Senior Data Scientist

Job Description

We have an exciting opportunity for a Senior Data Scientist at UL Research Institutes, based in our Columbia, Maryland office. The Senior data Scientist will Apply sophisticated mathematical and statistical theories to gather and evaluate fire safety research data, as well as amplification insights, to devise solutions for intricate business challenges.

UL Research Institutes:

At UL Research Institutes (ULRI), we expand the boundaries of safety science to create a more secure and sustainable world. For more than a century, we have studied the unintended consequences of innovation, designed solutions to mitigate risk and shared our findings with academia, scientists, manufacturers, and policymakers across industries. We identify critical safety and sustainability issues, asking the tough questions because we believe a safer world begins with knowledge.

Build a safer, more secure, and sustainable future with us. Join us and work with our Fire Safety, Materials Discovery Research Institute teams who conduct the research required to produce that knowledge and put into practice.

Fire Safety Research Institute (FSRI)

UL’s Fire Safety Research Institute (FSRI) advances fire safety knowledge to address the world’s unresolved fire safety risks and emerging dangers. As part of UL Research Institutes, we are committed to sharing our fire safety insights with everyone to advance UL’s public safety mission of providing safe living and working environments for people everywhere. Through advanced fire science, rigorous research, extensive outreach, and education in collaboration with our international network of partners, we share with stakeholders the information, tools, and resources that enable them to make better, more fire-safe decisions that ultimately save lives and property. To learn more, visit FSRI.org.

What you’ll learn and achieve:

As the Senior Data Scientist, you will play a key role in the rapid growth of UL as you:

• Lead comprehensive statistical analyses on experimental and fire safety amplification data to identify, validate, and quantify patterns or trends, providing actionable insights in collaboration with research and amplification leadership.

• Build interactive, real-time dashboards that provide in-depth visualization of fire safety amplification channels and trends, enabling key stakeholders, including fire safety professionals, volunteers, community leaders to leverage the data and make informed decisions.

• Empower the organization by delivering data-driven insights that guide strategic decision-making across amplification, communications, and stakeholder engagement within the fire safety industry.

• Manage and maintain comprehensive data catalogs that serve as vital resources for both internal teams and external partners, ensuring easy access to key data sources related to fire safety research, market analysis, and campaign performance.

• Transform intricate fire safety amplification channel data sets and findings into visually engaging graphs, tables, charts, and other graphics to enable clear and impactful communication and strengthen the presentation of critical information to stakeholders, driving informed actions and strategies.

• Spearhead the creation of advanced predictive models and frameworks to enhance data analysis and shape high-impact fire safety amplification strategies.

• Design, build, and maintain scalable data pipelines using analytics services like Azure Synapse, Databricks, AWS Redshift to handle the ingestion, processing, and storage of large volumes of structured and unstructured fire safety research, amplification and stakeholder data, ensuring pipelines are optimized for batch and real-time processing.

• Determine the availability and relevance of data from both internal and external sources, utilizing innovative data collection methods such as sensors, open data, media tracking, the Fire Safety Academy's learning management system, and social media streams.

• Create and implement custom automation scripts to efficiently consolidate and streamline data from various internal and external sources, including databases, APIs, sensors, and third-party platforms to automate data extraction, transformation, and loading (ETL) processes, ensuring seamless integration and real-time data flow between multiple systems.

• Develop Natural Language Processing models tailored for specific applications in research amplification and train and fine-tune large language models, such as transformer-based architectures, to optimize their performance for specific tasks like classification, keyword identification, social media analysis.

• Construct prototypes and experiments with new techniques in generative AI and works with cross functional teams to integrate models into broader applications ensuring smooth user experience and seamless operation.

• Leverage experience with various Bl tools and programming languages. Up to 20% domestic travel to vendor and company locations.

• *This position qualifies for Underwriters Laboratories, Inc.’s employee referral policy program.*

What you’ll experience working at UL Research Institutes: We have pursued our mission of working for a safer, more secure, and sustainable world for nearly 130 years, embedding conscientious stewardship into everything we do.

• People: Our people make us special. You’ll work with a diverse team of experts respected for their independence and transparency and build a network, because our approach is collaborative. We collaborate across disciplines, organizations, and geographies to build the global scientific response that today’s global challenges require.

• Interesting work: Every day is different for us here. We see what’s on the horizon and use our expertise to build the foundations of a safer future. You’ll have the opportunity to push the boundaries of human understanding as part of a team working to advance the public good.

• Grow and achieve: We learn, work, and grow together through targeted development, reward, and recognition programs.

• Values. Four core values guide our work: collaboration, respect, integrity, and beneficence. By living our values, we inspire the trust essential to fulfilling our mission and foster the partnerships that enable us to pursue a beneficent future in which we all can thrive.

• Total Rewards: All employees at UL Research Institutes are eligible for bonus compensation. We offer comprehensive medical, dental, vision, and life insurance plans and a generous 401k matching structure of up to 5% of eligible pay. Moreover, we invest an additional 4% into your retirement saving fund after your first year of continuous employment. Depending on your role, you may be able to discuss flexible working arrangements with your manager. We also provide employees with paid time off, including vacation, holiday, sick, and volunteer days.

What makes you a great fit:

While no one candidate will embody every quality, the successful candidate will bring many of the following professional competencies and personal attributes:

Must have work experience in each of the following:

Fire dynamics and fire safety research acumen necessary to optimize research amplification campaigns and glean actionable insights; process and analyze large scale unstructured fire safety research and amplification data from various sources like social media posts, website data, incident reports, rescue surveys, technical reports and publications; build automation scripts and scalable data lakes and data pipelines in various cloud platforms including Azure Databricks and Azure Synapse; NLP techniques and frameworks, specifically in BERT, XLNet, SpaCy, and GPT-4, and build real-world production-ready applications using NLP; work with GIS tools like ArcGIS to analyze spatial data related to fire incidents, hazards, mapping, and resource allocation; and segment markets based on fire safety research techniques, needs, and risk levels.

Professional education and experience requirements for the role include:

• Master’s degree in computer science, data science, statistics or related and two (2) years of experience as a data scientist, data analyst, or related

About UL Research Institutes and UL Standards & Engagement

UL Research Institutes and UL Standards & Engagement are nonprofit organizations dedicated to advancing safety science research through the discovery and application of scientific knowledge. We conduct rigorous independent research and analyze safety data, convene experts worldwide to address risks, share knowledge through safety education and public outreach initiatives, and develop standards to guide safe commercialization of evolving technologies. We foster communities of safety, from grassroots initiatives for neighborhoods to summits of world leaders. Our organization employs collaborative and scientific approaches with partners and stakeholders to drive innovation and progress toward improving safety, security, and sustainability, ultimately enhancing societal well-being.

Our affiliate, UL Solutions, stands alongside us in working for a safer and more sustainable world.  UL Solutions conducts testing, verification and certification, and provides training and advisory services, along with data-driven reporting and decision-making tools, for customers around the world.

Learn more about us and the offered benefits, visit our websites at UL.org and ULSE.org.

Salary Range:

$103,584 - $108,652

Salary Range:

Pay Type: