Ontologist - Threat Analytic Systems

Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory•Laurel, MD

12h•Onsite

About The Position

The Threat Analytic Systems Group is looking for interns to join their APL team. This team consists of software engineers, data scientists, and knowledge representation experts who collaborate with experts in various domains such as countering weapons of mass destruction (CWMD), special operations, intelligence analysis, biothreat security, online disinformation, and disease surveillance. The group's objective is to research and develop innovative AI-enabled systems capable of identifying and prioritizing relevant data in a timely and scalable manner, thereby accelerating sponsors' abilities to observe and act on threat activities. They seek creative, curious, and driven individuals eager to learn and succeed.

Requirements

Pursuing a Bachelor’s, Master’s, or PhD degree in computer science, mathematics, engineering, or related technical field.
Maintained a minimum 3.0/4.0 GPA.
Problem solving, analytical, and organizational skills.
Experience working successfully within a team environment.
Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
Software Engineers: Have experience in object-oriented programming languages (e.g. Java, Python) and JavaScript frameworks (e.g. Angular, VueJS, ReactJS).
Data Scientists: Have experience in Python or R.
Data Scientists: Have familiarity with machine learning and scientific libraries (e.g., PyTorch, Tensorflow, Scikit-Learn, Pandas, Numpy).
Data Scientists: Have interest in working with engineers to integrate models and algorithms into analytic pipelines.
Ontologists: Have a foundation in formal logic.
Ontologists: Are able to ultimately obtain a Secret level security clearance. If selected, you will be subject to a government security clearance investigation and must meet the requirements for access to classified information. Eligibility requirements include U.S. citizenship.

Nice To Haves

Software Engineers: Experience with WebServices and RESTful APIs.
Software Engineers: Experience with Web technologies (e.g. HTML, CSS, JavaScript, TypeScript, Webpack/Vite, APIs) and DevOps practices (e.g. automated testing, build tools).
Software Engineers: Some experience in relational or non-relational databases (e.g. MongoDB, ElasticSearch), semantic technologies, natural language processing and machine learning.
Software Engineers: Interest in or experience with Android development in Java and/or Kotlin.
Software Engineers: Experience with containerized software tools, such as Docker.
Software Engineers: Experience with agentic coding tools (e.g., Codex, Claude Code, OpenCode).
Data Scientists: Experience with containerized software tools, such as Docker.
Data Scientists: Experience with Python Notebooks, RStudio.
Data Scientists: Experience with SQL.
Data Scientists: Some experience in non-relational databases (e.g. MongoDB, ElasticSearch), semantic technologies, natural language processing and machine learning.
Ontologists: Experience building RDF/OWL ontologies.
Ontologists: Experience with any of the following: Basic Formal Ontology (BFO); The Common Core Ontologies (CCO); W3C standards such as SOSA/SSN and the Time Ontology; ontologies in the Open Biological and Biomedical (OBO) Foundry; as well as other semantic web standards, such as Dublin Core, SKOS, QUDT, and GeoSPARQL.
Ontologists: Experience crafting SPARQL queries.
Ontologists: Experience with Python.

Responsibilities

Be part of a multi-disciplinary team building novel technical approaches and systems for solving critical national challenges.
Apply skills to projects in areas such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, data science, mobile and web-based software development, natural language processing, and Semantic Web technologies.