Senior Staff Data Analytics Engineer

Saab. Inc is a leading provider of solutions across a multitude of defense and commercial applications. Saab. Inc’s newly formed “Innovation and Technology Accelerator Group”, Skapa, is on a mission to provide comprehensive data-driven insights and actionable intelligence to support maritime safety, security, and environmental stewardship. In this regard, our fully connected Maritime Domain Awareness (MDA) platform is designed to leverage information from multi-domain sensors from seabed to space to create domain insights and situational awareness for enabling actionable intelligence.

Position Overview:

We are seeking a skilled and motivated Data Scientist to join our MDA team in the San Diego office to develop “best in class” Digital Ocean solutions. The successful candidate will play a crucial role in the research, development, and implementation of multi-modal (MDA-Geo-Spatial) data analytics, modeling, and visualization solutions within Saab.Inc’s MDA platform. In this role you will be working with cross functional teams and external vendors to leverage multimodal geospatial data for monitoring, analysis and optimization and decision making in the maritime domain. The role requires strong expertise (practice and theory) in Data-Science/Engineering and Machine Leaning and a demonstrated aptitude for research driven product creation. You will take part in product development conversations, offering customer insights to align our efforts with scalable revenue opportunities.

Roles and Responsibilities include:

• Take ownership of the development of enterprise scale Data Analytics and Insights functionalities within Saab.Inc’s maritime domain awareness platform.
• Aggregate, process, and analyze MDA-geospatial data from various sources (seabed to space), including but not limited to, AIS, EO/IR, SAR, RADAR, Hyperspectral Satellite Imagery, Acoustic sensing etc.
• Lead the development of state-of-the-art multimodal data fusion solutions using both classical and ML based methods for MDA applications.
• Lead all modeling efforts including statistical and NN based ML methods, including but not limited to techniques such as Bayesian inferencing, Klaman Filtering, sequence models (RNN, LSTM), timeseries forecasting etc. with MDA applications. Model classes include exploratory, predictive and anomaly analytics.
• Lead all research and development of advanced and novel models and analytics methods especially related to diverse Geospatial data modalities for MDA applications.
• Develop visualizations, maps, and dashboards to present data insights within Command and Control and to stakeholders and end-users.
• Develop and implement data and model monitoring capabilities for supporting continuous monitoring (CM) and data/model refresh as needed.
• Work with and manage various MDA-GIS data types, including vector, raster, point cloud, attribute data etc.
• Work with platform back-end developers to design, develop, and deploy ETL pipelines to move data from various sources to storage solutions such as data warehouses and data lakes.
• Work with the back-end team to develop and maintain geospatial data bases, including vector data bases, ensuring data quality and integrity.
• Participate in developing data solutions, services and engineering best practices like code coverage, unit testing.
• Support documentation for data architecture, process flows, and data dictionaries to ensure consistency and maintainability.
• Adopt an automation first approach and be extremely diligent about quality and engineering excellence.
• Translate customers’ needs into company priorities is important: this means supporting the Customer Success, Business Development, and Sales teams closely, working together with Operations and Engineering to deliver results.
• Engage with customers and vendors to ensure project cost, schedule and technical requirements are met.
• Stay informed about emergent technologies and refresh product to maintain market/segment lead.
• Identify opportunities for product improvements that improve overall program affordability, as well as opportunities in adjacent market spaces.
• Socialize key milestones with industry, academia, and government through conference presentations, technical paper publications, and media relations.
• Support proposal writing against Government RFP’s including DoD, NSF, ONR, AFRL etc.
• Support leadership with strategic planning and operations reviews.

Compensation Range: $169,800-$225,000

The compensation range provided is a general guideline. When extending an offer, Saab, Inc. considers factors including (but not limited to) the role and associated responsibilities, location, and market and business considerations, as well as the candidate’s work experience, key skills, and education/training.

Skills and Experience:

Required Skills/Experience:

• M.S. in Data Science, computer Science Geo-spatial/Geo-informatics or a related analytical discipline with at least 5 years work experience or PhD in, Data Science, computer Science Geo-spatial/Geo-informatics or a related analytical discipline with at least 3 years work experience.
• Demonstrated experience in aggregation, processing, and spatio-temporal analysis of geospatial data from various sources, including but not limited to, AIS, EO/IR, SAR, RADAR, Satellite Imagery, Acoustic sensing etc.
• Demonstrated experience in multimodal data fusion and modeling using statistical and NN based ML methods, including but not limited to techniques such as Bayesian methods, sequence models (RNN, LSTM), timeseries forecasting etc.
• Demonstrated experience and passion for research and development of advanced and novel models and analytics methods especially related to diverse MDA-Geospatial data modalities.
• Demonstrated understanding/experience of data modeling and data structures and GIS data formats.
• Demonstrated experience working with batch and streaming multimodal geospatial data and various GIS data types, including vector, raster, point cloud, attribute data etc.
• Demonstrated experience in the development of visualizations, maps, and dashboards to present data insights within Command and Control and to stakeholders and end-users.
• Proficiency in geospatial software such as ArcGIS, QGIS, GDAL
• Strong proficiency in SQL and Python.
• Demonstrated experience working/developing in cloud-based environments such as AWS, GCP, Azure.
• Ability to write sophisticated SQL queries to extract and transform big data.
• Ability to take complex problems and break them down to build and implement an action plan and prioritize tasks.
• Ability to condense and visualize large data sets to enable inference and decision making by customers and stakeholders.
• Significant, direct experience working with both the U.S. Navy, to lead strategy and operations activities, as well as in the DoD contracting industry.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills.
• Strong interpersonal skills and an ability to build effective working relationships is a must, especially across government and industry.
• Excellent oral and written communication skills with a proven ability to communicate well with peers and different levels of management and the customer.
• Proven leader who motivates, inspires, and teaches others.
• Strong work ethic and self-motivate and pro-active in seeking out the best solution/s.
• Must exhibit leadership for executing practical application of engineering processes on a development program and maintaining engineering rigor while balancing cost, technical, and schedule.
• Strong technical leadership with a research-to-product mindset, including experience leading teams of senior researchers and engineers.
• U.S. Citizenship is required for this role.

Desired Skills/Experience:

• PhD in engineering, Data Science/ML, hard sciences, or a relevant analytical discipline with an emphasis on maritime and defense use cases.
• Pasion for research and research driven product creation
• Experience in building solutions for mobility and tracking, IUUF, Dark vessel identification, anomaly detectors, marine-biodiversity mapping etc.
• Experience with optimization and optimal decision-making methods is a plus.
• Experience with ETL tools, orchestration solutions, and data warehouses such as Redshift, Snowflake, etc.
• Proficiency in programming languages such as Python and Libraries (specifically GeoSpatial) Java, JavaScript, R, Matlab, Jax etc.
• Experience with AWS infrastructure management is a plus.
• Experience setting up CI/CD, monitoring, and alerting solutions.
• Experience with automation solutions (IaC) such as terraform.
• Full stack, back-end or front-end development is a plus but not necessary.
• Direct experience with maritime systems and naval operations with US DoD contractors is desirable.
• Experience writing winning proposals against Government RFP’s including DoD, NSF, ONR, AFRL etc.
• Experience with large scale training and operations, growth, and acquisition, testing and validation of manned and unmanned submersibles.
• Ability to operate as an engineering point of contact for senior leadership and customer.

Citizenship Requirements:

Must be a U.S. citizen. Applicants selected may be subject to a government security investigation and must meet eligibility requirements for access to classified information.

Drug-Free Workplaces:

Saab is a federal government contractor and adheres to policies and programs necessary for sustaining drug-free workplaces. As a condition of employment, candidates will be required to pass a pre-employment drug screen.

Benefits:

Saab provides an excellent working environment offering professional growth opportunities, competitive wages, work-life balance, business-casual atmosphere and comprehensive benefits:

• Medical, vision and dental insurance for employees and dependents
• Paid time off including: minimum of 3 weeks vacation, 5 floating holidays, 8 designated holidays, parental leave, personal illness, bereavement, jury duty, long-term and short-term disability
• 401(k) with immediate vesting on employer match
• Tuition assistance
• Student loan assistance
• Wellness account, Care.com subscription and employee assistance programs
• Employee stock purchase program with employer match

About Us:

Saab is a leading defense and security company with an enduring mission, to help nations keep their people and society safe. Empowered by its 19,000 talented people, Saab constantly pushes the boundaries of technology to create a safer, more sustainable and more equitable world. In the U.S., Saab delivers advanced technology and systems, supporting the U.S. Armed Forces and the Federal Aviation Administration, as well as international and commercial partners. Headquartered in Syracuse, New York, the company has business units and local employees in eight U.S. locations.

Saab is a company where we see diversity as an asset and offer unlimited opportunities for advancing in your career. We are also a company that respects each person’s needs and encourage employees to lead a balanced, rewarding life beyond work. Saab values diversity and is an Equal Opportunity/ Affirmative Action employer. All qualified individuals are encouraged to apply and will be considered for employment without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, gender identity, age, veteran, disability status, or any other federal, state, or locally protected category.