Data Engineer; AI Subject Matter Expert; SME TS​/SCI ( Security Clearance

Position: Data Engineer (AI) Subject Matter Expert (SME) (4799) (TS/SCI) ( with Security Clearance
SMX is seeking a Data Engineer (AI) Subject Matter Expert (SME) to spearhead the development and sustainment of data pipelines and data services that enable AI/ML capabilities within Army Intelligence mission environments. This role defines standards, develops and implements end-to-end data pipeline strategy, and guides a small team to deliver reliable, secure, and observable data services for training, inference, and analytics.

The Data Engineer (AI) SME partners with AI/ML engineers, analysts, platform teams, and mission leadership to align data capabilities with operational outcomes, security, and governance. This is a full-time onsite position in Ft. Belvoir, VA.

Essential Duties & Responsibilities Planning & Stakeholder Alignment
* Translate mission needs into a data engineering roadmap, delivery plans, and measurable outcomes for AI/ML use cases.
* Serve as primary technical point of contact for data dependencies across model development, analytics, and platform teams; drive cross-team decision making and risk trade-offs.
* Review and recommend designs, requests, and deployments from team members; develop quality standards and coding conventions. Data Architecture & Platform Enablement
* Define reference architectures and patterns for ingestion, ELT/ETL, lake/lakehouse/warehouse integration, and feature data delivery.
* Select and standardize pipeline tooling and storage/layout strategies to balance performance, cost, and security.
* Establish schema, partitioning, and lifecycle strategies to support model retraining, reproducibility, and rollback. Data Pipeline Development & Maintenance
* Design and oversee ETL/ELT pipelines that supply structured and unstructured data to AI/ML workflows.
* Establish and ensure compliance with SLOs/SKIs for data freshness, latency, and completeness; oversee and implement autoscaling and performance tuning across cloud/hybrid environments.
* Implement and oversee data ingestion, cleansing, transformation, normalization, and feature preparation steps according to established methods.
* Ensure pipelines are reliable, repeatable, and well-documented. Data Quality, Validation & Monitoring
* Perform data profiling, validation, and integrity checks to ensure high-quality inputs to AI/ML models.
* Monitor data pipeline performance and data flow health; document and escalate issues to senior engineers.
* Drive issue triage and root-cause analysis; lead post-incident reviews and preventative improvements.
* Contribute to improving data observability and traceability. Deployment & Monitoring
* Lead employment of Agile methodologies for project management.
* Manage deployment pipelines, containerization, and CI/CD workflows for AI services in the cloud to ensure reproducible data operations.
* Implement and oversee robust monitoring, observability, and performance tracking for AI-supporting data systems. Training & Support
* Provide training and technical support to military personnel to ensure effective adoption and utilization of AI technologies.
* Ensure comprehensive documentation of integration architecture, processes, and operational dependencies, to include data structures, transformation logic, data lineage, pipeline workflows, and operational procedures.
* Mentor and coach engineers; build repeatable playbooks and raise the team's technical maturity. Compliance & Security
* Ensure compliance with military security, privacy and governance standards for AI-supporting data systems.
* Ensure processes and procedures leverage changes in data engineering and AI/ML governance best practices. Required Skills, Experience & Education Security
* Active TS security clearance and eligible for SCI and NATO read-on prior to starting work
* Meet all requirements to receive a privileged user account on a TS/SCI information system (e.g. Army Cloud Computing Service Provider) prior to starting work. The requirements are currently defined in DoDD 8140.01.
* Security+ or related DoDD 8140-relevant certification.

Education and Experience
* Master's degree in Computer Science, Data Science, Engineering, or a related technical field.
* 7+ years of experience in data engineering or large-scale data processing in an AI/ML-supporting capacity; 2+ years leading data engineering efforts (tech lead, team lead, or equivalent). Technical Expertise
* Proven experience designing and operating ELT/ETL at scale; orchestration.
* Highly proficient with programming and/or scripting languages (e.g., Python, SQL, Bash).
* Proficient with cloud platforms, data storage systems, and workflow orchestration tools.
* Proficient with containerization and CI/CD principles. National Security Operations Knowledge
* Knowledgeable with military operations, intelligence workflows, and digital platforms.
* Ability to work within the constraints of military security and compliance standards. Problem-Solving & Communication
* Highly proficient in working closely with model developers, analysis, and platform engineers to…