Senior Exploitation Specialist / Data Scientist
B&A · Saint louis, MO
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Jul 16, 2026
Saint louis, MO
Jul 21, 2026
What this job asks for AI summary
A senior-level data science role embedded within NGA's Analysis Office in St. Louis, supporting federal intelligence mission operations. The position centers on building scalable pipelines and automated workflows for large, complex geospatial and intelligence datasets, then translating findings into visualizations and decision-support tools. It also involves providing technical oversight of junior staff and coordinating analysis across the broader Intelligence Community. Ten years of relevant experience and active Python proficiency are required, along with a TS clearance.
Senior level · 10+ years · St. Louis, MO-IL · Bachelor's required · Top Secret clearance · Contract
“or” means any one of them counts — you don't need all of them.
Posted 3 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 $101,790 (middle half $80,001–$133,237).
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 (9)
This role is placed on a federal contract supporting NGA (National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency) at St. Louis (N2W) under the GEO-SPI B labor framework — it is a contract position, not a direct federal hire.
The clearance requirement is stated as 'Active TS Clearance.' The JD does not explicitly mention SCI or a polygraph, so TopSecret (not TS/SCI) is recorded; however, NGA missions routinely require SCI access — hiring managers should verify the actual access level needed.
SOC classification is Medium confidence: the role blends intelligence analysis/exploitation with data science. 15-2051 (Data Scientists) was chosen because the primary deliverables are data pipelines, analytic models, and automated workflows from large/complex datasets; 15-2031 (Operations Research Analysts) is a plausible runner-up given the intelligence-analysis framing.
JEMA, Brewlytics, and ArcGIS Model Builder are listed together as interchangeable low-code/no-code alternatives in both the responsibilities and required skills sections, but are explicitly called a 'plus' relative to the hard-required Python — captured as a single preferred skill with alternatives.
Desired Skills (coding/programming, data management, data conditioning, data visualization, geomatics, remote sensing, enterprise software integration, report writing, QA) are listed under a clearly secondary 'Desired Skills' heading and are treated as preferred.
No compensation range is provided in the posting.
Ignored 2 non-technology phrase(s) as skills (responsibilities/concepts, not named tools): large-scale data processing, data management.
Requires a Top Secret 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.
Posting is for a contract engagement — the market benchmarks below price full-time roles, so read the comp comparison with that in mind.
Read the full posting
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