Careers
The NSDPI fosters a collaborative work environment and offers both research and administrative career tracks. Browse our open positions below and apply today if you're interested in joining our team!
Computational Analytics Researcher
The National Security Data and Policy Institute (NSDPI) at the University of Virginia seeks a Computational Analytics Researcher to conduct and lead applied research supporting the U.S. national security community. This position focuses on developing advanced computational methods, artificial intelligence, machine learning, and data science capabilities to address complex national security challenges. The successful candidate will work within interdisciplinary teams to develop innovative analytic solutions, publish research, engage with government sponsors, and transition research into operational capabilities.
The Computational Analytics Researcher will contribute to a growing portfolio of sponsored research involving artificial intelligence, data science, geospatial analytics, emerging technologies, supply chain security, critical infrastructure resilience, and strategic competition. This position offers opportunities to collaborate with faculty, government agencies, industry partners, and students while helping shape the Institute's technical research agenda.
Job Details
Responsibilities Include:
Research and Technical Leadership
- Lead and conduct sponsored research in computational analytics, artificial intelligence, and data science.
- Develop innovative analytical methodologies using machine learning, large language models, statistical modeling, optimization, network science, and related computational techniques.
- Design, implement, and evaluate software prototypes and decision-support tools.
- Integrate structured, semi-structured, and unstructured data from multiple sources to support complex analytic workflows.
- Develop scalable data processing pipelines and analytical frameworks for government-sponsored research.
- Evaluate emerging technologies and identify opportunities to incorporate new computational methods into research programs.
- Document research findings through technical reports, peer-reviewed publications, conference presentations, and sponsor briefings.
Program Development and Sponsor Engagement
- Support the development of new research initiatives aligned with Institute priorities.
- Participate in proposal development, technical volume preparation, and research planning.
- Engage with federal sponsors, industry partners, and academic collaborators to identify new research opportunities.
- Assist with project planning, milestone tracking, and technical execution across multiple research efforts.
Interdisciplinary Research Collaboration
- Collaborate with faculty, research staff, software developers, and subject matter experts across multiple disciplines.
- Foster interdisciplinary collaboration across technical and policy-focused research teams.
- Support professional development activities and contribute to a collaborative research environment.
Service and Outreach
- Represent NSDPI at technical meetings, workshops, conferences, and sponsor engagements.
- Support Institute seminars, technical exchanges, and collaborative research initiatives.
- Contribute to strategic planning and other Institute activities as assigned.
Minimum Qualifications:
- Education: Bachelor’s degree required, MS or Ph.D. in Computer Science, Data Science, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Applied Mathematics, Statistics, Computational Social Science, Engineering, or a closely related quantitative discipline strongly preferred.
- Experience: 5+ years relevant professional experience required. Relevant experience includes developing software applications using Python and modern software engineering practices, experience applying machine learning or artificial intelligence techniques to complex analytical problems, experience managing and analyzing large datasets.
- Ability to obtain a security clearance.
The ideal candidate will have strong written and verbal communication skills, including experience preparing technical reports and presenting research findings and demonstrated ability to work both independently and collaboratively within multidisciplinary teams.
Preferred Qualifications:
Preference will be given to candidates with experience in one or more of the following areas:
- Large language models and foundation models
- Retrieval-augmented generation (RAG)
- Agentic AI systems
- Knowledge graphs
- Reinforcement learning
- Natural language processing
- Computer vision
- Time-series forecasting
- Network science
- Geospatial analytics
- High-performance computing
- Cloud computing environments (AWS, Azure, Google Cloud)
- GPU programming and distributed computing
- Data engineering and scalable analytics
- Supply chain analytics
- Critical infrastructure analysis
Physical Demands:
This is primarily a sedentary job involving extensive use of desktop computers. The job does occasionally require traveling to sponsor locations, conferences, workshops, and technical meetings.
Hiring Details:
The hiring range is $110,000 - $120,000, commensurate with education and experience.
This is an exempt-level, benefited position. Learn more about UVA benefits.
This is a restricted position, which is dependent on funding and is contingent upon funding availability.
This position has a term of one year with possibility of renewal dependent on department need, performance, and funding.
This position is based in Charlottesville, VA, and must be performed fully on-site. The position is located within the National Security Data and Policy Institute at the University of Virginia. Work is performed in a collaborative research environment involving faculty, staff, students, government agencies, and industry partners. Depending on project requirements, access to secure government facilities may be required. To learn more about UVA and in the Charlottesville area, visit UVA Life and Embark CVA.
Application review will begin after August 16, 2026.
Background checks will be conducted on all new hires prior to employment.
This position will not consider candidates who require immigration sponsorship now or in the future.
How to Apply:
Please apply online, by searching for requisition number R0086198. Complete an application with the following documents:
- Curriculum Vitae or Resume
- Cover Letter
- Statement of Research Interests (optional but encouraged)
Upload all materials into the resume submission field. You can submit multiple documents into this one field or combine them into one PDF. Applications without all required documents will not receive full consideration.
Internal applicants:
Search and apply for jobs on the UVA Internal Careers website.
Reference checks will be completed by UVA’s third-party partner, SkillSurvey, during the final phase of the interview. Five references will be requested, with at least three responses required.
For questions about the application process, please contact Jessica Russo, Senior Recruiter, sxv9zv@virginia.edu.
Apply
Project Coordinator/Designer (Multiple Openings)
The National Security Data & Policy Institute (NSDPI) at the University of Virginia seeks candidates for multiple project coordinator positions for a multi-year project with the Environmental Security Technology Certification Program (ESTCP), USACE Engineering With Nature scientists and engineers, and the Commonwealth of Virginia’s Virginia Security Corridor Sentinel Landscape team (regulatory and research) to develop adaptive infrastructure for natural hazards and threats that impact the training and readiness of the Department of Defense in the Mid-Atlantic region.
This is anticipated to be a 5-year research and development effort working toward implementation of significant keystone infrastructure projects that can mitigate natural hazard impacts to the operations and readiness of DoD installations in the mid-Atlantic region. The initial phase (20-months) will focus on design research for hazard adaptation technologies in support of military installations impacted by erosion, storms, and flooding. Upon successful completion of the first phase, two additional stages will refine the concepts and work with private sector partners identified in stage one to prepare for implementation, including permitting, refined costing, and analysis of implications at scale.
The Project Coordinator will design and conduct labs experiments to develop a coastal testbed for natural infrastructure to address natural hazards to the training and readiness of Department of Defense facilities in the Mid-Atlantic region.
This is a full-time in-person position requiring on-site work in Charlottesville, VA and site visits within the Commonwealth of VA. The role reports to the Project Manager.
Job Details
Responsibilities include:
- Perform design studies, as guided by project leadership
- Implement lab experiments
- Collect and analyze existing datasets
- Identify, develop and test concepts at the “bench scale” and represent them for discussion with stakeholders
- Document the concepts for additional analysis and development
- Explore and examine data from multiple disparate sources to identify, provide reporting on, and analyze trends in the data
- Collaborate with internal researchers (UVA) and external stakeholders
- Engage with subcontractors, industry experts, and Subject Matter Experts
- Assist in the support of student researchers
- In addition to the above job responsibilities, other duties may be assigned.
Minimum Qualifications
- Education: Master of Landscape Architecture (MLA)
- Experience: 2+ years relevant professional experience
Preferred Qualifications
- Demonstrated strong skills in drafting, graphic production, and mapping and analysis
- Demonstrated strong written and verbal communication skills
- The ability to collaboratively work with faculty, staff, students, and external stakeholders
Physical Demands
This is primarily a sedentary job involving extensive use of desktop computers. The job does occasionally require traveling some distance to attend meetings and programs.
The anticipated hiring range is $70,000–$90,000, commensurate with education and experience.
This is an exempt-level, benefited position. Learn more about UVA benefits.
This is a restricted position, which is dependent on funding and is contingent upon funding availability. The initial period of performance on the anchor research project is through January 2028, with options for renewals
This position is based in Charlottesville, VA, and must be performed fully on-site. This position also requires site visits within the Commonwealth of VA.
To learn more about UVA and in the Charlottesville area, visit UVA Life and Embark CVA.
Background checks will be conducted on all new hires prior to employment.
This position will not consider candidates who require immigration sponsorship now or in the future.
How to Apply
Please apply online, by searching for requisition number R0083518. Complete an application with the following documents:
- CV/Resume
- Cover letter
- Graphic portfolio of project work (10MB max file size)
Upload all materials into the resume submission field. You can submit multiple documents into this one field or combine them into one PDF. Applications without all required documents will not receive full consideration.
Internal applicants: Search and apply for jobs on the UVA Internal Careers website.
Reference checks will be completed by UVA’s third-party partner, SkillSurvey, during the final phase of the interview. Five references will be requested, with at least three responses required.
For questions about the application process, please contact Jessica Russo, Senior Recruiter, sxv9zv@virginia.edu.
The University of Virginia is an equal opportunity employer. All interested persons are encouraged to apply, including veterans and individuals with disabilities. Learn more about UVA’s commitment to non-discrimination and equal opportunity employment.