Effective October 11, 2021, all current and newly hired IDA employees must be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 unless they have been granted a medical or religious exemption. Individuals who accept employment with IDA will be required to provide proof that they are fully vaccinated or receive approval for a medical or religious accommodation prior to starting employment. 

Overview:

The Institute for Defense Analyses is a federally funded research and development center supporting the Department of Defense and other federal agencies that require rigorous and objective analysis of national security issues. The Strategy, Forces and Resources Division (SFRD) at IDA performs integrated, interdisciplinary analyses of plans and policies related to National Resilience (NR) in an effort to become more resilient against natural and man-made threats and conditions (e.g., public health events, terrorist activity, cyber-attacks, infrastructure failures, natural disasters, and humanitarian crises). Our analyses are highly technical and involve considerable modeling and simulation.

Challenging career opportunities now exist in our national resilience group, which we are trying to stand up. IDA takes great pride in the high caliber and timeliness of its analyses, which are produced in an atmosphere that encourages independent thinking and objective results. Work at IDA is conducted in a team environment and often involves a multi-disciplinary approach. Researchers work closely with and are in frequent contact with government sponsors. Consequently, strong communications skills will be greatly valued.

Responsibilities: 

Research Analysts are mid-to-senior level members of IDA’s research staff. They typically possess extensive experience along with educational and professional credentials in their areas of expertise. Research Analysts are principally responsible for delivering scientifically sound research and technically reviewing other research products. In addition, this Research Analyst position will be responsible for forming and leading the team in a broad spectrum of analytic functions in the National Resilience area including risk-based analyses, development of prevention and preparedness measures, and planning, preparation, and execution of emergency response and disaster relief exercises and operations. This will include working with federal, state and local governments in defining their problems, determining appropriate approaches, modeling or developing, and applying analytical tools to illuminate those problems; guiding junior staff in the application of the selected approaches and tools; interpreting results; and communicating findings (using both written and verbal means). Working with Division management, this individual will assemble and manage a team of researchers with appropriate experience and analytical skills, and will be responsible for their output.

Qualifications: 

• Highly qualified individuals are sought, particularly self-starting professionals. Successful candidates need to exhibit strong analytical and communication skills, a capacity for independent thought and sound judgment. Candidates will need to exhibit excellent interpersonal skills and demonstrate the ability to contribute effectively to a team approach to problem solving. 
• A minimum of a Master’s degree in a relevant academic discipline such as biology, math, engineering or methodologically of similar highly quantitative disciplines is required;
• A minimum of 10 years’ experience in government or private sectors addressing matters of planning and preparedness, public health, emergency and disaster management, infrastructure management and recovery, homeland security, risk management, or similar focus areas. Experience in multiple areas is desirable.
• A proven track record of initiative and leadership in effecting improvement in these areas is desired but not required. 
• A proven track record of building a sponsor based through business development is desired but not required. 
• Familiarity with modeling, simulation and other quantitative techniques especially those employed in the analysis of, prioritization among, and selection of National Resilience capabilities is desired but not required. 
• A pattern of assignments involving some or all of these responsibilities.
• Candidates are encouraged to submit a cover letter outlining how their skill set, experiences, and education align with the defined responsibilities. 
• Candidates must be prepared to provide a writing sample.
• Demonstrated ability to engage with senior government leaders in an effort to synthesize the problems being discussed and the ability to secure funding is desired but not required.
• Candidates must identify three references capable of attesting to the candidate’s skills in relation to the job qualifications described above. 

Successful completion of a criminal background check is required.

U.S. Citizenship is required

Ability to obtain and maintain a security clearance is required