Senior Data Operations Lead

New

Posted: June 25, 2026

I. Position Summary

The Senior Data Operations Lead provides the essential operating discipline, workflow synchronization, and execution oversight required to sustain daily Headquarters Air Force (HAF) Strategic Data Initiatives. Operating directly at the HAF staff level, this role integrates efforts across Government stakeholders, mission partners, action officers, and technical personnel to ensure seamless execution of data governance, data maturity modeling, and digital transformation mandates. By maintaining clear workflow visibility, preparing elite executive staff products, tracking operational actions, and monitoring capability investments, this position enables senior leadership to maintain decision advantage across the extended Intelligence Community (IC) enterprise.

Work Environment

• Work Location: [Hybrid- Colorado Denver/Colorado Springs or National Capital Region (NCR)]
• Security Clearance: [TS/SCI]
• Travel Requirements: [TDY’s as required by the Government]
  
  

Compensation

Karthik Consulting is committed to providing competitive compensation based on the responsibilities of the role, required qualifications, security clearance level, relevant experience, certifications, customer requirements, geographic location, and overall business needs. The salary range listed for this position represents a good-faith estimate of the current compensation range for this role.

At Karthik Consulting, it is not typical for an individual to be hired at or near the top of the salary range. Final compensation decisions are based on the facts and circumstances of each candidate’s experience, qualifications, certifications, clearance level, contract requirements, and overall alignment with the role.

A reasonable estimate of the current salary range for this position is $140,000 to $160,000 annually.

Employees may be eligible for company benefits and additional compensation programs, subject to company policy, contract requirements, and individual eligibility.

II. Program Context

Program Description

This role supports the Air Force Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) Digital Infrastructure Transformation. The mission focuses on modernizing, designing, and sustaining an integrated digital environment that transitions from historical hardware-based industrial constraints to software-defined digital processes. This modern enterprise architecture interconnects physical and virtual technologies across Data and Analytics, Sense-Making, Automation, Augmentation, and Artificial Intelligence (AAA), Hybrid/Multi-Cloud environments, Networks, and Zero Trust security frameworks to safely deliver intelligence to warfighters at the speed of relevance.

Program Scope

The role operates within the operational oversight of the AF IC Chief Information Officer (CIO), Chief Data Officer (CDO), IT Risk Management Framework Authorizing Official (AO), and Chief Technology Officer (CTO). The work spans the entire spectrum of Air Force ISR Information Environment operations, encompassing strategic management, policy and instruction updates, capability portfolio management, and data sharing governance across NIPR, SIPR, and JWICS infrastructures.

III. Key Responsibilities

Operational Integration & Stakeholder Coordination

• Lead operational synchronization efforts across Government stakeholders, cross-domain mission partners, HAF action officers, and technical delivery teams to drive execution discipline.
• Proactively organize, schedule, and facilitate productive stakeholder meetings, engineering groups, and synchronization forums to build consensus.
• Review and triage administrative taskers, coordinate technical or programmatic input with Offices of Primary Responsibility (OPR), and ensure comprehensive follow-through within strict deadlines.
• Prepare clear, concise executive briefings, memorandums, issue papers, and electronic Staff Summary Sheets (eSSS) tailored for senior leadership visibility.
• Document meeting decisions and track open programmatic action items to ensure timely and complete closure.
  
  

Data Governance Support & Council Administration

• Administer the formal AF IC Information Environment Data Governance Councils, ensuring the function operates as an authoritative, repeatable asset under the CDO.
• Coordinate action officer-level technical, security, and policy updates, ensuring alignment with higher-level IC, DoD, and industry standards.
• Manage, update, and maintain foundational governance documentation, including council charters, instructional policy drafts, and standard manuals.
• Support activities that plan, control, and monitor standard data management across the enterprise through structured organizational components and processes.
  
  

Portfolio Management & Performance Analytics

• Collect, validate, and evaluate enterprise performance alignment goals and compliance metrics to maintain absolute operational visibility for stakeholders.
• Track execution progress against the CDO’s capability investment portfolio and analyze resource constraints relative to strategic modernization milestones.
• Provide decision support metrics regarding the adequacy of internal data controls, compliance efforts, and residual program risks.
• Monitor that active data products, analytics frameworks, and service catalogs continue to perform against agreed corporate performance baselines.
  
  

Automation & Knowledge Management Workflow

• Maintain and execute explicit organizational processes for indexing, cataloguing, storing, and securing explicit knowledge and data artifacts.
• Support infrastructure use-case discovery to rapidly identify applicable artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), and robotic process automation (RPA) methods across HAF workflows.
• Assist in maintaining tracking visibility into AI performance standards, MLOps frameworks, and digital automation capabilities.
• Translate complex technical data operations workflows into simple, easily scannable executive reports and educational visual aids for non-technical stakeholders.
  
  

IV. Qualifications

Education

• Required: Bachelor’s Degree in a STEM-related or analytical field.
• Preferred: Master’s Degree in a STEM-related or management field.
  
  

Professional Certifications

• Required: CompTIA Security CE (or equivalent DoD 8570.01-M / DoD 8140 IAT Level II baseline certification).
• Preferred: Project Management Professional (PMP), Certified Data Management Professional (CDMP/DAMA-DMBOK), ITIL, or ISACA COBIT 2019.
  
  

Minimum Qualifications

• Experience: 6–12 years of professional technical assistance, project management, or systems engineering experience within the DoD or Intelligence Community.
• Clearance: Final, verified TOP SECRET / SCI clearance day-one.
• Staff Expertise: Demonstrated background supporting HAF, MAJCOM, OSD, Joint Staff, or CCMD headquarters-level staff actions and coordination processes.
• Technical Writing: Proven ability to author official strategies, policies, charters, and technical summaries in official Air Force style.
• Project Skills: Demonstrated experience managing multiple high-priority projects or technical initiatives simultaneously within strict timeline constraints.
  
  

Preferred Qualifications

• Comprehensive understanding of data governance frameworks (e.g., DAMA-DMBOK) and data maturity models.
• Familiarity with how data standards and data preparation processes impact AI/ML and advanced data science workflows.
• Practical knowledge of the AF ISR enterprise infrastructure, including networks like JWICS and software deployment service models (SaaS, PaaS, IaaS).
• Experience using analytical tracking tools and automated task management environments to solve administrative and performance roadblocks.