Data Scientist

Steampunk•McLean, VA

1d•$140,000 - $160,000

About The Position

Steampunk is seeking a seasoned Data Scientist to work with its Data Architects and Developers to develop strategies, create ML/AI solutions, and deliver results. The role calls for a technologist with strong communication and customer service skills and a passion for data and problem solving. The successful candidate will contribute to the growth of Steampunk’s AI & Data Exploitation Practice. The Data Scientist will analyze data and build, evaluate, and refine machine learning models. The role includes preparing and improving datasets, collaborating with engineering and development teams to support production integrations, communicating insights to stakeholders, and maintaining documentation and reproducible experiment histories. The position requires the ability to hold a position of public trust with the US government. Steampunk describes itself as a Change Agent in the Federal contracting industry, serving clients in Homeland, Federal Civilian, Health, and DoD sectors. Its Human-Centered delivery methodology emphasizes shared accountability in addressing client mission challenges. The projected annual salary range is $140,000 to $160,000; compensation depends on factors including geographic location, contractual requirements, education, knowledge, skills, competencies, and experience. Candidates are expected to be on camera during interviews and assessments, and Steampunk may take a picture to verify identity and prevent fraud.

Requirements

Ability to hold a position of public trust with the US government.
Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Data Science, Computer Science, Statistics, Mathematics, Analytics, Engineering, Economics, or a related field.
5+ years of industry experience developing ML/AI solutions.
3+ years of direct experience in Data Modeling and Data Solution Development.
Experience modeling structured and unstructured datasets.
Experience with exploratory data analysis.
Experience in feature engineering.
Experience in data visualization.
Experience with Python and SQL.
Experience with deep learning methodology and state-of-the-art libraries.
Knowledge of data collection methods, capabilities, and tasking processes.
Knowledge of Neo4j.
Knowledge of criminal justice, grants, or research arenas.
Ability to leverage multiple data management tools to organize relevant information and make decisions.

Responsibilities

Conduct exploratory data analysis to uncover trends, identify data quality issues, and determine modeling opportunities.
Develop machine learning models using frameworks such as scikit-learn, XGBoost, PyTorch, TensorFlow, or similar libraries.
Perform feature engineering, dataset preparation, and model optimization to improve predictive accuracy and operational performance.
Evaluate models using appropriate statistical methods and performance metrics, document findings, and inform iterative improvements.
Work with Data Engineers to understand and enhance data pipelines, ensuring model-ready datasets are accurate, complete, and consistent.
Collaborate with AI Developers and LLMOps/MLOps Engineers to integrate ML models into production environments or decision-support applications.
Build visualizations, dashboards, data stories, and executive-friendly summaries to communicate insights to stakeholders.
Support human-centered design by translating user needs into modeling requirements and refining model outputs based on feedback.
Maintain organized code, notebooks, documentation, and experiment histories to support reproducibility and auditability.
Stay current with modern data science methodologies, ML techniques, data processing tools, and cloud-enabled analytics workflows.
Contribute to the growth of the AI & Data Exploitation Practice.