Institute for Defense Analyses · 1 month ago
2026 - Data Science Fellowship
Alexandria, VA
Full-time
Onsite
New Grad
$98K/yr - $103K/yrThe Institute for Defense Analyses (IDA) is a not-for-profit corporation that operates Federally Funded Research & Development Centers. The Data Science Fellowship offers recent graduates a unique opportunity to develop and apply data science skills to national security issues through project-based learning and collaboration within a team environment.
AerospaceNational SecurityNon Profit
No H1B
Security Clearance RequiredU.S. Citizen Only
Responsibilities
Perform data manipulation and statistical, econometric, predictive, descriptive, and other quantitative analyses
Help answer important sponsor-funded research questions as well as internal-funded business operations questions
Apply advanced data science tools, possibly including machine learning, artificial intelligence, statistics, or various big data methodologies
Analyze and research questions on DoW personnel, military readiness and efficacy, and organizational efficiency topics
Assess federal agency information and computing architectures that support data science applications
Apply data exploration, text analytics, forecasting, statistical inference, simulation to areas of military personnel, manpower, and acquisition of DoW weapon systems
Improve IDA’s data architecture to support efficient internal operations
Analyze financial information to surface insights about research project execution across the company and inform decision-making
Qualification
Required
This is a full-time position and is only open to recent recipients of a bachelor's or master's degree. Candidates with degrees higher than a master's degree will not be considered
Candidates with recent Bachelor's degree or Masters' degree in economics, statistics, operations research, mathematics, physics, computer science, data science, data engineering, electrical engineering, neuroscience, political science or other disciplines with a strong foundation in statistics and/or applied mathematics are encouraged to apply
Candidates must demonstrate experience with one or more programming languages or statistical software used in IDA's research (e.g., Python, R, Julia, Stata, MATLAB, C, Java, SQL, SPARQL, etc.)
Candidates must demonstrate strong written and oral communication skills
Ideal candidates are able to contribute to and support team efforts
U.S. citizenship is required
Candidates selected for employment are required to successfully complete a criminal background check
Candidates that are selected for employment are expected to start employment between May and July 2026
In addition to the application, applicants at later stages in the process will be required to submit the following: Code Sample, GitHub link or quantitative research writing sample —a code sample is preferred, but a writing sample from a research project or assignment demonstrating quantitative analytical ability is acceptable
Writing Sample — a single page personal statement describing your interest in the Data Science Fellowship or a writing sample from a research project or assignment. (Not required if a writing sample was submitted for requirement 1.)
Transcripts — an unofficial transcript is acceptable for consideration, but an official transcript is needed before any offer of employment will be made
Contact Information for Academic/Professional References or Letters of Academic Recommendation — references must include name, position, phone number, email address. Letters must be signed by the individual serving as the reference and delivered in PDF format
Ability to obtain and maintain a security clearance is required
Preferred
Training and/or experience in quantitative or qualitative information collection, data normalization, or text analytics
Experience as a research assistant in an academic or policy research setting
Experience in data engineering and/or database management
Experience or coursework in Bayesian statistics, machine learning, predictive analytics, and/or geospatial analyses
Experience with knowledge graphs or graph databases
Experience with data modeling, including creating schemas for databases, ontologies, etc
Experience with data visualization and dashboards (Tableau, RShiny, Dash, Streamlit, etc)
Experience with Linux command line and version control tools (git)
Benefits
Comprehensive benefits including diverse health insurance options, generous 10% contribution to retirement, maternity/paternity leave, 20 days paid time off, and relocation reimbursement.
Mission-oriented work at a non-profit that supports and protects our warfighters; as a non-profit, IDA employees are eligible for Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSFL).
A culture of work-life balance, including flex time, partial telework, and limiting work communication to core business hours.
Employer contributes $325/month (IRS max) to commuter benefits.
Company
Institute for Defense Analyses
Institute for Defense Analyses is an organization that offers security and science policy questions objective analysis services.
Founded in 1956
1001-5000 employees
Funding
Current Stage
Late StageLeadership Team
Mario Wong, Jr.
Chief Financial Officer
Alane Struss
Human Resources Business Partner
Recent News
2025-04-09
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