Analyst - Defense Acquisition

Obviant is building a data source of truth and AI tools for defense acquisition. As Defense Acquisition Data Analyst, you make sure the data behind Obviant is right and that it means what acquisition professionals think it means. You sit between the people who know how a program element, a contract line item, or a milestone decision actually works and the engineers and managers who turn that knowledge into models, pipelines, and products.

Responsibilities

Be the authority on our sources, knowing what each defense data system contains and what it doesn't, including how and when data is reported; Know the limitations, explaining reporting lags, coverage gaps, omitted or restricted data, inconsistent identifiers, and where official sources disagree; Connect the dots across sources, explaining how a budget request relates to the program it funds, the contracts that execute it, and the organizations that manage it; Catch what's substantively wrong, flagging data and results that are technically valid but don't match how acquisition, budgeting, or contracting work; Advise product and engineering on how each source should be interpreted and presented; Evaluate AI outputs by writing test questions and reviewing model-generated answers; Support customers by joining customer conversations and explaining data sources and caveats; Capture and encode SME knowledge to improve systems

Requirements

6+ years in defense acquisition, budgeting, or contracting (e.g., program office, comptroller/financial management, contracting, PPBE), as a government employee or a contractor supporting those functions; Complete working knowledge of the defense acquisition system from requirements (e.g., JCIDS), funding (e.g., PPBE), and management (e.g., DAS); Fluency in budget concepts: appropriations and colors of money, program elements and budget line items, justification exhibits (R-1, P-1, J-books), and how funds move from request to obligation; Understanding of contracting vehicles, contract types, and how awards and modifications are made and reported; Deep familiarity with the DoW data systems of record behind acquisition, budget, or contracts or related domains, including what they contain, what they omit, reporting lags, and where they conflict; Strong analytical skills; comfortable working hands-on with large, messy datasets in Excel or similar tools; Ability to explain complex concepts plainly to engineers, customers, and executives; Comfort with ambiguity and incomplete data; Strong written communication

Nice to have

DAWIA / DAU certification (Program Management, Contracting, or Business – Financial Management); Experience at DoD/DoW, a military service, DIU, or a defense-focused consultancy or FFRDC; Familiarity with LLMs, retrieval, or evaluating AI-generated answers; Experience querying data with SQL or Python; Active security clearance

Benefits

Flexible schedule; Work from home when needed; Sizeable equity; Flexible vacation time; Full health, dental, and vision insurance