AI and Data Science Solution Engineer

MIT Lincoln Laboratory Technical Staff provide critical through expert multi-domain or new-domain innovative research supporting the Laboratory's national security mission. They prototype state-of-the-art technology solutions and engage across the program lifecycle, leading projects or major/multiple technical workstreams in partnership with project, program and team/Group leaders. As a Technical Staff member, you will lead complex technical efforts requiring deep expertise, sound judgment, with the ability to successfully navigate technical complexity. Depending on the level, you will lead projects, major workstreams, complex programs, multi-program initiatives, or technical portfolios on extraordinary technology prototype efforts and creative new ideas and approaches that support critical mission needs. Depending on the level, you will translate broad Group strategy into clearly defined research or executional deliverables. Through integrating your deep technical expertise across disciplines, you consistently drive high-quality mission outcomes.

As a successful candidate, you will connect deep and diverse technical expertise with broader Laboratory objectives, perform independent research, develop creative approaches, and translate broad strategy into executable plans. You will work across or guide multidisciplinary teams through ambiguous trade-offs; helping develop and execute programs, creating briefings and reports, and often interfacing with sponsors. You effectively support sponsor, mission-partner, and Laboratory leadership's needs through daily or weekly technical briefings, program documentation, proposals, and may conduct advanced capability road mapping and development. You will also guide and mentor Associate Technical Staff, Assistant Technical Staff, and other technical support personnel.

The Homeland Sensors and Analytics group is seeking a researcher and engineer to build software solutions incorporating advanced algorithms, AI/ML, and data science models. This work will be performed as part of collaborative, interdisciplinary teams, with the selected candidate sometimes serving as the team lead. Specifically, the candidate will direct the design, software implementation, and testing of novel algorithms relevant to Homeland Security and Defense applications. Familiarity with AI/ML concepts (including frontier models), graph analytics, statistical models, or data science methods is considered important, as well as experience with the design and implementation of such methods within robust software frameworks. This position will provide the opportunity to learn about mission-relevant applications of data analytics tools, conduct independent research on applicable models and techniques, and enable the deployment of developed solutions to achieve operational impact. The position will also allow the candidate to interface with different agencies and user bases within the US Government, to discuss technical concepts, and present results.

• Lead projects, complex programs, major technical workstreams, multi-program initiatives, or technical portfolios involving multidisciplinary development, analysis, prototyping, integration, testing, evaluation, and technology transition.
• Apply deep technical expertise and systems-level judgment to highly complex and ambiguous problems, evaluating alternatives, trade-offs, risks, stakeholder needs, and mission implications.
• Translate broad or unclear objectives into actionable technical plans and influence program direction, architectures, systems, priorities, and roadmaps across teams, Groups, or mission areas.
• Collaborate with multidisciplinary teams, sponsors, mission partners, and internal leaders to align priorities, resolve dependencies, and guide decisions and deliverables.
• Assess and improve technical tools, processes, methods, documentation, execution practices, and organizational capability.
• Serve as a technical resource and mentor by reviewing work, framing trade-offs and risks, and developing staff and emerging leaders.
• Contribute substantially to papers, reports, presentations, proposals, grants, roadmaps, and other materials that advance mission outcomes and technical direction.

Candidates will be considered for the appropriate level based on their education, experience, demonstrated technical expertise and breadth, leadership responsibilities, and the scale and complexity of programs or technical efforts they have led.

Level 5 - Technical Staff

• Bachelor's degree in a STEM discipline or other relevant technical field and typically 6+ years of relevant experience; or Master's degree and typically 4+ years of relevant experience; or PhD and typically 0+ years of relevant experience; or an equivalent combination of education and experience.
• Diverse technical expertise with demonstrated ability to adapt that expertise to unfamiliar or emerging disciplines, systems, mission areas, or methods.
• Established education, skills, and experience demonstrating the ability to apply significant technical judgment to broad challenges requiring integration across related systems or methods.
• Demonstrated ability to lead projects or major workstreams and deliver complex technical outcomes.
• Experience evaluating trade-offs, recommending paths forward, and adapting technical approaches to evolving project needs.
• Demonstrated mentorship, collaboration, and ability to communicate recommendations, risks, and technical findings to varied audiences.
• Experience contributing to technical reports, papers, presentations, proposals, or other formal technical deliverables.

Level 6 - Technical Staff

• Bachelor's degree in a STEM discipline or other relevant technical field and typically 8+ years of relevant experience; or Master's degree and typically 6+ years of relevant experience; or PhD and typically 2+ years of relevant experience; or an equivalent combination of education and experience.
• Deep and diverse technical expertise with demonstrated ability to integrate knowledge across domains and establish direction in evolving systems or mission areas.
• Established education, skills, and experience demonstrating the ability to incorporate technical judgment, program context, and stakeholder input to solve broad technical challenges.
• Proven experience leading complex programs, significant program elements, or multi-team technical efforts.
• Demonstrated ability to evaluate alternatives, manage technical ambiguity, and influence decisions across teams or stakeholder groups.
• Strong record of mentorship, collaboration, technical communication, and contribution to team or Group capability development.
• Experience contributing to proposals, publications, technical reports, presentations, or other materials that shape program direction or technical initiatives.

• Ph.D. in computer science, mathematics, statistics, electrical engineering, information science, applied mathematics, data science, or an equivalent field. In lieu of a Ph.D., a Masters with at least 4 years of directly related experience will be considered.
• Knowledge to develop, implement, test, and evaluate algorithms and software
• Proficiency with Python
• Experience with one or more common machine learning, computer vision, or natural language processing toolboxes
• Experience architecting and building software systems designed to meet end-user requirements.
• Ability to work both in a team-oriented environment and independently.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills with the ability to clearly share technical concepts with a wide spectrum of audiences.
• Experience with some software development best practices and collaboration tools (e.g., github)

• Statistical modeling and inference
• Social network analysis
• AI/ML models and methods
• Collection and analysis of publicly available information
• Familiarity with additional programming languages like C++ or Java.
• Experience with DevSecOps or CI/CD practices