Data Science and Engineering Intern

Mitre Corporation; McLean (VA); On-site; USD 47,000 - 70,000; Full time

Job summary

The MITRE Corporation is seeking a highly motivated student for a hybrid Data Scientist/Data Engineer internship in McLean, VA. You will work across the full data lifecycle—from modeling and processing to ML experimentation—on projects of national importance.

Ideal candidates will have strong Python and SQL skills, ML experience, and a drive to apply data-driven methods to real-world challenges. Applicants must be eligible for a Top Secret clearance as US citizens, and are expected to enroll

Qualifications

• Must be enrolled full-time in an accredited degree program in Computer Science, Applied Mathematics, Statistics, Data Science, or a related degree and continue to be enrolled full‑time the semester following the internship.
• Hands‑on proficiency with advanced Data Science techniques, including ML, anomaly detection, and analysis of large datasets.
• Programming in Python and at least one additional language (e.g., R, C/C++, Java, Scala, Julia, Rust, MATLAB).
• Must be eligible to obtain and maintain a Top Secret U.S. Government issued Security Clearance; U.S. citizen required.
• Sustained excellence in academic performance.

Responsibilities

• Perform data analysis and ML model development for national-security related problems.
• Contribute to data pipelines, experiments, and evaluation of models across the data lifecycle.
• Collaborate with multidisciplinary teams across data science, engineering, and mission-focused sponsors.

Skills

Python

SQL

Machine Learning

Statistics

Data Modeling

Education

Pursuing degree in Computer Science / Applied Mathematics / Statistics / Data Science

Tools

Spark

Hadoop

Ray

Dask

Kafka

Airflow

Dagster

NiFi

Git

Job description

At MITRE, your passion fuels work that impacts our nation and improves lives. This is where your skills strengthen national security, cybersecurity, health, transportation, and citizen services. We’re a nonprofit engineering, applied research, and advanced technology organization working in the public interest. With objectivity and integrity at our core, we lead federally funded research and development centers for U.S. government agencies – collaborating with industry and academia to deliver integrated, high-impact solutions that advance our nation’s health, security, and prosperity. Our people tackle the toughest technical challenges, supported by competitive benefits, meaningful career development, and a culture of innovation, collaboration, and technical excellence. Choose MITRE for a career with purpose — and help shape the future.

MITRE’s Data Science and Engineering department is looking for applicants to bring their data science, data engineering, machine learning, artificial intelligence, and applied research skills to bear on solving problems of critical national importance. MITRE’s diverse work program provides opportunities to apply your expertise and creative thinking in challenging domains such as national security, intelligence, transportation, and healthcare. Employees may also participate in MITRE’s internal research and development program, which provides funding for innovative applied research that addresses our sponsors’ hardest problems.

The successful candidate for this position is a hybrid Data Scientist and Data Engineer who combines foundations in computer science, mathematics, and software engineering with experience in data systems and applying machine learning and AI techniques to solve problems. The candidate should be able to operate across the full data lifecycle from data modeling and data processing to statistical analysis, machine learning, and experimentation. Our organization values innovation and believes that keeping up with the latest research and technologies is essential.

The candidate should have some experience in several of the areas specified below, however it is not required that a candidate has experience in all of these areas.

Advanced Data Analytics and Artificial Intelligence

• Machine Learning and Model Evaluation (e.g., supervised, unsupervised, deep learning, reinforcement learning)
• Statistical Analysis and Exploratory Data Analysis (e.g., descriptive statistics, regression, visualization)
• Large Language Models and AI-Assisted Workflows
• Natural Language Processing (e.g., summarization, classification, entity recognition, topic modeling)
• Anomaly Detection and Predictive Modeling
• Graph Analytics (e.g. centrality, similarity, link prediction)

Data Engineering

• Distributed Data Processing and Big Data Architectures (e.g., Spark, Hadoop, Ray, Dask, Kafka)
• Data Pipeline/ETL Development and Orchestration (e.g., Airflow, Dagster, NiFi)
• Data Modeling, Schema Design, and Data Quality Assessment
• Cloud-based Data Platforms and Storage Architectures

Software Development

• Computer Programming and Databases – Proficiency in Python and SQL required
• Linux-based Development Environments, Git, Containers, and Cloud Platforms

Basic Qualifications:

• Sustained excellence in academic performance.
• Must be a student enrolled full-time in an accredited degree‑seeking program in Computer Science, Applied Mathematics, Statistics, Data Science, or a related degree and continue to be enrolled full‑time the semester following the internship.
• Hands‑on proficiency with advanced Data Science techniques, including Machine Learning (e.g., supervised, unsupervised, deep learning, reinforcement learning), anomaly detection, statistical analysis, and/or analysis of very large datasets.
• Computer programming skills (e.g., Python, R, C/C++, Java, Scala, Julia, Rust, MATLAB).
• Must be eligible to obtain and maintain a Top Secret U.S. Government issued Security Clearance. Per the U.S. Government’s eligibility requirements, you must be a U.S Citizen to be considered for a security clearance.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Demonstrated interest in serving the public.
• Active DoD Top Secret Clearance.

This requisition requires the candidate to have a minimum of the following clearance(s):

None

This requisition requires the hired candidate to have or obtain, within one year from the date of hire, the following clearance(s):

None

Salary compensation range and midpoint:

$46,500 - $58,000 - $69,500 Annual

Work Location Type:

Onsite

Commitment to Non-Discrimination

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to disability, status as a protected veteran or any other status protected by applicable federal, state, local or international law.

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