Image Scientist - Senior (PIR)

NCSL International; Charlottesville, Northern (VA, KY); Hybrid; USD 170,000 - 190,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health plan

Health Savings Account with company

Paid Time Off

Paid Holidays

Parental Leave

401k with company match

Training and Development

Employee events

Job summary

GRVTY in Charlottesville, Virginia seeks an Image Scientist - Senior (PIR) to lead multidisciplinary teams across Persistent Infrared collection, data exploitation, and technical intelligence production. You will shape requirements, design analyses, develop pipelines, and brief senior decision-makers while advancing concept-to-operations transitions and coordinating with government partners.

This role requires an active Top Secret clearance and 8+ years of relevant experience; deep PIR

Qualifications

• Active Top Secret clearance with SCI eligibility.
• 8+ years of directly relevant experience.
• Deep knowledge of PIR collections, tasking, and exploitation.
• Experience leading collection campaigns or complex analyses.
• Ability to mentor analysts and contribute to technical strategy.

Responsibilities

• Support PIR collection planning, tasking, and data exploitation.
• Develop repeatable workflows for data conditioning and analysis.
• Produce technical assessments and briefings for senior decision-makers.
• Identify gaps and opportunities for follow-on collection or experimentation.
• Collaborate with government customers, engineers, and mission partners.

Skills

PIR knowledge

Technical leadership

Analytical thinking

Education

Graduate degree preferred

Tools

Data processing pipelines

Job description

Charlottesville, Virginia, United States

Position Title: Image Scientist - Senior (PIR)

What Impact You'll Have

GRVTY is seeking motivated and experienced multidisciplinary scientists and intelligence analysts to support Persistent Infrared (PIR), Scientific and Technical Intelligence (S&TI), research and development, collection planning, and broader multi-INT missions. The ideal candidate brings established Intelligence Community experience, a record of technical or analytical leadership, and a passion for advanced scientific problem solving across the full PIR mission lifecycle from collection requirements and tasking through data production, exploitation, technical analysis, analytic reporting, and the development and evaluation of new collection and processing capabilities. Successful candidates may support operational collections, R&D collection campaigns, Phase 13 analysis, laboratory and test-range activities, data-quality assessment, signature development, technical intelligence production, and the transition of new analytical methods into operational use.

What You'll be Owning

• Support the development, refinement, and validation of PIR collection requirements, including:
  • Intelligence needs and observables
  • Essential elements of information
  • Collection success criteria
• Plan and support routine, operational, and R&D PIR collections, including:
  • Collection feasibility assessments and tasking coordination
  • Coverage analysis and test-event planning
  • Post-collection evaluation
• Apply knowledge of the PIR mission enterprise across the full pipeline, including:
  • Collection requirements and tasking
  • Sensor operations and ground processing
  • Data production, exploitation, and dissemination
  • Downstream analytical use
• Perform or support Phase 13 exploitation and analysis in accordance with applicable customer workflows, tradecraft standards, and reporting requirements
• Conduct quantitative analysis of laboratory, field, test-range, and operationally collected data, including:
  • Radiometric, spectral, temporal, and spatial analysis
  • Phenomenological analysis
• Develop repeatable workflows for:
  • Data conditioning, calibration, and quality control
  • Exploratory analysis and visualization
  • Uncertainty characterization and technical reporting
• Compare laboratory or modeled signatures with field and overhead observations, accounting for:
  • Sensor response, geometry, and atmospheric effects
  • Background conditions, operational variability, and collection limitations
• Develop and evaluate algorithms, analytical tools, models, scripts, databases, and data-processing pipelines that improve:
  • Collection planning and exploitation
  • Signature analysis and intelligence production
• Produce defensible technical assessments, briefings, and data products for technical and senior decision-maker audiences, including:
  • Collection recommendations and requests for information
  • Finished and foundational S&TI products
• Identify collection gaps, analytical uncertainties, anomalous observations, and opportunities for follow-on collection or experimentation
• Work directly with government customers, operators, collectors, engineers, laboratory personnel, test organizations, analysts, and other mission partners
• Support the transition of R&D capabilities into operational environments, including:
  • Test design, verification, and validation
  • Documentation, user feedback, and performance assessment
• Apply multi-INT approaches where appropriate, including integration or correlation of PIR with:
  • GMTI, imagery, radar, and telemetry
  • Geospatial, all-source, and other relevant data
• Support CONUS and OCONUS test-range activities, including:
  • Pre-deployment planning and instrumentation coordination
  • Data collection, field troubleshooting, and documentation
  • Post-test analysis
• Contribute to internal technical reviews, mentor other employees, and independently plan and complete assigned work

What You Must Have

• Active Top Secret clearance with the ability to obtain a SCI
• 8+ years of directly relevant experience, with consideration given to the depth, relevance, and impact of the candidate's work
• Deep knowledge of PIR collections, tasking, operations, data production, exploitation, Phase 13 analysis, technical intelligence, or capability-development activities
• Experience leading:
  • Collection campaigns, R&D programs, or complex technical analyses
  • Intelligence-production efforts, test events, or cross-organizational working groups
• Demonstrated ability to identify intelligence or capability gaps and convert them into:
  • Executable technical plans and collection strategies
  • Research efforts and analytical products
• Experience reviewing and defending analytical conclusions, resolving conflicting technical interpretations, and communicating uncertainty and confidence to decision-makers
• Proven ability to develop personnel, mentor junior analysts or scientists, and improve team tradecraft
• Ability to represent the company professionally in customer engagements and contribute to technical strategy, program shaping, and proposal development
• A degree is preferred; substantial directly relevant Intelligence Community, military, scientific, engineering, or operational experience may be considered in lieu of a specific degree requirement

What Would be Nice to Have

• Strong background in radiometry, including:
  • Radiometric calibration, detector response, signal-to-noise characterization, and dynamic range
  • Uncertainty propagation, instrument drift, nonuniformity, background subtraction, and cross-sensor comparison
• Experience with infrared phenomenology and analysis across relevant spectral regions
• Experience analyzing multispectral or hyperspectral imagery and data, including:
  • Spectral feature extraction and endmember or material characterization
  • Dimensionality reduction, targe-background separability, spectral libraries, and atmospheric effects
• Experience with EO/IR imaging systems, non-imaging radiometers, spectrometers, thermal imagers, focal-plane arrays, laboratory sources, calibration targets, or related instrumentation
• Strong background in temporal analysis of laboratory or field-collected data, including:
  • Synchronization, time-series conditioning, and event segmentation
  • Trend and change detection, anomaly analysis, transient characterization, and multi-instrument correlation
• Experience building or maintaining reproducible data-processing and analysis pipelines, including:
  • Automated quality checks, metadata handling, and version control
  • Configuration management and traceable analytical outputs
• Familiarity with statistical inference, detection theory, signal processing, image processing, time-series analysis, machine learning, pattern recognition, modeling and simulation, or data fusion
• Experience working with PIR data products, ground-processing environments, collection-management workflows, or operational exploitation tools
• Experience supporting military or government laboratories, acquisition organizations, test and evaluation organizations, operational units, combatant commands, service intelligence centers, or national Intelligence Community elements
• Experience planning or executing collections at U.S. or OCONUS test ranges, including:
  • Range coordination, collection plans, instrumentation, and logistics
  • Field operations, data custody, after-action reporting, and post-test analysis
• Experience operating in multidisciplinary teams composed of scientists, engineers, operators, collection managers, intelligence analysts, software developers, and program personnel
• Graduate education, published technical work, relevant military training, formal intelligence-analysis training, collection-management training, or recognized subject-matter expertise in a relevant mission area

Pay Range

At GRVTY, we understand that compensation is influenced by many factors such as geographic location, federal contract labor categories, wage rates, prior experience, skillsets, education, and certifications. We're proud to offer a work environment that empowers our team to achieve a strong work-life balance. GRVTY provides competitive pay, comprehensive benefits, and meaningful opportunities for professional growth. Our benefits package is designed to support the well-being of our employees and their families, and includes coverage in areas such as healthcare, financial wellness, retirement planning, family assistance, continued education, and paid time off.

• The pay range for this position is: $170,000 - $190,000
• $170,000 - $190,000 USD

Why Choose GRVTY

The toughest national security challenges demand vision and ingenuity, not just resources. We deliver mission and technical expertise to outpace our adversaries. We're purpose-built to tackle the most entrenched, systemic national security issues around the world.

We partner with our customers to help them overcome challenges in every corner of technology and defense including the ones still being explored. Our growing capabilities create complementary advantages, giving on-the-ground operations the edge they need to succeed. We muster everything we have to answer every challenge presented, every day of our lives.

At GRVTY, we believe that when our employees thrive, our company thrives. That's why we offer a comprehensive and competitive benefits package designed to support your well-being, growth, and work-life balance.

• Robust health plan including medical, dental, and vision
• Health Savings Account with company contribution
• Annual Paid Time Off and Paid Holidays
• Paid Parental Leave
• 401k with generous company match
• Training and Development Opportunities
• Award Programs
• Variety of Company Sponsored Events

EEO Statement

GRVTY, is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or status as a protected veteran and will not be discriminated against on the basis of disability.

Anyone requiring reasonable accommodations should email [e-mail] or call 703-544-7930 with requested details. A member of the HR team will respond to your request within 2 business days.