Data Engineer - NORTHCOM at Agile Defense
Colorado Springs, CO
$150,000–$170,000
Jun 30, 2026
Colorado Springs, CO
Jul 21, 2026
What this job asks for AI summary
A data engineering and data science role embedded within a Department of Defense program at a Combatant Command, working on-site in Colorado Springs inside a SCIF. Day-to-day work centers on building and maintaining data pipelines, preprocessing workflows, feature engineering, and machine learning services in secure, containerized cloud environments — with Palantir Foundry, Databricks, and AWS among the relevant platforms. The role suits someone with a hybrid background in statistical modeling and software engineering who is comfortable taking ML models from training through to deployment.
Mid level · 3+ years · Colorado Springs, CO · Top Secret clearance · Full-time
Pay in the description: $150,000–$170,000
“or” means any one of them counts — you don't need all of them.
Posted 5 times — it's one opening, so apply once.
We read this from the posting text with AI. Skim the description below before ruling yourself out.
Why we read it this way (7)
The job title is 'Data Engineer' but the description explicitly calls the role 'Data Scientist / Engineer' and emphasizes ML modeling, feature engineering, and applied data science alongside pipeline work — making this a genuine hybrid. SOC 15-1243 (Database Architects) was chosen for the pipeline/data engineering emphasis, with 15-2051 (Data Scientists) as a close runner-up given the ML/modeling scope.
The Required Skills section lists only Palantir MSS Workshop and Slate experience for data visualization and storytelling, making that the sole hard gate on a named tool. All other technical skills (Python, SQL, Spark/Databricks/PySpark, ML libraries, MLOps, cloud platforms) appear exclusively under the 'Preferred Skills' heading.
The clearance posting states 'Top Secret, Must Have Clearance to Start' — this is a hard gate on an active TS clearance. The posting does not mention SCI or a polygraph, so TopSecret (not TopSecretSci) was applied.
A Bachelor's degree is listed as typical but the JD explicitly allows equivalent work experience substitution year-for-year, so the degree requirement is set to None.
The 3+ years figure comes from the 'Years of Experience' section and the education/background block; the Preferred Skills section mentions 4+ years for applied data science or Palantir Foundry development, but that sits under Preferred, not Required.
The role requires working onsite at a SCIF in Colorado Springs, CO — fully remote is not possible.
Requires a Top Secret clearance — the cleared population is a small fraction of this occupation, so the real candidate pool is materially smaller than the estimate below, which does not model clearance.
Read the full posting
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