Data Scientist Security Clearance

Unissant, Inc. delivers innovative capabilities to the agencies that keep our nation healthy and safe. We apply our domain expertise, data acumen, and technology know-how to achieve breakthrough results for our clients. Working collaboratively, we advance missions and careers through a focus on honesty, integrity, and dependability. We continuously look for talent, excited to join that effort. To learn more about our exciting organization, please visit us at

This position supports the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Law Enforcement Systems and Analysis (LESA) program within the Strategy and Operations Analysis (SOA) Unit. The SOA Unit provides advanced analytics, visualization, and modeling capabilities spanning the entire Enforcement Lifecycle to inform ERO and ICE strategic and budgetary decision‑making.

• Serve as the senior technical lead for the SOA analytical program: architect, develop, and operationalize advanced machine learning solutions including deep learning (CNNs, RNNs, Transformers), ensemble methods, and AI‑driven decision‑making tools for resource allocation and prioritization problems.
• Conceptualize, plan, design, and develop deep learning/AI algorithms for multi‑objective optimization focused on ERO resource allocation, logistics, and enforcement prioritization.
• Lead MLOps activities including model versioning (MLflow, DVC), performance monitoring, drift detection, CI/CD pipelines, and retraining workflows in production environments.
• Prepare models for official DHS accreditation, producing documentation covering model design, methodology, requirements, decision‑making use, analysis of alternatives, and stakeholder engagement.
• Lead development, maintenance, and governance of LESA's suite of Discrete Event Simulation (DES) models; promote interoperability of products with other LESA DES models to enhance forecasting and decision‑making.
• Collaborate with data architects and enterprise architects to define scalable data architecture standards supporting analytical and AI/ML workloads; evaluate infrastructure improvements for AI/ML scalability and performance.
• Identify gaps for LESA decision support tool development: opportunities to collect new data, improve data quality, and improve forecasting methodologies, reporting, and scenario planning capabilities.
• Maintain and improve geospatial capabilities and Logistics Optimization Decision Support Tools; evaluate emerging AI, modeling, and BI platforms (Python, Qlik, Tableau, ArcGIS, Databricks, Palantir Foundry).
• Develop executive‑level summary reports and briefings of algorithm results using RMarkdown, Jupyter Notebook, MS PowerPoint, and MS Word for ERO/ICE senior leadership.
• Rapidly deploy to support special projects: academic research, proof of concepts, congressional inquiry responses, policy change analysis, and ERO strategic logistics initiatives.
• Provide technical leadership and mentorship to junior and mid‑level data scientists; conduct code reviews, methodology reviews, and knowledge‑sharing sessions.

• 10+ years of experience in data science, machine learning, or applied AI research, with significant experience supporting federal law enforcement, DHS/ICE/ERO, or national security missions.
• Expert proficiency in advanced ML and AI: deep learning (Tensor Flow, PyTorch, Keras), ensemble methods (XGBoost, Random Forest), Bayesian methods, and multi‑objective optimization algorithms.
• Demonstrated experience implementing R libraries (h2o, Keras, mlr) and Python libraries (Tensor Flow, PyTorch, mpi4py, scikit‑learn); experience with MCA, PCA, and association rule mining.
• Demonstrated MLOps experience: model versioning, monitoring, CI/CD for ML, and deployment in High‑Performance Computing (HPC) and cloud environments.
• Experience with DES modeling, operations research, and logistics optimization.
• Deep expertise in data architecture collaboration: designing data pipelines, warehouses, and infrastructure to support large‑scale ML workloads.
• Proficiency with geospatial tools (ArcGIS, GIS…