--- title: 'Data Lead (Defense) at Air Space Intelligence' canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/data-lead-defense-air-space-intelligence-colorado-4q8r2jffhkaq' type: 'job' last_seen: '2026-09-07' --- # Data Lead (Defense) at Air Space Intelligence - **Company:** Air Space Intelligence - **Location:** Colorado, United States - **Employment:** full-time - **Work type:** onsite - **Posted:** 2026-06-04 - **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-07 - **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/airspace-intelligence.com/8679a3ba-ef9e-46e5-9abf-efc78790e71c/application **Skills:** Streaming pipelines, Batch pipelines, Schema evolution, Data contracts, Data lineage, Data profiling, Anomaly detection, Source reconciliation, Kafka, Flink, Spark, Airflow, Dagster, Temporal, REST, gRPC, GraphQL, JSON, XML, Protobuf > Own the reality layer powering defense products by operating and improving data flows from mission systems. This role combines data engineering, forensics, and technical communication to translate real-world data into actionable pipelines for decision-making. ## Job description ## About Air Space Intelligence ASI's mission-critical technology powers decision-making across aviation, defense, energy, and other critical infrastructure domains. Backed by top-tier investors including Andreessen Horowitz, Spark Capital, and Renegade Partners, ASI delivers operational decision superiority—compressing days of analysis into seconds of action. ASI is leading the way and pushing the boundaries of what’s possible. What You Will Do: You will own the reality layer that powers ASI's defense products. You will operate, improve, and expand the data flows that move operational data from mission systems into usable, trusted datasets for decision-making. This role is equal parts data engineering, data forensics, and technical communication. You will dig into real-world data, determine what it actually means, and translate findings into clear, actionable pipelines ready to drive mission-critical decisions for end users. What We Value: - Strong fluency with modern data engineering tooling and patterns: streaming and batch pipelines, schema evolution, data contracts, and lineage. - Demonstrated ability to debug data: profiling, anomaly detection, reconciling sources, and separating signal from noise while cross-validating. - Strong technical communication skills: you can explain what the data is doing, what it means, what is broken, why it matters, and what engineering should change. - Comfort with distributed messaging and processing (Kafka, Flink, Spark, or equivalents) and modern orchestration (Airflow, Dagster, Temporal, or similar). - Strong grasp of API design and integration patterns (REST, gRPC, GraphQL) and experience working across a range of data formats and wire-level protocols (JSON, XML, Protobuf, and binary protocols like JREAP-C or CMF-B). - Working knowledge of modern network protocols, firewalls, system level connections, cross-system authentication, and an enthusiasm to get data flowing. - Familiarity with defense operational data and mission systems, with an appreciation for delayed reporting, inconsistent identifiers, changing semantics, and obscure edge cases. - Comfort operating in classified network environments (e.g., SIPR, JWICS) and working within accreditation boundaries (IL5/IL6, ATO processes). - Experience deploying data infrastructure on Kubernetes and across hybrid cloud and on-prem environments. - A bias for action and distinct aptitude for problem solving in ambiguous environments. - Active SECRET or TOP SECRET U.S. Security Clearance. How We Hire: We look at the interview process not as a screening or test, but rather as an opportunity to simulate what it would look like working together. We build the interview process around you. ## About Air Space Intelligence ## Company Overview - **One-liner**: Air Space Intelligence (ASI) builds AI-powered software that enables predictive situational awareness and optimization for mission-critical operations in defense, aviation, and critical infrastructure. - **Entity Type**: Private (Series B, total funding $34.35M) - **Headquarters**: Boston, Massachusetts, United States (with offices in Gdansk, Poland, and Washington, D.C.) - **Founded**: 2018 - **Founders**: Phillip Buckendorf (CEO) and Kris Dorosz (Co-Founder & CTO) ## Core Business - **Primary industries**: Defense & national security, commercial aviation, logistics, critical infrastructure (energy, transportation) - **Target customers**: B2B and B2G – large enterprises (e.g., world’s largest airlines, Alaska Airlines) and U.S. government agencies (U.S. Air Force, FAA, DIU) - **Mission statement**: “To transform reaction into foresight, powering decisions that can’t be wrong.” ## Products & Services - **PRESCIENCE Platform**: A four-dimensional (geospatial + temporal) simulation and AI-driven decision support system that fuses multi-modal data, models operational domains, predicts future states, and recommends optimized courses of action. Used for logistics, air operations, and energy grid management. - **Defense Solutions**: The Logistics Kill Chain – software that applies kill-chain thinking to sustainment, enabling operators to find, target, and mitigate logistics friction at machine speed. - **Commercial Solutions**: AI for multi-modal freight, airlines (flight operations optimization), and energy grid operations (collaboration with National Grid). ## Market Standing - **Valuation**: Not publicly disclosed. - **Key Metric**: Annual revenue not disclosed; **total funding**: $34.35M across 6 rounds (Seed, Series A, Series B, grants). - **Notable Investors**: Andreessen Horowitz, Spark Capital, Renegade Partners, Gradient (Google’s AI fund), Bloomberg Beta. - **Recent Milestones & Growth Signals**: - Awarded an $875M FAA contract to modernize the National Airspace System. - Collaborations with U.S. Air Force (NITMRE-GEO) and Defense Innovation Unit (DIU). - Partnered with National Grid to deploy operational AI for electric grids. - **138 employees** (38.6% YoY growth, +44 people). - 25 active job postings (+66.7% YoY). - LinkedIn followers: 5,434 (+81.3% yearly). ## Competitive Advantages - **Dual-use capability**: Serving both commercial and defense customers with the same core platform, enabling cross-sector innovation and scale. - **Domain-specific AI**: Deep modeling of geospatial and temporal operations (aviation, logistics, energy) – not generic AI but purpose-built for mission-critical workflows. - **Speed of deployment**: Claimed ability to deploy predictive capabilities in weeks, not years, due to open data architecture and domain modeling engine. - **Team composition**: Mix of top software/ML engineers and industry veterans with decades of mission experience (e.g., Jeppesen, MITRE, Amazon, Intel). ## Strategic Focus - **Current priorities**: Expanding defense contracts (U.S. and allies), scaling into new mission-critical verticals (energy, supply chain), and deepening AI/ML capabilities for predictive operations. - **Direction**: Moving beyond visibility to predictability – helping operators act on the future state rather than reacting to past data. ## Why Work Here - **Culture**: High-energy, mission-driven environment where “speed matters” and autonomy is granted early. Emphasizes merit over experience, intellectual curiosity, and resourceful builders. - **Work policy**: Flexible work hours and flexible time off (output-based). Offices in Boston, Gdansk, and Washington, D.C. – likely hybrid/remote-friendly (global team supporting 24/7 operations). - **Perks**: Premium healthcare, competitive salary + equity, team lunches, ergonomic office equipment, and modern productivity tools. - **Engineering culture**: Strong focus on impactful work (systems already monitoring tens of thousands of flights globally), collaboration across distributed teams, and a mantra of “today is better than tomorrow.” - **Ratings**: 4.7/5 on LinkedIn (6 reviews), with high marks for culture (4.8), compensation, and work-life balance (4.6). ## Sources 1. [airspace-intelligence.com](https://www.airspace-intelligence.com/company) 2. [airspace-intelligence.com](https://www.airspace-intelligence.com/) 3. [airspace-intelligence.com](https://www.airspace-intelligence.com/careers) 4. [linkedin.com](https://www.linkedin.com/company/airspace-intelligence) 5. 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