Geospatial AI Research Scientist/Engineer

Barone Consulting LLC; Bethesda (MD); On-site; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Barone Consulting LLC is seeking a SETA Support Specialist to support a government research organization focused on national security. The role involves managing the lifecycle of multiple research programs, coordinating across academia, government, and industry, and ensuring program management best practices are followed.

You will contribute AI/ML expertise (CV, NLP, predictive analytics, LLMs), and support data architecture and large-scale analytics/GEOINT production, while preparing technical

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in physics, math, CS or relevant engineering field.

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, government and transition partners.
• Provide support for systems integration, design, development, modeling and data analytics.

Skills

AI/ML knowledge

R&D program management

Systems engineering

Technical writing

PowerPoint

Cross-functional coordination

Geospatial/GEOINT

Data architectures

Education

Bachelor's degree in physics/math/CS/engineering

Master's degree in physics/math/CS/engineering

PhD in physics/math/CS/engineering

Tools

PowerPoint

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 Geospatial AI for Intelligence capabilities and methods.

The successful candidate will have subject matter expertise in AI/ML for computer vision, NLP, predictive analytics, LLMs and understanding of data architecture and pipelines for large‑scale analytics/GEOINT production.

Responsibilities

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

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in physics, mathematics, computer science, or relevant engineering fields (electrical, computer, systems, software).


• EIGHT (8) or more years of work experience including, but not be limited to


• Knowledge of AI/ML (computer vision, NLP, predictive analytics, LLMs).


• Understanding of data architectures and pipelines for large‑scale analytics/GEOINT production.


• Familiarity with AI governance, data quality, and mission assurance in operational settings


• Experience with R&D of spatiotemporal data, architectures, modeling and/or machine learning algorithms


• Systems engineering and integration experience in complex, data‑intensive environments.


• Experience creating program plans, work breakdown structures, and milestone schedules


• Master’s degree in physics, mathematics, computer science, or relevant engineering fields (electrical, computer, systems, software) with SIX (6) or more years of work experience


• PhD in physics, mathematics, computer science, or relevant engineering fields (electrical, computer, systems, software) with FOUR (4) or more years of work experience


• 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


• Ability to proactively manage multiple, concurrent tasks


• Excellent writing and editing skills, including the ability to develop succinct, comprehensive, and understandable documents using complex data from multiple sources


• Excellent slide development and PowerPoint skills, with the ability to visually communicate complex ideas at a high level for technically savvy but non-expert audiences


• Strong organizational, problem-solving, and time-management skills; detail oriented

Why Join Us?

This role offers the opportunity to be part of mission-critical programs advancing collection technologies and national security. You will collaborate with leading universities, research labs, and industry partners on groundbreaking research and technologies.