Data Scientist

Athari; Lexington (VA); Hybrid; USD 103,000 - 138,000; Full time

Job summary

Athari is seeking an experienced search engineer to design and implement enterprise-scale Solr/Lucene solutions in Lexington, MA. You will develop semantic and hybrid search capabilities, optimize ranking, and build data pipelines for vector-enabled search.

Requirements include 5+ years with Solr/Lucene, vector embeddings experience, and an active SECRET clearance. The role supports hybrid/remote/onsite work arrangements and involves cross-functional collaboration.

Qualifications

• 5+ years hands-on experience with Apache Solr or Lucene in production environments.
• Strong relevancy engineering skills: query parsing, boosting, function queries, and tuning.
• Experience with vector embeddings for semantic search and hybrid search systems.
• Familiarity with search relevance metrics (NDCG, MRR, precision/recall).
• Clearance: active SECRET level required.

Responsibilities

• Design, implement, and maintain enterprise-scale search solutions using Apache Solr.
• Develop semantic search capabilities with vector embeddings and neural search models.
• Build indexers and pipelines supporting vector embeddings alongside traditional fields.
• Tune ANN algorithms for efficient similarity search at scale.
• Conduct relevancy analysis with automated metrics and manual evaluation.
• Collaborate with product, engineering, and data teams to define search requirements.

Skills

Solr

Lucene

Vector embeddings

Hybrid search

Query parsing

Relevancy tuning

NDCG

MRR

Python

Java

SQL

Education

Bachelor's Degree

Tools

Apache Solr

Lucene

Data pipelines

Job description

Designs, develops, and implements methods, processes, and systems to consolidate and

analyze diverse data sets including structured and unstructured.

Develop software programs, algorithms, dashboards, information tools, and queries to

clean, model, integrate and evaluate datasets. Keeps abreast of new analytic

methodologies and technologies.

Collaborate with functional business units to drive business solutions and direction.

Key Responsibilities include but not limited to:

Design, implement, and maintain enterprise-scale search solutions using Apache Solr

Develop and optimize semantic search capabilities using vector embeddings and neural

search models

Build custom indexers and indexing pipelines that support vector embeddings alongside

traditional text fields

Implement and tune Approximate Nearest Neighbor (ANN) algorithms for efficient

similarity search at scale

Design and optimize similarity functions (cosine, dot product, Euclidean) for various

search use cases

Build hybrid search systems that combine traditional keyword-based search with vector-

based semantic search

Perform traditional relevancy engineering including query analysis, field weighting,

boosting strategies, and result tuning

Conduct relevancy analysis using quantitative metrics and qualitative evaluation methods

Monitor search performance metrics and implement continuous improvements

Work cross-functionally with product, engineering, and data teams to define search

requirements

Required Qualifications:

5+ years of hands-on experience with Apache Solr or Lucene in production environments

Strong expertise in traditional relevancy engineering including query parsing, field

boosting, function queries, and relevance tuning

Proven experience conducting relevancy analysis using both automated metrics and

manual evaluation techniques

Strong expertise in vector embeddings and their application to semantic search

Proven experience building hybrid search systems that combine keyword and vector-

based approaches

Knowledge of search relevance metrics (NDCG, MRR, precision/recall)

Excellent problem-solving and analytical skills

Strong communication skills and ability to work in collaborative environments

Nice to Have:

Databases and Data Engineering for Big Data

Elasticsearch

Statistical Methods

Clearance:

Candidates should have an active clearance (secret/top secret, etc.) in order to be

considered for this position due to the nature of the work being done. Do not submit

candidates if they do not meet this requirement.

Work Location:

This position has the ability to work hybrid, remote or onsite. Please list which the

candidate prefers in the write up.

Interview Process:

1st round interview will be a Zoom with the hiring manager. 2nd round interview will be

a Zoom with additional team members as needed.

Must Have

Data/Reporting

Data Analysis 5 years

R, Python, SQL, and Machine Language Algorithms and Data Analysis. 5 years

Degree Level

Bachelor's Degree Yes

Experience

Currently holds a Secret Clearance (OR a higher clearance) Yes

Quantitative relevancy analysis and tuning 5 years

Vector embeddings semantic search 5 years

Programming

C/C++, Java, Python, Bash, SQL, Java Script / HTML / CSS, Matlab 5 years

Software Tools

Apache Solr and creating data pipelines for search products 5 years

Nice to Have

Data/Reporting

Databases and Data Engineering for Big Data 0 years

Elasticsearch 0 years

Statistical Methods 0 years

Duration: 6 Months

Security Clearance Requirement: Yes

Security Clearance Level: Active Secret

Location: Lexington, MA 02421

Pay Range: $75-$100 an hour