---
title: 'Data Scientist (Virginia) at Kestrel Intelligence'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/data-scientist-virginia-kestrel-intelligence-crystal-city-5qrge6r49vze'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-09-08'
---

# Data Scientist (Virginia) at Kestrel Intelligence

- **Company:** Kestrel Intelligence
- **Location:** Crystal City, VA
- **Employment:** full-time
- **Work type:** hybrid
- **Posted:** 2026-01-12
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-08
- **Apply:** https://jobs.lever.co/kestrel-intelligence/dd7e59b4-2946-4006-b579-ad9b6f58d763

## Job description

The Mission At Kestrel, we are building the future of scalable autonomy across domains. Our systems enable commercial and national security customers to sense and act in support of complex missions without significant autonomous system expertise. This technology bridges domains (e.g., space, air, land, sea) and fields (e.g., AI, orbital dynamics, geospatial), requiring a team that has both breadth and depth in these related topics.

## The Role

We are looking for an individual contributor to architect and deploy production-grade subsystems that power our cutting-edge products for both commercial clients and critical national security missions. As a Kestrel Data Scientist, you will lead the development of high-fidelity data processing pipelines, traditional AI/ML models, and wrapping them into tools for next-generation Agentic AI. You will work at the bleeding edge of geospatial science. This role requires adaptability, engineering rigor, and a deep respect for the mission.

Core Responsibilities:

- Architecture: Lead the end-to-end creation of production-ready AI/ML and agentic subsystems.
- Geospatial Engineering: Build robust preprocessing pipelines for raster and vector data (using GDAL, SNAP, rasterio, PostGIS).
- Innovation: Integrate emerging technologies, from Geospatial Foundation Models (GeoFMs) to autonomous route planning, into a cohesive operational picture.

You Must Be:

A master of foundational geospatial: Proven experience building geospatial data preprocessing pipelines (raster and vector) using the modern geospatial stack (GDAL, SNAP, rasterio, PostGIS, etc.).

A specialist: You must have production-grade experience in at least two (2) of the following domains:

- Traditional GeoAI/ML: Object detection/land classification (scikit, OpenCV, etc.).
- Geospatial Foundation Models: Utilizing GeoFMs like AlphaEarth, Prithvi, or Clay.
- SAR & Interferometry: Pipeline development (e.g., isce2).
- Hyperspectral Imaging: Processing (e.g., SPy).
- RF Propagation: Modeling signal data (e.g., CloudRF).
- Digital Elevation Models: Handling DEM in multiple formats (e.g., DTED).
- Autonomous Systems: Route planning for unmanned systems (e.g., Auterion, ArduPilot).
- Optimization: Complex scheduling for satellite constellations or aircraft.
- Economics: Models for resource allocation such as auction, bidding, pricing, waiting.

Must be a US Citizen

Bonus:

- Based in the Colorado Springs, CO or Washington, DC (working in customer sites in Crystal City, VA and Herndon, VA) areas
- Active Top Secret // Specially Compartmented Information (TS//SCI) clearance with counterintelligence-scope polygraph (CSP) or full-scope polygraph (FSP)

## About Kestrel Intelligence

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Kestrel Intelligence builds an agentic AI platform that autonomously orchestrates and tasks intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) sensors across space, air, land, and sea for military, intelligence, and commercial operators.
- **Entity Type**: Private (early-stage startup, venture-backed)
- **Headquarters**: Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA (with offices in Rosslyn, Virginia and Boise, Idaho)
- **Founded**: 2025
- **Founders**: Thomas Higginbotham (CEO) and Eric T. Straub (Co-Founder)

## Core Business
- Primary industry: Defense / National Security / Space ISR
- Target customers: U.S. Department of Defense (especially Space Force), intelligence community, commercial enterprises in agriculture, infrastructure monitoring, disaster response, and critical infrastructure operators (B2G, B2B)
- Mission or purpose statement: "Transforming sensing tasking and orchestration with an AI-driven, marketplace approach" — making geospatial intelligence collection "as seamless as calling a ride" while removing the busywork that prevents analysts from focusing on high-level intelligence

## Products & Services
- **[Kestrel Intelligence Platform]**: A multi-agent AI system that automates the allocation, prioritization, and coordination of ISR collection across hundreds of heterogeneous sensors (satellites, aerial, ground, maritime). The platform uses agentic AI to plan, negotiate, and re-task assets in real time, with human-on-the-loop oversight. It is deployed as a cloud/secure environment software service for government and enterprise customers.

## Market Standing
- **Valuation / Market Cap**: Not disclosed (private company)
- **Key Metric**: Total employee count of 7 (as of early 2026), growing 450% year-over-year; selected for the U.S. Space Force Catalyst Accelerator 16th cohort
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: Navigate VC (portfolio company); U.S. Space Force Space Delta 7 (accelerator partner & operational end user)
- **Growth Signals**: Rapid headcount growth (from ~1 to 7 employees in first year); acceptance into a competitive defense accelerator focused on AI/ML for ISR; hiring for hybrid engineering and data science roles in Colorado Springs and Crystal City, VA

## Competitive Advantages
- **Agentic AI approach** that goes beyond traditional automation — the system reasons about objectives, negotiates competing priorities, and dynamically reallocates resources across domains.
- **Founding team** combines operational intelligence experience (CIA, U.S. Air Force) with deep AI expertise (Stanford, Google X, C3 AI), giving them both domain credibility and technical capability.
- **Multi-sensor, multi-domain orchestration** that connects 3,500+ global autonomous sensors — a rare integration layer in a fragmented market.
- **Human-on-the-loop design** ensures trust and adoption by military/intelligence operators while achieving machine-speed execution.

## Strategic Focus
- Current priority: Refining the platform for space-based ISR missions through the Catalyst Accelerator (Jan–Apr 2026), working directly with Space Delta 7 operators and technical advisors.
- Near-term direction: Expanding commercial use cases (agriculture, industrial monitoring) and scaling the engineering team to build out the platform’s marketplace and agent capabilities.

## Why Work Here
- **Mission-driven work** at the intersection of AI, space, and national security — every engineer and data scientist contributes directly to solving high-impact intelligence problems.
- **Small, growing team** (~7 people) means outsized ownership and influence; employees wear multiple hats and work closely with founders and former operators.
- **Hybrid work policy** with office hubs in Colorado Springs, CO and Crystal City, VA (across from the Pentagon) — offering flexibility while maintaining in-person collaboration for sensitive work.
- **Cutting-edge tech stack** dealing with agentic AI, multi-sensor fusion, and real-time orchestration — an opportunity to build novel systems not available in the commercial sector.
- **Culture highlights**: Tight-knit team with backgrounds in intelligence, defense, and big tech; emphasis on removing busywork rather than removing humans; transparent hiring process (uses AI tools to screen, but final decisions are human-led).

## Sources
1. [kestrelintelligence.com](https://kestrelintelligence.com/)
2. [kestrelintelligence.com/blog/inside-delta-7-catalyst-accelerator](https://kestrelintelligence.com/blog/inside-delta-7-catalyst-accelerator)
3. [linkedin.com/company/kestrel-intelligence](https://linkedin.com/company/kestrel-intelligence)
4. [navigatevc.com/portfolio-companies/kestrel-intelligence](https://www.navigatevc.com/portfolio-companies/kestrel-intelligence)
5. [jobs.lever.co/kestrel-intelligence](https://jobs.lever.co/kestrel-intelligence)

## Other roles at Kestrel Intelligence

- [Software Engineer (Colorado)](https://feeny.ai/job/software-engineer-colorado-kestrel-intelligence-colorado-springs-kd6m6nky1a05) — Colorado Springs, CO
- [Software Engineer (Virginia)](https://feeny.ai/job/software-engineer-virginia-kestrel-intelligence-crystal-city-t6qrdhj8awj5) — Crystal City, VA
- [Data Scientist (Colorado)](https://feeny.ai/job/data-scientist-colorado-kestrel-intelligence-colorado-springs-2td7krk0hzpz) — Colorado Springs, CO