Data Infrastructure Lead

$105,000 - $221,000/Yr

Raytheon Technologies - Sterling, VA

Full-time - Senior

Sterling, VA

Computer and Electronic Product Manufacturing

About the position

The Data Infrastructure Lead at Nightwing is responsible for leading the design, deployment, and operational management of the company's data infrastructure. This role focuses on ensuring robust development and seamless operations across all data environments, supporting high-stakes, data-driven initiatives. The position involves guiding a technical team in establishing, maintaining, and evolving the data infrastructure via the mesh paradigm, handling the entire lifecycle from architecture to troubleshooting and upgrades.

Responsibilities

• Oversee the full lifecycle of infrastructure development for the Nightwing Data stack, covering design, build, test, and deployment phases.
• Manage the operational stability of the data mesh, including regular upgrades, troubleshooting, and maintenance to support continuous availability and performance.
• Deploy data technologies such as Data Lakes, Data Warehouses (e.g AWS S3, Redshift), Streaming and Orchestration (e.g., Apache Spark/Airflow/Iceberg, AWS Kinesis, MSK, Glue) to support efficient data workflows across distributed environments.
• Implement and enforce governance policies to ensure data integrity, security, and compliance across all warehouse and lake environments.
• Partner with data scientists and analysts, integrating machine learning tools into the data mesh to enhance analytical capabilities and insights.
• Track and enhance data mesh performance metrics, focusing on query efficiency, data retrieval speed, and system resilience.
• Provide guidance and mentorship to the engineering team, fostering a collaborative and innovative environment that emphasizes technical excellence and reliability.
• Continuously evaluate and integrate new technologies to keep the Nightwing Data Mesh on the cutting edge of data infrastructure advancements.
• Develop and maintain thorough documentation of infrastructure processes and standards to facilitate knowledge sharing across the team.

Requirements

• Minimum of 5+ years in data engineering, cloud engineering, or infrastructure development roles, with 3+ years in data warehouse or data lake environments.
• Expertise in integration and orchestration technologies, including Apache Spark, Airflow, Iceberg, and AWS streaming tools (Kinesis, MSK).
• Extensive experience with AWS data services; familiarity with multi-cloud environments (GCP, Azure).
• Proven experience leading a technical team, with strong communication skills for diverse stakeholder engagement.
• Hands-on experience with infrastructure operations, including troubleshooting, upgrades, and performance optimization.
• Strong understanding of governance, security, and compliance requirements within data environments.

Nice-to-haves

• Familiarity with big data frameworks and ETL pipeline development.
• AWS, Azure, or GCP certifications in cloud architecture or data engineering.
• Experience in Defense, Intelligence, or related fields is highly desirable.
• Master's or Ph.D. in relevant disciplines is a plus.

Benefits

• Paid holidays
• Disability insurance
• Health insurance
• Dental insurance
• Flexible spending account
• Paid time off
• Parental leave
• Employee assistance program
• Vision insurance
• 401(k) matching
• Flexible schedule
• Life insurance