Associate Data Scientist
Are you fascinated by the potential for data science to benefit society? Do you enjoy building applied machine learning prototypes? Are you intrigued by the intelligence mission? Do you thrive in diverse environments that value integrity and collaboration? If so, IQT Labs might be the place for you.
IQT Labs is the research arm of In-Q-Tel (IQT), a non-profit strategic investor that connects cutting edge startups to critical intelligence and defense missions. We conduct applied research at the interface of data science, engineering, and human machine interfaces (HMI). Our goal is to generate unique capabilities and insights that address critical mission challenges of our government partners.
The Associate Data Scientist plays a central role in IQT Lab’s open source research activity. We work with engineering and HMI team members to apply novel deep learning techniques to mission challenges. We also support those teams in efforts such as a helping develop a data science pipeline for engineering or HMI-led projects.
On a daily basis, we:
- Contribute technically to open source GitHub repositories for mission relevant projects
- Apply cutting edge codebases and publications from the research community to government challenges
- Communicate data science insights to broad audiences in blog posts and presentations
Each Associate Data Scientist contributes to one or two projects in diverse technology areas. Associate Data Scientists also receive extensive mentorship as they contribute to projects, from senior staff that has been pushing the envelope on data science applied research for many years.
- Develop and apply scalable algorithms based on cutting-edge machine learning/deep learning approaches and frameworks (e.g., PyTorch) that can handle a wide variety of data.
- Address research problems based on intelligence community needs and conduct high-quality applied research.
- Conduct experiments to evaluate the performance and effectiveness of developed solutions.
- Present findings via blogs, conferences, podcasts, publications, or customer meetings, as appropriate.
- Write well-structured and re-usable code, typically in Python and Bash.
- Contribute to the development and maintenance of open source projects.
- Contribute to the team’s research and development activities.
- Collaborate and interface with external entities (startups, incumbent technology companies, US Government data scientists) regarding technologies and data science.
- Full time with flexible hours
- Remote position
- Family-friendly culture and benefits
- Unlimited PTO (that we actually use)
- Parental leave
- Flex Spending Account
- Urgent childcare benefit
- Travel (once we ramp back up from COVID)
- Monthly project meet ups are optional, or could be attended virtually
- Twice annual Labs offsites
- Thrice annual company-wide events in either the DC metro area or California.
- Annual domestic travel to attend conferences
- Occasional international travel if presenting at a conference
We expect all candidates to demonstrate:
- Extensive experience developing and debugging in Python
- Experience building and applying algorithms based on machine learning and/or deep learning methods
- Written and verbal communication skills
- Firm grasp of statistics, confidence intervals, and error propagation
- MS degree in computer science, mathematics, physics or related quantitative field
- BS degree in computer science, mathematics, physics or related quantitative field with 2+ years of relevant experience
- Commitment to continued understanding of advances in data science and their application to ongoing research projects
- Ability to obtain a TS/SCI Security Clearance
We are most interested in candidates who demonstrate:
- Enthusiasm for
- Advances in Deep Learning (How can we more creatively train large models?)
- Mission-oriented research (How can we leverage deep learning architectures to solve mission challenges?)
- Storytelling (How do we tell a compelling story about our research?)
- Problem solving skills to evaluate complex technical problems, identify root issues, propose considered solutions, and code concise solutions,
- An ability to thrive in a non-traditional, dynamic environment
- Experience with multi-threaded, big data, distributed cloud architectures and frameworks such as Docker, AWS, Kubernetes, Azure, Spark, Hadoop, Hive, Spark, and/or Elastic Search
- Experience with filesystems, server architectures, and distributed systems
We recognize that 2020 was an extraordinary year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. We are proud of how our team came together to balance work, family and health. We understand that these unique pressures caused some people to temporarily drop out of the labor force. We are eager to connect with qualified candidates who are re-entering the professional world after a gap focused on other critical responsibilities.
At IQT we value, welcome, and embrace diversity of ideas, viewpoints, and backgrounds. This diversity makes us stronger and nimbler, so come to us with new ideas and viewpoints that we can weave into our vision for future missions.
This is an exempt position reporting to the Vice President of Data Science at IQT Labs.
All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or status as a protected veteran.
To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.