[Hiring] Data Scientist @Nava PBC

Role Description

A data scientist uses data, statistics, and programming to help projects make better decisions and build predictive models that solve our clients’ problems. The data scientist works across the full data lifecycle, from collecting raw data to communicating insights to stakeholders in clear, actionable ways. Additionally, this role is responsible for exploring data using visualization libraries and business intelligence tools to identify relationships, trends, and anomalies that might not be obvious from raw data alone. These visualizations support both exploratory analysis—helping the data scientist generate hypotheses—and explanatory analysis—helping project teams quickly grasp key insights so they can make informed decisions.

All duties will be in service of Nava's values: Be Active Stewards, Delivery over Dogma, Build Together, Innovation Requires New Perspectives, and Progress Takes Work.

What you'll do

• Work with stakeholders to understand business problems and define data-driven questions to answer.
• Collect, clean, and transform large structured and unstructured datasets from multiple sources.
• Explore data to find patterns, trends, and anomalies using statistical analysis and visualization.
• Build, evaluate, and deploy machine learning and statistical models to make predictions or automate decisions.
• Communicate findings through dashboards, reports, and presentations to both technical and non-technical audiences.
• Participate in business development activities.
• Participate in client stakeholder meetings related to growth.
• Attend conferences and network with potential clients.
• Review strategy plans and outline technical requirements for potential work.
• Hire and grow data scientist talent.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience in data science or applied ML roles.
• Experience owning end-to-end analytics from discovery to modeling to storytelling to implementation.
• Experience working with large, complex datasets across multiple sources.
• Strong proficiency in Python.
• Ability to design, train, evaluate, and operationalize ML models at production scale.
• Builds and ships advanced statistical/ML models and pipelines using tools like Python and SQL in production.
• Strong grasp of probability theory, random variables, common distributions, expectation, variance, and covariance.
• Solid training in estimation and inference: confidence intervals, likelihood, maximum likelihood estimation, and Bayesian basics.
• Ability to choose appropriate statistical techniques for messy, real-world data and explain trade-offs, limitations, and uncertainties.
• Track record of translating statistical findings into clear, decision-ready narratives and recommendations for stakeholders.
• Ability to stay current with new methods and tools and apply them thoughtfully to real-world problems.
• Ability to create compelling visualizations (Tableau, Looker, matplotlib, Plotly) that clearly communicate patterns, trends, and insights to both technical and non-technical audiences.
• Mastery of probability theory, statistical inference, linear algebra, and optimization.
• Extensive experience designing and interpreting experiments (including A/B tests and causal inference methods such as DiD, IVs, and matching).
• Strong intuition for model assumptions, uncertainty, and bias/variance tradeoffs; fluency with a broad range of statistical and machine-learning models and diagnostics.

Compensation

$100,800 — $122,850 USD

Other requirements

• Legal authorization to work in the United States.
• Ability to meet any other requirements for government contracts for which candidates are hired.
• Work authorization that doesn’t require visa sponsorship, now or in the future.
• May be subject to a government background check or security clearance, depending on the contract.

Benefits

• Health coverage — comprehensive medical, dental, and vision plans to support your overall health needs.
• Insurance coverage — Nava provides disability, life, and accidental death insurance at no cost.
• Time off — vacation, holidays (including Juneteenth), and floating holidays to rest and recharge.
• Company holidays — enjoy 12 paid federal holidays each year on top of your regular PTO.
• Annual bonus — when Nava meets its goals, eligible employees receive a performance-based annual bonus.
• Parental leave — paid time off for new parents, plus weekly meals delivered to your home.
• Wellness program — full platform offering physical, mental, & emotional health resources & support tools.
• Virtual care — see doctors online with no copay through a virtual visit program (depending on available providers).
• Sabbatical leave — earn extended unpaid leave after continuous service for personal growth or rest.
• 401(k) match — Nava matches 4% of your salary to support your retirement savings plan.
• Flexible work — remote-first environment with flexibility built around your schedule and responsibilities.
• Home office setup — company laptop & setup assistance provided via Staples for remote work needs.
• Utility support — monthly reimbursement to help offset eligible home office utility expenses.
• Learning opportunities — internal training programs and resources to help grow your professional skills.
• Development opportunities — LinkedIn Learning access & an annual allowance for courses, tuition, & certs.
• Referral bonus — get rewarded when you refer great people who join the Nava team.
• Commuter benefits — pre-tax commuter programs to support in-office travel when applicable.
• Supportive culture — A collaborative and remote-friendly team environment where people genuinely care.