Data Scientist Senior at Peraton
Fort Meade, MD
$135,000–$216,000from the description
Jul 21, 2026
Fort Meade, MD
Jul 23, 2026
What this job asks for AI summary
A data scientist role supporting intelligence operations at USCYBERCOM's J2 directorate at Fort Meade, MD. The work centers on building and maintaining AI and machine learning systems — including recommendation engines, automated lead scoring, and Multi-INT analytics pipelines — as well as developing data visualizations and merging disparate data sources. Suited to experienced data scientists holding an active TS/SCI clearance with polygraph.
Senior level · 8+ 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.
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 clearance requirement is explicitly stated as TS/SCI with Polygraph — the most stringent gate in this posting.
The experience requirement is tiered by education: 12 years with no degree, 10 years with AS/AA, 8 years with BS, 6 years with MS, or 3 years with PhD. The minimum (3 years with PhD) is far below the practical floor for most candidates; the overall years minimum is set to 8 (the BS-level gate, the most common credential path).
Degree is not hard-required — the JD explicitly accepts equivalent years of experience in lieu of any degree, so the degree requirement is set to None.
SQL appears in the required section as part of 'R, Python, or SQL' (a substitution qualifier), making it an alternative to Python/R rather than a standalone gate. It is also listed separately under Preferred in an intelligence/national security context, so it is captured as a preferred skill in its own right.
Statistical analysis and data mining are listed under Preferred qualifications; they appear in the required section only as general methodological descriptions rather than named tools, so they are marked preferred.
The 12+ years and Master's degree items appear only under Preferred qualifications and are not hard gates.
The role title carries no seniority level word; the title states no level. However, the experience depth, clearance level, and scope of responsibilities (national-security AI/ML systems) support a Senior classification.
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
The employer publishes the full description on their own site — read it there ↗. Or sign in to read it here — it's free, and it also lets you track this application.