Data Scientist

Role Overview

Data Scientist supporting the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) mission to improve tax compliance, fraud detection, and risk identification using large-scale tax and financial data. The role is hybrid and is remote preferably in the Washington DC area, with the option/requirement to travel and work on-site as needed.

Responsibilities

• Develop, test, and deploy predictive and statistical models using structured and unstructured data to detect anomalies, non-compliance risk, and potential fraud.
• Support the full data science lifecycle: problem formulation → data exploration → model validation → deployment → stakeholder communication.
• Use Python/R, SQL, and Databricks for data analysis, feature engineering, modeling, and statistical evaluation.
• Explore, clean, and wrangle large, complex datasets to produce actionable insights for assessments, gap analyses, and recommendations.
• Design and implement quantitative and qualitative solutions, including predictive models for audit selection, refund review, and fraud prevention.
• Apply supervised and unsupervised statistical/machine learning techniques for anomaly detection, fraud identification, and risk scoring.
• Collaborate with government clients, program managers, and technical teams to refine problem statements and analytical approaches.
• Produce and deliver technical and non-technical briefings, reports, and presentations.

Requirements

• 2–10+ years of experience in data science/analytics or a related technical field.
• Bachelor’s degree in a relevant field (statistics, CS, economics, mathematics, analytics, data science, business, or social sciences).
• Programming experience, preferably Python or R, including modular, reusable, well-documented code and iterative development with peer review.
• Demonstrated experience with Python, SQL, and Databricks.
• Version control and collaboration experience (e.g., Git).
• Strong understanding of relational databases and SQL.
• Ability to learn new tools/methodologies/domains and work independently in a collaborative environment.
• Ability to obtain/hold the required security clearance (IRS MBI) and willingness to travel/work on-site as required.

Preferred Qualifications

• MS or PhD in statistics or computer science (or related disciplines).