Senior Data Engineer - Herndon, VA

Job Title

Senior Data Engineer

Job #: 25-1071

Clearance:
Active Secret

Location:
Herndon, VA

Navitas has grown to be an industry leader in the digital transformation space, serving clients within the commercial, federal, and state and local markets since 2006.

We are a group of problem solvers providing award-winning technology solutions to drive digital acceleration for our customers. Navitas has consistently empowered customers to use technology as a competitive advantage and deliver cutting-edge transformative solutions.

Navitas is seeking an advanced Senior Data Engineer to design, build, and deploy scalable AI/ML models for use within the DoD s Search Portfolio. This role requires a strong background in natural language processing, generative AI (LLMs, RAG), distributed computing, and cloud-native architecture. The successful candidate will collaborate with interdisciplinary teams and apply the latest advancements in AI research to deliver secure, mission-ready solutions that process and analyze massive datasets.

Responsibilities will include but are not limited to:

• Design, develop, test, and support AI/ML pipelines and informatics solutions for varied DoD technical missions
• Collaborate with data scientists, software engineers, and stakeholders to integrate AI solutions across Search Portfolio products
• Optimize AI models for performance and cost-efficiency using distributed compute (Apache Spark/Databricks) and GPU-based Kubernetes clusters
• Stay informed on emerging AI research and integrate relevant advancements into production-ready models
• Manage full lifecycle of AI/ML components, from research to deployment, monitoring, and iterative improvement
• Diagnose and solve complex data-related challenges through analytical modeling and AI-driven approaches
• Document and present design alternatives, trade-offs, and implementation strategies to stakeholders
• Build and maintain shared libraries, tools, and reusable ML assets across engineering teams
• Assist in creating a strategic roadmap and architecture to enable rapid prototyping and experimentation with advanced AI capabilities
• Translate raw data into valuable insights using modern visualization, integration, and mining tools
• Maintain security, compliance, and reproducibility in all AI/ML model workflows and infrastructure

• Education:
• • Bachelor’s degree with 7-10 years of relevant experience, or
  • Master’s degree with 5+ years of experience
• 7+ years of hands-on experience with Natural Language Processing (NLP), Large Language Models (LLMs), semantic search, text embedding, RAG (retrieval-augmented generation), and generative AI applications
• Deep understanding of machine learning subfields including computer vision, statistical learning theory, reinforcement learning, and both supervised/unsupervised techniques
• Proven experience with data preprocessing, feature engineering, and model evaluation
• Strong coding and documentation practices in Python, R, Scala, Java, or C++
• Experience in ML engineer or data scientist roles developing and deploying real-world ML models
• Proficiency with version control systems (e.g., Git) for collaborative development
• Demonstrated use of Apache Spark or Databricks for high-volume distributed ML workloads
• Experience working with petabyte-scale datasets, performing data exploration, writing SQL, and using data visualization tools

Equal Employer/Veterans/Disabled

Navitas Business Consulting is an affirmative action and equal opportunity employer. If reasonable accommodation is needed to participate in the job application or interview process, to perform essential job functions, and/or to receive other benefits and privileges of employment, please contact Navitas Human Resources.

Navitas is an equal opportunity employer. We provide employment and opportunities for advancement, compensation, training, and growth according to individual merit, without regard to race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy), national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, marital status, age, genetic information, disability, veteran-status veteran or military status, or any other characteristic protected under applicable Federal, state, or local law.

Our goal is for each staff member to have the opportunity to grow to the limits of their abilities and to achieve personal and organizational objectives. We will support positive programs for equal treatment of all staff and full utilization of all qualified employees at all levels within Navitas.