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Agent guide: [/agents.md](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/agents.md). --- # Forward Deployed Data Engineer (Manassas, VA / Senior) [Secret] - **Company:** Spear AI - **Location:** Manassas, VA, United States (Remote available) - **Experience:** Expert - **Contract:** Permanent contract - **Skills:** Airflow, Amazon S3, Apache HTTP Server, Batch Processing, Code Coverage, Databases, Continuous Integration, Information Engineering, Data Warehousing, Distributed Systems, Github, Protocol Buffers, Python (Programming Language), PostgreSQL, Message Queuing Telemetry Transport (MQTT), Online Analytical Processing, Online Transaction Processing, Parsing, Software Engineering, Data Streaming, Parquet, Apache Kafka, Stream Processing, Data Pipelines - **Published:** July 19, 2026 - **Apply:** https://www.indeed.com/viewjob?jk=4a8fa6befe88f03c ## About the Role * You're fanatical about polish. Every detail matters. You love to make sure your code is linted, formatted, fully typed, and has 100% test coverage. * You care about correctness. You take pride in the fact that downstream consumers trust libraries and services you build. * You obsess over performance. You daydream about Lighthouse scores and query speed. * You dive deep. It's important for you to really know how things work. You're always building prototypes and setting up experiments to reinforce your understanding. * You live on the bleeding edge. You've got a long list of upcoming platform features you're excited about and can't wait for the next nightly to drop. * You're a great teacher. You know how to break down a concept for a specific audience and make it click with them in a way that gets them excited., * Expertise in time-series data processing and analysis (windowing, resampling, interpolation, etc.) * Proficiency in Python and Rust for data engineering workflows. * Experience with binary message parsing. * Experience with row-based & columnar-based data formats. * Experience with OLTP & OLAP databases. * Knowledge of distributed systems, streaming architectures, and batch processing patterns. * Hands-on experience with a batch orchestrator such as Dagster/Airflow. * Hands-on experience with a streaming platform such as Redpanda/Kafka. * Hands-on experience with binary message formats such as Protobuf. Nice to have * Experience with IoT devices and sensors. * Digital signal processing experience. * Geospatial analysis and GIS experience. * Familiar with working in monorepos. ## Description We're a small team wearing many hats, and you'd have a wide variety of responsibilities that include: * Implement real-time data pipelines with MQTT and Redpanda for stream processing. * Implement offline data pipelines using Dagster for batch processing. * Parse and process binary message formats from various data sources. * Build data warehouses using Postgres, Apache Iceberg, Parquet, and S3. * Design data models that allow for high-performance queries. * Validate and normalize data sources. * Improve local development and CI/CD using modern tooling and GitHub Actions., We're looking for someone with strong Software Engineering skills who shares our most important values ## Related Videos - [From Messy Queries to Scalable Systems - How Data Engineering actually works](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/100203-from-messy-queries-to-scalable-systems-how-data-engineering-actually-works) - [Parquet, Delta, Iceberg & Ducklake - An introduction for developers](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/100075-parquet-delta-iceberg-ducklake-an-introduction-for-developers) - [Shipping Faster with Less: Render on Cloud Hosting, AI Workloads, and the Future of DevOps](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/1894-shipping-faster-with-less-render-on-cloud-hosting-ai-workloads-and-the-future-of-devops) - [Innovating Developer Tools with AI: Insights from GitHub Next](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/1268-innovating-developer-tools-with-ai-insights-from-github-next) - [Enjoying SQL data pipelines with dbt](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/823-enjoying-sql-data-pipelines-with-dbt) - [Tracking vehicles at scale](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/1999-tracking-vehicles-at-scale) ## Related Articles - [Dev Digest 120 - Apple and peers](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/magazine/455-dev-digest-120-apple-and-peers) - [Dev Digest 121 - AI goes offline](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/magazine/456-dev-digest-121-ai-goes-offline) - [Dev Digest 134 - Where pixels sing?](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/magazine/477-dev-digest-134-where-pixels-sing) - [Highest Paying Tech Companies for Developers](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/magazine/220-highest-paying-tech-companies-for-developers) - [Dev Digest 139 - Soft and hard queries](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/magazine/487-dev-digest-139-soft-and-hard-queries) - [Dev Digest 132 - Binging WADFlix?](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/magazine/473-dev-digest-132-binging-wadflix)