Data Scientist - AI Engineer

The United States Postal Service, Office of Inspector General is seeking a highly qualified applicant to fill our Data Scientist - AI Engineer position in the Research and Insights Solution Center located in Arlington, Virginia. Bring your skills and voice to our team!, The Research and Insights Solution Center (RISC) is the chief data and research component of the OIG, comprised of data scientists, data analysts, programmatic subject matter experts, geographic information system professionals, data engineers, research specialists, economists, and public policy analysts. Our analytics group offers the opportunity to drive value to the organization by designing and developing analytical solutions for auditors, investigators, and researchers., The RISC analytics group is currently seeking an experienced Data Scientist - AI Engineer who will be responsible for researching, assessing, evaluating, and realizing useful and valuable emerging technologies and techniques that can progress the analytic and artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities and offerings across OIG. This position will provide thought leadership for RISC, in enabling data science work that requires application of data mining techniques, model development, statistical analysis, predictive analytics, text analytics, machine learning, artificial intelligence, and other emerging technologies, to support OIG's oversight of USPS through audits, white papers, and investigations., * Infrastructure Tooling & Engineering: Develops scalable infrastructure tooling and cloud-based engineering workflows to support the automated, reproducible deployment of analytics and artificial intelligence pipelines.

• Graph Architecture Integration: Designs, implements, and maintains the core graph database ecosystem, focusing on relationship mapping to uncover hidden networks and anomalies within complex datasets.
• Generative AI & LLM Customization: Directs the integration, prompt engineering, orchestration, and fine-tuning of commercial and open-source Large Language Models (LLMs) to optimize the extraction of structured data from unstructured formats.
• Model Validation & MLOps Monitoring: Builds shared validation tools and operational systems to track machine learning model performance, detect data drift, and address live deployment anomalies.
• Software Engineering Standards: Applies rigorous modern software engineering practices, including continuous integration and continuous deployment (CI/CD) pipelines, to govern the end-to-end model lifecycle.
• Algorithmic Product Creation: Architects advanced analytics products and writes specialized software code to implement complex analytical frameworks targeted at priority organizational objectives.
• Testing, Safety, & Compliance: Executes comprehensive testing protocols for AI integrations to ensure full compliance with performance baselines, security controls, and federal alignment standards.
• Community Upskilling & Planning: Partners with internal leadership to perform training needs assessments and execute strategic workforce development plans that build code-driven analytics capabilities across the agency.
• Emergent Technology Prototyping: Researches the frontiers of data science, commercial APIs, and knowledge management to perform rapid prototyping and rigorous experimentation on novel technical workflows.
• Cross-Functional Synergy & Adoption: Facilitates collaborative project delivery across technical boundaries, coordinates with external providers, and creates accessible user documentation to accelerate system adoption., You will no longer be considered for this position if you:
• Receive a zero (0) rating on any evaluation factor
• Fail to attach all required documentation
• Submit a resume that exceeds the two-page limit
• If your application materials indicate that you are not minimally-qualified for this position
• If you fail to qualify on the interview

Only the top-rated candidates will be referred to a review official or the selecting official for further consideration. Top-rated applicants may be required to participate in an interview. Your rating may be further adjusted or rated as ineligible by the review official or the selecting official based on your interview performance. Once all applicant scores are finalized, the selecting official will make a final decision. NOTE: If you receive a zero (0) rating on any evaluation factor or on the interview, you will be considered NOT MINIMALLY QUALIFIED for the position and rated ineligible.

Applicants for this position may be interviewed one or more times as part of the hiring process. During interviews, applicants may not use any AI tool or virtual assistant (such as ChatGPT) to help them answer questions, except for accessibility tools used as part of a reasonable accommodation. Applicants who fail to follow these rules will be disqualified from the hiring process., * Veterans Preference Documentation. If you are claiming veterans' preference. You must submit the Member 4 copy of your DD-214 Certificate of Release or Discharge from Active Duty, and/or other proof of veterans' preference eligibility, including your VA letter, SF-15 (https://www.opm.gov/forms/standard-forms/), and all required documents related to your SF15 claim. Veterans can request the Member 4 copy of their DD-214 at archives.gov/veterans/military-service- records and can download a copy of their VA letter from Download VA Benefit Letters | Veterans Affairs. If applicable, you are required to submit each veterans' preference document in the application packages. Please name these files as "DD-214" or "SF-15" or "Other Veterans Document."

• Reasonable Accommodation Documentation. If you are requesting a reasonable accommodation to the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments, submit documentation to support your request, including the Reasonable Accommodation Request Form found at http://help.usastaffing.gov/Apply/index.php?title=Reasonable_Accommodations_for_USA_Hire . USA_Hire_Reasonable_Accommodation_Form_508_12-5-23.pdf
• SF-50 if you are or have been a Federal employee to demonstrate tenure and competitive/excepted service for eligibility purposes. (If applicable to you, you are Required to upload each applicable SF-50 and categorize as a "SF-50" document.), * To begin, click Apply Online to access an online application. Follow the prompts to select your USAJOBS resume and/or other supporting documents.
• You will need to be logged into your USAJOBS account or you may need to create a new account. You will be taken to an online application. Complete the online application, verify the required documentation, and submit the application.
• You will receive an email notification when your application has been received for the announcement.
• To verify the status of your application, log into your USAJOBS account, https://my.usajobs.gov/Account/Login, select the Application Status link and then select the More Information link for this position. The Application Status page will display the status of your application, the documentation received and processed, and your responses submitted to the online application. Your uploaded documents may take several hours to clear the virus scan process.
• You are strongly urged to read and print the entire vacancy announcement.

Do you have experience in Tooling?, * Must be a U.S. citizen

• Must be able to pass a drug screening
• Must be able to pass a background investigation
• Must be able to obtain and maintain Moderate Background Investigation security clearance
• Must be able to obtain and maintain a government-issued credit card
• May be required to successfully complete a 12-month probationary period, You must meet ALL of the minimum qualifications listed below.
• Bachelor's degree from an accredited college or university in Computer Science, Data Science, Information Technology, Engineering, Mathematics, Statistics, or a closely related quantitative field.

AND

• Applicants must have one (1) year of specialized experience equivalent to the next lower grade level demonstrating the following technical competencies:

• Programming for AI/Data Science: Experience using modern programming languages standard to data science and AI engineering (Python required; experience with SQL, Scala, or Rust is a plus) to build data pipelines and integrate analytics applications.

• Generative AI & LLM Frameworks: Experience developing, configuring, or integrating machine learning models and Large Language Model (LLM) orchestration frameworks (e.g., LangChain, LlamaIndex, Hugging Face, or commercial AI APIs like Azure OpenAI).

• Enterprise Data & Tooling workflows: Experience utilizing collaborative notebooks, cloud-native platforms, or data management tools (e.g., Databricks, Jupyter, Copilot Studio, or Gemini) for experiment tracking, workflow automation, or model management.

• Relationship & Graph Data Structures: Practical, hands-on experience utilizing or configuring graph databases (e.g., Neo4j, Memgraph) or relational database architectures to map and analyze complex data connections., * Knowledge of the U.S. Postal Service

• Experience in web app development utilizing front and back-end languages, libraries, and frameworks (e.g. HTML5/CSS, JavaScript, Typescript, jQuery, Bootstrap, Angular, Flask, Django, REST/SOAP APIs)

• Experience with and an understanding of DevOps pipelines and familiarity with the principles of continuous integration and continuous deployment (CI/CD) practices

• Practical experience with cloud platforms such as Azure (preferred), AWS, or GCP

EVALUATION FACTORS You must have the experience, knowledge and skills as listed in EACH of the evaluation factors. Failure to demonstrate that you meet all of the evaluation factor requirements as listed below will result in a score of zero (0); an ineligible status, and you will not be referred for further consideration. Include your major accomplishments relevant to the position requirements in your resume.

• Business Requirements & ML Translation: Ability to capture complex business requirements and adeptly transform raw organizational data into production-ready machine learning solutions, visualizations, interactive dashboards, and executive presentations.
• LLM Orchestration & RAG Frameworks: Skill in building and scaling Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) architectures using orchestration frameworks (e.g., LangChain, LlamaIndex) and vector databases to safely connect commercial or open-source LLMs to enterprise data sources.
• Model Selection & API Integration: Knowledge of commercial AI APIs (e.g., Azure OpenAI) and open-source foundation models (e.g., Llama, Mistral), with the ability to evaluate model trade-offs regarding context window constraints, latency, cost, and hosting infrastructure.
• Advanced Programming & Core Tooling: Mastery of Python programming and analytical toolsets (e.g., Databricks, Neo4j, Power BI) to manage data engineering pipelines, implement advanced prompt engineering techniques, and enable function calling/agentic workflows.
• LLM Evaluation, Guardrails, & Security: Skill in implementing validation frameworks to evaluate model outputs for accuracy, bias, and faithfulness (mitigating hallucinations), alongside deploying safety guardrails, alignment techniques, and data privacy controls.
• Pipeline Automation & Scalability: Ability to design, implement, and maintain scalable, reliable, and secure data pipelines and MLOps architectures using containerization and continuous integration/continuous deployment (CI/CD) workflows.
• Technical Communications & Briefings: Strong ability to provide structured technical briefings, white papers, and presentations both orally and in writing to clearly communicate complex AI products, model limitations, and strategic recommendations to executives, technical peers, and law enforcement components.
• Agile Frameworks & LLMOps Delivery: Ability to set goals, prioritize project backlogs, and deliver high-quality code in an efficient manner applying Agile, DevOps, or LLMOps practices for model monitoring and continuous integration/deployment (CI/CD)., Education must be accredited by an institution recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. Applicants can verify accreditation here: https://www.ed.gov/laws-and-policy/higher-education-laws-and-policy/college-accreditation.

Special Instructions for Candidates with Foreign Education: Education completed outside the United States must be deemed equivalent to that gained in U.S. education programs. You must submit all necessary documents to a private U.S. credential evaluation service to interpret equivalency of your education against courses given in U.S. accredited colleges and universities., Candidates should be committed to improving the efficiency of the Federal government, passionate about the ideals of our American republic, and committed to upholding the rule of law and the United States Constitution., 3. TRANSCRIPTS from an accredited college or university. The information presented in the transcript must be verifiable and should contain the name of the institution, applicant's name, list of completed courses, semester hours, GPA, date and type of Bachelor's Degree issued. Education completed outside the United States must be deemed equivalent to that gained in conventional/accredited U.S. education programs to be acceptable for Federal employment. Attach document verifying that it has been deemed equivalent. For further information visit: https://sites.ed.gov/international/recognition-of-foreign-qualifications., Education must be accredited by an accrediting institution recognized by the U.S. Department of Education in order for it to be credited towards qualifications. Therefore, provide only the attendance and/or degrees from schools accredited by accrediting institutions recognized by the U.S. Department of Education.

Pulled from the full job description

• Health insurance
• Vision insurance
• Dental insurance
• Paid sick time
• Employee assistance program
• Paid holidays
• Flexible schedule, This position is being advertised at the Journey Band level, equivalent to a GS-11 - GS-13. The salary range for this position is $85,447.00 - $158,322.00. The salary figures include locality pay. Promotion potential to a GS-13 is at management's discretion., Pay is only part of the compensation you will earn working for the USPS OIG. We offer a broad array of benefits programs, A career with the U.S. government provides employees with a comprehensive benefits package. As a federal employee, you and your family will have access to a range of benefits that are designed to make your federal career very rewarding. Opens in a new windowLearn more about federal benefits.

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Eligibility for benefits depends on the type of position you hold and whether your position is full-time, part-time or intermittent. Contact the hiring agency for more information on the specific benefits offered.