AWS Data Engineer - II
About the role
Remote position with the Veterans Affairs (VA) department. Full‑time, W‑2. Requires U.S. citizenship and eligibility for a Public Trust (MBI) security clearance. Military veterans are highly encouraged to apply. If you have previously applied to Syms Strategic Group (SSG), there is no need to reapply; applications are still under review. This is a 100% U.S.-based remote position, but candidates from CA, CO, IL, MN, NJ, NY, OR, or WA will not be considered. Recruiters or third parties will not be considered. All interviews will be conducted on Microsoft Teams with camera on; no exceptions. As part of the screening process, you will be requested to provide a link to your LinkedIn profile. Selected applicants will undergo a government security investigation and must meet eligibility requirements for access to classified information, obtain a government‑granted security clearance, and may be subject to a background investigation (criminal history, employment and education verification, drug testing, creditworthiness).
Responsibilities
- Lead the next phase of the healthcare data platform modernization
- Implement the evolution from a Microsoft SQL eXtensible Markup Language (MSSQL XML) object store toward a scalable, cloud‑native AWS data architecture that enables business stakeholders and analysts to run performant, SQL‑based reports and queries against healthcare data seamlessly
- Evaluate and decide the right AWS data strategy for the platform
- Evaluate and recommend the optimal AWS‑native data storage and query architecture for the XML object store data, assessing options such as 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, 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 back‑end C#/.Net engineer to ensure data flows cleanly from Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) processing pipelines into the new data layer
- Implement and maintain CI/CD