PRINCIPAL SCIENTIST

Who We Are
For more than 25 years, Aptima's mission has been to improve and optimize performance in mission-critical, technology-intensive environments. We apply deep expertise in how humans think, learn, and perform to today's challenges. Whether for fighter pilots functioning in the cockpit, medical staff in the ICU, or teams collaborating across distributed networks, we are working to ensure synergy, enhance productivity, and accelerate learning, training, and readiness.

Our culture is rooted in our core values, which have evolved over time and our employees have embraced – Integrity, Ingenuity, Excellence, Respect, Inclusion, Teamwork. At our core, Aptima researches, develops, and innovates within an area that engineering firms largely ignore, the human component. To impact the world in meaningful ways, you must bring those innovations to light, and that is precisely what we do.

How You’ll Make an Impact

The Principal Scientist is primarily responsible for leading multi-disciplinary, multi-company scientific and technical work that responds to marketplace needs and results in concrete organizational outcomes, advising leadership, and mentoring staff, while possessing masterful knowledge of one or more scientific or technical domains such that they have a reputation within and outside the company as the "go to" person for that area.

• Develop and implement advanced techniques for measuring and modeling human physiological states
• Contribute to the design, development and application of data mining, statistical analysis (including but not limited to, regression analysis, ANOVA, linear and nonlinear mixed-effects models), machine learning, modeling, and digital signal processing methods
• Employ a variety of hardware sensors and data collection techniques to gather and analyze human physiological data
• Collaborate with software engineers, within an agile development environment, to implement, test, and apply mathematical algorithms from research
• Successfully lead multi-disciplinary, multi-company project teams in PM and/or PI roles
• Champion one or more technical areas or domains, serving as the “go to” person for that area(s) within and outside the company
• Serve as a thought partner to multiple Aptima partners and customers, while successfully collaborating and maintaining knowledge of the marketplace. Influence the technical interest and direction of our customers
• Lead major proposals (e.g., large BAAs, IDIQs) in areas of expertise
• Foster repeat relationships with external customers and partners.
• Utilize deep technical expertise, knowledge of other disciplines within Aptima, and knowledge of multiple markets and corporate capabilities to identify new research questions and opportunities that are consumable and in demand from customers
• Advise leadership in identifying and selecting future areas of inquiry, research methods, and technologies that are compatible with current and anticipated future directions of Human Centered Engineering
• Conduct all work in accordance with contractual compliance and all laws, keeping in alignment with the core values of Aptima

Minimum Requirements

• U.S. Citizenship required or the ability to obtain a U.S. Security Clearance
• Minimum of a Master’s Degree in a scientific or engineering discipline (e.g., Experimental Psychology, Human Factors, Cognitive Science, Biochemistry or Biomedical Engineering).
• Minimum of 10+ years’ work-related experience
• Expert-level proficiency in advanced techniques for measuring human physiological states
• Strong understanding of data analytic techniques and the ability to implement or direct engineers in these approaches.
• Experience in experimental design and execution
• Experience in data collection techniques using a variety of instruments, including hardware sensors, software sensors (e.g., human-computer interaction monitors), and/or survey/self-report
• Excellent communications skills (verbal and written), which will be examined by providing a “job talk” during the interview process as well as providing publications or written work samples