Computational Analytics Researcher, National Security Data and Policy Institute
About The Position
The National Security Data and Policy Institute (NSDPI) at the University of Virginia seeks a Computational Analytics Researcher to conduct and lead applied research supporting the U.S. national security community. This position focuses on developing advanced computational methods, artificial intelligence, machine learning, and data science capabilities to address complex national security challenges. The successful candidate will work within interdisciplinary teams to develop innovative analytic solutions, publish research, engage with government sponsors, and transition research into operational capabilities. The Computational Analytics Researcher will contribute to a growing portfolio of sponsored research involving artificial intelligence, data science, geospatial analytics, emerging technologies, supply chain security, critical infrastructure resilience, and strategic competition. This position offers opportunities to collaborate with faculty, government agencies, industry partners, and students while helping shape the Institute's technical research agenda.
Requirements
- Bachelor’s degree required, MS or Ph.D. in Computer Science, Data Science, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Applied Mathematics, Statistics, Computational Social Science, Engineering, or a closely related quantitative discipline strongly preferred.
- 5+ years relevant professional experience required.
- Relevant experience includes developing software applications using Python and modern software engineering practices, experience applying machine learning or artificial intelligence techniques to complex analytical problems, experience managing and analyzing large datasets.
- Ability to obtain a security clearance.
- Strong written and verbal communication skills, including experience preparing technical reports and presenting research findings.
- Demonstrated ability to work both independently and collaboratively within multidisciplinary teams.
Nice To Haves
- Large language models and foundation models
- Retrieval-augmented generation (RAG)
- Agentic AI systems
- Knowledge graphs
- Reinforcement learning
- Natural language processing
- Computer vision
- Time-series forecasting
- Network science
- Geospatial analytics
- High-performance computing
- Cloud computing environments (AWS, Azure, Google Cloud)
- GPU programming and distributed computing
- Data engineering and scalable analytics
- Supply chain analytics
- Critical infrastructure analysis
Responsibilities
- Lead and conduct sponsored research in computational analytics, artificial intelligence, and data science.
- Develop innovative analytical methodologies using machine learning, large language models, statistical modeling, optimization, network science, and related computational techniques.
- Design, implement, and evaluate software prototypes and decision-support tools.
- Integrate structured, semi-structured, and unstructured data from multiple sources to support complex analytic workflows.
- Develop scalable data processing pipelines and analytical frameworks for government-sponsored research.
- Evaluate emerging technologies and identify opportunities to incorporate new computational methods into research programs.
- Document research findings through technical reports, peer-reviewed publications, conference presentations, and sponsor briefings.
- Support the development of new research initiatives aligned with Institute priorities.
- Participate in proposal development, technical volume preparation, and research planning.
- Engage with federal sponsors, industry partners, and academic collaborators to identify new research opportunities.
- Assist with project planning, milestone tracking, and technical execution across multiple research efforts.
- Collaborate with faculty, research staff, software developers, and subject matter experts across multiple disciplines.
- Foster interdisciplinary collaboration across technical and policy-focused research teams.
- Support professional development activities and contribute to a collaborative research environment.
- Represent NSDPI at technical meetings, workshops, conferences, and sponsor engagements.
- Support Institute seminars, technical exchanges, and collaborative research initiatives.
- Contribute to strategic planning and other Institute activities as assigned.
Benefits
- Exempt-level, benefited position
- Learn more about UVA benefits.
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Senior
