Senior Research Scientist

Who We Are 

Aptima is a technological leader in the national security industry. Our mission is to drive the future of national security by engineering scalable solutions that fuse technological innovation with human potential to transform how individuals and teams train, develop, and perform in mission-critical environments. 

Our culture is rooted in our core values, which have evolved over time and our employees have embraced: Integrity, Ingenuity, Excellence, Respect, Engagement, Teamwork. At our core, Aptima researches, develops, and innovates within an area that engineering firms largely ignore, the human component. To impact the world in meaningful ways, you must bring those innovations to light, and that is precisely what we do.

How You Will Make An Impact 

The Senior Scientist is primarily responsible for leading multi-disciplinary, scientific and technical work that responds to marketplace needs and results in concrete organizational outcomes, advising division leadership, and mentoring staff, while possessing masterful knowledge of one or more scientific or technical domains such that they have a reputation within the company as the "go to" person for that area.

Key Responsibilities 

• Successfully lead multi-disciplinary, multi-company project teams in PI roles
• Collaborate with software engineers, within an agile development environment, to implement, test, and apply mathematical algorithms from research
• Develop and implement advanced techniques for measuring and modeling human states 
• Serve as a thought partner to multiple Aptima partners and customers, while successfully collaborating and maintaining knowledge of the marketplace and influencing the technical interest and direction of our customers
• Foster repeat relationships with external customers and partners
• Utilize deep technical expertise, knowledge of other disciplines within Aptima, and knowledge of multiple markets and corporate capabilities to identify new research questions and opportunities that are consumable and in demand from customers
• Lead proposals (e.g., SBIRs, BAAs, IDIQ Task Orders) in areas of expertise
• Advise division leadership in identifying and selecting future areas of inquiry, research methods, and technologies that are compatible with current and anticipated future directions of Human Centered Engineering
• Employ a variety of hardware sensors and data collection techniques to gather and analyze human data
• Champion one or more technical areas or domains, serving as the “go to” person for that area(s) within and outside the company
• Contribute to the design, development and application of data mining, statistical analysis (including but not limited to, regression analysis, ANOVA, linear and nonlinear mixed-effects models), machine learning, modeling, and digital signal processing methods
• Conduct all work in accordance with contractual compliance and all laws, keeping in alignment with the core values of Aptima

• Minimum of a Master’s Degree in a scientific or engineering discipline (e.g., Experimental Psychology, Human Factors, Cognitive Science, Biochemistry or Biomedical Engineering).
• Minimum of 7+ years’ work-related experience
• High proficiency in advanced techniques for measuring human states
• Strong understanding of data analytic techniques and the ability to implement or direct engineers in these approaches
• Experience working in multidisciplinary teams
• Experience in experimental design and execution
• Experience in data collection techniques using a variety of instruments, including hardware sensors, software sensors (e.g., human-computer interaction monitors), and/or survey/self-report
• Excellent communications skills (verbal and written), which will be examined by providing a “job talk” during the interview process 
• Willingness to travel when necessary (can be upwards of 10-15%)
• Eligibility for a U.S. Security Clearance is required

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, national origin, disability, protected veteran status or any other status protected by applicable national, federal, state or local law.