Description

The DarkStar Group is seeking a Machine Learning Engineer with a TS/SCI + Poly clearance (applicable to this customer) to join one of our top projects in Chantilly, VA. Below is an overview of the project, as well as information on our company, our benefits, and our $25,000 referral program.

THE PROGRAM

The DarkStar Group is a member of 100% of the winning teams for the largest technology program in the Intel Community. We've been supporting this customer on many different sub-projects of this program since our founding in 2013. We've grown on this effort by providing the customer with Engineers who have done exceptional work, and we've retained our staff by paying very strong salaries, and working hard to ensure each Engineer is doing work that aligns with their career interest.

THE PROJECT
The Sponsor conducts technical assessments and provides technical guidance on the use of various
enterprise and mission enabling technologies supporting the Sponsor's Information Technology (IT)
systems and network infrastructures in order to enhance the security posture and usability. The Sponsor also provides critical review and guidance on procurement and supply chain issues, conducts digital forensic systems evaluation and analysis, and delivers technical support to investigations and insider threat issues. The Sponsor leverages technology, combined with subject matter expertise, to conduct these activities in support of its corporate office as well as external mission partners and stakeholders.

In support of the above activities, the Sponsor delivers data science and data engineering services across the department. The Sponsor's office provides short-term and long-term data science support, which requires technical expertise to deploy verified mathematical and scientific techniques programmatically. The Sponsor's office also provides short-term and long-term data engineering support. The work is performed within a team environment and requires constant iteration with stakeholders. Work will include development of python programming packages and data engineering pipelines to support cross-enterprise needs. Work will include high technical skill in programming, primarily python, and common data engineering tools, as well as high levels of collaboration, communication, and requirements solicitation.

The Role

• The Contractor Team shall create data science and data engineering products that include data models, data ingestion/transform, analytics which may include machine learning, and some form of output as either a machine-readable format (e.g. file output, database output, standard/streaming output) or a user interface or dashboard.
• The Contractor Team shall develop robust data engineering pipelines utilizing Apache Nifi and Python to include use and development of REST APIs and microservices.
• The Contractor Team shall clean, parse and transform data from multiple file types into appropriate database architectures (e.g. SQL, noSQL, and graph) which perform at scale.
• The Contractor Team shall develop, deploy and provide feature enhancements using Python for data science products and services, to include Python packages, code documentation, notebooks, and microservices.
• The Contractor Team shall ensure that all technical development and content complies with Sponsor's security policies and regulations.
• The Contractor Team shall work closely with the Sponsor to review and track data science and data engineering requirements and provide regular updates to clearly explain the project status and results in both written and verbal or multimedia briefings.
• The Contractor Team shall consult with stakeholders to determine present and future user needs for Sponsor consideration.
• The Contractor Team shall be required to communicate and collaborate across organizational boundaries, to include other staff and contractor teams.
• The Contractor Team shall work with Sponsor staff and contractor personnel, as well as external stakeholders on mission-based projects.
• The Contractor Team shall implement data science and data engineering requirements as defined by the Sponsor.
• The Contractor Team shall determine how requirements are satisfied. Project priorities are managed by the staff manager of the business unit. Planned activities shall be coordinated with all stakeholders and approved by the Sponsor.
• The Contractor Team shall utilize project management systems such as Confluence and JIRA to define and track requirements.
• The Contractor Team shall ensure that technical solutions leverage industry best practices, designing for security and excellence while minimizing the total cost of ownership.

• Demonstrated on-the-job experience developing Python programming packages to include REST APIs and microservices.
• Demonstrated experience developing and testing reusable Python code.
• Demonstrated experience with machine learning techniques including natural language processing and computer vision.
• Demonstrated on-the-job experience using Linux flavored operating systems (OS) and with automating work flows using Bash scripting.
• Demonstrated experience using data engineering tools such as Apache Nifi to preprocess, modify, aggregate, load, index, and archive large data collections.
• Demonstrated experience performing the extraction, transformation, and loading (ETL) of structured and unstructured data into pipelines to ensure it is ingested into downstream systems with accuracy, reliability, and consistency at scale.
• Demonstrated experience modeling, structuring, cleaning, and conditioning data from multiple sources and in multiple different formats, languages, and encodings.
• Demonstrated experience using Elasticsearch and Kibana technologies.
• Demonstrated experience using code repositories such as Git.
• Demonstrated experience developing robust documentation for code, Python packages and data science methodologies.
• Demonstrated experience explaining complex technical issues to more junior data scientists, in graphical, verbal, or written formats.
• Demonstrated experience delivering results to stakeholders through written documentation and oral briefings.
• Demonstrated experience working with multiple stakeholders.

• Demonstrated experience with cloud services, such as AWS.
• Demonstrated experience using big data processing tools such as Apache Spark or Trino.
• Demonstrated experience using container frameworks such as Docker or Kubernetes.
• Demonstrated experience using data visualizations tools such as Tableau.

• very strong salaries;
• 100% company-paid medical, dental, and vision premiums for you and all dependents;
• the ability to get increased salary if you don't need medical/dental/vision;
• 100% company-paid disability and life insurance benefits;
• a generously-funded HSA;
• an 8% 401(k) contribution;
• 31 days of PTO/holidays to start (more with tenure);
• the ability to flex time across pay periods without using your PTO;
• a generous training budget;
• $25,000 employee referral bonuses;
• business development / growth incentives; and
• top notch company swag.