# Data and Partnerships Associate

**Company:** [Astera](https://hotfix.jobs/companies/astera)
**Location:** Washington, DC
**Role:** Data Engineering
**Salary:** $135k – $160k/yr
**Experience:** 5+ years
**Skills:** Data Governance, Data Quality, metadata standards, scientific data formats, data repositories, open science, fair data, data management, knowledge graphs, semantic web, Machine Learning, data integration, federal partnerships, cloud labs, Data Infrastructure
**Posted:** 2026-08-14

> Manages the full lifecycle of scientific research data, including governance, metadata, repositories, open-science publishing, and AI/ML compatibility. The role also builds partnerships with federal research organizations and requires a bachelor’s degree plus 5–7+ years of relevant experience.

## Job Description

## Responsibilities

### External Partnerships
- Serve as a point of contact for Astera’s partnership with the National Science Foundation’s Programmable Cloud Lab Test Bed Network.
- Provide expertise and oversight related to data and open science needs across network nodes.
- Consult with partners to understand their data and prepare it for high-quality, reusable publication for human researchers and AI systems.
- Ensure partners follow data policies, resolve compliance issues, and escalate complex or sensitive situations when appropriate.
- Initiate and maintain federal government partnerships that promote open science.

### Open Science and Data Stewardship
- Create and maintain documentation for data repository interactions.
- Establish best practices for data release timing and methods, metadata tools and standards, and FAIR data compliance.
- Train and guide partners, researchers, and residents on data management best practices.
- Collaborate with software engineers to identify and address data infrastructure gaps.

### General Data and Open Science
- Support integration of research data with open science knowledge graphs.
- Ensure compatibility with AI and machine-learning ecosystems that rely on high-quality scientific data.
- Develop responsible data-release approaches for sensitive, private, safety-related, or dual-use research while supporting Astera’s open science mission.

## Requirements
- Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Science, Library Science, Data Science, or a related field; an advanced degree is preferred.
- 5–7+ years of experience managing data in research organizations, academic institutions, or similar environments with complex data governance requirements.
- Strong understanding of data quality principles, data governance frameworks, and metadata standards, with the ability to apply them in practice.
- Familiarity with scientific data formats, repositories, and standards.
- Experience initiating and maintaining partnerships with outside organizations, especially federal government partners.
- Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, including the ability to translate technical data requirements for researchers.
- Strong organizational skills, meticulous attention to detail, and the ability to manage multiple data projects.
- Ability to work independently, identify process improvements, and drive initiatives forward.

## Nice-to-Haves
- Experience with automated-instrumentation data, especially cloud-lab data.
- 1–3+ years of experience working for or with the federal government.
- Experience assessing or developing federal government policy.
- Familiarity with the AI/ML data landscape and structuring data for machine-learning applications.
- Knowledge of open science initiatives and open data publishing platforms.
- Experience with data integration, knowledge graphs, or semantic web technologies.
- Experience developing data-management policies, procedures, or training materials.

## Compensation and Benefits
- Competitive compensation package commensurate with experience.
- Benefits are summarized by the employer.

## Similar roles

- [Software Engineer, Data Migration & Code Generation](https://hotfix.jobs/jobs/1ccf0904-4f83-44d1-b3b3-4c56a39e6687) - MongoDB - Remote - $135k – $203k/yr
- [Data Solutions Engineer](https://hotfix.jobs/jobs/a4bf0ca0-c07a-47ba-a06b-2b9eb8ef4a5f) - GovWell - New York, NY - $130k – $180k/yr
- [Data Engineer](https://hotfix.jobs/jobs/806e8fd6-55ad-4f21-beac-fcc49bac87c2) - Talkiatry - Remote - $130k – $145k/yr
- [Data Scientist II - Big Data R&D, Identity Graph & KYC](https://hotfix.jobs/jobs/385c8bb3-71ae-4906-a060-ee5220b8a889) - Socure - Remote - $140k – $170k/yr
- [Data Engineer II](https://hotfix.jobs/jobs/94dd58d8-783a-4ce1-850e-5e2c6ef7d551) - Garner Health - New York, NY - $125k – $165k/yr

**Apply:** https://hotfix.jobs/jobs/66e72a53-9352-4dae-9eba-3aa1afd1d5d7
**Canonical:** https://hotfix.jobs/jobs/66e72a53-9352-4dae-9eba-3aa1afd1d5d7