Sr Data Scientist

As a Senior Data Scientist in the Data & Business Intelligence org, you’ll be the analytical engine behind Ascend Learning’s test security function — building the models, reports, and intelligence that empower security analysts and Psychometricians across our portfolio of brands to protect the integrity of every assessment we deliver. You’ll leverage a modern data stack (Snowflake, SQL Server, Tableau) and apply statistical modeling and machine learning to surface insights that drive decisions at the highest levels of the organization, working alongside a team of seasoned data professionals who bring deep expertise across the full data lifecycle.

This position will work a hybrid schedule from our Leawood, KS or Burlington, MA office preferred. Remote candidates will be considered within the United States.

• Threat Detection & Behavioral Analysis: Design and implement statistical models, anomaly detection algorithms, and machine learning pipelines to identify suspicious test-taking patterns, proxy testing, impersonation, and item exposure across large-scale assessment datasets.
• Advanced Modeling: Build and maintain predictive and classification models — including logistic regression, clustering, random forest, and NLP-based flagging — to surface security risks and prioritize investigation queues.
• Executive Communication: Independently prepare and present findings, dashboards, and security briefings to senior leadership — translating complex analytical outputs into clear, actionable narratives.
• Incident Reporting: Author detailed analytical reports supporting security investigations, including methodology documentation, evidence summaries, and recommended actions.
• SQL Development: Write and maintain complex Snowflake SQL and T-SQL — stored procedures, views, and optimized queries — across Snowflake and SQL Server environments, integrating data from disparate sources including No
  
  SQL, data lakes, APIs, and external data providers; contributing to EDW Gold layer development for exam security use cases.
• Tableau Dashboards: Design, build, and maintain Tableau dashboards that surface key security metrics, incident trends, and performance indicators for both operational teams and senior leadership.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Partner with Psychometricians, Data Engineering, IT security, and remote proctoring vendors to align on analytical requirements, data quality standards, and the technology landscape — ensuring security data is accurate, timely, and fit for analysis.
• Requirements Translation: Convert ambiguous needs from Test Security, IT, Legal, and Operations into well-defined analytical requirements and data specifications, maintaining clear documentation of models and methodologies throughout.

• Bachelor’s degree in Data Science, Statistics, Applied Mathematics, Computer Science, Educational Measurement, or a closely related quantitative field. Master’s degree preferred in a quantitative discipline; familiarity with psychometric methods; experience with remote proctoring platforms; exposure to Medallion/EDW architectures in Snowflake; background in test security, fraud detection, or behavioral analytics at scale
• 5+ years of experience in data analysis or data science with demonstrated progression in technical scope and complexity
• Expert-level SQL across both Snowflake and SQL Server — stored procedures, query optimization, and complex multi-source joins
• Proven experience building statistical models and applying machine learning techniques such as classification, clustering, and anomaly detection in a production or near-production context
• Proficiency in Python, R, Snowflake ML for statistical analysis and model development
• Exp…