Jobs and Careers

Senior Systems Engineer (AWS Data Engineer)

Newport News, United Statesfull_timeVerifiedPosted 4 May 2026

About the role

Syms Strategic Group (SSG) is seeking a talented Senior Systems Engineer (Amazon Web Services (AWS) Data Engineer)
Location: Remote
Department: Veterans Affairs (VA)
Type: Full Time
Min. Experience: Experienced
Security Clearance Level: Public Trust (MBI)

Military Veterans are highly encouraged to apply!
Essential Duties and Responsibilities

Lead the next phase of the healthcare data platform modernization
Continue the evolution from a Microsoft Structured Query Language Server (MSSQL) eXtensible Markup Language (XML) object store toward a scalable, cloud-native AWS data architecture
Enable business stakeholders and analysts to run performant, SQL-based reports and queries against the healthcare data seamlessly
Evaluate and decide the right AWS data strategy for the team’s platform
Evaluate and commend the optimal AWS-native data storage and query architecture for the XML object store data, assessing options such as Simple Storage Service (S3) + Athena, Aurora, DynamoDB, Redshift, and OpenSearch based on query patterns, reporting needs, cost, and scalability
Design and build the reporting and query layer that allows business stakeholders and non-technical users to run relational SQL queries against healthcare data using familiar tooling
Architect the migration path for XML object store data from MSSQL into the target AWS platform, defining storage formats, partitioning strategies, and data organization for optimal query performance
Build and maintain AWS data catalog(s), schemas, and metadata management so that object store data is discoverable and queryable by business users
Optimize query performance and cost across chosen AWS services – partitioning, compression, file formats, and query pattern tuning
Work directly with business stakeholders and analysts to understand reporting requirements and translate them into durable, performant data models and query patterns
Collaborate with backend C#/.Net engineers to ensure data flows cleanly from Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) processing pipelines into the new data layer
Implement and maintain Continuous Integration/Continuous Delivery (CI/CD) pipelines for data infrastructure using AWS-native tooling (CodePipeline, CodeBuild, and CodeDeploy)
Apply Infrastructure as Code (IaC) practices using AWS Cloud Development Kit (CDK), CloudFormation, or Terraform
Document architecture decisions, data flows, and data dictionaries clearly for both technical and non-technical audiences

Required Skills and Experience

8+ years’ experience in software or data engineering with a strong AWS focus
Proven experience architecting and executing cloud data platform migrations in production enterprise or healthcare environments
A track record of evaluating and selecting AWS data services to meet business reporting and query requirements
Experience delivering reporting or analytics solutions that serve non-technical business users
Deep hands-on AWS experience across data-oriented services (S3, Athena, Glue, Aurora, DynamoDB, Redshift, OpenSearch, Lambda, Identity Access Management (IAM), Cloudwatch)
Strong SQL skills, with an ability to design relational query layers over semi-structured or non-relational data (XML, JSON)
Experience working with XML-heavy data stores (parsing, querying, and transforming XML at scale)
An ability to evaluate trade-offs across AWS data services and make architecture recommendations based on cost, performance, and business requirements
Familiarity with AWS analytics and reporting services, including Athena, QuickSight, Redshift, or equivalent Business Intelligence (BI) tooling<