Principal Data Engineer

Principal Data Engineer

At BWX Technologies, Inc. (NYSE: BWXT), we are People Strong, Innovation Driven. A U.S.-based company, BWXT is a Fortune 1000 and Defense News Top 100 manufacturing and engineering innovator that provides safe and effective nuclear solutions for global security, clean energy, environmental restoration, nuclear medicine and space exploration. With more than 7,800 employees, BWXT has 14 major operating sites in the U.S., Canada and the U.K. We are the sole manufacturer of naval nuclear reactors for U.S. submarines and aircraft carriers. Our company supplies precision manufactured components, services and fuel for the commercial nuclear power industry across four continents. Our joint ventures provide environmental restoration and operations management at a dozen U.S. Department of Energy and NASA facilities. BWXT's technology is driving advances in medical radioisotope production in North America and microreactors for various defense and space applications.

Position Overview: As our Principal Data Engineer for Semantic Modeling & Industrial Knowledge Architecture, you will lead the design, engineering, and governance of large-scale semantic data models and industrial knowledge systems that support real-time operational intelligence across advanced manufacturing environments. You will build unified namespaces, enterprise knowledge graphs, and ontology-driven architectures that ensure consistent interpretation, traceability, and interoperability of mission-critical industrial data. This role partners with controls engineers, data architects, AI/ML teams, and manufacturing SMEs to deliver enterprise-grade foundations for analytics, predictive maintenance, simulation workflows, and AI-driven automation in a high-security DOE/NNSA environment.

Location: On-site in Oak Ridge, Tennessee (Q Clearance Required)

Your Day to Day as a Principal Data Engineer:

• Design semantic data models and ontologies enabling unified interpretation of industrial data across chemical, aerospace, automotive, and high-throughput manufacturing sectors.
• Develop enterprise knowledge graph components using OWL, RDF, RDFS, SKOS, SHACL, and SPARQL.
• Build unified namespaces aligned with ISA-95 and W3C standards to ensure cross-system interoperability.
• Architect scalable storage solutions including time-series databases, knowledge graphs, and lakehouse systems.
• Engineer pipelines to ingest, reconcile, and contextualize structured, semi-structured, streaming, and unstructured data.
• Apply governance practices including versioning, modularization, URI strategies, and quality gates.
• Map relational models into semantic representations using R2RML/RML.
• Support AI/ML and simulation teams by embedding semantic models into analytics and automation workflows.
• Lead workshops with SMEs to define domain concepts, modeling requirements, and competency questions.
• Implement data quality controls, lineage, validation frameworks, and anomaly detection.
• Develop reusable frameworks for units modeling, hierarchical structures, identifier normalization, and event modeling.
• Mentor engineering teams and contribute to enterprise data modernization strategies.
• Maintain semantic specifications, governance artifacts, workflows, and compliance documentation.
• Participate in DOE/NNSA audits, reviews, and inspections.

Required Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Physics, Computer Engineering, Information Science, Computer Science, or related STEM field.
• Minimum 5 years of experience in data engineering, semantic modeling, ontology design, or knowledge graph development.
• Experience designing ontologies using OWL, RDF, RDFS, SKOS, SHACL, and SPARQL.
• Hands-on experience with pipelines for structured, semi-structured, streaming, and unstructured data.
• Experience integrating OT/IoT, edge devices, and SCADA systems into unified data environments.
• Strong knowledge of data architecture principles and modern storage paradigms.
• Proficiency in Python, Java, or Scala.
• Familiarity with cloud platforms and Kubernetes.
• Understanding of semantic governance and lifecycle management.
• Must be a U.S. citizen with ability to obtain and maintain a DOE Q clearance.
• Must be able to obtain and maintain a DOE security clearance.

What We Offer:

• Competitive salary and benefits.
• Flexible work schedules and paid time off (as applicable).
• Professional development including mentorship and continuing education support.
• An inclusive culture that values diverse perspectives.
• Opportunities to contribute to mission-driven national security programs.
• Continuous learning and training for career growth.

Pay: $86,450 - $136,000