--- title: 'Junior Data Engineer (DEA) at Hatch IT' canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/junior-data-engineer-dea-hatch-it-arlington-1n3x009qbb53' type: 'job' last_seen: '2026-09-07' --- # Junior 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/7f2e771d-2363-4e85-b62f-ca130c478a97 ## Job description hatch I.T. is partnering with Expression to find a Junior Data Engineer (DEA). See details below: About The Role: Expression is seeking a Junior Data Engineer to support the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Investigative Case and Data Ecosystem (ICDE) modernization effort. The program is focused on replacing fragmented legacy investigative and case management capabilities with a centralized, secure, scalable, and integrated ecosystem. Working alongside experienced data engineers and other technical team members, the Data Engineer 2 will support data ingestion, transformation, validation, migration, and integration activities. This is an early-career opportunity for an individual with foundational data engineering knowledge who is interested in developing hands-on experience supporting a large-scale Federal technology modernization program. Clearance: Secret level required and willingness to pursuit TS/SCI. 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: - Assist in designing, developing, and maintaining ETL pipelines for ingesting, transforming, and loading datasets under the guidance of more experienced engineers. - Support migration of legacy data into the modernized DEA investigative and case management ecosystem. - Assist with analyzing data structures, source-to-target mappings, and data-quality checks to identify issues or gaps. - Help ensure data accuracy, consistency, and integrity by executing validation queries, profiling datasets, and supporting data-cleaning efforts. - Contribute to data migration activities, including mapping source data to target systems and executing migration scripts. - Support data cleaning, standardization, classification, and tagging activities. - Collaborate with analysts, data scientists, engineers, and business stakeholders to translate requirements into data transformations and pipeline updates. - Monitor pipeline performance and assist with troubleshooting operational issues, escalating complex issues as appropriate. - Participate in validation activities and help document migration results and identified data-quality issues. - Participate in Agile ceremonies and support data engineering activities throughout development sprints. - Help document data flows, transformation logic, mappings, and operational processes to support maintainability and knowledge sharing. Qualifications: - Bachelor's degree in STEM fields and 0–1 years of professional experience. - Foundational exposure to data analysis, ETL concepts, or data migration through coursework, internships, personal projects, or early professional experience. - Working knowledge of SQL, including basic queries, joins, and aggregations. - Familiarity with Python for data manipulation or automation tasks; introductory-level experience is acceptable. - Introductory experience with ETL or workflow tools such as Apache Airflow, Talend, or similar technologies. - Understanding of basic data warehousing concepts, including staging, fact/dimension models, or schema structures. - Exposure to cloud-based data storage or compute platforms such as AWS S3/Redshift, Google BigQuery, Azure Storage, or similar environments. - Foundational understanding of data profiling, validation, and data quality. - Strong communication and documentation skills. - Ability and willingness to learn in a fast-paced, evolving technical environment. Preferred Qualifications: - Hands-on or coursework experience with AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud Platform. - Exposure to Hadoop, Spark, or other distributed-processing technologies. - Familiarity with Power BI, Tableau, Looker, or similar visualization tools. - Familiarity with Git or similar version-control systems. - Experience building or supporting automated data workflows using orchestration tools or scheduled scripting. - Exposure to Agile development methodologies. - Coursework, internship, project, or professional exposure to data migration or system-modernization activities. 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. 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