Job Description

Data Scientist

Department: Data Analysis and Technology Services

Employment Type: Full Time

Location: McLean, VA

REQUIRED Active TS/SCI with Full Scope Polygraph
LOCATION Full-time, onsite in McLean, VA

We are seeking a highly capable Data Scientist with demonstrated experience in advanced natural language processing, machine learning, and analytical research to support mission‑focused initiatives. The ideal candidate brings hands‑on expertise with Python‑based NLP workflows, deep learning frameworks, and modern transformer architectures, along with the ability to clearly communicate methodological decisions and analytical findings to technical and senior‑level audiences.

Passionate Integrity, Driven by Excellence
"Ardent Principles" signifies our unwavering commitment to excellence, driven by a profound passion and a strict adherence to ethical values. We believe that happy employees make for happy clients. Our mission is to act as a bridge between satisfied clients and fulfilled employees, ensuring that your job and well-being are our top priorities because your satisfaction leads to the success of our clients.

With a competitive salary and industry-leading benefits, Ardent Principles offers more than just a job - we offer a career path filled with growth and opportunities.

Join us and let's shape the future together!

Key Responsibilities

In this challenging yet rewarding role, you are an integral part of what brings our Company's mission to life. You must have the following required skills, certifications and demonstrated experience in and/or with:

• Professional or academic experience performing NLP tasks, including selecting the best Python libraries for a given task, choosing appropriate pre-processing actions, performing analysis, and assessing model performance.
• Professional or academic experience using Python NLP packages such as Spacy, Gensim, or NLTK to analyze or process collections of documents.
• Professional or academic experience with deep learning frameworks such as PyTorch, Tensorflow, or Keras.
• Professional or academic experience with the HuggingFace Transformers library and hub.
• Creating machine learning models that conduct text classification and topic modeling in Python using standard machine learning (Scikit-learn) or deep learning models.
  Academic or professional experience using encoder-decoder and generative language models to perform NLP tasks.
• Academic or professional experience communicating methodological choices and model results.
• Professional or academic experience and proficiency with SQL to include using common table expressions, set operations, aggregated functions and nested subqueries.
• Professional or academic experience with version control systems such as Github and Jenkins.
• Leveraging GPUs for accelerated computing.
• Developing practical approaches for measuring performance.
• Assisting in developing types of measure, the collection of data, analyzing the data, and presenting that data to senior leadership.
• Conducting advanced statistical analysis on personnel, intelligence, and performance metrics.
• Assisting in selection or development of appropriate methodology to conduct research.
• Analyzing information and provide research findings in a manner that is easily grasped by the customer and consumers.

Highly Desired Qualifications

Other skills and demonstrated experiences that are highly desired but not mandatory to perform the work, include:

• Writing Python scripts that pull data from web-based APIs and relational databases.
• Cloud computing development and architecture
• Front-end web development frameworks such as Flask.
• Developing applications for semantic search.
• Tuning LLMs on custom data sets and applying results to specific use cases.
• Professional or academic experience and proficiency with Tableau to produce visualizations and dashboards.

What We Offer You

• Highly Competitive Salary Recognizing and rewarding your expertise and contributions.
• Generous Paid Time Off Providing ample time for rest, relaxation, and personal pursuits.
• Dedicated Training Budget Supporting continuous learning and professional development.
• 100% Employer-Covered Family Vision, Dental, and Health Insurance Ensuring comprehensive health coverage for you and your family.
• 100% Employer-Covered Life and Disability Insurance Offering financial security and peace of mind.
• 401(k) Plan with a 6% Employer Match Helping you plan and save for a secure retirement, with 100% vesting from day one.
• 11 Paid Government Holidays Observing national holidays to ensure time off with family and friends.
• Spot Bonuses for Exceptional Performance Rewarding outstanding contributions and achievements.

SCHEDULE:This is a full-time position working onsite in McLean, VA during core hours.

Ready to take the next step in your career? Join us and be part of a team dedicated to driving positive change through technology. Apply now with our easy 3-minute, mobile-friendly initial application process. Your future starts here!