*PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS VACANCY ANNOUNCEMENT IS ONLY OPEN TO CURRENT UNITED STATES POSTAL SERVICE OFFICE OF INSPECTOR GENERAL, UNITED STATES POSTAL SERVICE, UNITED STATES POSTAL INSPECTION SERVICE AND POSTAL REGULATORY COMMISSION EMPLOYEES. OTHER APPLICANTS WILL NOT BE CONSIDERED.
This announcement provides the opportunity for a reassignment/promotion to Data Scientist - AI Engineer position in the Research and Insights Solution Center located in Arlington, Virginia or Bethesda, MD. Bring your skills and voice to our team!
The Research and Insights Solution Center (RISC) is the chief data and research component of the OIG, comprised of data scientists, data analysts, programmatic subject matter experts, geographic information system professionals, data engineers, research specialists, economists, and public policy analysts. Our analytics group offers the opportunity to drive value to the organization by designing and developing analytical solutions for auditors, investigators, and researchers.
The RISC analytics group is currently seeking an experienced Data Scientist - AI Engineer who will be responsible for researching, assessing, evaluating, and realizing useful and valuable emerging technologies and techniques that can progress the analytic and artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities and offerings across OIG.
This position will provide thought leadership for RISC, in enabling data science work that requires application of data mining techniques, model development, statistical analysis, predictive analytics, text analytics, machine learning, artificial intelligence, and other emerging technologies, to support OIG's oversight of USPS through audits, white papers, and investigations. Bring your skills and voice to our team!
NOTE: This is a TERM appointment, with an initial term of two years, with the possibility of three additional extensions of up to one-year each. The position may be extended further without competition.
Candidates will be evaluated on the skills that they possess that are directly related to the duties of the position and the experience, education and training that indicate the applicant's ability to acquire the particular knowledge and skills needed to perform the duties of the position. Only those candidates who meet all qualification and eligibility requirements and who submit the required information by 11:59 PM EST on 09/25/2026 will be considered.
This position is being advertised at the Journey Band level, equivalent to a GS-9 - GS-12. The salary range for this position is $70,623.00 - $133,142.00. The salary figures include locality pay. Promotion potential to a GS-13 is at management's discretion. Please note that the duties and responsibilities associated with this position may vary based upon the agency's needs at the time of hire.
The following description of major duties and responsibilities is only intended to give applicants a general overview of the expectations. The following description of major duties and responsibilities is only intended to give applicants a general overview of the expectations.
Infrastructure Tooling & Engineering: Develops scalable infrastructure tooling and cloud-based engineering workflows to support the automated, reproducible deployment of analytics and artificial intelligence pipelines. Graph Architecture Integration: Designs, implements, and maintains the core graph database ecosystem, focusing on relationship mapping to uncover hidden networks and anomalies within complex datasets.
Generative AI & LLM Customization: Directs the integration, prompt engineering, orchestration, and fine-tuning of commercial and open-source Large Language Models (LLMs) to optimize the extraction of structured data from unstructured formats. Model Validation & MLOps Monitoring: Builds shared validation tools and operational systems to track machine learning model performance, detect data drift, and address live deployment anomalies.
Software Engineering Standards: Applies rigorous modern software engineering practices, including continuous integration and continuous deployment (CI/CD) pipelines, to govern the end-to-end model lifecycle. Algorithmic Product Creation: Architects advanced analytics products and writes specialized software code to implement complex analytical frameworks targeted at priority organizational objectives.
Testing, Safety, & Compliance: Executes comprehensive testing protocols for AI integrations to ensure full compliance with performance baselines, security controls, and federal alignment standards. Community Upskilling & Planning: Partners with internal leadership to perform training needs assessments and execute strategic workforce development plans that build code-driven analytics capabilities across the agency.
Emergent Technology Prototyping: Researches the frontiers of data science, commercial APIs, and knowledge management to perform rapid prototyping and rigorous experimentation on novel technical workflows. Cross-Functional Synergy & Adoption: Facilitates collaborative project delivery across technical boundaries, coordinates with external providers, and creates accessible user documentation to accelerate system adoption.
Education must be accredited by an institution recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. Applicants can verify accreditation here: https://www.ed.gov/laws-and-policy/higher-education-laws-and-policy/college-accreditation. Special Instructions for Candidates with Foreign Education: Education completed outside the United States must be deemed equivalent to that gained in U.S. education programs. You must submit all necessary documents to a private U.S.
credential evaluation service to interpret equivalency of your education against courses given in U.S. accredited colleges and universities. For further information visit: https://sites.ed.gov/international/recognition-of-foreign-qualifications.
This position is with Office of the Inspector General, USPS, Other Agencies and Independent Organizations.
The posted pay range is $70623 – $133142/yr.
This position is eligible for telework.
This position requires a Other security clearance.
Applications close on 2026-09-25.
There are 3 openings for this position.
This position is open under the 'Fed Internal Search' hiring path.
Source: USAJOBS.gov — U.S. Federal Government
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