Data Scientist

Ignite Digital is seeking an experienced Data Scientist to support a U.S. Navy customer in the Norfolk, VA area. This role is ideal for a highly analytical, detail-oriented professional who thrives in data-driven environments and can translate complex analytical insights into actionable outcomes for both technical and non-technical stakeholders.

The Data Scientist will leverage advanced statistical methods, machine learning techniques, and data engineering practices to solve complex mission and business challenges within a Naval program environment.

Key Responsibilities:

Data Acquisition & Preparation:

• Gather data from multiple sources, including databases, APIs, and web scraping activities.
• Clean, transform, and prepare datasets for analysis.
• Develop and maintain automated data pipelines.
• Implement data quality checks, validation, and anomaly detection procedures.

Analysis, Modeling & Experimentation:

• Conduct exploratory data analysis (EDA) to extract insights, identify patterns, and detect anomalies.
• Build, optimize, and evaluate statistical models and machine learning algorithms (supervised/unsupervised/deep learning).
• Perform A/B testing and other experimental designs to evaluate solution efficacy.
• Continuously improve model accuracy, reliability, and performance.

Communication, Visualization & Reporting:

• Communicate complex analytical findings to technical and non-technical audiences clearly and effectively.
• Develop reports, presentations, dashboards, and visualizations to support decision-making.
• Create tools to monitor key metrics and operational performance.
• Document methodologies, models, results, and code.

Collaboration & Innovation:

• Work closely with cross-functional teams including data scientists, engineers, analysts, and mission stakeholders.
• Stay current with emerging technologies, data science trends, and toolsets.
• Participate in code reviews, knowledge sharing sessions, and team development activities.
• Identify business and mission problems suited for data-driven solutions and contribute to solution design.
• Troubleshoot and resolve data-related and pipeline issues.

Required Skills & Experience:

• 4+ years of professional experience in data analysis, data science, or a related field.
• Proficiency in Python or R.
• Experience with key data science libraries such as Pandas, NumPy, Scikit-learn, and others.
• Strong SQL skills and experience with relational or NoSQL databases.
• Hands-on experience with data visualization tools such as Tableau, Power BI, Matplotlib, or Seaborn.
• Solid understanding of statistical modeling (regression, classification, clustering).
• Experience developing and deploying machine learning models.
• Familiarity with cloud-based ML platforms such as AWS SageMaker, Azure ML, or Google Cloud AI.
• Experience with big data systems (Hadoop, Spark) is a plus but not required.
• Strong analytical thinking, problem solving, and organizational skills.
• Exceptional communication skills and the ability to manage multiple tasks effectively.

Education & Certifications:

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in a quantitative field such as:
• Computer Science
• Statistics
• Mathematics
• Engineering
• Economics

• Relevant professional certifications (e.g., cloud, data science, ML engineering, analytics) are valued.

Security Clearance:

• Active DoW SECRET clearance required.

Salary: $120k+ to align with education and experience.