Associate Data Scientist, DIBI

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• The Defense Industrial Base Institute at Northeastern University (NU) – a
• rapidly growing defense focused institute that conducts cutting-edge applied R&D
• is seeking an experienced and highly capable Jr. Data Scientist with expertise
• in applying methods/frameworks/systems that apply ML&AI. The Jr. Data Scientist
• will operate as part of a multi-disciplinary team  (academia, industry and
• government) and will contribute directly to the successful execution of
• federally funded projects/activities,
• Responsibilities include providing technical expertise and analytical support to
• Principal investigators or co-principal investigators as a Jr. Data Scientist
• for a wide range of projects and activities involving machine learning (ML) and
• artificial intelligence (AI), including autonomy, sensing and communication, and
• decision support systems, among others. The Jr, Data Scientist will work
• collaboratively with and help guide, multi-disciplinary teams across the DIBI
• Higher Education Consortium — spanning academic, government, and industry
• partners — to design, validate, and maintain datasets and analytical products
• that inform institute leadership and sponsor decision-making. Specifically, the
• Jr. Data Scientist will take a role in building and maintaining the data
• pipelines and analytical components underlying the existing Navigator
• methodology, working closely with — and providing guidance to — data
• researchers, engineers, and leadership across the institute.
• Successful candidates will be responsible team players and passionate about
• machine learning technologies, as well as possess a deep understanding of
• machine learning technology and experience in turning machine learning systems
• into practical, state-of-the-art systems that can be enhanced for projects or
• activities as per federal agency. A close working relationship with the team,
• along with creative thinking on the application of the Navigator framework for
• government and industry contracts, will be required.
• The primary office for this position is located at NU’s Boston Campus Through
• NU, the institute offers an impressive benefits package, including multiple
• retirement plan options with extremely generous matching, as well as tuition
• waiver for classes and advanced degree programs. A full description of available
• benefits can be found on the NU website [https://hr.northeastern.edu/benefits/].
• This is a 1-year fixed term position, continuation and renewal are contingent on
• performance and availability of funding.
• Support Research and Development efforts to scale Navigator methodology applied
• to defense contracts (SIB), to include, development and implementation,
• prototype modeling & simulation, design, and experimentation. This supports the
• defense funding received that supports this role (40%)
• deliverables; to include scaling of projects by suggesting tools and systems
• that enhance efficiency and support humans in their work (40%)
• Provide subject matter expertise across a diverse set of application areas and
• ad hoc requests that may come in from the sponsor.  Present information and
• answer questions form government sponsors and stakeholders.Research and support
• PI or CO-PIs with scoping project budgets as appropriate (Systems, tools) (10%)
• Special Projects as assigned: Working closely with Managing Director, Founding
• Director and other core leadership members, help to scope proposals and
• opportunities. Working closely with DIBI Leadership Team and Sr. Director,
• Strategy and Communications to make recommendations on systems build out for
• internal operations (10%)

Required

• Science, Applied Mathematics, or a closely related field
• 2–4 years of professional experience in software engineering, data science,
• or applied R&D, with exposure to machine learning and AI system development
• in research, prototype, or production environments.
• Advanced proficiency in Python and/or R studio and familiarity with modern
• ML/AI development workflows.
• Exposure to C++ and/or Java for performance‑critical components
• Experience contributing to the design, implementation, testing, or evaluation
• of ML/AI-enabled or simulation-drive software systems.
• Demonstrated experience with data visualization and reporting tools (e.g.,
• Tableau, Power BI, matplotlib, Plotly), including designing dashboards for
• executive or sponsor audiences.
• Proven experience independently building, validating, and interpreting
• statistical or machine learning models, and communicating tradeoffs to
• non-technical stakeholders.
• Strong command of data cleaning, ETL processes, and data quality assurance
• practices, including for messy or incomplete real-world datasets.
• Solid software engineering fundamentals, including version control (e.g.,
• Git/GitHub), documentation, and reproducibility.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with experience presenting
• analytical findings directly to leadership or sponsors.
• U.S. Citizenship with the ability to obtain and maintain a security clearance
• Exposure to Retrieval‑Augmented Generation (RAG), vector databases,
• embedding pipelines, or LLM‑enabled systems.
• Familiarity with cloud computing environments (e.g., Azure, AWS or GovCloud
• equivalents).
• Introductory experience with graph‑based ML or GNNs is a plus
• Monte Carlo or stochastic simulation methods
• Synthetic data generation or simulation‑in‑the‑loop workflows
• Familiarity with  geospatial data, spatiotemporal datasets, or
• PostgreSQL/PostGIS is a plus.
• Interest in UI or frontend development for technical or analyst‑facing tools
• (e.g., Svelte, React, or similar frameworks).
• Exposure to dashboarding or BI tools for analyst-facing or leadership-facing
• reporting
• Familiarity with MLOps concepts, experiment tracking, or reproducible
• research pipelines.
• Experience working with multidisciplinary teams across research, engineering,
• and applied R&D environments.

Preferred

• Master’s degree or Ph.D with a focus on data science, data‑intensive systems,
• network science, optimization, or related areas.
• Experience contributing to government, defense, or security‑related R&D
• programs (internships, fellowships, or full‑time roles).
• Familiarity with simulation‑based models (e.g., physics‑based, network‑based,
• agent‑based, or stochastic simulations) for analysis, experimentation, or
• decision support.
• undefined

• employees. This includes medical, vision, dental, paid time off, tuition
• assistance, wellness & life, retirement- as well as commuting & transportation.
• Visit https://hr.northeastern.edu/benefits/
• All qualified applicants are encouraged to apply and will receive consideration
• 110S
• $76,335.00 - $107,823.75
• With the pay range(s) shown above, the starting salary will depend on several
• factors, which may include your education, experience, location, knowledge and
• expertise, and skills as well as a pay comparison to similarly-situated
• employees already in the role. Salary ranges are reviewed regularly and are
• subject to change.