Data Solution Architect at Steampunk
McLean, VA
$140,000–$180,000from the description
Jul 20, 2026
McLean, VA
Jul 23, 2026
What this job asks for AI summary
A senior-level architecture role focused on designing and modernizing enterprise data platforms for federal government clients. Day-to-day work involves building cloud and on-premises data pipelines, lakehouse solutions on Databricks, and ETL modernization strategies, while guiding cross-functional teams and translating business requirements into technical data architectures. Candidates with a background in data engineering, GenAI/ML integration, and experience supporting government programs are the target audience.
Senior level · 8+ years · Bachelor's required · Full-time
“or” means any one of them counts — you don't need all of them.
We read this from the posting text with AI. Skim the description below before ruling yourself out.
How this req sits in the market our data
Most people in this occupation already list these. Still required — just not what gets you shortlisted.
What the occupation pays Median $142,568 (middle half $111,775–$173,013). This posting is about at that midpoint.
Estimated from BLS employment for this occupation and area, per-skill prevalence across our listing corpus, and published wage benchmarks — as of Jul 28, 2026. It is a model, not a headcount.
Why we read it this way (8)
No specific work location is stated in the posting. Steampunk is a federal contractor headquartered in McLean, VA, but the JD names no city, state, or remote policy — location is genuinely unknown.
The role title is 'Data Solution Architect' with no seniority modifier, hence advertised seniority is Unspecified. However, the 8–12 years of data engineering experience required and the breadth of architectural responsibilities support a Senior classification.
The degree requirement is stated as '12+ years with a Bachelor's or 8+ years with a Master's' — Bachelor's is the minimum formal degree gate; equivalent experience is not offered as a substitute.
A US Government security clearance is listed as preferred ('previous or active clearance is preferred'), not a hard gate. The hard gate is the ability to hold a position of public trust, which is not a formal clearance level — the clearance requirement is set to None accordingly.
MLflow is named as an example tool within a GenAI/ML workflows requirement that is framed with 'e.g.' and sits in the broader qualifications block alongside other preferred-leaning examples; it is captured as preferred given the illustrative framing.
Vector databases and semantic/vector-based retrieval are described as part of search and retrieval patterns for analytics or AI use cases — captured as preferred given the 'e.g.' framing.
Cloud platform requirement names AWS, Azure, or GCP as interchangeable options; AWS is used as the primary with Azure and GCP as alternatives.
SOC classification is Medium confidence: the role is primarily an architect designing data pipelines, lakehouses, and warehouses (15-1243 Database Architects), but the heavy hands-on data engineering and pipeline-building emphasis also fits 15-1252 Software Developers.
Read the full posting
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