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About This Role
Overview:
The Data Scientist – SME will serve as the lead technical expert for optimization and advanced analytics within the portfolio. This role will own the design and implementation of prescriptive analytics solutions—especially optimization models—that set safety stock levels, recommend resupply quantities, and balance risk and cost across the supply chain. The SME will work closely with logisticians, ammunition SMEs, and data engineers to operationalize prescriptive decision support tools in Army Vantage and related environments.
LMI is a new breed of digital solutions provider dedicated to accelerating government impact with innovation and speed. Investing in technology and prototypes ahead of need, LMI brings commercial-grade platforms and mission-ready AI to federal agencies at commercial speed.
Leveraging our mission-ready technology and solutions, proven expertise in federal deployment, and strategic relationships, we enhance outcomes for the government, efficiently and effectively. With a focus on agility and collaboration, LMI serves the defense, space, healthcare, and energy sectors—helping agencies navigate complexity and outpace change. Headquartered in Tysons, Virginia, LMI is committed to delivering impactful results that strengthen missions and drive lasting value. Responsibilities: Responsibilities
- Continue to improve of processes that:
- + Recommend ideal resupply quantities by installation and ammunition type. + Align regional inventory to demand, reduce excess shipments and storage waste, and safeguard against stock-outs.
- Advance the Army along the analytics continuum from descriptive/diagnostic to predictive/prescriptive analytics, ensuring models are operationally actionable.
- Work closely with logistician and ammunition SMEs to formulate, implement, and tune linear, mixed-integer, stochastic, and multi-objective optimization models that consider:
- + Forecasted demand (unit forecasts and ML-based forecasts) and available depot stock + Transportation costs, storage constraints, and depot capacity. + Additional optimization constraints, decision variables, and objectives that reflect real-world policies, doctrine, and operational constraints: + Readiness priorities and surge requirements.
- Collaborate with data engineers to ensure pipelines provide clean, timely input data and to embed optimization models into the application and Vantage workflows.
- Design and implement model performance metrics and KPIs and conduct near real-time monitoring of model impact.
- Lead experimentation, scenario analysis, and sensitivity studies.
- Provide technical leadership and mentorship to journeyman data scientists, guiding best practices in modeling and optimization.
- Support briefings to senior Army leadership and stakeholders, clearly explaining model design, trade-offs, and operational impact.
Qualifications: Minimum Qualifications
- Bachelor's degree in operations research, industrial engineering, applied mathematics, statistics, computer science, or related quantitative field; masters or PhD.
- 7+ years of experience in advanced analytics, operations research, or data science, with direct responsibility for optimization model design and deployment.
- Demonstrated expertise in:
- + Linear and mixed-integer optimization, stochastic optimization, and/or robust optimization. + Modeling tools and libraries (e.g., Pyomo, Gurobi, CPLEX, OR-Tools, or similar). + Integrating optimization models with predictive models (e.g., ML-driven demand forecasts).
- Proven experience translating complex mission and business objectives into formal optimization formulations and delivering production-caliber solutions.
- Experience working with cross-functional teams (data engineers, logisticians, software developers, and mission owners) in an Agile environment.
- Excellent written and oral communication skills, including experience briefing senior leaders and explaining trade-offs to non-technical audiences.
- Active SECRET clearance; U.S. citizenship required.
Desired Qualifications
- Experience in DoD logistics, supply chain, or munitions management; familiarity with Army ammunition systems and processes.
- Prior work with enterprise data platforms (e.g., Army Vantage, Army Data Platform) and AWS GovCloud or similar secure cloud environments.
- Familiarity with model lifecycle management, including validation, verification, and continuous improvement processes in operational environments.
- PMP and/or SAFe/Agile certifications
Target salary range: $145,000-$180,000 Disclaimer: The salary range displayed represents the typical salary range for this position and is not a guarantee of compensation. Individual salaries are determined by various factors including, but not limited to location, internal equity, business considerations, client contract requirements, and candidate qualifications, such as education, experience, skills, and security clearances.
Job Locations: US-Remote
Salary Context
This $145K-$180K range is below the median for Data Scientist roles in our dataset (median: $167K across 150 roles with salary data).
View full Data Scientist salary data →Role Details
About This Role
Data Scientists extract insights and build predictive models from data. In the AI era, many roles now include LLM-powered analytics, automated reporting, and integration with generative AI tools. The role has evolved from 'the person who runs SQL queries' to 'the person who builds AI-powered data products.'
Modern data science roles fall into two camps: analytics-focused (insights, dashboards, experimentation) and ML-focused (building predictive models, recommendation systems, NLP features). The best data scientists can operate in both modes. The AI shift means that even analytics-focused roles now involve building automated insight pipelines using LLMs, going well beyond one-off reports.
Across the 8,943 AI roles we're tracking, Data Scientist positions make up 4% of the market. At LMI, this role fits into their broader AI and engineering organization.
Data Scientist roles remain in high demand, though the definition keeps shifting. Companies increasingly want candidates who can bridge traditional statistics with modern ML and LLM capabilities. The 'pure insights' data scientist role is consolidating into analytics engineering, while the 'build models' data scientist role is merging with ML engineering.
What the Work Looks Like
A typical week includes: analyzing experiment results for a product feature launch, building a predictive model for customer churn, creating an automated reporting pipeline using LLM-powered summarization, presenting insights to stakeholders, and cleaning data (always cleaning data). The ratio of analysis to engineering varies by company, but expect both.
Data Scientist roles remain in high demand, though the definition keeps shifting. Companies increasingly want candidates who can bridge traditional statistics with modern ML and LLM capabilities. The 'pure insights' data scientist role is consolidating into analytics engineering, while the 'build models' data scientist role is merging with ML engineering.
Skills Required
Python, SQL, and statistical modeling are the foundation. Increasingly, roles want experience with LLMs for data analysis, automated insight generation, and building AI-powered data products. Familiarity with cloud data platforms (Snowflake, BigQuery, Databricks) and ML frameworks (scikit-learn, PyTorch) covers most job requirements.
Experimentation design and causal inference are underrated skills that separate strong candidates. Companies care about whether their product changes cause improvements, and can distinguish causation from correlation. A/B testing methodology, Bayesian statistics, and the ability to communicate uncertainty to non-technical stakeholders are high-value skills.
Good postings specify the data stack, the types of problems you'll work on, and the team structure. Look for companies that differentiate between analytics and ML data science. Vague 'data scientist' postings that list every skill under the sun usually mean the company doesn't know what they need.
Compensation Benchmarks
Data Scientist roles pay a median of $190,000 based on 1,406 positions with disclosed compensation. Senior-level AI roles across all categories have a median of $228,700. This role's midpoint ($162K) sits 14% below the category median. Disclosed range: $145K to $180K.
Across all AI roles, the market median is $213,380. Top-quartile compensation starts at $264,148. The 90th percentile reaches $319,310. For comparison, the highest-paying categories include AI Safety ($253,100) and Research Engineer ($252,000). By seniority level: Entry: $110,408; Mid: $193,200; Senior: $228,700; Director: $272,250; VP: $235,000.
LMI AI Hiring
LMI has 3 open AI roles right now. They're hiring across Data Scientist, AI/ML Engineer. Positions span Remote, US, Tysons, VA, US. Compensation range: $170K - $225K.
Remote Work Context
Remote AI roles pay a median of $185,906 across 2,124 positions. About 6% of all AI roles offer remote work.
Career Path
Common paths into Data Scientist roles include Data Analyst, Statistician, Quantitative Researcher.
From here, career progression typically leads toward Senior Data Scientist, ML Engineer, AI Product Manager.
Start with statistics and SQL. Build a real analysis project on public data that demonstrates insight generation alongside model building. The market values data scientists who can communicate findings clearly to business stakeholders. If you want to move toward ML engineering, invest in software engineering fundamentals and production deployment skills.
What to Expect in Interviews
Interviews combine statistics, coding, and business acumen. SQL is almost always tested, often with complex joins and window functions. Expect a case study round where you're given a business problem and asked to design an analysis plan. Coding rounds focus on pandas, statistical modeling, and visualization. The strongest differentiator is how well you communicate insights to non-technical stakeholders during presentation rounds.
When evaluating opportunities: Good postings specify the data stack, the types of problems you'll work on, and the team structure. Look for companies that differentiate between analytics and ML data science. Vague 'data scientist' postings that list every skill under the sun usually mean the company doesn't know what they need.
AI Hiring Overview
The AI job market has 8,943 open positions tracked in our dataset. By seniority: 175 entry-level, 4,132 mid-level, 3,268 senior, and 1,368 leadership roles (Director, VP, C-Level). Remote roles make up 6% of the market (521 positions). The remaining 8,351 roles require on-site or hybrid attendance.
The market median for AI roles is $213,380. Top-quartile compensation starts at $264,148. The 90th percentile reaches $319,310. Highest-paying categories: AI Safety ($253,100 median, 57 roles); Research Engineer ($252,000 median, 419 roles); AI Engineering Manager ($251,622 median, 51 roles).
Data Scientist roles remain in high demand, though the definition keeps shifting. Companies increasingly want candidates who can bridge traditional statistics with modern ML and LLM capabilities. The 'pure insights' data scientist role is consolidating into analytics engineering, while the 'build models' data scientist role is merging with ML engineering.
The AI Job Market Today
The AI job market spans 8,943 open positions across 16 role categories. The largest categories by volume: AI/ML Engineer (6,739), AI Product Manager (403), AI Software Engineer (402). These three account for the majority of open positions, though smaller categories often have higher per-role compensation because of specialized skill requirements.
The seniority mix tells a story about where AI teams are in their maturity. Entry-level roles (175) are outnumbered by mid-level (4,132) and senior (3,268) positions, reflecting that most companies are past the 'build a team from scratch' phase and need experienced engineers who can ship production systems. Leadership roles (Director, VP, C-Level) total 1,368 positions, representing the bottleneck between technical execution and organizational strategy.
Remote work availability sits at 6% of all AI roles (521 positions), with 8,351 requiring on-site or hybrid attendance. The remote share has stabilized after the post-pandemic correction. Senior and specialized roles (Research Scientist, ML Architect) are more likely to be remote-eligible than entry-level positions, partly because experienced hires have more negotiating power and partly because these roles require less hands-on mentorship.
AI compensation is structured in clear tiers. The market median sits at $213,380. Top-quartile roles start at $264,148, and the 90th percentile reaches $319,310. These figures include base salary with disclosed compensation. Total compensation (including equity, bonuses, and sign-on) runs 20-40% higher at companies that offer those components.
Category matters for compensation. AI Safety roles lead at $253,100 median, while Prompt Engineer roles sit at $141,440. The spread between highest and lowest-paying categories reflects the premium on specialized technical skills versus broader analytical roles.
The most in-demand skills across all AI postings: Python (1,422 postings), Aws (808 postings), Azure (638 postings), Rag (555 postings), Gcp (457 postings), Pytorch (433 postings), Claude (341 postings), Kubernetes (337 postings). Python dominates, appearing in the vast majority of role descriptions regardless of category. Cloud platform experience (AWS, GCP, Azure) is the second most common requirement. The newer entrants to the top skills list (RAG, vector databases, LLM APIs) reflect the shift from traditional ML toward generative AI applications.
Frequently Asked Questions
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