Lead Machine Learning Data Science Engineer

MITRE Corporation - McLean, VA

Full-time - Mid Level

McLean, VA

Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services

About the position

At MITRE, we are dedicated to addressing our nation's most pressing challenges while ensuring the well-being of our employees. As a not-for-profit corporation, we operate without commercial conflicts, focusing solely on the public interest. Our R&D centers work on impactful projects across various fields, including cybersecurity, healthcare, aviation, defense, and enterprise transformation. We strive to create a safer, healthier, and more secure nation and world through our innovative work. Our workplace culture reflects our core values, offering competitive benefits, exceptional professional development opportunities, and a commitment to diversity, inclusion, flexibility, collaboration, and career growth. The Data Science department at MITRE is seeking qualified applicants who possess machine learning, advanced analytics, and applied research skills to solve problems of critical national importance. Our diverse work program allows employees to apply their expertise and creative thinking in challenging domains such as healthcare, transportation, and national security. Additionally, employees can participate in MITRE's internal research and development program, which funds innovative applied research to tackle our sponsors' toughest challenges. The ideal candidate for this position will be a data scientist with a strong theoretical and technical background, capable of formulating problems, designing and evaluating solutions, implementing hands-on solutions, and effectively communicating results to various audiences. Familiarity with advanced data science techniques, including supervised and unsupervised machine learning, deep learning, and reinforcement learning, is highly desirable. Hands-on software development skills are essential, as our organization values innovation and lifelong learning, recognizing the importance of staying current with the latest research and technologies in this fast-paced field.

Responsibilities

• Apply a variety of data science techniques to tackle customer challenges, including machine learning, generative AI, natural language processing, computer vision, reinforcement learning, statistical modeling, mathematical optimization, and data visualization.
• Ensure reproducibility and trustworthiness throughout the machine learning lifecycle by applying data science rigor.
• Develop, test, evaluate, and demonstrate data science and machine learning solutions.
• Build and test prototypes in on-premises environments (e.g., VMWare, Linux-based platforms) and commercial cloud environments (e.g., AWS, Azure).
• Utilize state-of-the-art techniques using programming languages and development environments to enhance mission capabilities for MITRE sponsors.
• Provide technical leadership on projects, mentoring junior staff or serving as a senior subject matter expert.
• Translate complex results into actionable recommendations that can be understood by senior leadership and non-technical audiences.
• Demonstrate strong technical writing and presentation skills.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in Data Science, Computer Science, Mathematics, or a related field.
• Minimum of 8 years of experience with a Bachelor's degree; or 6 years with a Master's degree; or 3 years of hands-on relevant experience using data science techniques with a PhD.
• Experience using existing AI frameworks (e.g., TensorFlow, Caffe, Cognitive Toolkit, Torch).
• Proficient in Python and SQL.
• Ability to obtain and maintain a secret clearance.

Nice-to-haves

• Advanced degree in Data Science, Computer Science, Mathematics, or a related field.
• Knowledge or experience with trusted machine learning.
• Experience applying deep learning techniques.
• Knowledge of MLOps, particularly in the AWS environment.
• Possess an active US Government clearance.

Benefits

• Competitive benefits package
• Exceptional professional development opportunities
• Culture of innovation that embraces diversity and inclusion
• Flexible work arrangements
• Collaboration and career growth opportunities