Financial Intelligence Scientist

Arena Technical Resources, LLC (ATR); Bethesda (MD); On-site; USD 170,000 - 220,000; Full time

Job summary

Arena Technical Resources, LLC (ATR) in Bethesda, MD is seeking a Financial Intelligence Scientist to support government research programs focused on high‑risk, high‑payoff initiatives. The role requires advanced degrees and deep expertise in geoeconomics, financial intelligence methods, and program management to coordinate efforts across government, academia, and industry partners.

You will assist with lifecycle activities from source selection through transition, ensuring compliance with

Qualifications

• Advanced degree (MA/PhD) in economics, finance, political science, or quantitative social science.
• 2+ years in international economics or related fields.
• Geoeconomics, supply chain, sanctions regimes, FDI, economic coercion.
• Expertise in financial intelligence methodologies.
• Experience supporting CFT/AML missions.
• Knowledge of BSA/AML, OFAC sanctions, export controls, CFIUS.
• Ability to translate concepts into actionable insights for R&D.
• 1 year managing multi-disciplinary research or T&E programs.
• 1 year creating program plans and milestones.
• 1 year using evaluation techniques.

Responsibilities

• Coordinate across government, academic, and industry research teams.
• Review and assess technical deliverables, milestones, and evaluation results.
• Track risks, dependencies, and integration issues across performers.
• Prepare reports, technical summaries, and briefings for senior leadership.
• Serve as a liaison between performers, Test & Evaluation contributors, government and transition partners.
• Provide support for program related requirements for systems integration, design, development, modeling and simulation, data analytics and architecture design.
• Stay current on advances in technologies relevant to the research programs and perform technical studies as requested.
• Provide technical support and expertise on new concepts relevant to the program managers.
• Support the evaluation of Seedling concepts.

Skills

Geoeconomics

Financial intelligence

Program management

Quantitative modeling

Red team analysis

AML/CFT experience

Data analysis

Education

Master’s or PhD in Economics / Data Science / Applied Mathematics

Job description

Job Title

Financial Intelligence Scientist

Job Location

Bethesda, MD

Compensation

$170,000 - $220,000

Eligibility/Clearance

Candidate must possess an active TS/SCI clearance and be willing to obtain a CI Polygraph

Job Description

• We are seeking a Scientific, Engineering, and Technical Assistance (SETA) Support Specialist to join our team in support of a government research organization dedicated to investing in high-risk, high-payoff research programs to tackle some of the most difficult challenges of national security.
• The successful candidate will support the government program managers in the execution of the lifecycle of various research programs to include development of source selection materials, execution assistance, closeout, and transition. The SETA should be competent in Research and Development (R&D) programmatic reviews and procedures. The candidate will also be responsible for ensuring that project management best practices are followed by the individual programs to include performers, independent verification and validation (IV&V) entities, and within the government research organization itself.
• The research programs you would support focus on developing advanced Financial Intelligence capabilities and methods.
• The successful candidate will have subject matter expertise in geoeconomics, including: supply chain analysis, strategic trade flows, sanctions regimes, foreign direct investment, state backed economic coercion.
• Support the program managers in coordination, monitoring, communication, and integration of all technical aspects of the Program lifecycle that includes:

• Coordinate across government, academic, and industry research teams.
• Review and assess technical deliverables, milestones, and evaluation results.
• Track risks, dependencies, and integration issues across performers.
• Prepare reports, technical summaries, and briefings for senior leadership.
• Serve as a liaison between performers, Test & Evaluation contributors, government and transition partners;
• Provide support for program related requirements for systems integration, design, development, modeling and simulation, data analytics and architecture design;
• Stay current on advances in technologies relevant to the research programs and perform technical studies as requested on topics of interest to the program managers.
• Provide technical support and expertise on new concepts relevant to the program managers.
• Support the evaluation of Seedling concepts.

Skills/Qualifications

Required

• Advanced academic training (M.A. or Ph.D.) with 2+ years experience in international economics, finance, political science, or quantitative social sciences, with the ability to translate concepts into actionable technical insights for R&D
• Applied experience in geoeconomics, including: supply chain analysis, strategic trade flows, sanctions regimes, foreign direct investment, state backed economic coercion
• Expertise in financial intelligence methodologies, including: network analysis, beneficial ownership mapping, corporate registry exploitation, trade based money laundering detection, financial data fusion
• Experience with quantitative modeling and analytic methods relevant to economic security, including: network analysis, econometrics, statistical inference, Monte Carlo methods, machine learning for anomaly detection
• Direct experience supporting CFT/AML missions across government or the national security community, with familiarity in: emerging typologies, cross border capital movement patterns, illicit finance risk assessment frameworks
• Working knowledge of statutory and regulatory regimes, including: BSA/AML, OFAC sanctions, export controls (ITAR/EAR), CFIUS, authorities used in economic statecraft and foreign influence mitigation
• Strong analytic experience integrating heterogeneous data sources, including: financial records, trade data, customs and shipping data, open source economic indicators, corporate registries and datasets, alternative/nontraditional data, anomalous pattern identification, adversarial behavior detection
• Understanding of emerging digital assets ecosystems and architectures, including: CBDCs, stablecoins, blockchain analytics, cross border payments infrastructure, relevance for sanctions evasion and AML
• Background in scenario design, wargaming, or red team analysis, with focus on: geoeconomic competition, economic shocks, sanctions escalation, critical resource disruption
• 1 year managing multi-disciplinary research or test/evaluation programs
• 1 year creating program plans, WBS structures, milestone schedules
• 1 year using technical evaluation and assessment techniques

Desired

• Experience in the Intelligence Community (IC), including requirements, CONOPS, and transition
• Experience managing a multi-disciplinary R&D or T&E team
• Experience as a Project Manager or Deputy Project Manager
• Experience editing scientific articles, papers, and presentations for a wide range of audiences

Education

• Master’s degree or PhD in Economics, Data Science, Applied Mathematics, or a related quantitative field

ATR is an Equal Opportunity Employer (EOE) who will provide equal employment opportunity to employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, ethnicity, religion, color, sex, pregnancy, national origin, age, veteran status, ancestry, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, marital status, family structure, genetic information, or mental or physical disability