Senior Data Scientist

AI/ML Research Scientist - Integrated Mission Management (IMM)

Location: Herndon, VA / Northern Virginia (Hybrid Eligible)

About the Role

Peraton is seeking an AI/ML Research Scientist to support the Integrated Mission Management (IMM) program within the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) mission environment.

IMM enables enterprise Collection Prioritization, Requirements Management, and intelligence search capabilities across multiple classified domains (SIPR, JWICS, partner environments). This position will focus on advancing next-generation AI/ML capabilities that enhance decision advantage, search relevance, prioritization scoring, unstructured data exploitation, and cross-domain intelligence integration.

Unlike a traditional production-focused data science role, this position will emphasize research, prototyping, experimentation, and transitioning innovative AI capabilities into operational mission systems.

Primary Responsibilities

Conduct applied research in AI/ML methods relevant to intelligence collection management and search optimization
• Develop experimental prototypes for prioritization modeling, ranking algorithms, and decision-support systems
• Research and implement NLP techniques for structured and unstructured intelligence data (PDFs, reports, OCR-extracted text)
• Explore transformer-based architectures, embedding models, and retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) approaches
• Design model evaluation frameworks for operational intelligence use cases
• Conduct experimentation in model explainability, bias mitigation, and trustworthiness
• Develop advanced feature engineering and representation learning strategies
• Support development of knowledge graphs, graph-based reasoning, or semantic modeling approaches
• Collaborate with Data Engineering and Software teams to transition prototypes into production-ready systems
• Publish internal technical whitepapers and research briefs to inform leadership decisions
• Support AI governance, data readiness, and feature registry development initiatives

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in an area relevant to the position with minimum 12 years experience; 10 years with MS/MA; 7 years with Ph.D; or 4+ additional years of experience in lieu of a degree.
• Active TS/SCI clearance w/Poly
• Advanced degree (MS or Ph.D. preferred) in Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Mathematics, Statistics, or related technical field
• Deep proficiency in Python and modern ML frameworks (PyTorch, TensorFlow, HuggingFace, etc.)
• Experience developing and evaluating advanced ML models, including deep learning approaches
• Strong background in statistical modeling, optimization techniques, and experimental design
• Experience with large-scale data processing and feature engineering
• Experience with cloud-based development environments (AWS preferred)
• Experience with containerization and ML model deployment workflows
• Ability to translate research findings into mission-relevant applications

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience supporting DIA, IC, or DoD mission environments
• Experience with search relevance modeling and Elasticsearch/OpenSearch
• Experience with graph analytics, semantic technologies, or ontology-driven systems
• Experience implementing RAG architectures or LLM-based decision support systems
• Familiarity with Zero Trust, RMF, or NIST 800-53 compliance considerations
• Experience working in cross-domain or multi-level secure environments
• Experience with OCR and document exploitation pipelines
• Experience in Agile/SAFe environments

Peraton offers enhanced benefits to employees working on this critical National Security program, which include heavily subsidized employee benefits coverage for you and your dependents, 25 days of PTO accrued annually up to a generous PTO cap and eligible to participate in an attractive bonus plan

Peraton is a next-generation national security company that drives missions of consequence spanning the globe and extending to the farthest reaches of the galaxy. As the world's leading mission capability integrator and transformative enterprise IT provider, we deliver trusted, highly differentiated solutions and technologies to protect our nation and allies. Peraton operates at the critical nexus between traditional and nontraditional threats across all domains: land, sea, space, air, and cyberspace. The company serves as a valued partner to essential government agencies and supports every branch of the U.S. armed forces. Each day, our employees do the can't be done by solving the most daunting challenges facing our customers. Visit peraton.com to learn how we're keeping people around the world safe and secure.