Data Scientist, Associate

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We are seeking an associate level Data Scientist for MITRE's Business Analytics and Acquisition Affordability Department within the MITRE Technology and Engineering Acquisition Division. Our team partners across the FFRDC and with government partners to solve complex mission and business challenges through advanced analytics, economic modeling, and decision support capabilities. Our work spans:

• Cost Estimation and Analysis
• Investment Economics & Decision Analysis
• Strategic Business & Financial Analytics

MITRE is hiring analysts to help expand and mature our business analytic and data science capability in support of a diverse set of internal and external sponsors. The work requires engagement with sponsors and multidisciplinary teams to frame analytic problems, identify and prioritize tasks, and report findings to support strategic and operational decision-making. The ideal candidate will demonstrate strong analytical thinking, intellectual curiosity, effective communication skills, and the ability to translate complex data into compelling insights that drive action and mission impact.

The role covers the full analytic lifecycle, including:

• Identifying, sourcing, integrating, and validating complex datasets
• Exploring and cleaning structured and unstructured data
• Applying statistical methods, predictive models, and analytic techniques to derive insights from data
• Interpreting findings within the context of relevant policies, regulations, budgets, and broader political or operational environments
• Translating technical analyses into meaningful conclusions and recommendations for stakeholders
• Developing analytic tools, dashboards, or reusable capabilities to support ongoing decision-making
• Delivering findings through written reports, presentations, and in-person briefings to technical and non-technical audiences

In addition to core data science activities, this position supports broader department capabilities that apply analytic rigor to sponsor problems across cost, economic, and business domains. Work may include:

• Life-cycle cost estimating
• Tradeoff and affordability analyses
• Decision analysis
• Portfolio investment analysis
• Business case analysis
• Business intelligence and performance analytics

Candidates should expect a dynamic and collaborative environment where tasks are rarely routine and often require innovative and adaptive approaches. Successful team members are comfortable working across multiple projects simultaneously, operating with limited structure or supervision, and engaging directly with sponsors to solve complex, ambiguous problems.

Roles & Responsibilities:

• Assist in identifying sources of information and gathering a wide range of quantitative and qualitative data to support decisions that have implications for MITRE and its government sponsors
• Apply analysis skills, including exploratory data analysis, time series analysis, linear regression, text analysis, and machine learning
• Draw conclusions from analyses and clearly and concisely articulate key findings in both written and verbal form
• Assist in developing data visualization products that improve the presentation of complex data sets and analyses
• Translate unstructured data and nontraditional sources of information into business insights
• Support investment, economic, and decision analyses, including business case analyses, cost/benefit analyses, analysis-of- alternatives, and portfolio analysis
• Support strategic business and financial analyses, including but not limited to economic studies, cost recovery strategies, budget development & planning, and affordability analysis
• Assess government and industry cost estimates and economic analyses
• Receives guidance, instruction, and direction from more senior staff while independently identifying and elevating relevant issues, risks, findings, or opportunities to senior team members.

Basic Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in Operations Research, Mathematics, Statistics, Economics, Finance, Data Analytics, Data Science, Systems Engineering, or other engineering or quantitative analysis field
• Proficient in python or R for data science and modeling
• Proficient with code environment management and versioning (e.g.., Git, IDEs)
• Ability to retrieve and work with data from remote data sources such as databases, APIs, and cloud-based data lakes using standard analytical tools and programming languages
• Proficient in data processing, exploratory data analysis, and work with both structured and unstructured data sources
• Proficient at machine learning and natural language processing, including model tuning, computer vision, time-series analysis, and related packages (e.g., scikit-learn)
• Ability to leverage AI as a responsible augmentation to work, including judgement when to validate and tune LLM outputs
• Experience with data visualization approaches and software, including PowerBI, Tableau, Qlik, and visual development through leaflet, R Shiny, plotly, seaborn, ggplot, or other packages
• Proficient at use of statistical methods including regressions, forecasting, and hypothesis testing
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Proficient with MS Office Suite, especially Excel, Word, and PowerPoint
• Ability to obtain and maintain a Top Secret level security clearance
• This position requires an minimum of 4 days a week on-site

Preferred Qualifications:

• Master's in Economics, Mathematics, Statistics, Finance, Business, Operations Research, Data Analytics, Data Science, Systems Engineering, or other engineering field
• Proficiency in additional programming languages including SQL or java
• Familiarity with data engineering and orchestration methods (e.g., APIs, LLM endpoint management)
• Familiarity with software engineering best practices and agile devops software development processes
• Experience with econometric/economic modeling and analysis
• Working knowledge of federal budgeting and spending mechanics, processes, and data.
  • Planning, Programming, Budgeting, and Execution (PPBE) and OMB Circular A-11
  • Acquisition reform and PPBE reform initiatives
  • Federal Acquisition Regulations
  • Capital Planning and Investment Control (CPIC)
  • Federal spending data, including: USASpending.gov, SAM.gov, or FPDS-NG
• Investment modeling and analysis, cost benefit analysis, experience in handling large datasets for data driven analysis, policy and investment analysis, and economic analysis in support of regulatory policy, pre- and post-implementation analysis, forecasting, and applied research
• Expertise and experience with data engineering and cloud computing (i.e., Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure)
• Cost estimating experience, including development of Independent Government Cost Estimates (IGCEs) or use of parametric cost estimating tools (PRICE, SEER SEM, etc.)
• Source selection cost evaluation experience
• ICEAA Certification or Defense Acquisition Workforce Initiative Act (DAWIA) certification desired
• Possess an active Top Secret level security clearance

This requisition requires the candidate to have a minimum of the following clearance(s):
None

This requisition requires the hired candidate to have or obtain, within one year from the date of hire, the following clearance(s):
Top Secret

Salary compensation range and midpoint:
$80,000 - $100,000 - $120,000 Annual

Work Location Type:
Onsite

It is unlawful in Massachusetts to require or administer a lie detector test as a condition of employment or continued employment. An employer who violates this law shall be subject to criminal penalties and civil liability.

Commitment to Non-Discrimination

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to disability, status as a protected veteran or any other status protected by applicable federal, state, local or international law.

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