Data Engineer – AI & Machine Learning

Integral is hiring a Data Engineer focused on AI and Machine Learning to strengthen data architecture and pipeline capabilities in secure federal environments. You will join a core technical group within the Office of Technology, building repeatable best practices, supporting internal capability development, and partnering with government stakeholders to translate mission needs into scalable data solutions.

Location: Tysons Corner, VA (hybrid)
Salary: $150,000 - $200,000 per year

What you will do

• Design, build, and optimize scalable data architectures that support advanced ML models, analytics, and high-volume processing for federal mission sets.
• Develop, construct, test, and maintain resilient ETL/ELT pipelines, including pipelines for synthetic data.
• Process and integrate complex, high-velocity structured and unstructured multimodal data including text, imagery, sensor data, audio/video.
• Evaluate and deploy AI models, including Large Language Models, while ensuring performance, accuracy, and scalability in secure environments.
• Interface with Integral project personnel and federal government stakeholders to gather requirements, map mission needs to data solutions, and present technical concepts to non-technical leaders.
• Lead internal, non-billable capability development while maintaining agility to deploy onto billable client engagements as required.
• Ensure pipelines and ML architectures align with strict federal security, privacy, and data governance standards (e.g., NIST, FISMA, DoD Cloud Computing SRG).

What you bring

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Data Engineering, Software Engineering, or a related highly technical field.
• 3+ years of progressive data engineering experience, with 2+ years dedicated to AI/ML operations (MLOps).
• Strong background working in cloud environments, especially AWS GovCloud or Azure Government.
• Expert proficiency in Python and SQL, plus data manipulation libraries such as Pandas and PySpark.
• Proven experience building complex ETL/ELT pipelines for unstructured and multimodal data.
• Hands-on experience evaluating, fine-tuning, and deploying AI models using HuggingFace, PyTorch, and TensorFlow.
• Experience with data warehousing and lake architectures such as Databricks, Snowflake, and Redshift.
• Must be eligible to obtain and maintain at least a DoD Secret Clearance.

Preferred

• Active DoD Secret, Top Secret, or TS/SCI clearance is desirable.
• Master’s degree in Data Science, AI, or a related field.
• Prior experience consulting or working directly with the DoW, Intelligence Community, or DHS.
• Deep understanding of MLOps frameworks, Docker, Kubernetes, and CI/CD pipelines for machine learning.

Tech you will use

• Python, SQL, Pandas, PySpark
• HuggingFace, PyTorch, TensorFlow
• Databricks, Snowflake, Redshift
• AWS GovCloud, Azure Government

Benefits

• Paid parental leave
• Immediate vesting in 401(k)
• Medical, Dental & Vision Insurance
• Flexible Spending Accounts
• Short-Term and Long-Term Disability Insurance
• Life Insurance
• Paid Time Off & Holidays
• Earned Bonuses & Awards
• Professional Training Reimbursement
• Employee Assistance Program

Clearance requirement

Ability to obtain and maintain a DoD Secret Clearance (Active Secret or higher preferred).

About Integral

Integral partners with federal defense, intelligence, and civilian leaders to tackle important challenges and deliver positive outcomes. Founded in 1998, the company helps clients leverage existing and emerging technologies to transform enterprises, empower growth, drive innovation, and build sustainable success. Integral is headquartered in McLean, VA and serves clients throughout the country.