) years of experience.
• Ability to perform functional and data requirements analysis, and implementation of data engineering projects, analyze customer requirements and provide solution recommendations.
• Demonstrate knowledge of information engineering methodologies, process improvement, and performance measurement
• Ability to support the development of organization-wide data models for use in designing and building integrated, shared software and database systems;
• Is currently CBP Cleared or have an active/current TS Clearance.

Selected Technologies: (A combination of experience with some of the following is required)

Databases: SQL-based technologies (e.g. PostgreSQL and MySQL, Oracle) NoSQL technologies (e.g. Cassandra, MongoDB, Graph Database) Big Data: Spark/Databricks (RDD, Data Frames, GraphX) Hadoop (e.g. MapReduce, Hive and Pig) ETL and Data Integration: Kettle/Spoon, Luigi, Jenkins, Airflow, Nifi Indexers/Search Engines: ElasticSearch, Solr Deployment: Docker Languages: Python, Java, Scala, Familiarity with R O/S: UNIX, Linux, Solaris, ssh, git

Desired Skills

• Previous experience supporting projects with US Customs and Border Protection
• Data manipulation, SQL, relational databases, and/or NoSQL databases – experience as a DBA is a huge plus
• Cloud platform development and SaaS
• DevOps – infrastructure, continuous integration and automation, packaging and deployment
• Consulting experience is a plus

About Elder Research, Inc.

Headquartered in Charlottesville, VA with offices in Arlington, VA, Baltimore, MD, and Raleigh, NC, Elder Research is a fast growing solutions and consulting firm specializing in predictive analytics. At Elder Research, you’ll be part of a fun, friendly community. In keeping with our entrepreneurial spirit, we want candidates that are self-motivated with an innate curiosity and strong team work ethic. We work hard to provide the best value to our clients and allow each person to contribute their ideas and put their skills to use immediately. Elder Research provides analytic solutions to hundreds of companies across numerous industries. Our team enjoys great variety in the type of work they do and exposure to a wide range of techniques and tools. If you are passionate about integrating data, technology, and analytics in a team-based environment to solve problems, then Elder Research may be a good fit for you.

Elder Research, Inc. 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, or protected veteran status and will not be discriminated against on the basis of disability.

Elder Research is unable to sponsor H1B visas for this role.