Senior/Staff Data Scientist (ACF)

About Skylight

Skylight is a digital consultancy using design and technology to help government agencies deliver better public services.

We’re at the forefront of a civic movement to reinvent how all levels of government serve families, patients, and many others in today’s digital world.

If you want to play a part in driving this critical movement forward, we’d love for you to join our growing team of public interest technologists.

The work we do matters.

About the job

At Skylight, data scientists organize, synthesize, visualize, and analyze data to help government stakeholders and product teams make informed decisions. They apply a variety of analytical models to find meaningful insights in both structured and unstructured data, and they communicate these insights in an easily digestible format.

The Administration for Children and Families (ACF) is expanding surge support and capacity for its new Data Capacity and Digital Services organization within the Office of Administration, through the option year of our Task Order 1 contract. The team works with enterprise-serving organizations like ACF Tech and the Office of Grants Management to help programs deliver on ACF’s mission, including priorities focused on reducing grantee burden; reducing waste, fraud, and abuse; and modernizing legacy systems.

You’ll help answer hard questions with data. This role also flexes into lightweight engineering: when a problem calls for a small tool or automation built with AI, DataBricks, or Power Apps rather than a model, you build it.

What to know going in

This work calls for a consultant’s skill set: you’ll interface directly with senior leaders, and much of the work isn’t scoped in advance. This isn’t a team where you take tickets off the top of a backlog. Alongside delivery, we do a lot of technical consulting and capacity building, so people who take initiative and are comfortable with uncertainty and ambiguity tend to do best here.

While the scope of this role is likely to evolve over time, the majority of this work may not focus directly on predictive analytics or statistical analysis. Rather, the majority of your work would be focused on data ingestion, data storage and processing, and data visualization.

What you’ll do

Engage executive and program stakeholders to frame the right questions, then take the initiative to go find the answers, even when the ask is ambiguous or the audience is tough

Organize data and build data pipelines, using tools like Palantir Foundry and PowerBI

Build AI agents, integrating them into workflows, validating outputs

Visualize grant and program data using Tableau and PowerBI

Analyze large amounts of structured and unstructured information, including grants and program data, to discover trends and patterns

Build lightweight tools, prototypes, and automations with platforms like Credal and Power Apps when a quick solution beats a long one

Propose solutions and strategies for business challenges, and select the right tools, frameworks, and languages for the job, with a preference for open-source, and low/no-code solutions

Communicate findings through data visualization that leadership can act on

Build predictive models and machine-learning algorithms, at times, and

Collaborate with others as part of a cross-functional team that includes user experience researchers and designers, product managers, engineers, and other functional specialists

What we’re looking for

Basic qualifications

Can think about and use data strategically to identify the right questions to ask, communicate ideas, surface opportunities to create business value and drive decisions

Familiar with modern data engineering, including techniques for cleaning and preprocessing data from a variety of sources

Ability to analyze a data set using the appropriate analytical method and can design, prototype, and build statistical models that are credible, effective, and accessible

Ability to preserve privacy and security when performing data analysis

Can articulately communicate your data, models, and findings to technical and non-technical audiences

Ability to use the appropriate visualization tools to highlight actionable insights, trends, and recommendations from data

Champion leading practices within data science to your team and others

Ability to flex into lightweight engineering, building small tools and automations with low-code and AI platforms such as Credal, DataBricks and Microsoft Power Apps

Experience working on cross-functional teams (product, design, engineering, ops) in iterative delivery

A mindset and work approach that aligns with our core values

Nice-to-haves

Experience and interest in policy, public health, or human services

Experience with grants management data and large, unstructured data sets

Familiarity with Palantir Foundry and/or Databricks

Experience delivering AI-forward technology in government, regulated industries, or other public-benefit settings

A track record of staying aligned and accountable on remote teams

Don’t meet every qualification but think you can do the job? We’d still love to hear from you. If you’re excited about the role, apply. We consider candidates with a range of backgrounds and experiences.

Other requirements

Some of our available roles are on federal contracts that require a degree or additional years of experience as a substitute.

All work must be conducted within the U.S., excluding U.S. territories.

You must be legally authorized to work in the U.S. now and in the future without sponsorship.

An existing clearance isn’t required to apply, but as a government contractor, anyone hired into this role must be able to obtain a Tier 2 public trust background investigation.

You must complete a company background check successfully.

Logistics

Position type

This is a full-time, exempt position.

Location

This is a fully remote position.

Travel

This role may require travel one to two times a year based on client or contract needs.

Care package

Salary

We want to give you the most competitive salary possible. After all, you deserve it! To that end, we use the results of our interview process to determine what salary is most appropriate given your current level of seniority. For a Data Scientist at Skylight, the current salary ranges are as follows:

Associate Data Scientist: $90,000–$125,000

Data Scientist I: $120,000–$140,000

Data Scientist II: $135,000–$160,000

Senior Data Scientist: $150,000–$185,000

Staff Data Scientist: $170,000–$203,000

Principal Data Scientist: $180,000–$230,000

Benefits

Your well-being is important to us, so we focus on supporting you in a variety of ways:

Medical insurance, dental insurance, vision insurance

Short-term and long-term disability insurance

Life and AD&D insurance

Dependent care FSA, healthcare FSA, health savings account

Dollar-for-dollar 401(k) match up to 10% of your salary with no vesting period

Flexible paid-time-off policy (generally around 25 days per year), plus 11 paid federal holidays

Up to 12 weeks paid-time-off for all eligible new birth, adoption, or foster parents

Performance rewards, including annual salary increase, annual performance bonus, spot bonuses, and stock options

Business development / sales bonuses

Referral bonuses

Annual $2000 allowance for professional development

Annual $750 allowance for tech-related purchases

Annual swag budget of $100 to display your Skylight pride with some merchandise (hoodies, hats, and more)

Flexible, remote-friendly work environment

An environment that empowers you to unleash your superpowers for public good

Interview tips

Our process includes a preliminary screen, a skills interview, a behavioral interview, and a reverse interview where you meet your potential team — usually four conversations across two to three weeks. Here are some tips to help you prepare