Principal Applied Scientist — Spatial Intelligence (TS/SCI)

Vantor; Herndon (VA); On-site; USD 140,000 - 206,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

401(k) match

Mental health resources

Student loan repayment assistance

Adoption reimbursement

Pet insurance

Job summary

Vantor in Herndon, VA seeks a Principal Applied Scientist to lead the development and validation of advanced analytical and simulation models for UTS risk characterization. You will design high-fidelity agent-based simulations, verify assumptions, quantify uncertainty, and deliver physics-informed insights for decision-makers and operators in a mission-focused environment.

Working with data scientists, ML engineers, and subject-matter experts, you will ensure outputs are scientifically

Qualifications

• US Citizen with active TS/SCI clearance and CI Poly.
• 12+ years of relevant experience.
• Master's or PhD in physics, mathematics, statistics, OR/engineering, or related field.
• Strong technical leadership experience.
• Experience with process, predictive, physics-based, and agent-based modeling.
• Experience modeling diverse datasets for UTS-related sources.
• Proficiency in Python and scientific computing libraries.
• Experience with AI/ML programs.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• On-site in Herndon, VA.

Responsibilities

• Serve as scientific lead for computational modeling and simulation across the program.
• Establish rigorous methodologies to represent UTS phenomena in analytical environments.
• Ensure analytical approaches reflect physical, operational, and statistical data characteristics.
• Design, develop, and validate complex agent-based models of UTS interactions.
• Develop agent behaviors, environmental rules, and emergent system dynamics.
• Evaluate simulation outputs for realism and operational relevance.
• Assess data quality, completeness, and limitations.
• Collaborate with data scientists to leverage meaningful features in ML models.
• Apply statistical and computational methods to characterize uncertainty and system behavior.

Skills

Python

AI/ML experience

Statistical modeling

Agent-based modeling

Technical leadership

Data science collaboration

Education

Master's or PhD in physics, mathematics, statistics, operations research, engineering, or related discipline

Tools

Scientific computing libraries

Job description

Vantor in Herndon, VA seeks a Principal Applied Scientist to lead the development and validation of advanced analytical and simulation models for UTS risk characterization. You will design high-fidelity agent-based simulations, verify assumptions, quantify uncertainty, and deliver physics-informed insights for decision-makers and operators in a mission-focused environment.

Working with data scientists, ML engineers, and subject-matter experts, you will ensure outputs are scientifically