Junior Data Scientist

Systems Planning and Analysis, Inc. (SPA) delivers high-impact, technical solutions to complex national security issues. With over 50 years of business expertise and consistent growth, we are known for continuous innovation for our government customers, in both the US and abroad. Our exceptionally talented team is highly collaborative in spirit and practice, producing Results that Matter . Come work with the best! We offer opportunity, unique challenges, and clear-sighted commitment to the mission. SPA: Objective. Responsive. Trusted.

The Joint, Office of the Secretary of Defense, Interagency Division (JOID) provides expert support services to a range of customers spanning across the Department of Defense, Federal Civilian, and international markets. JOID provides a diverse portfolio of analytical and programmatic capabilities to help our customers make informed decisions on their most challenging issues.

JOID assists the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) in developing leading edge technologies to counter WMD in support of Combatant Commands and transitioning these technologies to military services. SPA provides expertise across the full range of chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and high-yield explosives (CBRNE) WMD, Counter Improvised Threat and Countering Threat Network technologies to support understanding, detection, identification, characterization, denial, control, disabling, defeating, disposing, safeguarding the force, managing consequences, and test and evaluation in support of military and civilian operations.

We have a near-term need for a Limited Part-Time Junior Data Scientist to provide onsite support out of SPA's Lorton, VA Facility (near Fort Belvoir).

We are seeking a smart, energetic, and dedicated individual to support the Nuclear Technology Detection (NTD) Division on a limited part-time basis in Lorton, VA. The NTD Division has portfolios that include detection, radiacs, handheld and remote sensors, communication gear, some virtual reality, operational testing of new technologies, and acquisition of small business contracts supporting the above work. The candidate will use large data sets to find opportunities for product and process optimization and use models to test the effectiveness of different courses of action. Will assist the NTD Division in providing data science services capable of supporting scalable, highly available application solutions that leverage cloud native services; supporting the transformation of monolithic, legacy applications to a more modular, micro-services architecture; providing data architecture design, development and test knowledge and expertise with respect to cloud architecture, design patterns, and data analysis requirements; and defining data architectures that support both the enterprise and application-level capabilities with systems and network security, scalability, fault tolerance, and optimal performance. Support analysis and development of customer-driven technical data architectures and solutions; provide technical guidance to software development teams designing, developing, and integrating a data-intensive application framework using modern data-centric enabling technologies, cloud computing, and virtualization architecture; develop custom data models and algorithms to apply to data sets and improve data visualization; develop processes and tools to monitor and analyze model performance and data accuracy; analyze and recommend approaches for making heterogeneous data sources broadly available for discoverability and access to support a wide consumer-base, analytic needs, and use by diverse applications, services, and systems; and optimize the management of data across nodes and the performance of distribution, search, and retrieval.

Required:

• Bachelor's degree in data science, computer science, or related technical discipline and 2 years of related work experience (or a masters degree + 1 year of experience).
• Articulate and willing to learn program/organizational processes and procedures.
• Experience in developing ontologies to improve comprehension of domain structures.
• Experience in designing prototype web applications using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript to visualize ontologies to enhancing user understanding of complex domains and relationships.
• Demonstrate creative thinking and strong problem-solving skills.
• Possesses strong leadership, communications, and organizational skills.
• Able to delve into technical details and translate those into findings and technical recommendations.
• Active Secret DoD clearance with the ability to receive and maintain a TS/SCI.
• Able to work fully onsite based on client needs.

Desired:

• Active TS/SCI clearance.
• Experience in DevSecOps delivery of software capabilities and demonstrated understanding of DoD software development and delivery strategy, guidance, and best practices.
• Experience using web services: Redshift, S3, Spark, DigitalOcean, etc.
• Experience with distributed data/computing tools: Map/Reduce, Hadoop, Hive, Spark, Gurobi, MySQL, etc.
• Experience with data compliance and data security best practices.
• Familiarity developing applications that use containers, micro-service system design, and cloud services.
• Experience visualizing/presenting data for stakeholders using Periscope, Business Objects, D3, ggplot, Tableau, etc.
• Experience transitioning legacy systems to cloud environment optimized applications.
• Demonstrated understanding of Systems Engineering and Acquisition processes.
• Experience with DoD Command & Control (C2) networks (JADC2, IEW, etc.).
• Knowledge of the DoD Architecture Framework (DoDAF).
• Working knowledge of or experience with DTRA RDs mission and organization.