SAIC

Data Scientist Chief

SAIC$130K — $180K *
Education, Government & Non-Profit
15+ years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • Degree in Data Science, Computer Science, AI, or related field with 18 years of experience; Ph.D. and 15 years acceptable.
  • 10+ years in data science, AI/ML, and enterprise technology for DoD/IC programs.
  • Proven experience with Agentic AI, GenAI, RAG architectures, and LLM deployment in secure settings.
  • Hands-on expertise with AI/ML platforms and cloud-native solutions, engaging at a deep technical level.
  • Experience with IC capture activities including RFI, whitepapers, and RFP technical volumes.
  • Familiarity with IC acquisition pathways and traditional FAR-based contracting.
  • Active TS/SCI clearance is required with Poly Clearance.

Responsibilities

  • Own the architecture, scoping, and pricing of SOAR™ offerings, aligning mission needs with solutions.
  • Develop CONOPS, technical briefs, and packages tailored to IC environments.
  • Architect SOAR™ solutions using AI/ML and data fabric capabilities while ensuring compliance with IC standards.
  • Drive IC Marketplace listings and private offers, providing technical validation for deals.
  • Deliver white papers and demonstrations that introduce AI/ML capabilities to IC stakeholders.
  • Translate operational pain points into actionable technology solutions for Pre-Sales and delivery teams.
  • Lead traditional FAR-based capture activities and translate technical concepts into evaluator-friendly narratives.

Benefits

  • Hybrid role offering the chance to influence pre-sales engineering and advisory activities.
  • Opportunity to work at the intersection of cutting-edge technology and national security.
  • Access to diverse tools and platforms relevant to the evolving landscape of AI technologies.
  • Engagement with high-level IC stakeholders to shape technology solutions and strategies.
Full Job Description
Job Description

Description

Reports to the CTO / Capture Lead; serves as the senior technical advisor and mission-aligned strategist for data, AI/ML, and Agentic AI solutioning across Intelligence Community (IC) pursuits, SOAR™ commercial engagements, and customer shaping activities. This role is deliberately designed as a hybrid of pre-sales engineering and domain advisory - someone technical enough to architect and price SOAR™ completions, and credible enough to shape demand with IC customers 18+ months before a bid drops.

This is not a proposal writer. This is not a delivery engineer. This is the person who creates customer pull, packages winning solutions, and ensures the team's technical narrative is grounded in real mission need and real technology capability.

Key Responsibilities

SOAR™ Solutioning & Commercial Packaging
  • Owns the technical architecture, scoping, and pricing of SOAR™ completion-based offerings for IC customers, translating mission needs into fixed-price, outcomes-based solutions with defined MVPs and delivery timelines
  • Develops CONOPS, technical briefs, and solution packages that articulate mission fit, platform architecture, and delivery approach tailored to specific IC customer environments and acquisition pathways
  • Architects SOAR™ solutions incorporating AI/ML, Agentic AI, RAG pipelines, Knowledge Graphs, and Data Fabric capabilities - ensuring alignment with IC technical standards and security requirements
  • Supports ATO planning and security architecture design, ensuring proposed solutions are engineered for Zero Trust compliance and IC security frameworks from day one
  • Drives IC Marketplace (ICMP/C2E) listings and private offer structuring in coordination with the Pre-Sales SOAR engineer, providing the technical validation and mission context that closes deals
  • Understands and advises on SOAR™ pricing models, aaS contract structures, and how IC customers can obligate commercial dollars - bridging the gap between technical solution and acquisition reality
Customer Shaping & Demand Creation
  • Develops and delivers white papers, capability briefs, and prototype demonstrations that introduce emerging AI/ML and Agentic AI capabilities to IC stakeholders in mission-relevant terms
  • Translates IC analyst workflows, operational pain points, and mission gaps into concrete technology solution concepts that the Pre-Sales and delivery teams can execute
  • Partners with Client Executive Consultants and Domain SMEs to access directorates and mission offices where the team does not hold prime contracts, driving SOAR™ adoption through customer intimacy
  • Serves as the technical voice in customer shaping events, industry days, and working groups - leaving prototypes or demo artifacts behind that sustain engagement between visits
Traditional FAR-Based Capture Support
  • Leads and contributes to traditional FAR-based capture activities including RFI responses, Market Surveys, Whitepapers, CONOPS, and full RFP technical volumes for IC bids
  • Translates complex technical concepts - data architecture, AI/ML pipelines, Agentic AI frameworks, sovereign compute - into compelling, evaluator-friendly proposal narratives that score at the Outstanding level
  • Works hand-in-glove with Solution Architects on major FAR captures (e.g., MARS, Revolution, COMET) to ensure AI/ML solution design is grounded in mission reality and technically defensible
  • Supports competitive analysis and technology landscape assessments to inform win strategies and discriminators
  • Provides technical basis of estimate inputs for price-to-win analysis, grounded in realistic platform and delivery assumptions
Technology Evaluation & IC Strategy Alignment
  • Evaluates emerging technologies - including Agentic AI, GenAI, MLOps platforms, graph databases, vector search, and multi-modal intelligence tools - against IC strategies, priorities, and approved platform lists
  • Monitors and interprets IC technology strategies, ODNI/DIA/IC CIO guidance, and relevant executive directives to ensure proposed solutions remain compliant and strategically aligned
  • Provides technology assessments and recommendations to capture teams, program managers, and customer-facing personnel - serving as the team's internal authority on what is technically credible vs. what is vapor
  • Advises on responsible AI (RAI) frameworks including bias detection, human-in-the-loop governance, auditability, and model provenance requirements for IC environments
  • Evaluates commercial partner technologies (AWS, Google, Groq, Cerebras, CrewAI, Primer, Nara Logics) for fit within IC solution architectures and co-sell opportunities
On-Program Advisory Support
  • Provides senior technical advisory support to active SOAR™ delivery programs as needed, assisting with capability expansions, evolving mission requirements, and technical challenges
  • Advises program teams on AI/ML pipeline development, RAG architecture, knowledge base design, and multi-model integration strategies
  • Contributes to continuous innovation pipelines by scouting, evaluating, and prototyping emerging AI/ML and Agentic AI technologies relevant to IC mission areas

Qualifications
  • Degree (B.S., M.S., or Ph.D.) in Data Science, Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence, or related field and 18 years of experience. Ph.D and 15 years.
  • 10+ years of experience in data science, AI/ML, and enterprise technology solutioning for DoD/IC programs
  • Demonstrated experience with Agentic AI, GenAI, RAG architectures, and large language model (LLM) deployment in secure and classified environments
  • Hands-on fluency with AI/ML platforms, data architecture patterns, and cloud-native solution design - able to engage at a deep technical level, not just describe capabilities at a surface level
  • Experience supporting IC capture activities including RFI responses, whitepapers, CONOPS development, and RFP technical volumes
  • Familiarity with IC acquisition pathways including C2E/ICMP, GSA MAS, and traditional FAR-based contracting
  • Active TS/SCI clearance required with a Poly Clearance
Desired
  • Direct experience with SOAR™-model or outcomes-based, as-a-Service delivery engagements and fixed-price commercial solution packaging
  • Lived IC mission experience - former analyst, mission manager, or operator who understands how intelligence products are created, consumed, and acted upon
  • Familiarity with IC data standards, approved AI platforms, and IC CIO technology strategies
  • Experience with MLOps, DataOps, and enterprise data architecture in classified environments
  • Knowledge of NIST AI RMF, EO 14110 RAI requirements, and IC-specific AI governance frameworks
  • Experience with platforms such as MynAI, Mendix, AWS Bedrock, LangChain, Neo4j, Databricks, or similar
  • Existing relationships within DIA, ODNI, USG, or MPO mission offices

Overview

SAIC accepts applications on an ongoing basis and there is no deadline.

About SAIC

Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) is a technology integrator in the technical, engineering, intelligence, and enterprise information technology markets. SAIC has approximately 26,000 employees and operates in more than 70 countries. The company was founded in 1969 and is headquartered in Reston, Virginia. SAIC provides services to the U.S. government, including the Department of Defense, the intelligence community, and civilian agencies. The company also serves commercial customers in the healthcare, energy, and financial services sectors.
Learn more about SAIC
Size
26,000 employees
Market Cap
$6 billion
Industry
Net Income
$206 million
Founded
1969
5 Year Trend
+10.7%
Revenue
$6.8 billion
NASDAQ

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