Data Engineer, Data Operations Development

The Aerospace Corporation is the trusted partner to the nation’s space programs, solving the hardest problems and providing unmatched technical expertise. As the operator of a federally funded research and development center (FFRDC), we are broadly engaged across all aspects of space— delivering innovative solutions that span satellite, launch, ground, and cyber systems for defense, civil and commercial customers. When you join our team, you’ll be part of a special collection of problem solvers, thought leaders, and innovators. Join us and take your place in space.

Defense Systems Group (DSG) provides analysis-based decision support to senior leaders on space architectures, policy and strategy, development planning, system of systems engineering, and threat reduction to help shape the future space missions across the national security space (NSS) enterprise. DSG is unique at Aerospace as it not only directly supports major customers, including US Space Force, U.S Space Command, Air Force Materiel Command, and senior leadership at the Pentagon, but also provides a broad range of services and support across the national space enterprise, maintaining vertical responsibilities with customers but also horizontal, matrixed responsibilities across the corporation. DSG also assists the Space Force Space Systems Command (SSC) in the conception, design, acquisition, launch and operations of satellite, launch vehicle, ground control, and range systems.

This position will support Air Force Futures (HAF A5/7) in developing an enterprise portfolio management solution integrating mission engineering with capability development data. This solution, the Air Force Capability Assessment & Tradeoff Tool (AFCATT), aggregates data across a variety of areas (manpower, budget, acquisition, operations, etc.) to create fully burdened capability development plans and force designs. This position will focus on implementing and improving the tool above, integrate it with other tools used across the Headquarters Air Force.

Work Model

This position will be a hybrid work model and offer partially remote with some onsite work required in Arlington, VA (Crystal City) or Chantilly, VA as the business needs allow.

What You’ll Be Doing

• Inform Futures strategy in the following areas: data management, data health & monitoring, data pipelines & processes, data validation, automation of data flow & analytics, testing, performance optimization, and data ontologies.
• Design, implement, and maintain a distributed data architecture integrating multiple data sources and applications.
• Interface with product owners and software architects to understand core issues & needs.
• Translate the above items into technical requirements for software development application and the Futures digital ecosystem.
• Integration and management of formerly siloed data and systems.
• Support development of a data fabric for force design data. This data fabric would connect capability development, wargaming, campaign planning, and strategy data in support of enterprise portfolio management.

What You Need to be Successful – Senior Member of Technical Staff, Data Science/Big Data Mining and Artificial Intelligence

Minimum Requirements:

• Bachelor’s or advanced Science degree from an accredited program in Computer Science or other applicable STEM concentrations
• 3 years of applicable experience
• Experience in data analysis for acquisition programs or lifecycle analysis
• Working experience with NoSQL data store solutions (e.g., MongoDB, Cassandra)
• Experience with manipulating, transforming, and extracting value from large data sets
• Familiarity with programming languages (Python, Java are great!)
• Experience in program controls and quality, including tasks such as requirements flow-down, interface definition, resource loaded schedules, change control processes, system performance analysis, programmatic risk management, cost, schedule and performance trades, and technology development investment analyses. 
• Ability to support and work with cross-functional teams in a dynamic environment
• Excellent communication (both written and verbal) combined with a strong collaborative drive
• Technical mindset and desire to learn new tools and approaches
• Ability to obtain a Top Secret security clearance, which is issued by the US government. US citizenship is required.
• Some travel is required.

In addition to the above, a Project Engineer, Data Science/Big Data Mining and Artificial Intelligence requires the following:

• 6+ years of applicable experience
• Proven Experience with programming languages
• Working experience building data platforms and architectures for diverse data domains

How You Can Stand Out

It would be impressive if you have one or more of these:

• An advanced degree in Data Science and Analytics (or similar).
• Agile development, RESTful API development, business intelligence tools (e.g., Power BI, Tableau, etc.), graph databases (e.g., neo4j), data analytics, cloud deployment
• Familiarity with DoD programmatic and business data (acquisition, operations, funding, manpower data), enterprise portfolio management, familiarity with Natural Language Processing, data pipelines for Machine Learning, familiarity with optimization techniques, pipeline orchestration tools
• Experience with big data tools: Hadoop, Hive, Spark, Yarn is a plus.
• Experience with cloud native application development and deployment
• Current Top Secret clearance

Leadership Competencies

Our leadership philosophy is simple: every employee, regardless of level and role, can demonstrate leadership. At Aerospace, our commitment is our people. To cultivate our talent and ensure that we have a strong pipeline of future leaders, we want individuals who:

• Operate Strategically
• Lead Change   
• Engage with Impact   
• Foster Innovation   
• Deliver Results  

Ways We Reward Our Employees

During your interview process, our team will provide details of our industry-leading benefits.

Benefits vary and are applicable based on Job Type.  A few highlights include:

• Comprehensive health care and wellness plans
• Paid holidays, sick time, and vacation
• Standard and alternate work schedules, including telework options
• 401(k) Plan — Employees receive a total company-paid benefit of 8%, 10%, or 12% of eligible compensation based on years of service and matching contributions; employees are immediately eligible and vested in the plan upon hire
• Flexible spending accounts
• Variable pay program for exceptional contributions
• Relocation assistance
• Professional growth and development programs to help advance your career
• Education assistance programs
• An inclusive work environment built on teamwork, flexibility, and respect

We are all unique, from various backgrounds and all walks of life, yet one thing bonds all of us to each other—the belief that we can make a difference. This core belief empowers us to do our best work at The Aerospace Corporation.

Equal Opportunity Commitment

The Aerospace Corporation is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment and will not be discriminated against on the basis of race, age, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, and related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender, gender identity or expression, color, religion, genetic information, marital status, ancestry, national origin, protected veteran status, physical disability, medical condition, mental disability, or disability status and any other characteristic protected by state or federal law. If you’re an individual with a disability or a disabled veteran who needs assistance using our online job search and application tools or need reasonable accommodation to complete the job application process, please contact us by phone at 310.336.5432 or by email at peoplemangmnt.mailbox@aero.org . You can also review Know Your Rights: Workplace Discrimination is Illegal, as well as the Pay Transparency Policy Statement.