Data Scientist, IS-1560-12

Smithsonian Institution•Front Royal, VA

17d•$102,415 - $133,142•Onsite

About The Position

The Smithsonian Institution is the world’s largest museum, education, and research complex, with 21 museums and the National Zoo. This position is located in the Smithsonian's National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute (NZCBI), Front Royal, VA. NZCBI plays a leading role in the Smithsonian's global efforts to save wildlife species from extinction and train future generations of conservationists. We are seeking a motivated Data Scientist to join our interdisciplinary research team focused on advancing conservation and ecological understanding through innovative data analysis. The successful candidate will work at the interface of ecology, statistics, and data science with large ecological datasets—including wildlife monitoring (e.g., animal movements, camera trapping, acoustics, eDNA), remote sensing, and field survey data—to support research, management, and decision-making in conservation and natural resource management. The incumbent will perform analytical and evaluative work associated with research activities involving the ecological study of organisms and the environment, summarizing findings for scientific and lay audiences. The incumbent must have demonstrated expertise in computer programming (e.g., R, Python) and fluency in managing large, complex datasets. The incumbent supervises interns, students, and collaborates with other ecologists, conservation practitioners, and data scientists to develop analytical tools, integrate diverse datasets, and generate actionable insights for biodiversity conservation. The position provides opportunities for independent research, collaborative grant development, and peer-review publication, and will contribute to strengthening quantitative capacity across the Institute.

Requirements

Basic Degree Requirements: A. Mathematics, statistics, computer science, data science or field directly related to the position. The degree must be in a major field of study (at least at the baccalaureate level) that is appropriate for the position.
Or B. Combination of education and experience: Courses equivalent to a major field of study (30 semester hours) as shown in paragraph A above, plus additional education or appropriate experience.
Experience: You qualify for this position if you have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the grade IS-11 or GS-11 level in the Federal Service.
For this position, SPECIALIZED EXPERIENCE is defined as working knowledge of the principles of ecology and conservation of wildlife through coursework in ecology, wildlife management, statistical analyses, or a related field.
The role requires self-direction and motivation, combined with flexibility and entrepreneurial thinking.
The incumbent/position should possess the following knowledge and qualifications including:
Experience utilizing high-performance computing clusters or cloud computing environments, including job scheduling, parallel processing, or workflow management;
Demonstrated proficiency in programming languages such as R or Python;
Familiarity with Bayesian modeling, hierarchical models, or spatiotemporal statistical methods;
Experience working with analyzing large complex datasets;
Demonstrated excellence in written communication, especially as it relates to grant writing;
Demonstrated ability to communicate complex analytical results to diverse audiences.

Responsibilities

Serves as a recognized subject matter resource for data science, operations research, master data management and data analytics or visualization whose output improves Unit's results, research and data operations;
Contributes to Unit data rules and approaches and advises others on appropriate data elements/sets to use for analyses;
Coordinates the management and flow of data throughout its lifecycle. Organizes, stores and analyzes strategic, operational and production data. Designs, develops and maintains data clearinghouses. Improves user access to data;
Uses data management tools and knowledge of best practices to control the storage, retrieval, security and integrity of Unit data;
Uses web design languages (e.g., R, Python) to create web visualizations for user/data interfaces. Manages data sharing policy and agreements;
Serves as a mentor to staff to manage projects and provide direction and support;
Uses programing languages to implement analytical approaches (i.e., comparative, trend, diagnostic, root cause, predictive) and analyze data sets consisting of qualitative, quantitative, structured and unstructured data types to deliver key performance information used to inform decisions, actions and communications.
Creates and oversees the application of a diverse set of models, tools and decision science techniques to develop and enhance program operation analytic capabilities;
Evaluates alternative courses of action and makes recommendations based on sound scientific theory;
Participates in discovery processes with internal and external teams and stakeholder to identify requirement, expected outcomes for new or existing initiatives and measurement of success. Works alongside other staff, such as program managers, scientists, data analysts, technicians and Unit staff to recommend technical and analytical solutions that meet requirements for data output;
Identifies data that are available and relevant, including internal and external data sources, leveraging new data collection processes and performing all phases of the systems development life cycle required;
Designs, develops and implements features that enable data access, transformation and publication. Provides strategic and technical guidance and hands-on support in the transfer and transformation of any required data. Identifies, adapts and manages changes to products or programs in response to evolving user needs;
Reviews and evaluates concept papers and proposals for specific data analysis efforts associated with current or proposed research and evaluation sponsored by the Unit. The review process entails an analysis of statistical and substantive aspects of the problem to be addressed, the costs proposed, qualifications of the applicant to conduct proposed study, the implication and policy relevant of the data to be acquired and analyzed and the feasibility of the tasks proposed by applicants. This review may include a detailed set of recommended changes in proposal methodology or project scope. Review also incorporates consultation with persons having technical expertise in various areas of statistical methods and/or practical field experience;
Accomplishes professional development and maintains technical proficiency through professional interaction with technical and professional societies, associations, academia, symposia, contractors and research and development organizations. Participates in formal training programs. Keeps current on emerging analytical techniques and research methods through independent study and reading/reviewing technical journals and current literature;
Manages and supports relevant unit or project specific data infrastructure;
Adapts quantitative methods and techniques, such as mathematical, statistical, artificial intelligence (e.g. machine learning, large language modes), to solve problems and/or forecast outcomes;
Applies a variety of data analytic tools and techniques to produce findings and insights from structured or unstructured data;
Consults with stakeholders to determine appropriate products or services and define project scope, requirements and deliverables;
Designs and develops presentations and visual reports of advanced statistical analysis and data analytics tailored to specific audiences and stakeholders. Develops data visualizations, including interactive dashboards, charts, tables and graphs using custom visualizations, code and/or off-the shelf products;
Models, complex business needs using data to discover insights through statistical, algorithmic, mining and visualization techniques;
Performs data cleaning and preparation activities (e.g., examines descriptive statistics, identifies and addresses outliers, errors and missing values) to ensure data accuracy and validity;
Performs advanced exploratory data analysis (e.g., principal component analysis, cluster analysis) to find insights and trends;
Writes code that can be used by others to create models, dashboards and user apps;
Performs other duties as assigned.