Senior Data Scientist - Defense Analytics

Senior Data Scientist - Defense Analytics

Pentagon - Arlington, VA

Salary: $175,000-$215,000 annually

Active Top Secret Security Clearance with SCI eligibility required

We are seeking a Senior Data Scientist in Arlington, VA, to support mission-critical data science, machine learning, advanced analytics, and data engineering initiatives for the Department of War (DoW) at the Pentagon. This position requires an active Top Secret clearance with SCI eligibility and hands-on production experience with Databricks, Palantir Foundry, Python, PySpark, SQL, Delta Lake, and AWS .

The Senior Data Scientist will develop predictive models, scalable data pipelines, natural language processing (NLP) solutions, and analytical applications using structured and unstructured data. This role supports secure data integration, automation, and decision-making across classified defense environments while collaborating with government stakeholders, data engineers, software developers, and analysts.

Responsibilities

• Collect, clean, transform, and analyze structured and unstructured datasets to identify trends, patterns, and actionable insights.
• Develop, implement, and evaluate statistical analyses, predictive models, and machine learning solutions supporting mission requirements.
• Apply natural language processing (NLP), text mining, and advanced analytical techniques to complex datasets.
• Design, develop, maintain, and optimize scalable data pipelines and workflows using Databricks and Palantir Foundry.
• Develop data processing, transformation, and integration solutions using Python, pandas, PySpark, SQL, and Delta Lake.
• Integrate data from REST APIs and external systems using secure authentication methods, including OAuth 2.0 and certificate-based authentication.
• Develop and maintain data models, Ontology objects, and analytical applications within Palantir Foundry.
• Create dashboards, reports, and visualizations to communicate analytical findings to technical and nontechnical stakeholders.
• Support secure data storage, access management, and integration within AWS environments, including Amazon S3 and IAM.
• Apply software development best practices, including Git-based version control, code reviews, automated testing, and CI/CD using GitLab.
• Collaborate with data engineers, software developers, analysts, and government stakeholders to translate mission requirements into technical solutions.
• Maintain data quality, integrity, traceability, security compliance, and governance standards across analytical environments.
• Develop and maintain technical documentation for data pipelines, analytical models, workflows, and system integrations.
• Identify opportunities to automate data processing, improve pipeline performance, and enhance analytical capabilities.

Required Qualifications

• U.S. Citizenship required.
• Active Top Secret Security Clearance with eligibility for SCI access.
• Bachelor's degree in Data Science, Computer Science, Statistics, Mathematics, Computer Engineering, or a related technical field. Additional relevant experience may substitute for education where permitted by the applicable contract labor category.
• Minimum 8 years of professional experience in data science, data engineering, analytics, or a closely related field.
• Demonstrated experience developing and maintaining analytical solutions and data pipelines in production environments.
• Strong proficiency in Python, including pandas and PySpark, and SQL.
• Experience exploring, cleansing, analyzing, and visualizing structured and unstructured datasets.
• Experience developing quantitative analyses, predictive models, and analytical solutions.
• Hands-on experience applying machine learning, natural language processing, or text mining techniques.
• Production experience with Databricks, including notebooks, jobs, workflows, Delta Lake, and secrets management.
• Production experience with Palantir Foundry, including Code Repositories or Pipeline Builder, Ontology, and Workshop.
• Experience integrating data through REST APIs using OAuth 2.0 or certificate-based authentication.
• Working knowledge of AWS cloud services, particularly Amazon S3 and IAM.
• Experience with Git-based software development and CI/CD practices, preferably using GitLab.
• Ability to troubleshoot analytical solutions, data processing workflows, and integration issues.
• Ability to communicate technical findings and collaborate with cross-functional teams.
• Ability to maintain accurate documentation and handle sensitive or classified data in accordance with applicable requirements.
• Ability to work onsite at the Pentagon in Arlington, VA, according to the required schedule.

Preferred Qualifications

• Master's degree or PhD in Data Science, Statistics, Computer Science, or a related quantitative discipline.
• Experience supporting Department of War, Intelligence Community, or other federal government programs.
• Experience developing analytical solutions within classified or highly regulated environments.
• Experience with advanced statistical modeling, including hypothesis testing, regression, classification, clustering, and model evaluation.
• Experience with scikit-learn, PyTorch, Plotly, Seaborn, or similar analytical and visualization libraries.
• Knowledge of large language model (LLM) applications, including retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), embeddings, prompt design, and model output evaluation.
• Experience with Palantir AIP, including AIP Logic, AI agents, and Foundry model integration.
• Familiarity with document text extraction and OCR tools such as Apache Tika, pdfplumber, and Tesseract.
• Experience developing dashboards and analytical applications using Palantir Foundry, Databricks SQL, Power BI, or Tableau.
• Familiarity with Microsoft Graph API, SharePoint Online, or Microsoft 365 within GCC High or DoD environments.
• Knowledge of change data capture (CDC), incremental APIs, content hashing, and idempotent data pipelines.
• Experience with front-end development using React, TypeScript, or Ontology SDK applications.
• Familiarity with DoD enterprise data platforms, including Advana, Maven Smart System, or AWS GovCloud.
• Knowledge of data governance in classified environments, including classification markings, data lineage, and cross-domain transfer processes.

Benefits & Perks

• 100% company-paid employee medical insurance.
• 100% company-paid employee dental and vision insurance.
• Employer 401(k) contributions with no required employee contribution and immediate vesting.
• Generous paid time off (PTO) and parental leave.
• Flexible work hours.

Work Environment / Schedule / Travel

• Pentagon-based position in Arlington, VA.
• Onsite work required; exact weekly onsite schedule pending confirmation.
• Work involves classified government data, secure analytics platforms, and mission-critical defense systems.
• Flexible work hours are offered, subject to position and mission requirements.
• Travel requirements were not specified.