Systems Engineer - Financial Intelligence

Toffler Associates, Inc; Bethesda (MD); On-site; USD 120,000 - 170,000; Full time

Job summary

Toffler Associates, based in Bethesda, MD, seeks a seasoned consultant to lead complex client engagements with a focus on economic security, geoeconomics, and related quantitative analyses. You will oversee project quality, engagement health, and client relationships while coordinating multi-disciplinary teams.

Required are active TS/SCI with polygraph, an advanced degree with 2+ years in the field, and proven experience in geoeconomics, network analysis, and economic policy.

Qualifications

• Active TS/SCI with polygraph clearance required.
• Advanced degree (MA or PhD) with 2+ years in international economics, finance, political science, or quantitative social sciences.
• Applied experience in geoeconomics and economic security.
• Experience with quantitative modeling, econometrics, and ML for anomaly detection.
• Experience supporting CFT/AML missions across government or national security.

Skills

Security clearance

Geoeconomics

Quantitative modeling

CFT/AML experience

Data analysis

Education

MA/PhD in a relevant field

Job description

Toffler Associates

At Toffler Associates, our consultant'sown the delivery of complex client work. You are accountable for the quality of the work, the health of the engagement, the performance of the team, and the strength of the client relationship.

All candidates will be required to work onsite in Bethesda, MD and require a TS//SCI with a CI Poly

How we expect you to show up

These behaviors are foundational to how we recruit, select, develop, and evaluate every practitioner at Toffler. Experience matters; how you use it matters more.

Team Before Self - Put team success ahead of individual recognition. Share knowledge, relationships, credit, and opportunities freely. Ask for help, offer it freely, and make the people around you better. Make choices that strengthen the team.

Quiet Professional - Lead through sound judgment, preparation, and performance. Earn credibility through the quality, not title, résumé, or personal visibility.

Humility - Remain curious and teachable regardless of experience. Seek and apply feedback, recognize blind spots and missteps, and adapt with openness and self-awareness.

Reliability - Consistently earn the trust of clients and teammates. Do what you say you will do. Communicate early, surface risks before they become problems, and make sure clients and teammates are never surprised.

Stewardship - Take responsibility for leaving the client, team, and firm stronger than you found them. Build relationships, capacity, and knowledge that last beyond the engagement.

What you'll bring

• An ACTIVE and MAINTAINED TS/SCI Federal or DoD security clearance with a polygraph
• 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

What would be nice to have

• 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

Why Toffler

We are thinkers and doers.

For more than 30 years, Toffler Associates has helped leaders navigate consequential moments when the path forward is not obvious. Drawing from the legacy of Alvin and Heidi Toffler, we help clients see what is changing, understand what it means, and decide what to do about it.

Our work begins where the answer is not already known. We take on complex problems such as cross strategy, technology, organizations, operations, and people. We ask hard questions, challenge assumptions, bring different perspectives together, and work alongside our clients to turn ideas into action.

How we work matters. Toffler is collaborative, candid, and low-ego. We share what we know, remain open to being wrong, and take responsibility for the success of the whole team. We expect people to contribute beyond their individual role and to leave their clients, teammates, and the firm stronger because they were here.

We are looking for people who think deeply, act decisively, and make the people around them better. They are comfortable when the answer is not obvious, generous with what they know, and confident without needing recognition. Most importantly, they want to do meaningful work and leave something stronger behind.

Toffler Associates, Inc. complies with all applicable federal, state, and local laws regarding recruitment and hiring. All qualified applicants are considered for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, pregnancy, age, national origin, disability status, genetic information, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.