Data Scientist - DIRECT HIRE

About the role

This position is located in the Department of Transportation (DOT), Federal Transit Administration (FTA), Office of the Chief Data Officer (OCDO). OCDO develops strategic approaches to leveraging FTA’s data assets, manages FTA’s data governance, builds a strong data culture, manages data as a strategic asset, and uses data to improve mission delivery, operational efficiency, and actionable decision-making data, including via advanced analytic techniques and AI.

Responsibilities

• Interact with analysts and internal customers to understand business processes, gather requirements, develop analysis methodologies, and coordinate development of data products.
• Perform analysis of a variety of data sources to provide data-driven insights and recommendations to the organization to streamline processes and improve program operations. Communicate analytical findings to technical and non-technical audiences, including senior leadership.
• Develop, document, and implement statistically reliable methods, strategies, and approaches to ensure valid and reliable information is provided to support management decision-making.
• Conduct tests to measure data quality and compliance with internal policy. Perform data wrangling and develop broadly applicable recommendations to deal with imperfections in data.
• Assist in building the foundation of scientific and technical capabilities within FTA to support ongoing and future data analytics projects. Educate others on technology, tools, and best practices.

Requirements

• Demonstrated experience leveraging data to inform business process improvements and operational decision-making.
• Outstanding analytical and problem-solving skills, performing sophisticated data analysis, and developing data visualizations.
• U.S. citizenship and specialized experience to qualify.

Qualifications

• To qualify for the GS-11 on Experience, you must have at least one year of experience equal or equivalent to the GS-09 including experience interpreting data sets and applying statistical and analytic methods to discover patterns for guiding decision-making, streamlining operations, or improving programs.
• To qualify for the GS-11 on Education alone, you must have: 3 years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to a Ph.D. degree or Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree.
• To qualify for the GS-12 on Experience, you must have at least one year of experience equal or equivalent to the GS-11 including experience assisting efforts to enhance data governance, management, and data use across an organization, including collaborating and coordinating with other stakeholders in or outside of an organization.
• To qualify for the GS-13 on Experience, you must have at least one year of experience equal or equivalent to the GS-12 including experience directing advanced data science and artificial intelligence initiatives from conception to deployment, including advising on appropriate classification or predictive models, developing machine learning algorithms, and evaluating models that resulted in an implementation in a production environment.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities (KSAs)

• Data Analysis & Analytics - Manipulates and exploits internal and external, structured, and unstructured data sources to accomplish organizational goals.
• Data Management - Knowledge of the principles, procedures, and tools of data management, such as modeling techniques, data backup, data recovery, data dictionaries, data warehousing, data mining, data archiving, data disposal, and data standardization processes.
• Data Visualization and Communications - Utilizes tools, techniques, and software to generate reports or visualizations that convey data analyses, findings, and limitations and translates technical concepts, data findings, uncertainty, or limitations (including potential bias) from data sets into concise, plain language and supporting diagrams and media.
• Service Delivery - Anticipates and meets the needs of both internal and external customers. Seeks to obtain customer feedback through various channels to improve products and services. Delivers high-quality products and services; is committed to continuous improvement.