Social Scientist

Role Identity & Mission 

This senior Social Scientist provides strategic analytical leadership, methodological rigor, and subject matter expertise for global Operations in the Information Environment (OIE) and Psychological Operations (PSYOP). The role strengthens assessment accuracy by applying advanced social science methodologies, ensuring scientific validity, and translating complex operational objectives into measurable, evidence based analytical constructs that inform commander level decision making. 

Core Responsibilities 

• Advanced social science methodology — Apply rigorous quantitative and qualitative methods to evaluate operational effectiveness and improve assessment fidelity. 

• Statistical & qualitative analysis — Conduct regression analysis, SEM, GLMs, Bayesian inference, and qualitative coding to analyze structured and unstructured assessment data. 

• Research design & validity — Ensure scientific validity and reliability of data collection efforts, aligning MOE/MOP frameworks with operational plans and campaign structures. 

• Operational objective translation — Work with planners to convert operational objectives into measurable constructs consistent with SMART criteria. 

• Data processing & tooling — Use Python, R, SQL, and NLP techniques to process, analyze, and interpret behavioral, narrative, and sentiment data. 

• Multisource data integration — Integrate social media analytics, publicly available information, intelligence inputs, surveys, and focus groups while accounting for confounding variables. 

• Trend & relationship analysis — Identify patterns, assess relationships, and contribute evidence based conclusions that support operational and strategic decision making. 

• Model development & refinement — Contribute to continuous improvement of analytical models, methodologies, and assessment frameworks. 

• Reporting & visualization — Prepare analytical reports and visualizations that clearly communicate findings to technical and nontechnical audiences. 

• Subject matter expertise — Provide methodological guidance to distributed assessment teams, ensuring consistency and accuracy across global efforts. 

• Behavioral & sentiment integration — Collaborate with social media analysts to incorporate behavioral indicators and sentiment trends into broader assessments. 

Basic Qualifications:

• TS/SCI active clearance
• Years of Exp/Degree: 8 years with BS/BA, 6 years with MS/MA or 3 years with PhD 
• Advanced social science expertise — Regression, SEM, GLMs, Bayesian inference, qualitative methods, NLP. 

• Technical proficiency — Python, R, SQL, NLP tools, structured/unstructured data processing. 

• Assessment frameworks — MOE/MOP alignment, theories of change, SMART criteria. 

• Research design mastery — Validity, reliability, confounding variables, mixed methods approaches. 

• Communication excellence — Ability to translate complex analytical findings into clear, actionable insights. 

Peraton is a next-generation national security company that drives missions of consequence spanning the globe and extending to the farthest reaches of the galaxy. As the world’s leading mission capability integrator and transformative enterprise IT provider, we deliver trusted, highly differentiated solutions and technologies to protect our nation and allies. Peraton operates at the critical nexus between traditional and nontraditional threats across all domains: land, sea, space, air, and cyberspace. The company serves as a valued partner to essential government agencies and supports every branch of the U.S. armed forces. Each day, our employees do the can’t be done by solving the most daunting challenges facing our customers. Visit peraton.com to learn how we’re keeping people around the world safe and secure.