Lead Data Engineer / Mission Data Pipeline

Position Title: Lead Data Engineer / Mission Data Pipeline

Location: Reston, VA

Category: Proposal

Schedule (FT/PT): FT

Travel Required: Minimal

Shift: Day

Remote Type: On-site

Clearance required: Active TS/SCI Eligible

Division: Aviation

**THIS POSITION IS CONTINGENT UPON CONTRACT AWARD""

Who is ACT1 Federal? ACT1 Federal LLC is a 100% employee-owned company. We’ve served the Department of Defense (DoD) for nearly thirty years. Our core missions include weapon systems engineering, logistics, space domain expertise, global defense and security, business and financial management for security assistance and major defense articles, as well as military training and arctic security. Join us!

Description: ACT1 Federal is seeking a Lead Data Engineer / Mission Data Pipeline to serve as a Subject Matter Expert (SME) supporting the Department of the Air Force Integrated Fires Command and Control (DIFC2) Program. You will work directly with government, technical, and industry stakeholders design, implement, and sustain DIFC2 data pipelines that ingest, transform, store, and distribute mission-relevant data across the DIFC2 software ecosystem and external mission partner systems.

This position is based in Reston, VA, and focuses on supporting the Horizon program within the DIFC2 Program Management Office. As part of this role, you will collaborate closely with Space Systems Command (SSC) in support of the Department of the Air Force Integrated Fires Command and Control (DIFC2) Program Office to help mature and sustain software solutions aligned to mission needs. You will support the development and delivery of software capabilities that improve data accessibility, mission integration, operational visibility, and cross-system interoperability across a highly dynamic mission environment.

The focuses on enabling reliable, automated, and secure data flows that support DIFC2 mission capabilities on operational timelines.  This position requires collaboration with mission system stakeholders, platform engineers, and security teams to define data exchange artifacts, develop pipeline implementations, and ensure interfaces comply with Risk Management Framework (RMF) requirements.  The engineer will leverage both low-code/no-code ETL technologies and custom software development to implement scalable data pipelines that support the DIFC2 data architecture.

Responsibilities:

• Mission-Relevant Data Artifact Identification:

• Analyze DIFC2 mission workflows and system architecture to identify the data artifacts required to support operational capabilities.
• Define the structure, semantics, and lifecycle of mission data products within the DIFC2 data architecture.
• Ensure data artifacts align with architectural standards for interoperability, traceability, and reuse across DIFC2 mission components.

• Coordinate with External Stakeholders:

• Serve as the primary technical liaison for defining data exchange interfaces between DIFC2 and external mission systems.
• Collaborate with mission partners to define message schemas, data formats, transport mechanisms, and interface expectations.
• Document data interface specifications to support both system integration and operational sustainment.

• RMF & Security Documentation Support:

• Support the DIFC2 RMF process by defining technical details for machine-to-machine data interfaces.
• Produce or contribute to required RMF artifacts including:
• Data message descriptions
• Ports, Protocols, and Services Management (PPSM) entries
• System topology diagrams and interface documentation
• Coordinate with cybersecurity engineers to ensure pipeline implementations meet DoW security and compliance requirements.

• Data Pipeline Development & Sustainment:

• Design and implement automated data pipelines that ingest, transform, persist, and expose data artifacts for use by internal and external DIFC2 stakeholders.
• Utilize government-provided data platform infrastructure to build scalable ETL workflows.
• Develop custom transformation logic when required using appropriate programming languages and data processing frameworks.

• Expose processed data products through standardized service interfaces such as REST APIs or platform-native services.

• Data Pipeline Development & Sustainment:

• Implement data validation, normalization, and transformation logic to e