Data Scientist - Entry to Experienced Level
The professionals at the National Security Agency (NSA) have one common goal: to protect our nation. The mission requires a strong offense and a steadfast defense. The offense collects, processes, and disseminates intelligence information derived from foreign signals for intelligence and counterintelligence purposes. The defense prevents adversaries from gaining access to sensitive classified national security information.
NSA is the nation's leader in providing foreign signals intelligence while also protecting U.S. government information systems, forging the frontier of communications, and data analysis. We serve the American people by applying technical skills to meaningful work, keeping our friends and families safe for generations to come. You will make a lasting impact serving your country as a Data Scientist at the National Security Agency, using your curiosity to analyze large data sets to inform decision-making against foreign threats.
We are looking for critical thinkers, problem solvers, and motivated individuals who are enthusiastic about data and believe that answers to hard questions lie in the yet-to-be-told story of diverse, complicated data sets. You will employ your mathematical science, computer science, and quantitative analysis skills to ensure solutions to complex data problems and take full advantage of the NSA's software and hardware capabilities in all areas of our enterprise, including analytic capabilities, research, and foreign intelligence operations.
Data Scientists are hired into positions directly supporting a technical mission office or the Data Scientist Development Program (DSDP). The NSA/CSS Data Scientist Development Program is a three-year opportunity to build your data science talent, experience the breadth of data science at NSA through six- to nine-month assignments in a variety of diverse organizations, and collaborate with NSA's experts in the field of data science. You will have opportunities to attend technical conferences with experts from industry and academia. You will routinely discuss and share NSA's challenges and successes at weekly technical roundtables. We foster an environment where you will develop your data science skills, allowing you to quickly contribute to NSA's mission.
As a member of a technical mission office or the DSDP, Data Scientists tackle challenging real-world problems leveraging big data, high-performance computing, machine learning, and a breadth of other methodologies.
As a Data Scientist at NSA, responsibilities may include:
- Collecting and combining data from multiple sources
- Uncovering and exploring anomalous data (including metadata)
- Applying the scientific process to data evaluation, performing statistical inference, and data mining
- Developing analytic plans, engineer supporting algorithms, and design and implement solutions which execute analytic plans.
- Designing and developing tools and techniques for analysis
- Analyzing data using mathematical/statistical methods
- Evaluating, documenting, and communicating research processes, analyses, and results to customers, peers, and leadership
- Creating interpretable visualizations