Senior Data Scientist (Public Trust)

Praescient Analytics • Fairfax, VA

5d • Remote

About The Position

Praescient Analytics is seeking highly skilled technical professionals to support the SBA OIG Technology Solutions Division (TSD). TSD utilizes massive volumes of data from federal, public, and private sectors to conduct critical audits and criminal investigations aimed at protecting the nation's economy and identifying fraud, waste, and abuse. Selected candidates will provide expert technical support within an advanced Azure cloud environment to design fraud identification methods, optimize data architecture, and generate actionable insights for law enforcement and executive leadership.

Requirements

• Master’s, Ph.D., or doctorate-level equivalent degree in Data Science, Machine Learning, Computer Science, Mathematics, or a related field; OR 10 years of applied work experience in these fields.
• 5+ Years of Hands-on Experience in: Designing, implementing, and maintaining advanced AI systems and predictive models (supervised/unsupervised).
• Developing analytic rules and models using leading-edge fraud analytics tools and best practices.
• Developing regression, classification, and statistical models to identify anomalies, patterns, and predictive variables.
• 3+ Years of Hands-on Experience in: Providing data support for criminal investigations into fraud or abuse.
• Manipulating data in Python utilizing Pandas (required).
• Working in modern cloud environments (Azure preferred, AWS, or GCP; certifications a plus).
• 2+ Years of Hands-on Experience in: Advanced SQL data analysis (specifically SQL Server and PostgreSQL).
• Developing and scaling NLP solutions.
• Presenting technical methods and findings orally and via written products/visualizations to diverse stakeholders.
• Technically curious data scientists who enjoy exploring emerging technologies and applying them to real-world investigative challenges.
• U.S. Citizenship Required

Nice To Haves

• Certifications in Azure, AWS, or GCP

Responsibilities

• Design, test, and deploy supervised and unsupervised machine learning models (regression, Bayesian, clustering, ensemble algorithms) to detect fraud, improper payments, or non-compliance.
• Partner directly with criminal investigators to execute strategies supporting active cases, adapt analyses to shifting needs, and adhere to federal rules governing protected information (e.g., Rule 6(e)).
• Scale NLP methods to parse, clean, and analyze unstructured text data using OCR, semantic similarity, and Large Language Models (LLMs).
• Perform data cleaning and quality analysis on source tables.
• Create dashboards and visualizations (via Power BI, Python, etc.) to present methodology and findings to technical and executive leadership.
• Maintain thorough records and detailed methodology documentation compliant with criminal evidentiary requirements.

Benefits

• Competitive salary based on qualifications and experience
• Comprehensive, Company paid healthcare for you (We pay your premiums and deductibles)
• 401(k) with company match
• Travel & performance incentives
• 3 weeks paid time off (plus Federal Holidays)
• $5K annual training allowance
• $500 book allowance
• Tuition reimbursement program

What This Job Offers

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