Job description
Senior Data Engineer
Location: Remote
Clearance Level: Active Secret
Overview
Rackner is seeking a Senior Data Engineer to lead the design, development, optimization, and operation of enterprise data pipelines and data platform components within the Microsoft Fabric environment.
The Senior Data Engineer will provide hands-on technical leadership across data ingestion, transformation, platform administration, security, automation, and deployment activities. This role will be responsible for implementing scalable medallion architectures, establishing reliable development and deployment practices, and ensuring data platforms meet security, availability, performance, and data quality requirements.
The Senior Data Engineer will also mentor Data Engineers and Associate Data Engineers, provide technical problem-solving support, and help establish engineering standards and best practices across data workstreams.
Responsibilities
Lead the design, development, and optimization of enterprise data ingestion pipelines, transformation logic, and data platform components within Microsoft Fabric
Design and implement scalable ETL and ELT architectures supporting structured and semi-structured enterprise data
Configure, administer, and maintain Microsoft Fabric environments, including:
Tenant administration
Workspace architecture
Capacity management
Security configuration
Environment governance
Implement and maintain Bronze, Silver, and Gold medallion architecture layers
Develop data transformation processes incorporating schema validation, cleansing, normalization, enrichment, and reconciliation
Establish data quality monitoring, validation controls, automated testing, and alerting for pipeline and data-quality failures
Design and implement development, test, staging, and production environment separation
Build and maintain CI/CD deployment pipelines for data platform components, pipelines, notebooks, configurations, and related artifacts
Implement infrastructure-as-code approaches for repeatable, version-controlled data platform deployments
Develop and optimize Spark, PySpark, SQL, and related data-processing workloads
Configure and maintain data security controls, including:
Encryption
Role-Based Access Control (RBAC)
Microsoft Entra ID integration
Privileged Identity Management
Least-privilege access controls
Support secure integration between Microsoft Fabric and enterprise source systems
Design and support hybrid connectivity between on-premises and cloud environments
Troubleshoot complex pipeline, platform, performance, connectivity, and data-quality issues
Optimize pipelines and data workloads for performance, scalability, reliability, and cost
Support disaster recovery and business continuity planning for data platforms and pipelines
Develop, document, and execute rollback, recovery, and restoration procedures
Conduct recovery and rollback testing to validate continuity procedures
Establish reusable engineering patterns, standards, and technical documentation for data platform implementation
Collaborate with Data Architects, Data Governance Specialists, cybersecurity teams, application teams, and source-system owners to define technical solutions
Participate in architecture reviews and provide technical recommendations for data platform modernization and integration efforts
Mentor mid-level and Associate Data Engineers
Review technical implementations and provide guidance on pipeline design, code quality, performance, security, and maintainability
Provide senior-level technical problem-solving support for complex data engineering challenges
Support knowledge transfer and operational transition of implemented data platform capabilities
Qualifications
Significant experience designing and implementing enterprise data pipelines, ETL/ELT processes, and cloud-based data platforms
Hands-on experience with Microsoft Fabric
Experience administering or configuring enterprise cloud data environments
Strong experience with Azure Data Factory or comparable data integration technologies
Strong SQL proficiency
Experience with Spark and PySpark for large-scale data processing and transformation
Experience implementing enterprise ETL/ELT frameworks
Experience designing and implementing medallion architectures using Bronze, Silver, and Gold data layers
Experience with schema validation, data cleansing, normalization, reconciliation, and data quality controls
Experience developing CI/CD pipelines for data platform deployments
Experience implementing infrastructure-as-code
Experience with source control, automated deployment, and environment promotion processes
Understanding of cloud security principles, including RBAC, identity integration, encryption, and least-privilege access
Experience troubleshooting complex data pipeline, platform, and integration issues
Experience supporting production data environments with availability, reliability, and performance requirements
Strong technical documentation and communication skills
Experience mentoring or providing technical leadership to other engineers
Active Secret clearance
Preferred Qualifications
Microsoft Certified: Fabric Analytics Engineer Associate
Advanced experience with Microsoft Fabric Lakehouse architecture
Experience configuring Microsoft Fabric tenants, capacities, workspaces, and deployment pipelines
Experience with Microsoft Entra ID and Privileged Identity Management
Experience with Azure DevOps, GitHub Actions, GitLab CI/CD, or comparable CI/CD platforms
Experience with Terraform, Bicep, ARM templates, or comparable infrastructure-as-code technologies
Experience designing automated data quality monitoring and alerting
Experience supporting hybrid on-premises and cloud data environments
Experience implementing disaster recovery, rollback, and business continuity procedures for enterprise data platforms
Experience with enterprise data governance, metadata management, lineage, and security controls
Experience working within Department of Defense or other federal data environments
About Rackner
Rackner is a software consultancy focused on building mission-critical systems for the U.S. government. Our teams work across cloud platforms, DevSecOps, AI/ML, distributed systems, and modern software engineering initiatives supporting federal agencies and national security missions. Rackner engineers and technical teams collaborate closely with leadership, program teams, and mission stakeholders to design, demonstrate, and improve software systems that address complex operational challenges.
Benefits & Perks
At Rackner, we believe that when our people grow, our company grows with them, and we are committed to supporting their growth, development and success. We are proud to offer a creative and forward-thinking environment that includes:
• Company-supported certifications aligned to current and future program work,
including cloud, Kubernetes, DevSecOps, security, AI/ML, project management, and
related technical areas
• Clear advancement tracks and future leadership opportunities
• 401(k) with 100% match up to 6%
• Comprehensive medical, dental, vision, life, and disability coverage
• Generous PTO and paid holidays
• Home-office equipment plan and remote work support
• Fitness and wellness reimbursement
• Weekly pay schedule and modern perks, including team events
Equal Opportunity
Rackner is an equal opportunity employer and considers all qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, veteran status, or other protected characteristics.
Originally posted on Himalayas
Who can apply
Eligible countries: United States. Accepted UTC offsets: UTC-10, UTC-9, UTC-8, UTC-7, UTC-6, UTC-5, UTC+14. Review the full description for employer-specific work authorization, residency and schedule requirements.