Senior Risk Scientist

Responsibilities

This Senior Risk Scientist role provides scientific and technical programmatic support to the DHS Science and Technology Directorate, as part of a multidisciplinary team of high-performance professionals supporting the client's most vexing technical challenges, and developing solutions to counter current, emerging, and future homeland security threats. Specifically, the selected candidates will support S&T on a variety of programs in biological and chemical defense but will be primarily focussed on providing technical suppport and guidance to the annual CBRN risk assessment program and the underpinning R&D efforts that enable its completion and application to emerging fields such as the bioeconomy and biotechnology, explosives, critical infrastructure and related policy and interagency discussions on these topics. The successful candidate will be self-motivated, operate well in a matrixed environment, be able to learn, digest, and provide scientific and technical guidance on a broad spectrum of biological and chemical subjects, and be able to distill and communicate complex technical concepts to enable nontechnical managers to make informed decisions. The successful candidate will be proactive in optimizing their contributions to ensure successful outcomes and will be able to balance fast paced daily policy and coordination tasks with technical review and scientific project development requiring deeper thought and reflection.

The responsibilities of the team member may include: 

• Managing multiple chemical and biological defense R&D projects, specifically those related to the development and deployment of models used in the DHS annual CBRN risk assessment and related risk assessments
• The development of scientifically-sound and policy- backed responses to congressional inquiries, interagency data requests and other quick-turn leadership requests
• Reviewing CBRN and risk-related technical reports and related modeling approaches
• Scoping and prioritizing emerging research areas and knowledge gaps for investment. Developing and evaluating scientific capability development strategies to close these gaps
• Monitoring projects and technical performance against goals and providing strategic guidance to redirect project scoping and technical approach as needed
• Developing scientific program status reports, PowerPoint briefings, and read-ahead materials,
• Organizing, coordinating, and participating in meetings, discussions, and seminars on biological and chemical threat and detection technology topics,
• Communicating scientific findings to technical and non-technical audiences as needed. 
• This role may require non-local travel (limited- 6x/year), and some DC metro area local travel.

Required Qualifications

• TOP SECRET clearance required with TS/SCI eligibility
• Advanced Degree in chemistry, biology, computer science, security studies, policy or other related field and a minimum of 10 years of relevant experience (PhD work beyond the masters level may count towards this minimum)
• Familiarity and experience with relevant departments and agencies in the Homeland Security Enterprise including a track record in successful stakeholder engagement for multidisciplinary projects
• Experience providing guidance, feedback, and consulting services to federal program managers that combines technical and policy perspectives to minimise risk and maximize return on investment
• Demonstrated experience working in secure/classified programs   
• Applicants selected must be eligible to receive DHS Suitability
• Must be willing to work from client site as needed, often 1-2 times per week
• Local travel in the National Capital Region 1-2 times per month and limited (2-3X per year) non local travel may also be required 

Desired Qualifications

• Formal education and/or work experience in developing quantitative risk assessments, or other computational models for complex physical, behavioral and economic phenomena
• Strong background in statistics and modeling
• Experience assessing coverage, quality, methods, effectiveness, and independence of the statistics, evaluation, research, and analysis conducted by the Federal Government. 
• Experience with creating, managing, and supporting processes that comply with risk assessments, analysis and reporting.
• Demonstrated experience with DHS acquisition and proficiency providing program management and analytical support to programs and projects serving DHS Mission Areas
• Demonstrated experience developing sound, scientifically-backed policy recommendations and drafting related documents to support their defense 
• Experience monitoring project development performance and reviewing deliverables to ensure techni