Senior Principal Data Scientist

Nevada National Security Sites•Santa Barbara, CA

2d•Onsite

About The Position

The Special Technologies Laboratory (STL) is a key R&D innovator that provides the Nevada National Security Sites (NNSS), National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), and other government organizations with capabilities that address Department of Energy and Department of Defense national security requirements. Located in Santa Barbara, California, the laboratory is a unique satellite location within the NNSS and is responsive to NNSA nuclear security mission requirements and broader national security objectives. At STL “problem solving is in the DNA,” using a multidisciplinary team of experts composed of scientists, engineers, technicians, facilities specialists, academic collaborators, and professional support staff. STL is seeking outstanding candidates for a Senior Principal Data Scientist position to work at STL located in Santa Barbara, CA. This position will support STL's core portfolios in Dynamic Experiments, Nonproliferation Research and Development, Cyber Physical Defense, and Strategic Systems and Intelligence by applying advanced data science techniques to complex problems. Approximately 80% of your time will be as a technical lead, coordinating and supporting a diverse range of projects, while conducting team mentorship, project coordination, business development (sales), and strategic planning. The remaining 20% will involve direct technical work on customer-facing projects, applying your expertise in data sciences to solve complex challenges and deliver innovative solutions, to include research and development activities in areas compatible with the missions of the Laboratory. In this technical lead role, you will be a recognized subject matter expert, applying advanced data science principles to lead engineering and scientific efforts. Your focus will be on providing administrative and policy direction across broadly defined organizational missions and goals. The position requires the ability to operate with a high degree of independence with responsibility for defining strategic objectives for team members, identifying and pursuing business opportunities, and conceptualizing research projects. The employee independently plans, designs, and executes technical work, and coordinates the sales of services, and development of funding proposals. Collaboration and leadership within a team of engineers, scientists, and technicians, spanning all phases of technology development from concept to deployment, will be essential.

Requirements

Bachelor’s in calculus-based technical (STEM) field plus at least 14 years relevant experience.
Skill building experience must demonstrate either deeper technical specialization or additional cross-disciplinary knowledge.
Graduate research experience may be recognized.
Bachelor's degree or higher in a quantitative field preferred, such as Computer Science, Statistics, Mathematics, Computer Engineering.
Demonstrated expertise in developing, implementing, and leading reinforcement learning model initiatives.
Proficiency in programming languages commonly used in data science (e.g., Python, R).
Familiarity with and practical application of machine learning frameworks and libraries (e.g., TensorFlow, PyTorch).
Ability to monitor labor hour expenditures across multiple projects, including the effective planning and projecting of future labor commitments and expenditures.
Strong communication with executives and external stakeholders (DOE/NNSA, partner labs, vendors, academia).
Must possess a valid driver’s license.
Applicants for employment must be able to obtain and maintain a DOE Q-level security clearance, which requires U.S. citizenship, at least 18 years of age.
Applicant selected will be subject to a Federal background investigation, required to participate in subsequent reinvestigations, and must meet the eligibility requirements for access to classified matter.
Successful completion of a counterintelligence evaluation, which may include a counterintelligence-scope polygraph examination, may also be required.

Responsibilities

Serve as technical leader responsible for the development of new and unique data-driven solutions to highly complex technical problems of broad scope. Solutions may require resolving conflicting customer expectations and design requirements, utilizing unconventional data sources, and cross-portfolio integration.
Devise solutions that are comprehensive in all aspects and exhaustive at all levels, including cross-disciplinary approaches and applications.
Serve as Technical Lead for major projects and startups.
Initiate collaboration with partners external to MSTS.
Lead collaboration to achieve mission execution.
Mentor formal publication development by less experienced S/E’s, and routinely publish and present results of personal and team project work.
Participate in business development by defining customer needs, developing proposals and planning projects that will produce results meeting customer needs.
Work with customer personnel to ensure their needs are clearly defined and works with others to meet customer objectives.
Ensure team’s processes and deliverables comply with laws, codes, orders, and MSTS policies and procedures.
Identify opportunities for developing intellectual property as well as producing it.
Provide guidance to senior management regarding strategic development opportunities using MSTS technologies and capabilities.
Conduct and oversee data analysis, advanced statistical models, and build machine learning algorithms.
Design, lead, and evaluate experiments to validate model performance and impact.
Provide data-driven insights and recommendations to support strategic initiatives.
Devise and develop solutions and approaches to technical, scientific and operational needs.