Data Scientist, Technology, Data, & Knowledge Management

National Center for State Courts•Remote Work Eligible, VA

2d•Onsite

About The Position

The National Center for State Courts (NCSC) is a community of dedicated researchers, consultants, educators, and former practitioners who drive innovation and advancement in courts and justice systems. NCSC’s reputation for trusted leadership allows us to work alongside top judicial officers to examine some of the most complex and significant issues facing society. Our team of experts and court leaders are deeply committed to advancing just, free, and safe communities. To learn more about NCSC, visit NCSC.org NCSC is seeking an experienced Data Scientist to join our Technology, Data, and Knowledge Management team. The Data Scientist supports cross-functional teams and project directors in identifying and implementing data analytic techniques to enhance project designs, workflows, and work products. The position is responsible for promoting and implementing best practices for data governance, processing data (both structured and unstructured), designing analytic approaches, and translating data into information for internal and external stakeholders.

Requirements

A bachelor's degree in statistics, data science, computer science, or a quantitative social science, or equivalent experience.
5+ years of professional data analysis experience, including at least 2 years applying statistical modeling or machine learning.
Applied statistics, including regression, hypothesis testing, and research design.
Hands-on NLP or LLM experience with real-world text, such as text classification, entity extraction, or LLM-assisted document processing.
Proficiency in both Python and R.
Strong SQL skills with relational databases.
Experience building dashboards in a tool such as Tableau or Power BI.
Experience explaining technical methods and their limitations to non-technical audiences.

Nice To Haves

Represents NCSC in a professional manner, including an ability to establish credibility and to interact productively with staff across the organization and with external stakeholders.
Experience with court or justice-system data.
Experience handling sensitive or personally identifiable data.
GIS experience, such as ArcGIS.
Client-facing experience where the client funds the work.
Solid writing, communication, interpersonal, and time management skills.

Responsibilities

Own the analysis on court-funded projects.
Work with court staff and project directors to define questions, select methods, and deliver results.
Apply statistical methods to court case data to answer operational and policy questions, such as case processing time, caseload, and outcome patterns.
Build NLP and LLM-based pipelines to extract, classify, and structure information from court documents and other unstructured text.
Validate models and analyses, and document methods and limitations so clients understand what results can and can't support.
Communicate findings through reports, dashboards, and occasional maps designed for judges, administrators, and court staff.
Apply data governance practices to sensitive court data, including access controls, de-identification, and documentation.
Build data literacy among NCSC staff and court partners through training and consultation.
Contribute to NCSC's data science and AI strategy.