Data Platform Engineer

About the role

Syms Strategic Group (SSG) is seeking a talented Data Platform Engineer for a full‑time remote position supporting the Veterans Affairs (VA) healthcare data platform modernization. The role requires U.S. citizenship and a Public Trust (MBI) security clearance. Military veterans are highly encouraged to apply.

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 enabling business stakeholders and analysts to run performant, SQL‑based reports and queries against healthcare data.
• Evaluate and decide the right AWS data strategy for the platform; recommend optimal AWS‑native data storage and query architecture (e.g., S3 + Athena, Aurora, DynamoDB, Redshift, 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 pipelines for data infrastructure using AWS‑native tooling (CodePipeline, CodeBuild, CodeDeploy).
• Apply Infrastructure as Code (IaC) practices using AWS 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.
• 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, IAM, and CloudWatch.
• Strong SQL skills with the 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.
• 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 BI tooling.
• Proficiency with Git and GitHub – branching strategies, pull requests, and collaborative workflows.
• Familiarity with CI/CD practices and AWS‑native tooling (CodePipeline, CodeBuild, CodeDeploy).
• IaC experience (AWS CDK, CloudFormation, or Terraform).
• Strong ability to communicate technical architecture decisions and trade‑offs to non‑technical stakeholders.
• Experience gathering and translating business reporting requirements into technical data models.
• Comfort driving ambiguous architecture decisions to resolutions with limited direction.
• Experience with Agile methodologies (Scrum, Kanban) and JIRA.
• Strong documentation habits – architecture diagrams, data dictionaries, migration runbooks.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree