Data Scientist 1 - TS/SCI w/poly at Peraton
Laurel, MD
$146,000–$234,000from the description
Jul 22, 2026
Laurel, MD
Jul 24, 2026
What this job asks for AI summary
A data science role focused on building and refining machine learning, statistical, graph-based, and large language models against complex analytical problems, primarily for national security customers. Day-to-day work spans the full pipeline — from raw data extraction and feature engineering through model evaluation and production integration — with some responsibility for guiding junior team members. An active TS/SCI clearance with a current polygraph is required.
Senior level · 5+ years · 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 $122,874 (middle half $87,544–$162,374). 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 (12)
An active TS/SCI with a current polygraph is a hard gate — this is a TopSecretSci clearance requirement with polygraph.
No specific work location is stated in the posting; the national-security mission context and clearance requirement suggest an on-site or classified facility role, so remote is set to false.
The degree requirement is effectively None: the JD explicitly allows substituting 4 years of additional experience for a Bachelor's degree, making the degree non-mandatory.
Total years minimum is set to 5, reflecting the stated '5 years of experience' with a Bachelor's; the degree-substitution path requires 9 years total, but 5 is the minimum stated threshold.
Python is listed as the primary example language under both Basic and Desired Qualifications; R, SAS, and MATLAB are named as interchangeable alternatives in the Basic Qualifications block.
GPU computing appears in Basic Qualifications as a hard requirement ('Experience with utilizing GPU-based computing resources').
LLMs and NLP appear in the responsibilities section as core duties ('Develop and optimize Large Language Models for various NLP tasks'), not under a preferred/nice-to-have heading — treated as required given the role's primary scope.
SQL appears in the responsibilities narrative ('SQL tables') as a data format the role must work with; listed as required given the core data-extraction duties described.
Data mining, data visualization, and cloud development appear either in the responsibilities narrative or as substitution-path examples under qualifications — marked preferred as they are not explicitly gated in a standalone required-skills block.
The alt SOC 15-1252 (Software Developers) is noted because the JD includes software development team oversight and production framework implementation, though the primary day-to-day work is clearly data science/ML modeling.
Ignored 1 non-technology phrase(s) as skills (responsibilities/concepts, not named tools): Cloud development.
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.