Data Scientist Engineer Level 2 – AI/ML Project TS/SCI w/Poly at Peraton
Laurel, MD
$176,000–$282,000from the description
Jun 29, 2026
Laurel, MD
Jul 21, 2026
What this job asks for AI summary
A data scientist role focused on developing and deploying machine learning, statistical, and AI models — including large language models and RAG frameworks — against complex datasets in a national security context. Day-to-day work spans algorithm selection and tuning, feature engineering, building experiments when training data is scarce, and translating analyst workflows into automated analytics. An active TS/SCI clearance with polygraph is required.
Senior level · 5+ years · Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV · TS/SCI clearance · Full-time
“or” means any one of them counts — you don't need all of them.
Posted 2 times — it's one opening, so apply once.
We read this from the posting text with AI. Skim the description below before ruling yourself out.
How this req sits in the market our data
Most people in this occupation already list these. Still required — just not what gets you shortlisted.
What the occupation pays Median $135,107 (middle half $108,024–$176,763). This posting is about at that midpoint.
Estimated from BLS employment for this occupation and area, per-skill prevalence across our listing corpus, and published wage benchmarks — as of Jul 28, 2026. It is a model, not a headcount.
Why we read it this way (8)
The role is titled 'Data Scientist Engineer' with no explicit seniority level in the title; advertised seniority is Unspecified. However, the 5-year experience requirement plus oversight/guidance responsibilities support a Senior classification.
An active TS/SCI clearance with polygraph is explicitly required as a hard gate.
The degree requirement is effectively None: a Bachelor's in a quantitative field is listed but the JD explicitly allows substitution with 4 additional years of experience, making it non-mandatory.
Python is listed alongside R, SAS, and MATLAB as interchangeable data analysis languages; Python is named first and is the most common in this context. The 5-year figure applies to the group collectively.
LLM development and GPU-based computing appear in the main qualifications block with firm language ('Develop and optimize', 'Experience with utilizing'), so they are treated as hard gates.
RAG frameworks, agents, and agentic workflow appear under 'Additional Desired Qualifications' and are explicitly framed as preferred/nice-to-have.
The alt SOC (15-1252 Software Developers) is noted because the role also requires implementing prototype algorithms within production frameworks and cloud/software development experience, giving it a meaningful software engineering component.
Requires a TS/SCI clearance — the cleared population is a small fraction of this occupation, so the real candidate pool is materially smaller than the estimate below, which does not model clearance.
Read the full posting
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