AI/ML Research Associate
Analytical Mechanics Associates is seeking an AI/ML Research Associate to join the AiTHENA Program at NASA Langley Research Center. The role involves supporting AI governance, risk analysis, and applied data support to help NASA teams build practical AI capabilities and workflows.
Responsibilities
- Help teams document and track AI-related work using simple, repeatable processes
- Support an AI use-case process by collecting key details (purpose, users, data types, risks, constraints)
- Create and maintain governance artifacts, such as: model/data 'factsheets' (basic model cards, dataset summaries), decision logs and traceability notes, checklists for responsible AI (data handling, evaluation notes, limitations)
- Assist with risk triage (not legal decisions—supporting documentation and routing): flagging common considerations like sensitive data, privacy, misuse risk, and monitoring needs
- Help organize and communicate governance readiness for demos or reviews (briefs, slide summaries, status dashboards)
- Prepare and organize data: collect, clean, format, and document datasets (CSV/Excel, logs, text, images)
- Run basic analyses using Python (or similar tools): summaries, charts, simple quality checks
- Support AI/ML work by running established workflows, such as: baseline models (classification/regression), simple trend checks for time-series data, basic text processing (tagging, search, summarization with guardrails)
- Create and share prototypes such as notebooks, scripts, simple dashboards, or small utilities that a mentor team can reuse
- Keep work reproducible and easy to follow clear file organization, notes, and step-by-step documentation
- Participate in AiTHENA check-ins, technical exchanges, demos, and closeout deliverables
Skills
- Bachelor's degree in a related field (Engineering, Math, Science, Computer Science, Information Systems, Policy/Program Management with technical exposure, or similar) or equivalent practical experience
- Interest in responsible AI / AI governance and comfort working with structured checklists and documentation
- Comfort learning technical tools (you don't need to be an expert)
- Basic experience with Python or strong willingness to learn quickly
- Familiarity with common data formats (CSV/Excel, text files) and attention to detail
- Ability to communicate clearly in writing and presentations (notes, short readouts, simple memos)
- Strong organization and follow-through (track tasks, meet deadlines, ask for help early)
- Work authorization: In-person: U.S. Citizenship or Permanent Residency required; Remote: open to individuals authorized to work in the U.S
- Some exposure (coursework, projects, internships) to one or more of: AI governance concepts (model cards, data documentation, risk assessment basics, evaluation/monitoring ideas), Data cleaning and analysis (pandas, Excel, basic SQL), Simple machine learning with scikit-learn, Data visualization (matplotlib/plotly), Working with text data (document tagging, keyword extraction, search)
- Familiarity with Git (version control) or willingness to learn it
- Experience working with process workflows (Jira/ADO/Trello/SharePoint) and building simple trackers/dashboards
- Graduate students (MS/PhD), recent graduates, or career transitioners are welcome
Benefits
- Paid personal and federally recognized holiday leave
- Salary deferrals into a 401(k)-matching plan with immediate vesting
- Tuition reimbursement
- Short/long term disability plans
- A variety of medical, dental, and vision insurance options
Company Overview