PGTEK

Senior RAG / Data Engineer - Active Secret clearance

United StatesRemoteFull timePGTEK

Salary not posted. The employer did not include pay in this listing. Ask for the range in your first conversation; it is a fair question.

Posted 3 days ago · listed on Workable

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Should you apply?

Company website ↗

Open: 4 days; Fresh. First-week applicants get read first.
Open roles at this company: 12; A few open seats. Your application will get a real look.
Salary: Not posted; No range in the posting. Ask early. It is a fair question and it saves everyone time.

Days open comes from the posting date. Fill time and reposting rate come from this company's recent public postings, last refreshed May 20.

The job, broken down

PGTEK needs a Sr. RAG/Data Engineer to build the data pipeline (ingestion through retrieval and citations) that powers Gemini-based AI answers for federal/DoD programs. You'd own the technical build and also support the compliance work (RMF/FedRAMP) needed to get it authorized for government use.

What you'd actually do

Build and maintain ingestion, cleaning, and chunking pipelines for source data
Generate embeddings and manage vector search/retrieval for grounded AI responses
Implement metadata tagging, citations, and permission-aware access filtering
Monitor and improve data quality across the pipeline
Work in Python, BigQuery, Cloud Storage, and Vertex AI/RAG
Mentor other team members and help set reusable engineering standards

Must-haves

3+ years of relevant technical/engineering experience
Hands-on experience with Python and SQL
Hands-on experience with BigQuery and Cloud Storage
Hands-on experience with Vertex AI/RAG, embeddings, and vector search
Experience with data quality and IAM
Experience with evaluation of AI/RAG systems
Active Secret clearance

Nice to have

TS/SCI eligibility
Google Cloud Professional Data Engineer certification
Google Cloud Professional Machine Learning Engineer certification
Experience taking AI use cases from discovery through adoption measurement
Based in Washington, DC / Northern Virginia area

Read before you apply

Job title says 'Senior' but only 3+ years of experience is required, which is a wide range for how much ownership this role implies (owning ingestion through access filtering plus mentoring plus compliance support)

Written from the posting text only. Check the full description below before you decide.

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Steps to get this job

1In your resume/summary, mirror their exact stack order: Python, BigQuery, Cloud Storage, Vertex AI/RAG, embeddings, vector search, so it matches their requirements list almost word for word
2Lead with any project where you built a full RAG pipeline end to end (ingestion to citations), since that's the core of their 'own ingestion...to data quality' bullet, not just isolated ML work
3If you've touched RMF, FedRAMP, or DoD ATO processes even briefly, name that specifically since it's called out separately from the technical requirements
4State your clearance status (Active Secret) explicitly and near the top of your resume or application, since it's a hard requirement they list before benefits

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About the role

Sr. RAG / Data Engineer — Federal and DoD Programs

About the Role
PGTEK is seeking a Sr. RAG / Data Engineer to support our L200 Driving Adoption capability. You will build the knowledge pipeline that gives Gemini grounded, traceable, and permission-aware answers for mission-critical applications.

Key Responsibilities

Own ingestion, cleaning, chunking, embeddings, metadata, retrieval, citations, access filtering, and data quality
Implement solutions using Python, BigQuery, Cloud Storage, Vertex AI/RAG, embeddings, and vector search
Mentor team members and contribute reusable standards
Support RMF/FedRAMP/DoD authorization activities

Requirements

3+ years of relevant technical or engineering experience
Hands-on experience with Python, BigQuery, Cloud Storage, Vertex AI/RAG, embeddings, vector search, SQL, data quality, IAM, and evaluation

Preferred Qualifications

Google Cloud Professional Data Engineer or Professional Machine Learning Engineer
Experience taking AI use cases from discovery through adoption measurement

Clearance & Location
Active Secret clearance required; TS/SCI eligibility preferred. Hybrid or remote with travel to customer sites (~10–25%). Washington, DC / Northern Virginia area preferred.

Benefits

Our comprehensive benefits package for full-time salaried employees is effective immediately upon the start date. Benefits include comprehensive PPO medical coverage with access to a Health Savings Account (HSA) option, a vision plan, and dental insurance with the base dental plan option paid for by PGTEK. Life Insurance, Short and Long-Term disability, and Critical Illness insurance have premiums covered. Additionally, PGTEK offers a matching 401(k) plan and a discount on pet insurance through ASPCA Pet Insurance. An Employee Assistance Program is available at no cost to all employees. PGTEK offers a generous amount of PTO and Holidays, and an Education Assistance Program is available after 12 months of employment.

ABOUT PGTEK

PGTEK is a true consulting organization dedicated to helping clients achieve their business and technology objectives utilizing our decades of experience and business relationships. PGTEK invests in the educational advancements of our staff by providing the necessary resources to complete Professional and Business Certifications. Our company is our people, and we treat them like family.

EOE, including disability/veterans

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