Joint Operations Research Analyst, Lead

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Our nation’s ability to defend the homeland, deter aggression, and build a resilient Joint force rests on our capacity to identify, prioritize, and successfully field the optimal set of effective, suitable, and survivable systems. We must re-envision national security to keep pace with advanced adversaries, informed by a new generation of operational analysis - tightly coupled with emerging digital engineering practices.

That’s where MITRE’s Acquisition Studies & Analysis (ASA) Department comes in. We are a diverse group of operations research / system analysts, cybersecurity professionals, communication systems engineers, and DoD acquisition subject matter experts – all with a united passion to solve problems for a safer world. We’re experienced professionals who advise senior leaders and decision-makers across the national security enterprise.Our evidence-based work garners visibility and provokes thought and action.We’re team players who build partnerships across government, industry, academia, and research centers.

And above all - we bring objectivity, innovation, courage, and technical excellence to help our sponsors make the right decision.

Roles and Responsibilities:

MITRE’s ASA Department seeks a military operations research analyst, capable of studying current and future conflict scenarios; analytically exploring concepts of operation; and developing and assessing investment strategies for national security systems.

You will engage MITRE peers from a variety of disciplines, and potentially advise leadership in multiple Department of Defense (DoD) organizations to assess and generate alternatives for US national security forces across all the conflict domains (air, ground, space, maritime, and cyber). Sponsors may range from specialized units in the DoD and Intelligence Community (IC) to overarching Service and Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) organizations. This position requires use of analysis tools and construction of quantitative models, with a commensurate technical background, as well as the ability to generate and assess results and extract key lessons learned for senior audiences.

This is an exciting opportunity to explore topics of emerging national security importance, such as strategic deterrence, power projection, contested logistics, and next generation command and control architectures. As a member of a small but growing Departmental analysis group, your role will contribute to the overall technical quality, direction, and strategic outcomes of the ASA operational analysis work program.

This position requires significant (up to 50%) time in-person in classified spaces, on site at MITRE and/or at government facilities in the Washington DC area.

Responsibilities include:

• Generating alternatives for DoD and IC force structures and concepts of operations.
• Evaluating proposed DoD and IC force structures, fully accounting for adversary capabilities.
• Being able to formulate and compute risks to missions and risks to forces for various conflict scenarios and force alternatives.
• Develop new and modify existing mathematical models of military activities and interactions.
• Characterizing the uncertainties of future conflicts and developing robust alternatives across various futures.
• Constructing and executing analysis plans for the responsibilities listed above, to potentially include working within or managing small teams of analysts.
• Working with government sponsors as either a lead or supporting analyst.

Basic Qualifications:

• Typically requires a minimum of 8 years of related experience with a Bachelor’s degree; or 5 years and a Master’s degree; or a PhD with 3 years’ experience; or equivalent combination of related education and work experience.
• Active Secret clearance with the ability to maintain a DoD Top Secret clearance with access to Secure Compartmented Information (TS/SCI).
• Experience with mathematical optimization and simulation.
• Demonstrated ability to learn and operate large-scale quantitative models.
• Demonstrated ability to analyze complex data sets and present statistically valid results: orally, numerically, and graphically.Comfortable with scientific programming in computer languages such as MATLAB, R, Python, Java, etc.
• A desire to continually learn and master new concepts and technologies.
• Ability to manage product deliverables (including definition, completion, and technical quality) with a high level of self-sufficiency.
• Strong critical thinking, analytic, and problem-solving skills – comfortable working in dynamic settings where task objectives may evolve or need to be shaped, or creative solutions to task impediments must be identified.
• Excellent interpersonal and technical communication skills, with the ability to write technical reports, present briefings, and persuasively speak to audiences of all backgrounds, including executives or senior customers.
• Demonstrated ability to work in an interdisciplinary team environment, establish and leverage a diverse professional network, and integrate contributions from a variety of resources (people, tools, organizations).
• This position requires a minimum of 50% hybrid on-site presence.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Current/active DoD TS or TS/SCI
• Advanced degree in in Operations Research, Mathematics, Statistics, Systems Engineering, or other data sciences.
• Demonstrated experience leading analytical efforts and yielding impactful results at high levels of government and/or industry.
• Demonstrated expertise in developing, coding, and operating advanced math programming applications: e.g., large scale, mixed-integer, non-linearities, graph theoretic, stochastic, combinatoric, attacker-defender.
• Ability to develop and apply stochastic models, cost and cost-benefit analyses, analyses of alternatives, Monte Carlo simulation, design of experiments, regression methods, statistical methods, and/or data visualization.
• Prior experience modeling and analyzing DoD weapons systems, networks, or operations, reflected by one or more of the following:
  • Strong grasp of DoD communications and networking, conventional/nuclear command and control, cyberspace operations, missile warning/defense, joint warfighting doctrine, joint and service logistics, force application, and/or force support portfolios, missions, and challenges.
  • Working knowledge of OSD or other DoD organizations, missions, roles/responsibilities, and relationships.
  • Specific familiarity working within DoD acquisition, requirements, or resourcing processes – i.e., Defense Acquisition System (DAS), Joint Capabilities Integration and Development System (JCIDS), and/or the Planning, Programming, Budgeting, and Execution (PPBE) processes.

This requisition requires the candidate to have a minimum of the following clearance(s):

This requisition requires the hired candidate to have or obtain, within one year from the date of hire, the following clearance(s):

Work Location Type:

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