Data Scientist

📋 Description

• • Join Elder Research as a Data Scientist and become the analytical engine behind U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s most critical missions. You will transform massive, disparate data streams—from cargo manifests and traveler records to sensor feeds and social media—into concise, defensible insights that agents and policy makers can act on in minutes, not weeks.
• • Own the full analytics lifecycle: frame the operational question, harvest raw data from dozens of classified and open sources, engineer features, train and validate models, and package results in interactive dashboards that non-technical stakeholders can trust. Your work will directly influence interdiction strategies, risk-scoring algorithms, and resource-allocation decisions that keep the nation’s borders secure.
• • Design and deploy advanced statistical, machine-learning, and AI solutions that detect anomalies in trade flows, forecast passenger volumes, uncover emerging smuggling patterns, and predict maintenance needs for surveillance infrastructure. You will iterate rapidly in a cloud-native environment, leveraging Databricks, PySpark, and scalable SQL to crunch terabyte-scale data sets in near real time.
• • Build and maintain reproducible data pipelines that ingest, cleanse, and fuse structured and unstructured data. Implement rigorous version control, automated testing, and CI/CD practices so that every model you ship is auditable and explainable to federal oversight bodies.
• • Create intuitive, high-impact visualizations and narrative briefings. Embed Qlik dashboards directly into CBP web portals so field agents can slice, dice, and drill down on risk indicators without waiting for analyst support. Translate complex findings into plain-language talking points for congressional briefings and inter-agency task forces.
• • Stay on the leading edge of data science by evaluating new techniques in NLP, computer vision, and time-series forecasting. Run weekly tech talks and brown-bag sessions to share discoveries with a community of curious, lifelong learners across the company.
• • Collaborate shoulder-to-shoulder with domain experts—border patrol agents, trade specialists, and intelligence analysts—to ensure every model reflects ground truth. Your humility and servant-leadership mindset will turn skeptical end-users into enthusiastic champions of data-driven decision making.
• • Provide strategic consulting to CBP leadership: quantify the ROI of new sensor deployments, simulate the impact of policy changes, and recommend where machine-learning can replace or augment manual processes. Your insights will shape multi-million-dollar investment decisions.
• • Maintain strict security and privacy standards. All work is performed under TS/SCI or DHS Suitability clearance, so you will implement role-based access controls, data masking, and differential privacy techniques to protect personally identifiable information while maximizing analytical utility.
• • Enjoy the freedom of full-time remote work with occasional travel to Ashburn, VA and CBP sites for classified collaboration. Elder Research’s low-travel culture and flexible PTO ensure you can deliver high-impact work without sacrificing family time or personal passions.