The Riverside Research Engineering and Support Solutions (ESS) directorate conducts Research and Development (R&D) of cyber-physical attacks against embedded systems. As a Microelectronics Security Data Scientist, you will collaborate with a multi-disciplinary team of research engineers and scientists on a wide range of microelectronics research projects. You will work directly with a team of hardware security research subject matter experts (SME), the senior Principal Investigator, Technical Lead, and Program Manager to support various project-specific research projects developing solutions to complex, open-ended hardware security problems. The position is at the customer’s location in Dayton, OH. Remote work is not available for this position. Travel is not expected to exceed two to three times a year.
Responsibilities- Conduct research in the application of data science, including deep learning and complex statistical data analysis, for problems within microelectronic hardware security
- Perform all aspects of the data science lifecycle; gather requirements from non-data science technical staff, propose technical approaches, pre-process data, perform exploratory data analysis, model the data, critically evaluate performance of the model, and present findings
- Develop whitepapers and presentations to communicate research findings
- Contributes to proposals for new research in similar and/or related technology areas
- Provide technical mentorship to junior researchers supporting your programs
- Works collaboratively with customers, multi-disciplinary research partners and Riverside Research business, engineering, and technology teams on complex research and development projects
Required
- A minimum of 5 years of related experience with a Bachelors degree, 3 years with a Masters degree, a PhD without experience, or equivalent work experience is typically required for an employee at this level.
- Secret clearance required to start, but must be able obtain Top Secret security clearance and all required program access approvals
- Expertise with machine learning suited for signal and image data, in one or more of the following: Unsupervised Learning, Bayesian classifiers, Regression, Random Forests, Deep Learning, Graph Neural Networks, Belief Propagation, Statistical Inference, Dimensionality Reduction
- Proficient in Python and popular data science libraries (NumPy, Scikit-Learn, Matplotlib, etc.)
- Demonstrated experience processing time‑series or image datasets, including alignment, filtering, feature extraction, and model development
- Experience presenting technical material to both technical and non-technical audiences
- Ability to manage timelines, product delivery, and product quality for research projects
- Willing to work in a secure US Government facilities
- Interest in solving open-ended research challenges
- Willing to travel 2-3 times per year
Desired
- Active DoD Top Secret (TS) or equivalent US Government security clearance
- Experience with TensorFlow, PyTorch, or similar Deep Learning framework
- Experience with batch processing, GPU acceleration, or parallel workloads
- of large data sets across multiple GPUs
- Experience with data transformations such as Principal Component Analysis (PCA)
- Experience using revision control software
- Experience leading a small technical team on research projects
- Understanding of information theory and its application to cryptographic algorithms
- Understanding of signal processing is highly desired
- Bachelor’s Degree in a quantitative discipline (e.g., computer engineering, electrical engineering, statistics, computer science, mathematics, physics, or other STEM fields) and 8 years' experience, or Master’s Degree in a related discipline and 3 years' experience, or 3 years' practical experience with a PhD in a related discipline
Skills Required
- U.S. citizenship
- At least 5 years of related experience with a bachelor's degree, 3 years with a master's degree, a PhD without experience, or equivalent work experience
- Secret security clearance upon starting; ability to obtain a Top Secret clearance and required program access approvals
- Expertise in machine learning for signal and image data, including one or more of unsupervised learning, Bayesian classifiers, regression, random forests, deep learning, graph neural networks, belief propagation, statistical inference, or dimensionality reduction
- Proficiency in Python and data science libraries such as NumPy, Scikit-Learn, and Matplotlib
- Experience processing time-series or image datasets, including alignment, filtering, feature extraction, and model development
- Experience presenting technical material to technical and non-technical audiences
- Ability to manage timelines, product delivery, and product quality for research projects
- Willingness to work in secure U.S. government facilities
- Interest in solving open-ended research challenges
- Willingness to travel two to three times per year
- Active Department of Defense Top Secret or equivalent U.S. government security clearance
- Experience with TensorFlow, PyTorch, or a similar deep learning framework
- Experience with batch processing, GPU acceleration, or parallel processing of large datasets across multiple GPUs
- Experience with data transformations such as Principal Component Analysis
- Experience using revision control software
- Experience leading a small technical research team
- Understanding of information theory and its application to cryptographic algorithms
- Understanding of signal processing
- Bachelor's degree in a quantitative discipline with 8 years of experience, master's degree in a related discipline with 3 years of experience, or PhD in a related discipline with 3 years of practical experience
What We Do
Founded in 1967, Riverside Research is a not-for-profit organization chartered to advance scientific research for the benefit of the US government and in the public interest. Through our open innovation concept, we invest in multi-disciplinary research and development and encourage collaboration to accelerate innovation and advance science. Riverside Research conducts independent research in machine learning, trusted systems, optics and photonics, electromagnetics, plasma physics, radio frequency systems, and biomedical engineering. We move science from the laboratory to the field by building teams of recognized experts who deliver effective, high-value solutions and services to our customers. From public service to national security, we aspire to be a valued partner through our unwavering commitment to innovative and mission-focused solutions.






