--- title: 'Data Engineer (DEA) at Hatch IT' canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/data-engineer-dea-hatch-it-arlington-m3bbdfcrsgsq' type: 'job' last_seen: '2026-09-07' --- # Data Engineer (DEA) at Hatch IT - **Company:** Hatch IT - **Location:** Arlington, VA - **Employment:** full-time - **Work type:** onsite - **Posted:** 2026-08-27 - **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-07 - **Apply:** https://jobs.lever.co/hatchit/ef9f679b-9359-4f72-9704-7c662c05f5f8 ## Job description hatch I.T. is partnering with Expression to find a Data Engineer. See details below: About The Role: Expression is seeking a Data Engineer to support the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Investigative Case and Data Ecosystem (ICDE) modernization effort. This program is focused on modernizing DEA's case management capabilities and creating a centralized, secure, scalable ecosystem supporting law enforcement, investigative, forensic, and intelligence missions. The Data Engineer will design, develop, and maintain scalable data pipelines supporting the ingestion, transformation, migration, validation, and integration of structured and unstructured data. This position will contribute to the modernization and migration of DEA legacy data while helping ensure data is accurate, consistent, secure, and prepared to support analytics and emerging AI/ML capabilities. Location and Clearance: - Clearance: Top Secret (SCI) required. - Location: Arlington, VA. The program is primarily onsite at DEA Headquarters. About the Company: Founded in 1997 and headquartered in Washington DC, Expression provides data fusion, data analytics, software engineering, information technology, and electromagnetic spectrum management solutions to the U.S. Department of Defense, Department of State, and national security community. Expression’s “Perpetual Innovation” culture focuses on creating immediate and sustainable value for their clients via agile delivery of tailored solutions built through constant engagement with their clients. Expression was ranked #1 on the Washington Technology 2018's Fast 50 list of fastest growing small business Government contractors and a Top 20 Big Data Solutions Provider by CIO Review. Responsibilities: - Design, develop, and maintain scalable ETL pipelines for ingesting, transforming, and loading structured and unstructured datasets. - Support large-scale migration of legacy data into the modernized DEA investigative and case management ecosystem. - Analyze complex data structures and source-to-target mappings to identify opportunities for workflow optimization and automation. - Implement data cleaning, standardization, validation, classification, and transformation processes to improve data quality and consistency. - Monitor and ensure data accuracy, completeness, consistency, and integrity across systems and platforms. - Implement data migration strategies supporting application modernization and transitions across platforms and cloud environments. - Develop and execute data validation processes and checkpoints throughout data migration activities. - Collaborate with analysts, data scientists, developers, and business partners to translate requirements into effective data engineering solutions. - Support data interoperability and exchange across integrated systems. - Monitor pipeline performance, troubleshoot operational issues, and improve reliability, scalability, and efficiency. - Support data preparation and tagging activities needed for analytics and AI/ML use cases. - Participate in Agile development activities, including sprint planning, stand-ups, reviews, and retrospectives. - Document data flows, source-to-target mappings, transformation logic, validation processes, and operational procedures. Qualifications: - Bachelor's degree on STEM fields and 2+ years of professional experience. - Hands-on experience with data analysis, ETL development, and data migration. - Proficiency in SQL, including complex queries, data transformations, and performance tuning. - Familiarity with Python for data manipulation, scripting, and workflow automation. - Experience with ETL frameworks or orchestration tools such as Apache Airflow, Talend, dbt, or similar technologies. - Understanding of data warehousing principles, including dimensional modeling and staging architectures. - Exposure to cloud-based data platforms such as AWS Redshift, Google BigQuery, Azure SQL, or similar environments. - Ability to perform data profiling, validation, troubleshooting, and root-cause analysis. - Ability to clearly document technical processes, data mappings, and transformation logic. - Ability to collaborate effectively with engineers, analysts, developers, and business stakeholders. Preferred Qualifications: - Experience with AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud Platform. - Knowledge of big-data technologies such as Hadoop, Spark, or other distributed-processing frameworks. - Experience with data visualization tools such as Power BI, Tableau, or Looker. - Familiarity with Git or similar version-control systems. - Experience designing automated data workflows or integrating workflow-orchestration tools. - Experience supporting large-scale data migration or application-modernization initiatives. - Experience working in Agile development environments. - Experience supporting Federal Government programs or systems. Benefits: Expression offers competitive salaries and benefits, such as: - 401k matching - PPO and HDHP medical/dental/vision insurance - Education reimbursement - Complimentary life insurance - Generous PTO and holiday leave - Onsite office gym access - Commuter Benefits Plan ## About Hatch IT ## Company Overview - **One-liner**: Hatch I.T. is a specialized tech recruiting partner that connects mission-driven startups with engineering, data, and product talent through flexible hiring models. - **Entity Type**: Private (Bootstrapped) - **Headquarters**: Tysons, Virginia, United States - **Founded**: 2012 - **Founders**: Tim Winkler (Founder & CEO) ## Core Business - Primary industry: Staffing and Recruiting, with a focus on technology roles for startups in defense, healthcare, AI, cybersecurity, and space. - Target customers: B2B – early-stage and high-growth startups, especially those with a national security, healthcare, or dual-use mission. - Mission or purpose statement: "Where talent meets mission" – connecting companies with skilled talent who are deeply aligned with the company’s mission and values. ## Products & Services - **RPO / Embedded Recruiting**: Dedicated recruiters embedded in the client’s culture, managing full-cycle hiring from sourcing to onboarding. - **Contingency Hiring**: Pay-only-when-you-hire model for hard-to-fill roles. - **Contract-to-Hire**: Evaluate talent on the job before committing to a full-time hire. - **Executive Search**: Finding leadership for mission-driven startups. - **Scale**: Technical consulting and recruiting services for high-growth startups. - **Stride**: Technical strategy and consulting for early-stage startups. - **hatchpad**: An online community platform for startup technologists to network, learn, and advance their careers. ## Market Standing - **Valuation**: Not publicly available (no disclosed funding rounds). - **Key Metric**: 20 employees (down 12% YoY); 94% 1-year retention rate; 28 days average time to hire. - **Notable Investors/Partners**: No external investors identified. Partners include startups across defense, healthcare, and cyber sectors. - **Growth Signals**: Active hiring for 5+ roles (Senior Data Engineer, Senior Software Engineer, etc.) with a 25% monthly increase in job postings; expanding remote/hybrid options; offices in the US and distributed team across 6 countries. ## Competitive Advantages - Specialized focus on mission-driven startups (defense, national security, healthcare, AI) – a niche that traditional staffing firms often overlook. - Flexible pricing and engagement models (contingency, contract-to-hire, RPO) tailored to startup budgets. - High retention rates (94%) and fast hiring cycles (28 days) demonstrate effective matching. - Proprietary community (hatchpad) and content (The Hatch Pad newsletter) to attract and engage technologists. ## Strategic Focus - Deepen partnerships within defense, healthcare, AI, and cybersecurity verticals. - Scale the hatchpad community to become a go-to resource for startup technologists. - Maintain a distributed remote/hybrid workforce to access talent globally while supporting clients primarily in the Washington D.C. metro area. ## Why Work Here - **Culture**: Emphasis on mission alignment, relational (not transactional) approach, and collaborative small-team environment. - **Work Policy**: Hybrid and remote roles available depending on position; some on-site roles in Washington, DC, Arlington, VA, Reston, VA, and Somerville, MA. - **Perks & Engineering Culture**: Not extensively documented, but employee reviews on LinkedIn rate Work-Life, Compensation, and Culture all at 5.0/5.0 (3 reviews). The company invests in professional community through hatchpad. - **Team**: Small (20–25 employees), with a high proportion of HR and recruiting specialists. Distributed across the US, South Africa, Canada, Romania, Bangladesh, and the Philippines. ## Sources 1. [hatchit.io](https://www.hatchit.io/) 2. [LinkedIn - hatch I.T.](https://www.linkedin.com/company/hatch-it) 3. [Built In - hatch I.T.](https://builtin.com/company/hatch-it) 4. [Lever careers page - Hatch IT](https://jobs.lever.co/hatchit) 5. [The Org - hatch IT](https://theorg.com/org/hatch-it) ## Other roles at Hatch IT - [Sr. Account Executive](https://feeny.ai/job/sr-account-executive-hatch-it-australian-capital-territory-4a8fb6ryqaq1) — Australian Capital Territory - [Test Engineer (DEA)](https://feeny.ai/job/test-engineer-dea-hatch-it-arlington-vnycf13r0fsx) — Arlington, VA - [Junior Data Engineer (DEA)](https://feeny.ai/job/junior-data-engineer-dea-hatch-it-arlington-1n3x009qbb53) — Arlington, VA - [Senior UX Designer](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-ux-designer-hatch-it-reston-va-or-somerville-sh62gsp78rva) — Reston VA OR Somerville, MA - [Sr. Full Stack Developer](https://feeny.ai/job/sr-full-stack-developer-hatch-it-washington-25eyq6wmwbw2) — Washington, DC - [Full Stack Developer](https://feeny.ai/job/full-stack-developer-hatch-it-washington-w74m01wjmhea) — Washington, DC - [Sr. DevSecOps](https://feeny.ai/job/sr-devsecops-hatch-it-washington-5v1htt7xaqh5) — Washington, DC - [Database Administrator](https://feeny.ai/job/database-administrator-hatch-it-washington-tqg0tfsaqdh2) — Washington, DC - [Data Platform Architect](https://feeny.ai/job/data-platform-architect-hatch-it-falls-church-tht2rpa89r21) — Falls Church, VA - [Data Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/data-engineer-hatch-it-washington-1mf0e8b0xks3) — Washington, DC