Job Title: Data Scientist – Environmental Resilience Databank (KSEF)

Company: Kentucky Science and Technology Corporation (KSTC)

Reports To: Executive Director, Kentucky Science and Engineering Foundation (KSEF)

About KSTC: Since its founding in 1987, the Kentucky Science & Technology Corporation (KSTC) has been a pioneering force in driving science, technology, and innovative economic development throughout Kentucky. 

Vision and Mission: We envision a future where KSTC and Kentucky are recognized as national leaders enabling high-performing innovation ecosystems, where Kentucky ranks in the top half of states for innovation-driven economic development, and KSTC is recognized among peers as setting the benchmark for others to follow. With this vision in mind, our mission is clear: We champion innovation in knowledge, talent, and investment to accelerate the state's economic growth and competitiveness, securing a better future for all Kentuckians.

About KSEF: The Kentucky Science and Engineering Foundation (KSEF) is an initiative of KSTC and it invests in people and their ideas, promoting innovation, new product development, and commercialization, to advance scientific and economic growth in Kentucky. Our team is responsible for supporting the local deep-technology entrepreneur ecosystem. Our work focuses on lowering the barriers to accessing competitive federal funding for research and tech commercialization. In contrast to equity-holding programs, we focus on accessing non-dilutive capital for the development of high-risk/high-reward innovations. The KSEF Executive Director is based in our Lexington, KY headquarters.  The team has a hybrid work policy.

Position Summary:  The CAPTIVATE Data Scientist supports researchers, educators (both teachers and students) and the public by providing expertise in data curation and management; data analysis and statistical modeling; as well as research computing across a range of environmental and climate science areas. This role collaborates closely with research teams and educators to design, manage and analyze complex datasets; develop reproducible workflows, and communicate results through publications, reports, presentations, and the CAPTIVATE web portal. The position emphasizes methodological rigor, transparency, and best practices in open and reproducible science and FAIR data principles. The Data Scientist will design, build, and maintain analytic and visualization tools for the CAPTIVATE KY databank, which integrates climate and environmental hazard data to support research, education, and community resilience across Kentucky. This role focuses on data pipelines, modeling, and user-facing tools aligned with the goals of the CAPTIVATE KY strategic plan.

As a team, we recognize that the above description may not be all-inclusive and capture all potential ideal candidates. If you are a highly organized, skilled, and passionate professional looking to make an impact in our community, we invite you to apply.

Key Responsibilities:

Research Support & Collaboration

• Partner with research teams and educators to design data-driven research projects
• Advise on dataset design, metadata schema, sampling strategies, statistical methodologies and analytical and visualization tools
• Advice on dataset management, access, retrieval and storage options
• Design and maintain data ingestion, transformation, and quality-control pipelines for climate and environmental hazard datasets 
• Collaborate with system engineers on databank architecture, data models, and metadata for research, education, and community users.

Data Analysis & Modeling

• Clean, manage, and analyze structured and unstructured datasets
• Apply statistical analysis, machine learning, and computational modeling techniques
• Develop custom analysis pipelines using programming and statistical tools
• Validate models and ensure methodological soundness

Research Computing & Reproducibility

• Develop reproducible workflows using version control, documentation, and automation
• Support use of high-performance computing (HPC), cloud, or shared research infrastructure
• Promote best practices in data management, FAIR principles, and open science
• Assist with data sharing, archiving, and compliance with funding agency requirements

Training & Consultation

• Provide one-on-one consultations for researchers, teachers and students
• Develop and deliver workshops or short courses on data science methods and tools
• Create documentation, tutorials, and example code for common research workflows

Communication & Visualization

• Produce clear data visualizations and summaries for academic and non-technical audiences
• Assist in preparing figures, tables, and supplementary materials for CAPTIVATE publications including the web portal
• Communicate complex analytical results clearly and effectively

Required Qualifications:

• Master’s degree in data science, Statistics, Computer Science, or Environmental/Climate Science quantitative field
  • Bachelor’s degree in data science, Statistics, or Computer Science with 1 year of applicable experience can be substituted
• Demonstrated experience supporting academic or scientific research
• Proficiency in Python or R and common data science libraries (e.g., pandas, NumPy, scikit-learn, or tidyverse).
• Experience with data pipelines (ETL/ELT), large/complex datasets, and SQL databases.
• Experience creating data visualizations and interactive tools (e.g., Dash, Shiny, JupyterNoteboooks or OpenOnDemand).
• Strong foundation in statistics and data analysis
• Experience with data visualization and reproducible research practices
• Excellent communication and collaboration skills

Preferred Qualifications:

• 3 years’ experience working in an academic or research-intensive environment
• Familiarity with machine learning, Bayesian methods, or Climate Science data sciences 
• Experience with HPC, cloud computing, or scientific computational methods
• Experience in multi-institutional, grant-funded, or university/research settings.
• Teaching, mentoring, or workshop facilitation experience

Additional Information:

• The above statements describe the general nature and level of work performed by individuals assigned to this job. It is not an exhaustive list of all duties and responsibilities required. Other duties may be assigned as determined by management.
• Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform essential duties and responsibilities.
• Work Environment:
  • Collaborative, interdisciplinary research support – team oriented
  • Hybrid or remote work options may be available  
  • Opportunity to work on diverse, high-impact climate science data-oriented research projects

KSTC is an equal opportunity employer and offers a competitive salary and benefits package. Applications are now being accepted and will be processed as they are received, with screening for interviews beginning immediately.