About Careertakes

👉 Important disclosure: Careertakes is a third-party recruiting platform supporting this hiring process. If selected, you will be employed directly by our client, Defense and Space Manufacturing.

Applicants for this role may also receive access to additional matched opportunities through the Careertakes platform.

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What You’ll Do

Confidential Client is seeking a Data Scientist to join a research-focused team supporting mission-driven big data analytics. This on-site role will apply advanced machine learning, natural language processing, and data-fusion techniques to national security and cybersecurity challenges.

• Work closely with multidisciplinary teams (data scientists, developers, engineers, researchers, program managers) to design, build, and optimize a data science platform.
• Analyze large-scale datasets (including social media, behavioral, cyber, and other mission-relevant sources).
• Lead research-level analytics, exploratory analysis, and quantitative studies to generate actionable intelligence.
• Communicate complex technical results clearly to non-technical stakeholders and contribute to publications and briefings.
• Identify and integrate novel data sources to improve predictive models and promote user adoption of analytics tools.
• Design user-friendly analytical workflows and support customer outreach and engagement for operational use.
• Deploy and validate models and pipelines in production environments.

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Required Qualifications

• B.S. in Computer Science, Mathematics, Statistics, Engineering, Physics, Economics, Computational Social Science, or a related quantitative field with 2+ years of relevant experience; OR a Master’s degree or equivalent graduate training with less than 2 years of experience.
• Experience in data science, analytics, or quantitative intelligence analysis with demonstrable technical progress and outcomes.
• Proficiency in Python (or equivalent scripting languages).
• Experience deploying data science applications using Docker, Kubernetes, and/or OpenShift.
• Experience with information retrieval/search tech (Elasticsearch, Kibana) and/or SQL.
• Experience working on hybrid teams to research, develop, and deploy algorithms and analytical platforms.
• Experience handling big data that does not fit in memory (distributed processing or streaming).
• Familiarity with git or similar version control systems.
• Self-driven with the ability to manage tasks and deliverables with limited supervision.
• Strong analytical thinking, active learning, and creative problem-solving skills.

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Preferred Qualifications

• Prior analytics support for military or intelligence community customers and mission-focused outcomes.
• Experience with two or more of these data classes: forensic media (DOMEX), open-source publicly available information (PAI), MASINT, cybersecurity/cyber forensics.
• Familiarity with Knowledge Graphs (neo4j) and graph ML approaches.
• Experience developing predictive models, image classifiers, or object detectors.
• Background in social network analysis, supply chain analysis, forensic accounting, pattern-of-life analysis, NLP, social media analysis, classification, or image processing.
• Experience blending analytical methodologies and leveraging COTS/GOTS/OS tools creatively.
• Experience with on-premises air-gapped environments and/or AWS (including C2S).
• Familiarity with hardware accelerators (CPUs, GPUs, FPGAs).

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Clearance & Eligibility

• Active Top Secret/SCI security clearance required.
• U.S. citizenship is required for this role.
• Candidates may be subject to background investigation and additional eligibility checks in accordance with federal requirements.

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Compensation & Benefits Highlights

Compensation is competitive and based on experience, skills, location, and internal equity.

• Competitive fixed salary or hourly pay (based on experience).
• Employee referral bonuses (up to $10,000 per successful referral).
• Performance- and role-dependent bonus opportunities.

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Health & Income Protection

• 100% company-paid medical premiums for employees and eligible dependents (multiple plan options).
• 100% company-paid dental and vision premiums for employees and eligible dependents.
• 100% company-paid short-term and long-term disability premiums.
• 100% company-paid accidental death & dismemberment (AD&D) coverage and life insurance (up to specified limits).

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Retirement & Leave

• 401(k) with immediate vesting: company match plus non-elective company contribution (total company contribution up to 8%).
• 401(k) pre-tax and Roth options.
• Up to 20 days flexible paid time off (PTO) and 11 paid floating holidays.

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Work Environment

• This is an on-site role at a customer facility in Bethesda, MD. Some roles may have flexible schedules or project-dependent compressed work periods.
• Candidates should be prepared to work in secure or controlled environments, including air-gapped systems when required.

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Keywords & Skills (highlights)

• Python, machine learning, natural language processing (NLP)
• Docker, Kubernetes, OpenShift
• Elasticsearch, Kibana, SQL
• Knowledge graphs, neo4j, graph ML
• Large-scale data analytics, distributed processing
• Experience supporting defense or intelligence missions

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Equal Opportunity & Hiring Transparency

Careertakes and our client are Equal Opportunity Employers committed to building a diverse and inclusive workforce. We prohibit discrimination or harassment of any kind. To support a fair and efficient hiring process, AI tools may be used to assist with application review or resume screening. These tools do not replace human decision-making. Final hiring decisions are made by people.

If you have questions about how your data is used, please contact us directly.