AWS Data Engineer - II

About the role

Syms Strategic Group (SSG) is seeking a Senior Systems Engineer (AWS Data Engineer) - II for a remote, full‑time position supporting the Veterans Affairs healthcare data platform modernization. The role requires U.S. citizenship and a Public Trust (MBI) security clearance.

Responsibilities

• Lead the next phase of the healthcare data platform modernization
• Implement evolution from MSSQL XML object store to scalable, cloud‑native AWS data architecture
• Evaluate and decide the right AWS data strategy for the platform
• Recommend optimal AWS‑native data storage and query architecture (S3 + Athena, Aurora, DynamoDB, Redshift, OpenSearch) based on query patterns, reporting needs, cost, scalability
• Design and build reporting and query layer enabling business stakeholders to run relational SQL queries against healthcare data
• Architect migration path for XML object store data from MSSQL to target AWS platform (storage formats, partitioning, data organization)
• Build and maintain AWS data catalog, schemas, and metadata management for discoverability
• Optimize query performance and cost across chosen AWS services (partitioning, compression, file formats, query pattern tuning)
• Work with business stakeholders and analysts to translate reporting requirements into durable data models
• Collaborate with back‑end C#/.Net engineer to ensure clean data flow from EDI processing pipelines
• Implement and maintain CI/CD pipelines for data infrastructure using AWS CodePipeline, CodeBuild, CodeDeploy
• Apply Infrastructure as Code (IaC) practices using AWS CDK, CloudFormation, or Terraform
• Document architecture decisions, data flows, and data dictionaries for technical and non‑technical audiences

Requirements

• 8+ years’ experience in software or data engineering with strong AWS focus
• Proven experience architecting and executing cloud data platform migrations in production enterprise or healthcare environments
• Track record of evaluating and selecting AWS data services to meet business reporting and query requirements
• Experience delivering reporting or analytics solutions serving non‑technical business users
• Deep hands‑on AWS experience across data‑oriented services: S3, Athena, Glue, Aurora, DynamoDB, Redshift, OpenSearch, Lambda, IAM, CloudWatch
• Strong SQL skills; ability to design relational query layers over semi‑structured or non‑relational data (XML, JSON)
• Experience working with XML‑heavy data stores – parsing, querying, transforming XML at scale
• Ability to evaluate trade‑offs across AWS data services and make architecture recommendations based on cost, performance, business requirements
• Familiarity with AWS analytics and reporting services (Athena, QuickSight, RedShift, or equivalent BI tooling)
• Proficiency with Git and GitHub (branching strategies, pull requests, collaborative workflows)
• Familiarity with CI/CD practices and AWS‑native tooling (CodePipeline, CodeBuild, CodeDeploy)
• IaC experience (AWS CDK, CloudFormation, or Terraform)
• Strong communication skills to convey technical architecture decisions to non‑technical stakeholders
• Experience gathering and translating business reporting requirements into technical data models
• Comfort driving ambiguous architecture decisions to resolution with limited direction
• Experience with Agile methodologies (Scrum, Kanban) and JIRA
• Strong documentation habits – architecture diagrams, data dictionaries, migration runbooks

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree or higher in Computer Science, Engineering, or related technical discipline; equivalent practical experience considered
• U.S. Citizenship required
• Must possess or qualify for a Public Trust (MBI) security clearance
• Desired experience: EDI X.12 (Medical Claims 837, 835, 277CA, etc.), HL7, FHIR, C#/.Net back‑end services, Entity Framework migration/deprecation, healthcare payer/PBM systems, clearinghouses, pharmacy operations, HIPAA compliance in cloud data architecture

Pay

Salary range: $85,389 – $116,975

Schedule

Full Time