Data Engineer
Data Engineer role focused on deploying, hardening, and operating a classified data stack in DoD environments, integrating real workloads, and improving production readiness for future engagements.
EMPLOYER IS A CONTRACTOR FOR THE U.S. GOVERNMENT. THIS POSITION WILL REQUIRE U.S. CITIZENSHIP.
Role Description
This is a forward-deployed engineering role . You'll work shoulder-to-shoulder with mission heroes — the users, operators, and program engineers who run real workloads in real DoD environments — and you'll be the person who takes UDS Data Capability from "deployable" to "running in production under classification." You will deploy, harden, integrate, and operate our data stack in the mission hero's environment, then carry what you learn back into the product so the next engagement is easier.
Forward-deployed means aligned with the mission hero , not always on a plane . Most of the work is remote. You'll travel to sites when the engagement genuinely calls for it — initial standup, in-SCIF integration work, on-the-ground incident response, training and knowledge transfer — and you'll be on a video call or in a shared chat with that same mission hero the rest of the time. The job is being their engineer, not living at their desk.
You are a data engineer, a data scientist, and a general solutioner. You can take responsibility for the full breadth of a data platform — storage, ingestion, streaming, governance, access, and the Kubernetes machinery underneath all of it — make it work where it has to work, analyze what's running through it, and solve problems in real time for the mission hero. About 20% of your time, you'll also be what makes Defense Unicorns ' forward-deployed team itself better — pairing with junior Data Engineer FDEs on hard problems, helping them develop the technical judgment that only comes from doing hard things, and raising the ceiling on what the team can take on.
Responsibilities:
Posted June 22, 2026