Senior Principal Data Scientist

Senior Principal Data Scientist

Mission Support and Test Services, LLC (MSTS) manages and operates the Nevada National Security Site (NNSS) for the U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA). Our MISSION is to help ensure the security of the United States and its allies by providing high-hazard experimentation and incident response capabilities through operations, engineering, education, field, and integration services and by acting as environmental stewards to the Site's Cold War legacy. Our VISION is to be the user site of choice for large-scale, high-hazard, national security experimentation, with premier facilities and capabilities below ground, on the ground, and in the air. (See NNSS.gov for our unique capabilities.) Our 2,750+ professional, craft, and support employees are called upon to innovate, collaborate, and deliver on some of the more difficult nuclear security challenges facing the world today.

MSTS offers our full-time employees highly competitive salaries and benefits packages including medical, dental, and vision; both a pension and a 401k; paid time off and 96 hours of paid holidays; relocation (if located more than 75 miles from work location); tuition assistance and reimbursement; and more.

MSTS is a limited liability company consisting of Honeywell International Inc. (Honeywell), Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. (Jacobs), and HII Nuclear Inc.

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.

Key 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.
• Devises solutions that are comprehensive in all aspects and exhaustive at all levels, including cross-disciplinary approaches and applications.
• Serves as Technical Lead for major projects and startups. Initiates collaboration with partners external to MSTS. Leads collaboration to achieve mission execution.
• Mentors formal publication development by less experienced S/E's, and routinely publishes and presents results of personal and team project work.
• Participates in business development by defining customer needs, developing proposals and planning projects that will produce results meeting customer needs.
• Works with customer personnel to ensure their needs are clearly defined and works with others to meet customer objectives.
• Ensures team's processes and deliverables comply with laws, codes, orders, and MSTS policies and procedures.
• Identifies opportunities for developing intellectual property as well as producing it.
• Provides 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.
• Devises and develops solutions and approaches to technical, scientific and operational needs.

Qualifications

• 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).
• The primary work location will be at the Special Technologies Laboratory (STL) located in Santa Barbara, CA.
• Work schedule for this position will be negotiated with the hiring manager; employees can work 5-8, 9-80, or 4-10 work-weeks.
• Pre-placement physical examination, which includes a drug screen, is required. MSTS maintains a substance abuse policy that includes random drug testing.
• Must possess a valid driver's license.

MSTS is required by DOE directive to conduct a pre-employment drug test and background review that includes checks of personal references, credit, law enforcement records, and employment/education verifications. Applicants offered employment with MSTS are also subject to a federal background investigation to meet the requirements for access to classified information or matter if the duties of the position require a DOE security clearance. Substance abuse or illegal drug use, falsification of information, criminal activity, serious misconduct or other indicators of untrustworthiness can cause a clearance to be denied or terminated by DOE, resulting in the inability to perform the duties assigned and subsequent termination of employment. In addition, 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. Reference DOE Order 472.2, "Personnel Security". If you hold more than one citizenship (i.e., of the U.S. and another country), your ability to obtain a security clearance may be impacted.

Department of Energy Q Clearance (position will be cleared to this level). Reviews and tests for the absence of any illegal drug as defined in 10 CFR Part 707.4, "Workplace Substance Abuse Programs at DOE Sites," will be conducted. 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. Reference 10 CFR Part 709, "Counterintelligence Evaluation Program."

MSTS is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, veteran status or other characteristics protected by law. MSTS is a background screening, drug-free workplace.

Annual salary range for this position is: $147,804.80 - $229,091.20.

Starting salary is determined based on the position market value, the individual candidate education and experience and internal equity.