Data Scientist (Remote Eligible)

Mathematica Inc • Washington, DC

4d • $78,000 - $100,000 • Remote

About The Position

Mathematica is seeking a Data Scientist to derive meaning from data by creating and deploying data-driven approaches that solve problems and answer policy questions for clients. The role owns data processing and analysis tasks and supports senior data science staff in applying statistical, machine learning, generative AI, and other data science methods in research reports, internal systems, and client systems. The Data Scientist contributes across the project life cycle, including understanding client needs, building data pipelines, monitoring data quality, documenting methods, creating visualizations, developing modeling approaches, and implementing models. The work supports program improvement, policy assessment, and evidence-based decision-making across areas such as health, education, family support, employment, disability, and international development.

The position focuses on team-based projects and includes causal, predictive, and descriptive analyses; programming in Python, R, or similar languages; building data pipelines across cloud, internal, and client servers; communicating technical results; maintaining technical and methodological documentation; co-developing analysis plans with senior staff; and leading small teams and tasks with senior oversight. The ideal candidate is interested in healthcare applications and has a strong statistical background in causal inference and related methods. The role may be performed remotely or flexibly from one of Mathematica’s office locations.

Projects may include evaluating healthcare payment models, comparing state healthcare spending with peer markets, and building interpretable models to predict clinical care tiers. Staff in the Data Solutions division may eventually work on contracts with CMS and other agencies; work on some contracts requires a successful background investigation or security clearance. Employment offers are contingent upon passing a background check. The anticipated annual base salary range is $78,000–$100,000.

Requirements

• Master’s degree in a technical field such as statistics, econometrics, data science, data analytics, mathematics, operations research, computer science, or social science; equivalent years of experience may be substituted.
• Demonstrated interest or experience using data science or statistics on projects with policy or social impact in academic or professional settings.
• Experience applying generative AI programmatically to extract insights from unstructured data, construct analysis features, or contribute to a systematic analysis.
• Experience executing causal, predictive, and descriptive data science and statistical techniques, including regression modeling, machine learning algorithms, network analysis, or natural language processing.
• At least three years of experience performing data cleaning and analysis using R, Python, Julia, or similar programming languages in academic, extracurricular, or professional settings.
• Experience incorporating AI into the code development process to improve personal efficiency.
• Ability and desire to work independently, take initiative, learn from technical resources, contribute to knowledge sharing, and work on interdisciplinary teams that may be geographically dispersed.
• Experience with reproducible research principles, version control, interactive visualizations, and common data science packages or libraries in R, Python, and/or Julia.
• For the healthcare-focused work, a strong interest in healthcare and a strong statistical background in causal inference and supporting methods such as imputation, matching, weighting, regression, quasi-experimental methods, and synthetic-comparison methods.

Nice To Haves

• Production-quality machine learning applications.
• Experience with cloud computing environments such as AWS.
• Knowledge of algorithmic fairness and ethics.
• Knowledge of SQL or Scala.
• Experience with big data analysis platforms such as Databricks or Snowflake.
• Familiarity with healthcare datasets such as Medicare or Medicaid claims and enrollment data and electronic medical records.

Responsibilities

• Conduct causal, predictive, and descriptive analyses.
• Write and maintain programming systems in languages such as Python and R to build and evaluate models.
• Develop reliable data pipelines to obtain, combine, and transform datasets on cloud, internal, and client servers.
• Communicate technical results to clients and cross-functional teams.
• Develop and maintain technical and methodological documentation.
• Co-develop analysis plans with a senior data scientist or researcher.
• Lead and manage small teams and tasks with oversight from a more senior staff member.
• Support senior data science staff in implementing statistical, machine learning, generative AI, and other data science methods.
• Contribute across the data science project life cycle, including understanding client needs, monitoring data quality, creating visualizations, and implementing models.

Benefits

• Competitive salaries and a comprehensive benefits package.
• Employee ownership through an ESOP, with financial benefits tied to the company’s growth and financial strength.
• Coworking spaces where available for employees who are not near an office and want opportunities to meet colleagues.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level