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Senior Data Scientist – Payload & SAT-RAN

Lanham, Maryland, United States

Live, first seen by us 82 days ago
Pay
Pay not listedSimilar roles state $118K–$193K
Work setting
Not stated
Employment
Not stated

What you’ll work on

Full posting
  • Define SAT-RAN data models and metrics across payload, gateway and RAN layers

  • Build failure and anomaly detection on multivariate time-series telemetry

  • Develop end-to-end satellite-RAN performance analytics with impact attribution

  • Model fleet service scheduling against orbit, capacity, interference and power limits

  • Build dashboards, health scores and early-warning indicators for executives

From the employer’s posting
defines, builds, and operationalizes SAT-RAN data models across Payload, Gateway (GW), and Cellular/RAN subsystems
Build failure/anomaly detection and prevention systems using multivariate time-series
Develop performance analytics for end-to-end Satellite–RAN performance projected across multiple subsystems
Develop fleet service scheduling models linking orbital state/visibility, predicted SAT-RAN capacity and quality, interference, and spacecraft power/thermal constraints
Build decision-support data products: dashboards, health scores, early-warning indicators, incident enrichment, and executive-ready reporting

What you’ll bring

All qualifications

Core experience

  • Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Statistics, Mathematics, Physics, or a related technical field, or equivalent experience.
  • 5+ years of experience delivering data science/ML solutions in production, including monitoring, anomaly detection, forecasting, quality scoring, or optimization support.
  • Strong proficiency in Python (pandas, NumPy, scikit-learn, and time-series tooling) and strong SQL skills.
  • Demonstrated experience defining and operating data models and analytics pipelines, including schemas, identifiers, aggregation logic, data validation, and lineage.
  • Ability to translate cross-domain system problems into measurable metrics and deployable analytics.

Preferred experience

  • Experience with multivariate anomaly detection at scale, including change-point detection, sequence models where justified, and graph/topology-aware features.
  • Python, including pandas, NumPy, scikit-learn, and time-series analysis libraries.
  • Ability to lift up to 25 lbs.
  • Familiarity with scheduling/capacity modeling concepts, including resource allocation, interference-aware capacity, constraint modeling, and power/thermal-limited regimes.
Qualification wording
Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Statistics, Mathematics, Physics, or a related technical field, or equivalent experience.
5+ years of experience delivering data science/ML solutions in production, including monitoring, anomaly detection, forecasting, quality scoring, or optimization support.
Strong proficiency in Python (pandas, NumPy, scikit-learn, and time-series tooling) and strong SQL skills.
Demonstrated experience defining and operating data models and analytics pipelines, including schemas, identifiers, aggregation logic, data validation, and lineage.
Ability to translate cross-domain system problems into measurable metrics and deployable analytics.
Experience with multivariate anomaly detection at scale, including change-point detection, sequence models where justified, and graph/topology-aware features.
Python, including pandas, NumPy, scikit-learn, and time-series analysis libraries.
Ability to lift up to 25 lbs.
Familiarity with scheduling/capacity modeling concepts, including resource allocation, interference-aware capacity, constraint modeling, and power/thermal-limited regimes.
Education & alternatives
Education: Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Statistics, Mathematics, Physics, or a related technical field, or equivalent experience. Experience:
Apply at AST SpaceMobile

Posting record

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Status in our records
Live
First seen by us
Aug 15, 202682 days ago
Recorded sightings
110
Last seen by us
Nov 5, 2026

These dates show when we found the posting. Check the employer’s website to confirm it is still accepting applications.

How this job compares

Pay

$118K–$193K is typical

The middle half of what similar US postings state. This one doesn’t list pay.

From 3,721 postings in the last year. Stated ranges, not salaries paid.

Time since we first saw it

Day 82

Up longer than most. Similar jobs usually come down between day 7 and day 56.

From 10,194 similar postings that came down. Coming down is not always a hire.

AST SpaceMobile is hiring

5 open jobs

Open jobs by the week we first saw them, last 12 weeks.

  • Hiring is picking up
  • Its jobs tend to stay up a long time
Hiring record

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  • Python
  • SQL
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  • pandas
  • scikit-learn
Where the posting names them
- 5+ years of experience delivering data science/ML solutions in production, including monitoring, anomaly detection, forecasting, quality scoring, or optimization support. - Strong proficiency in Python (pandas, NumPy, scikit-learn, and time-series tooling) and strong SQL skills. - Demonstrated experience defining and operating data models and analytics pipelines, including schemas, identifiers, aggregation logic, data validation, and lineage.
Technology Stack: - Python, including pandas, NumPy, scikit-learn, and time-series analysis libraries. - SQL and relational/analytics data stores.
- Python, including pandas, NumPy, scikit-learn, and time-series analysis libraries. - SQL and relational/analytics data stores. - Multivariate time-series and anomaly/change-point detection frameworks.

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Demand for Data Scientist roles

New Data Scientist postings at the employers we follow are down 3% over the last 5 weeks compared with the 5 before.

Weekly new Data Scientist postings at the same employers, from the week of August 17 to the week of October 26. The fewest in a week was 1,411, the most 2,973, and the latest week had 1,826.
August 17Last week

Each bar is one week of new postings. The darkest bars are the last 5 weeks.

Counted from the hiring pages we’ve followed for at least five weeks, so employers we add don’t look like growth. Updated weekly.

About the role

We file this job under Data Scientist, by the work the posting describes.

Data scientists use statistics and models to answer harder questions, such as whether a change worked, what demand will look like next quarter, or which customers are likely to leave.

Postings usually ask for Python or R, SQL, statistics, experiment design and common machine learning methods.

Unlike an ML engineer, a data scientist's main output is often an analysis or a first model, not software running inside a product.

US government figures for data scientists

Median yearly pay, May 2025
$120,230
Expected change, 2025 to 2035
34.6% more jobsagainst 3.5% for all jobs

Source: US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (May 2025) and Employment Projections (2025 to 2035). Occupation code 15-2051.

Job description

View original posting ↗

AST SpaceMobile and our global partners are building the first and only space-based cellular broadband network to be accessible by standard smartphones. Called SpaceMobile, this ultra-powerful network is being designed to provide connectivity at 4G/5G speeds everywhere on the planet – on land, at sea and in flight.

Position Overview

The Senior Data Scientist – Payload & SAT-RAN defines, builds, and operationalizes SAT-RAN data models across Payload, Gateway (GW), and Cellular/RAN subsystems. This role focuses on creating robust telemetry-driven models and metrics that quantify system performance, detect and prevent failures and anomalies, and enable data-driven optimization of user experience, capacity, and duty cycle under various ground and in-orbit constraints. This person works closely with payload engineering, gateway/network engineering, RAN/system architects, and operations to translate complex, multi-domain data into actionable insights and production-grade analytics. 

Key Responsibilities:

  • Own Payload/GW/SAT-RAN data strategy: define key subsystem metrics, data sources, and collection requirements spanning payload, gateway, transport, and RAN/service layers.
  • Design and maintain SAT-RAN subsystem data models (entities, relationships, identifiers, etc.) to unify telemetry across domains and support scalable analytics.
  • Lead data model definition and deployment into production systems, including instrumentation requirements, pipeline design, validation, versioning, and data quality monitoring.
  • Develop performance analytics for end-to-end Satellite–RAN performance projected across multiple subsystems, including attribution of impact across payload, GW, transport, core, and RAN layers.
  • Build failure/anomaly detection and prevention systems using multivariate time-series, correlation/causality-informed approaches, topology/context-aware features, and alert deduplication/triage scoring.
  • Create qualitative quality scoring models that combine predictive signals with measured KPIs/KQIs, including confidence/uncertainty measures.
  • Develop fleet service scheduling models linking orbital state/visibility, predicted SAT-RAN capacity and quality, interference, and spacecraft power/thermal constraints to achievable service performance and demand fulfillment.
  • Build decision-support data products: dashboards, health scores, early-warning indicators, incident enrichment, and executive-ready reporting for SAT-RAN performance.
  • Partner with engineering teams to define success metrics, run backtesting/regression evaluation, and operationalize models into workflows such as assurance, release validation, and optimization loops.
  • Establish best practices for reproducibility and MLOps, including model monitoring, drift detection, dataset/version governance, and documentation. 

Qualifications 

Education:

Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Statistics, Mathematics, Physics, or a related technical field, or equivalent experience.

Experience:

  • 5+ years of experience delivering data science/ML solutions in production, including monitoring, anomaly detection, forecasting, quality scoring, or optimization support.
  • Strong proficiency in Python (pandas, NumPy, scikit-learn, and time-series tooling) and strong SQL skills.
  • Demonstrated experience defining and operating data models and analytics pipelines, including schemas, identifiers, aggregation logic, data validation, and lineage.
  • Strong statistical foundations, including model evaluation, uncertainty, time-series behavior, bias/variance, and backtesting.
  • Ability to translate cross-domain system problems into measurable metrics and deployable analytics. 

Preferred Qualifications:

  • Experience with multivariate anomaly detection at scale, including change-point detection, sequence models where justified, and graph/topology-aware features.
  • Telecom/systems experience, including LTE/5G KPIs/KQIs, OSS counters/alarms, QoE/QoS metrics, and RAN performance indicators.
  • Familiarity with scheduling/capacity modeling concepts, including resource allocation, interference-aware capacity, constraint modeling, and power/thermal-limited regimes.
  • MLOps experience, including deployment, monitoring, drift detection, and CI/CD for data and models. 

Soft Skills: 

Technology Stack:

  • Python, including pandas, NumPy, scikit-learn, and time-series analysis libraries.
  • SQL and relational/analytics data stores.
  • Multivariate time-series and anomaly/change-point detection frameworks.
  • Telemetry, OSS counters/alarms, and KPI/KQI data pipelines.
  • MLOps tooling for model monitoring, drift detection, versioning, and CI/CD.
  • Dashboarding and reporting platforms for health scores and executive-facing analytics. 

Physical Requirements 

  • Ability to lift up to 25 lbs.
  • Ability to use a computer for extended periods.
  • Ability to work in a standard office environment.
  • Ability to travel occasionally to support cross-team collaboration or reviews with engineering and operations teams as needed.

This job description may not be inclusive to the duties and responsibilities listed. Additional tasks may be assigned to the employee from time to time or the scope of the job may change as needed by business demands. 

AST SpaceMobile is an Equal Opportunity, at will Employer; employment is governed on the basis of merit, competence and qualifications and will not be influenced in any manner by race, color, religion, gender, national origin/ethnicity, veteran status, disability status, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, mental or physical disability or any other legally protected status.

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Lanham, Maryland, United States

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