Senior AI Data Platform Engineer Location: San Diego, CA
Company: 3 Reasons Consulting (3RC)
Customer: Naval Health Research Center (NHRC)
Employment Type: Full-Time On-site
Clearance: Active Secret Clearance required based on contract requirements About 3 Reasons Consulting 3 Reasons Consulting (3RC) is a growing government consulting and technology services firm supporting federal and Department of Defense customers with mission-critical technology, artificial intelligence, data engineering, cybersecurity, and modernization initiatives. 3RC is seeking a Senior AI Data Platform Engineer to support the Naval Health Research Center (NHRC) in San Diego, CA. This position will help design, build, integrate, and maintain the data platforms and infrastructure required to support advanced AI, machine learning, analytics, and research applications. Position Overview The Senior AI Data Platform Engineer will serve as a senior technical resource responsible for building and optimizing data platforms that enable AI/ML development, experimentation, and operational deployment. The ideal candidate combines strong data engineering and platform engineering expertise with an understanding of AI/ML workloads. This role will work across data engineering, cloud infrastructure, DevSecOps, cybersecurity, and AI/ML teams to create secure, scalable, automated, and reliable data environments. Key Responsibilities AI & Data Platform Engineering - Design, build, configure, and maintain enterprise data platforms supporting AI/ML and advanced analytics.
- Develop scalable architectures for ingesting, processing, storing, and serving large and complex datasets.
- Integrate structured, unstructured, and semi-structured data sources into AI-ready environments.
- Develop data pipelines supporting model training, validation, inference, and operational analytics.
- Optimize data platforms for performance, scalability, availability, and cost efficiency.
- Support the integration of data platforms with AI/ML applications, APIs, analytics tools, and enterprise systems.
Data Engineering & Pipelines - Develop and maintain reliable ETL/ELT pipelines for high-volume and diverse datasets.
- Build automated workflows for data ingestion, transformation, validation, enrichment, and delivery.
- Implement data quality, validation, lineage, and governance processes.
- Develop reusable data-processing frameworks and services.
- Troubleshoot data pipeline failures, performance issues, and integration problems.
- Support batch and real-time/streaming data processing requirements.
AI/ML Data Infrastructure - Build data infrastructure supporting machine learning model development and MLOps.
- Prepare and optimize datasets for AI/ML training and inference workloads.
- Support feature engineering, feature stores, model datasets, and model-serving infrastructure.
- Integrate data platforms with ML frameworks and MLOps tools.
- Support LLM, generative AI, RAG, vector search, and embedding-based applications where applicable.
- Design data architectures that support reproducibility, traceability, and model lifecycle management.
Cloud, Containers & Platform Engineering - Deploy and maintain data workloads across cloud, on-premises, and hybrid environments.
- Support containerized data applications using Docker and Kubernetes.
- Develop Infrastructure as Code using tools such as Terraform or Ansible.
- Integrate data platforms into automated CI/CD and DevSecOps pipelines.
- Support platform monitoring, logging, alerting, capacity management, and performance optimization.
- Automate routine platform and data-engineering activities.
Databases & Data Technologies - Design, configure, and optimize relational and NoSQL database environments.
- Work with technologies such as PostgreSQL, SQL Server, MongoDB, Elasticsearch/OpenSearch, or comparable platforms.
- Support data lakes, data warehouses, object storage, and distributed data-processing environments.
- Develop efficient SQL queries and optimize database performance.
- Evaluate emerging data technologies and recommend solutions based on mission and technical requirements.
Security & DoD Compliance - Implement security controls throughout the data platform architecture and development lifecycle.
- Support Risk Management Framework (RMF), NIST 800-53, DISA STIG, and DoD cybersecurity requirements.
- Implement appropriate access controls, encryption, authentication, auditing, and data-protection mechanisms.
- Support vulnerability management, security assessments, and remediation activities.
- Maintain documentation supporting security authorization and operational requirements.
- Collaborate with cybersecurity teams, ISSOs, ISSMs, system administrators, and application teams.
Technical Leadership - Serve as a senior technical advisor for data platform architecture and engineering decisions.
- Provide technical guidance and mentorship to data engineers and platform engineers.
- Participate in architecture reviews, technical design sessions, and engineering working groups.
- Translate mission requirements into scalable and supportable technical solutions.
- Develop technical documentation, architecture diagrams, data-flow diagrams, and operational procedures.
Required Qualifications - Security+ or other DoD 8570/8140-compliant certification.
- Active Secret clearance as required by the contract.
- 3+ years of experience in data engineering, data platform engineering, cloud engineering, or a related technical discipline.
- Strong experience designing and implementing enterprise data platforms and pipelines.
- Advanced experience with SQL and relational databases.
- Experience developing ETL/ELT pipelines and data-processing workflows.
- Experience with cloud, on-premises, or hybrid infrastructure.
- Experience with CI/CD and DevSecOps practices.
- Strong understanding of data architecture, data modeling, data quality, and data security.
- Demonstrated ability to troubleshoot complex data and infrastructure problems.
- Excellent technical documentation and communication skills.
Preferred Qualifications - Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Data Engineering, Computer Engineering, Information Technology, or related technical discipline.
- Experience supporting Department of Defense or Navy programs.
- Experience building data platforms specifically supporting AI/ML or advanced analytics.
- Experience with Apache Spark, Databricks, Advana, Kafka, Airflow, or similar data-engineering platforms.
- Experience with data lake and lakehouse architectures.
- Experience with MLflow, Kubeflow, Feast, or other MLOps technologies.
- Experience supporting generative AI, LLM, RAG, vector databases, embeddings, or AI agents.
- Experience with PostgreSQL, MongoDB, Elasticsearch/OpenSearch, Redis, or vector databases.
- Experience with Docker, Kubernetes, Helm, Terraform, Ansible, GitLab, Jenkins, or Argo CD.
- Experience implementing data governance, cataloging, lineage, and metadata-management solutions.
- Experience with GPU-enabled AI infrastructure and high-performance computing environments.
- Familiarity with NIST 800-53, RMF, DISA STIGs, DoD 8140/8570, and related cybersecurity requirements.
- Security+ or other DoD-compliant cybersecurity certification.
What Success Looks Like The successful Senior AI Data Platform Engineer will help NHRC establish and maintain a secure, scalable, high-performance data foundation for AI and advanced analytics. Success will include reliable data pipelines, high-quality and accessible datasets, optimized AI/ML data infrastructure, strong platform automation, and seamless integration between data engineering, AI/ML, DevSecOps, and cybersecurity teams. The ideal candidate is a hands-on senior engineer who understands that successful AI depends on more than models—it requires well-designed data architecture, reliable pipelines, secure infrastructure, and operationally mature platforms. Why Join 3RC? - Support a mission-focused Navy customer at the Naval Health Research Center.
- Work at the intersection of AI, data engineering, cloud, and modern platform technologies.
- Help build the technical foundation supporting advanced Navy research and analytics.
- Collaborate with AI engineers, data scientists, software developers, cybersecurity professionals, and infrastructure engineers.
- Join a growing government consulting firm where your technical expertise directly contributes to mission success.
Benefits at 3 Reasons Consulting
At 3 Reasons Consulting, we are committed to supporting the well-being of our team with a comprehensive benefits package that includes both company-paid and shared-cost options. Our benefits are designed to enhance your health, financial security, and work-life balance to help you thrive personally and professionally as a valued member of our team.
Company-Paid Benefits - Short/Long Term Disability
Employee / Company Shared Benefits - Additional (Voluntary) Life Insurance
- Flexible Spending Account Plan
3 Reasons Consulting is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We are committed to providing a workplace free from discrimination or harassment and hold all 3 Reasons employees accountable to protect this mission. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, gender, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, military status, disability status, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local law. All applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to protected bases.
|