Cloud Data Platform Engineer

ABOUT ANDECO:

ANDECO Institute is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit based in McLean, Virginia. We serve as a vendor neutral intermediary between U.S. federal agencies and commercial data providers. We evaluate and score commercial data for government customers, and we take no ownership stakes in the vendors we assess.

We are a small team, and each person here has a visible effect on what we deliver.

ABOUT THE ROLE

We are adding an engineer to own ANDECO's cloud environment for a federal data platform. A subcontractor will build most of the platform. You will hold the AWS accounts, control who has access, review the subcontractor's infrastructure code and security settings, and show that ANDECO can rebuild the platform from the source it receives.

You will also support the APIs and services that serve data to users, and work with our data engineers on how data is stored and indexed.

You will work closely with ANDECO's data engineers and analysts, the application developers who build on the platform, and the subcontractor's engineers. Part of the job is translating between those groups and keeping the platform fast, secure, and easy to use.

WHAT YOU WILL DO:

• Own the platform's AWS accounts, root credentials, and IAM structure, and give the subcontractor only the access its work needs.
• Review the subcontractor's infrastructure code, network design, and security configuration before deployment, and return anything that does not meet ANDECO requirements.
• Rebuild the platform in a clean account from delivered source and infrastructure code at agreed points, and report what fails.
• Track cloud spend against the plan and flag overruns early.
• Design and operate production APIs and services on AWS that serve platform data to users.
• Learn how the data engineering team governs its data, then design endpoints that are easy for end users to call and fast enough for heavy use.
• Support the application development team with API authentication, token lifecycle management, and end to end tracking of how users interact with the data.
• Monitor and enforce cloud security practices for the services you run, including IAM policy, network configuration, WAF rules, and data protection.
• Identify and resolve performance bottlenecks in production, and optimize latency, concurrency, and throughput while controlling costs.
• Collaborate with data engineers to improve how data is stored and indexed for API performance. When available, assist with data engineering work as the team needs support.
• Follow ANDECO processes and recommend improvements where they would help.
• Use ANDECO provided AI tools in your daily work.

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS:

• At least 4 years building and running production software in cloud environments, including at least 2 years on production APIs and 2 years on data engineering pipelines or frameworks.
• Python and SQL, plus the ability to pick up other languages as needed.
• Hands on AWS experience with Lambda and API Gateway, and with security services such as IAM, VPC configuration, WAF, and Shield.
• Infrastructure as code with Terraform, AWS CDK, or CloudFormation, including reviewing code written by others.
• Experience querying and serving data from Databricks or a comparable distributed platform such as Redshift or Spark, with an understanding of data governance design.
• Experience securing APIs with standards such as OAuth2 and JWT, including token lifecycle management.
• Experience logging system health and user activity so that service quality and usage can be measured.
• Clear written and spoken communication, and experience working between engineering teams.
• Experience using AI tools in professional work, and willingness to adopt ANDECO provided AI tools.
• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Computer Engineering, or a related technical field.
• U.S. citizenship and the ability to obtain and maintain a U.S. Government security clearance. Employment is contingent on a successful pre-employment background check.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS:

• Experience reviewing or taking over cloud environments built by an outside vendor.
• Flask, FastAPI, or a similar Python web framework.
• Experience tuning APIs that stream or query large volumes of analytical data with low latency.
• Familiarity with AWS cost optimization.
• Experience handling sensitive or controlled data, such as PII, CUI, or data covered by NIST 800 series controls.

BENEFITS

ANDECO offers paid time off, medical, dental, and vision coverage, voluntary life insurance, and a 403(b) retirement plan.

EQUAL OPPORTUNITY

ANDECO Institute is an equal opportunity employer. We consider all qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law. If you need an accommodation during the hiring process, let us know.

Pay: $130,000.00 - $155,000.00 per year

Work Location: Hybrid remote in McLean, VA 22102