Cloud Data Engineer (Database Developer)

The Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI), operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA), is NASA’s science operations center for missions including the Hubble and James Webb Space Telescopes. STScI leads observation planning, data analysis, public engagement, and data archiving for flagship missions. Our staff spans astronomy, engineering, education, IT, communications, and administration—working together to bring space science to the world.

STScI is hiring a Cloud Data Engineer to join our Catalog Science Branch. We are looking for a talented and experienced professional to help manage the large-scale data infrastructure and processing for our advanced astronomical public data archive, the Mikulski Archive for Space Telescopes (MAST), serving missions such as HST, JWST, Roman, Kepler, and TESS (Click here to learn more about our missions). The ideal candidate will be responsible for designing, building, and optimizing the scientific data solution and data pipeline architectures.

This position can support hybrid work and is currently work from home with onsite as required occasionally . Candidates must reside in or be willing to relocate to our local market. (MD, DE, VA, PA, DC & WV).

The posted salary range represents a general guideline; however, STScI considers a number of factors when determining salary offers, such as internal pay equity, the scope and responsibilities of the position, the candidate's experience, education, and skill, and current market conditions.

• The annual salary range for a Senior Cloud Data Cloud Engineer role (8 years industrial working experience) is $130,000 - $150,000.
• The annual salary range for a Cloud Data Cloud Engineer II role (5 years industrial working experience) is $115,000- $125,000.

This position requires US Citizenship or Permanent Residence in order to meet ITAR requirements.

Key Responsibilities:

• Design, develop, and maintain scalable relational databases and cloud-based data lakes to manage petabyte-scale astronomical datasets.
• Develop and optimize robust, fault-tolerant data pipelines using Apache Airflow (or similar tools) to process petabyte-scale datasets efficiently
• Deploy and manage containerized data workloads at scale using Kubernetes on AWS EKS and ECS
• Develop and maintain CI/CD pipelines and Infrastructure-as-Code for reliable automated deployment

Experience, Skills and Qualifications: 

Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, or a related field.

Senior level with a minimum of 8 years industrial working experience and Level II with a minimum of 5 years industrial working experience in an AWS Cloud environment and experience in data engineering, data management with a focus on cloud-based solutions.

• Deep expertise in PostgreSQL: schema design, query optimization, indexing, partitioning, and large-scale performance tuning
• Strong experience designing and developing scalable ETL/ELT pipelines and cloud-based modern data lakehouse
• Proficiency in Apache Airflow for developing, scheduling, monitoring, and troubleshooting data pipelines
• Hands-on experience with Kubernetes for container orchestration, including deploying and scaling workloads on AWS EKS and ECS.
• Strong programming skills in Python (required) and shell scripting
• Excellent problem-solving abilities and be able to communicate technical concepts clearly to non-technical and scientific teams
• Intensive hands-on experience of core AWS data services

Substitution of additional relevant education or experience for stated qualifications will be considered.

We offer an excellent and generous benefits package, tuition reimbursement, flexible work schedules and a stimulating and diverse work environment. Explore our benefits: http://www.stsci.edu/opportunities/benefits

TO APPLY: Share your experience by uploading a resume and cover letter and completing an online application. Applications received by January 23, 2026, will receive full consideration. Applications received after this date will be considered until the position is filled. Reference #0015348

Individuals needing assistance with the employment process can contact us at careers@stsci.edu.

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Salary : $115,000 - $150,000