Database Engineer (U.S. Intelligence Community)

Job Title: Database / Data Engineer (U.S. Intelligence Community)

Location(s): Ft. Meade, MD

Workplace: On-site (hands-on access to high impact data systems needed)

Clearance Required: TS/SCI with Polygraph

Why Join Elder Research

• Mission-Driven Work: Support the U.S. Intelligence Community by building secure, scalable data systems that enable real-time insights.

• Career Stability: We hire for careers, not contracts—our work is growing.

• People-Focused Culture: We value work-life balance, collaboration, and professional growth.

• Ownership Mindset: Every employee is a shareholder through our Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP).

• Competitive Pay & Benefits:

  • Typical salary range: $160K–$200K, depending on experience and contract labor category

  • 401(k) with employer contribution

  • Health, dental, and vision coverage

  • Paid parental leave and flexible PTO

Ready to make an Impact? Message our recruiting team directly at: recruiting@datamininglab.com

Position Overview:

We are seeking mid and senior level Database Engineers to design, develop, and optimize mission-critical data systems that support complex national security objectives. This position focuses on the front end of the system lifecycle — from requirements development through system acceptance testing and Initial Operational Capability (IOC).

The ideal candidate will have hands-on experience building and optimizing both relational and object-oriented databases, developing database parser and loading software, and driving data architecture decisions that balance performance, scalability, and security in cloud-enabled environments.

Work on data systems that directly enable U.S. Intelligence operations. Your work will help analysts and decision-makers protect national interests..

These positions will be part of our Defense and Intelligence Business unit serving the U.S. Intelligence Community as our primary customer.

Key Responsibilities:

• Develop relational and object-oriented databases, database parser software, and database loading utilities.

• Translate complex business and mission requirements into optimized database schemas and data models.

• Analyze, design, and implement database solutions from concept through deployment.

• Project long-term requirements for database administration, design, and scalability.

• Direct the development of complex systems using queries, tables, Open Database Connectivity (ODBC), and cloud-based data storage and retrieval methodologies.

• Design and document data flow, data structures, and data access patterns that support analytics and operational needs.

• Develop and maintain automated scripts, macros, and ad hoc queries to manipulate data into master files.

• Evaluate, recommend, and implement system improvements, optimizations, and modernization initiatives.

• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to ensure data integrity, security compliance, and performance tuning.

Position Requirements:

Required Clearance: Active TS/SCI with Poly.

Required Education: a degree Computer Science, Engineering, or related technical field (or equivalent professional experience)

Required Skills / Experience:

• Proficiency in designing and managing relational (SQL) and non-relational (NoSQL) databases.

• Demonstrated experience with database query languages (e.g., SQL, PL/SQL, T-SQL) and scripting languages (e.g., Python, Bash).

• Experience developing and managing databases using cloud technologies (AWS, Azure, or GCP).

• Hands-on experience with database parser software, ETL tools, and data migration in cloud or hybrid environments.

• Strong understanding of data modeling, normalization,