Senior Data Scientist

Program Overview

Supports the maintenance and enhancement of applications for joint intelligence operations, focusing on combatant command workflows. It works to improve technology effectiveness, eliminate overlaps, and prioritize customer needs by delivering data and new capabilities to support mission success.

About The Role

AI/ML Research Scientist – Integrated Mission Management (IMM)

Location: Herndon, VA / Northern Virginia (Hybrid Eligible)

About the Role

Peraton is seeking an AI/ML Research Scientist to support the Integrated Mission Management (IMM) program within the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) mission environment.

IMM enables enterprise Collection Prioritization, Requirements Management, and intelligence search capabilities across multiple classified domains (SIPR, JWICS, partner environments). This position will focus on advancing next-generation AI/ML capabilities that enhance decision advantage, search relevance, prioritization scoring, unstructured data exploitation, and cross-domain intelligence integration.

Unlike a traditional production-focused data science role, this position will emphasize research, prototyping, experimentation, and transitioning innovative AI capabilities into operational mission systems.

Primary Responsibilities

• Conduct applied research in AI/ML methods relevant to intelligence collection management and search optimization
• Develop experimental prototypes for prioritization modeling, ranking algorithms, and decision-support systems
• Research and implement NLP techniques for structured and unstructured intelligence data (PDFs, reports, OCR-extracted text)
• Explore transformer-based architectures, embedding models, and retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) approaches
• Design model evaluation frameworks for operational intelligence use cases
• Conduct experimentation in model explainability, bias mitigation, and trustworthiness
• Develop advanced feature engineering and representation learning strategies
• Support development of knowledge graphs, graph-based reasoning, or semantic modeling approaches
• Collaborate with Data Engineering and Software teams to transition prototypes into production-ready systems
• Publish internal technical whitepapers and research briefs to inform leadership decisions
• Support AI governance, data readiness, and feature registry development initiatives

Qualifications

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in an area relevant to the position with minimum 12 years experience; 10 years with MS/MA; 7 years with Ph.D; or 4+ additional years of experience in lieu of a degree.
• Active TS/SCI clearance w/Poly
• Advanced degree (MS or Ph.D. preferred) in Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Mathematics, Statistics, or related technical field
• Deep proficiency in Python and modern ML frameworks (PyTorch, TensorFlow, HuggingFace, etc.)
• Experience developing and evaluating advanced ML models, including deep learning approaches
• Strong background in statistical modeling, optimization techniques, and experimental design
• Experience with large-scale data processing and feature engineering
• Experience with cloud-based development environments (AWS preferred)
• Experience with containerization and ML model deployment workflows
• Ability to translate research findings into mission-relevant applications

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience supporting DIA, IC, or DoD mission environments
• Experience with search relevance modeling and Elasticsearch/OpenSearch
• Experience with graph analytics, semantic technologies, or ontology-driven systems
• Experience implementing RAG architectures or LLM-based decision support systems
• Familiarity with Zero Trust, RMF, or NIST 800-53 compliance considerations
• Experience working in cross-domain or multi-level secure environments
• Experience with OCR and document exploitation pipelines
• Experience in Agile/SAFe environments

Peraton offers enhanced benefits to employees working on this critical National Security program, which include heavily subsidized employee benefits coverage for you and your dependents, 25 days of PTO accrued annually up to a generous PTO cap and eligible to participate in an attractive bonus plan

SCA / Union / Intern Rate or Range

Details

Target Salary Range: $135,000 - $216,000. This represents the typical salary range for this position. Salary is determined by various factors, including but not limited to, the scope and responsibilities of the position, the individual’s experience, education, knowledge, skills, and competencies, as well as geographic location and business and contract considerations. Depending on the position, employees may be eligible for overtime, shift differential, and a discretionary bonus in addition to base pay.

Benefits Statement: Peraton offers eligible employees a variety of benefits including medical, dental, vision, life, health savings account, short/long term disability, EAP, parental leave, 401(k), paid time off (PTO) for vacation, and company paid holidays. A full listing of available benefits can be viewed at

Application Duration Statement: The application period for the job is estimated to be 30 days from the job posting date. However, this timeline may be shortened or extended depending on business needs and the availability of qualified candidates.

EEO: Equal opportunity employer, including disability and protected veterans, or other characteristics protected by law.