Data Scientist (Entry Level)

The World at Abt

Solving the world’s most pressing issues and improving the quality of life for people worldwide is what we do every day at Abt Associates. Creating a more equitable world is no small task, but we are driven by big challenges.

We are a team of 3,000+ people in over 50 countries working in unison and focused on the bigger picture. Only by sharing our commitment, energy, and innovation do we affect change and push the boundaries of what’s possible. We welcome diverse ideas, backgrounds, and viewpoints – joining Abt means access to exceptional thinkers at the top of their game.

To thrive at Abt is to embrace flexibility and collaboration. Our open culture allows you to balance your work and personal life as needed to optimize personal well-being. Creating a more equitable world starts from within – we look after people around the world, and we’ll do the same for you.

Ready to embrace rewarding and meaningful work? Now’s your chance.

The Opportunity

Abt is seeking an early-career data scientist with generative AI and coding skills to join its growing team in the Digital and Data Services (DDS) Division. This division plays a key role within Abt providing data science methods, data visualization, and automation tools to a broad range of government agencies, university researchers, and foundations. Much of this work is focused on public policy, program evaluation, and data modernization in such areas as healthcare, public health, housing, the environment, and human services, both within the US and internationally.

The Data Scientist works with internal colleagues and external clients on applications data to answer complex technical questions. They will perform data cleaning and select appropriate tools under the direction of senior staff. They will perform work with textual and numerical data and may utilize various tools in Azure and AWS cloud environments to deploy generative AI, natural language processing and machine learning workflows. In addition, the successful candidate will help to collaboratively develop analysis plans, communicate the strengths and weaknesses of various analyses, and identify and apply appropriate analytic techniques.

The selected candidate must be experienced at data science methods and functional programming, with preference given to experience with Python.

The Data Scientist will preferably work on-site in Abt’s offices in any of Atlanta, GA, Cambridge, MA, Durham, NC, or Rockville, MD in a hybrid remote/in-person status being on-site at least two days per week at one of these locations. However, a full-time remote condition could be considered in an ideal situation.

Core Responsibilities

The successful hire will be able to perform the following functions:

• Strong programming skills in Python.
• Perform data management tasks (data wrangling, cleaning, merging, writing data pipelines scripts, feature engineering)
• Apply machine learning techniques such as logistic regression, random forest, and neural nets
• Work in cloud computing environments (e.g., AWS, Azure).
• Strong writing, presentation, and interpersonal communication skills.
• Create automated processes and pipelines from real-world datasets to facilitate reporting, e.g., via dashboards.
• Apply generative AI and natural language processing (NLP) methods, such as curated data training, prompt engineering, and model finetuning.
• Collect data from various sources, e.g., webscraping and APIs

What We Value:

• Data Scientist 1: Minimum of Master’s Degree + 0 years of experience
• Data Scientist 2: Minimum of Master’s Degree + 2 years of experience
• Preference given to those familiar with SQL, PyTorch and/or Tensorflow.
• Preference given those familiar with version control tools such as GitHub or Bitbucket.
• Preference given to those with experience using the Huggingface transformers library.
• Preference given to those with data engineering or ML engineering experience (e.g., internships).

What We Offer

We foster an environment where you can Thrive Your Way. Our innovative total rewards programs are designed to help balance your work and personal life. The approach toward your wellbeing centers around comprehensive benefits, flexible schedules, and professional development.

Abt Associates is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity employer committed to fostering a diverse workforce. Abt Associates provides market-competitive salaries and comprehensive employee benefits. Local candidates strongly encouraged to apply.

This position offers an anticipated annual base salary range of approximately Data Scientist 1: $69,000 to $110,000, Data Scientist 2: $79,000 - $120,000) and may vary by ten percent depending on candidate geographic location. Salary offers are made based on internal equity and market analysis.

Disclaimer: Abt Associates will never ask candidates for money in exchange for an offer of employment.

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