What is a Data Scientist at Steampunk?

At Steampunk, Data Scientists are at the forefront of driving innovation for public sector and enterprise clients. You are not just building models in a vacuum; you are solving highly complex, mission-critical problems that impact government operations, citizen services, and large-scale digital transformations. This role requires a unique blend of deep technical expertise and an understanding of human-centered design, ensuring that every data solution you build is practical, ethical, and highly usable.

The scope of this role is broad and increasingly focused on cutting-edge technologies. Whether you are applying traditional machine learning techniques to optimize logistics or leveraging Generative AI to revolutionize how agencies process vast amounts of text, your work will directly influence strategic decision-making. You will collaborate closely with cross-functional teams, including UX researchers, software engineers, and federal stakeholders, to translate messy, real-world data into actionable intelligence.

Expect an environment that balances the agility of a tech startup with the rigor required for federal contracting. You will be challenged to navigate complex data ecosystems, often working with strict privacy and security constraints. If you are passionate about applying advanced analytics, natural language processing, and large language models (LLMs) to problems that truly matter, this role offers an unparalleled opportunity to create lasting, large-scale impact.

Getting Ready for Your Interviews

Preparation is about more than just brushing up on algorithms; it requires you to align your technical skills with our core consulting and design philosophies. You should approach your preparation by thinking holistically about how you solve problems, communicate findings, and adapt to client needs.

Technical Excellence & GenAI Proficiency – You are expected to demonstrate strong foundational skills in Python, SQL, and statistical modeling, alongside modern expertise. For specialized roles, you will be heavily evaluated on your understanding of Generative AI, including prompt engineering, Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG), and fine-tuning LLMs.

Problem-Solving & Ambiguity – Federal data is notoriously siloed and messy. Interviewers will look at how you structure ambiguous problems, clean and explore data, and build robust pipelines when the ideal dataset does not exist.

Client-Centric Communication – You must be able to translate complex mathematical and machine learning concepts into plain language. We evaluate your ability to guide non-technical stakeholders, manage expectations, and tie model performance back to business or mission value.

Culture Fit & Human-Centered Focus – Steampunk is deeply committed to human-centered design. You will be assessed on your empathy for the end-user, your collaborative spirit, and your ability to work seamlessly within multidisciplinary teams.

Interview Process Overview

The interview process at Steampunk is designed to evaluate both your technical rigor and your ability to navigate complex client environments. You will typically begin with an initial recruiter screen to discuss your background, clearance eligibility (if applicable), and alignment with the role. From there, you will move into the technical evaluation phase, which often includes a mix of live coding, data manipulation exercises, and deep-dive discussions into your past machine learning projects.

Because we value applied knowledge over theoretical memorization, you should expect scenario-based interviews where you are asked to design a solution for a hypothetical client problem. The final stages usually involve a comprehensive panel or cross-functional interview. Here, you will meet with engineering leads, product managers, and potentially design experts to assess how well you collaborate and communicate your technical vision.

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This visual timeline outlines the typical stages of our interview loop, from the initial screen to the final behavioral and technical panels. You should use this to pace your preparation, focusing first on core coding and ML fundamentals before shifting your attention to systems design and behavioral storytelling. Keep in mind that specialized roles, particularly those focused on Generative AI, may include an additional deep-dive round specifically targeting LLM architecture and deployment.

Deep Dive into Evaluation Areas

To succeed in your interviews, you must demonstrate proficiency across several key technical and behavioral domains. Our interviewers use these areas to gauge your readiness to tackle the specific challenges our clients face.

Machine Learning & Generative AI

This area tests your depth of knowledge in both traditional machine learning and modern AI paradigms. We want to see that you understand the mathematical foundations of the algorithms you use, rather than just treating them as black boxes. For GenAI-specific roles, this is the most critical technical hurdle.

Be ready to go over:

• Traditional ML Algorithms – Decision trees, random forests, gradient boosting, and regression models.
• Natural Language Processing (NLP) – Text classification, sentiment analysis, and embedding models.
• Generative AI & LLMs – RAG architectures, prompt tuning, vector databases, and evaluating LLM outputs.
• Model Evaluation – Precision, recall, F1-score, ROC-AUC, and how to choose the right metric for the business problem.

Example questions or scenarios:

• "Walk me through how you would build a Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) system to help a federal agency query its internal policy documents."
• "How do you handle class imbalance in a dataset when predicting fraudulent transactions?"
• "Explain the trade-offs between fine-tuning an open-source LLM versus using a commercial API for a high-security client."

Data Engineering & Coding Fundamentals

A strong Data Scientist at Steampunk must be self-sufficient. You need to write clean, production-ready code and be capable of extracting and transforming your own data. This section evaluates your practical programming skills and your familiarity with data manipulation libraries.

Be ready to go over:

• Python Proficiency – Writing efficient, modular code using core data structures.
• Data Manipulation – Advanced usage of Pandas and NumPy for cleaning, merging, and aggregating datasets.
• SQL Mastery – Complex joins, window functions, and optimizing queries for large datasets.
• Pipeline Basics – Understanding how to move data from raw storage into a structured format for modeling.

Example questions or scenarios:

• "Write a SQL query to find the top three most frequent user actions per session from a raw event log."
• "Given a messy dataset with missing values and inconsistent formatting, how would you approach cleaning it in Python?"
• "How would you optimize a Pandas script that is currently running out of memory on a large dataset?"

Client Scenarios & Problem Structuring

Because we are a consulting firm, your ability to apply data science to real-world business problems is just as important as your coding skills. Interviewers will present you with vague, high-level client requests and evaluate how you break them down into actionable data science tasks.

Be ready to go over:

• Requirements Gathering – Asking the right clarifying questions to define the scope of a problem.
• Solution Design – Proposing a realistic, end-to-end data architecture that meets client constraints.
• Stakeholder Management – Explaining technical trade-offs, timelines, and model limitations to non-technical leaders.
• Human-Centered Design – Ensuring the final output (e.g., a dashboard or API) is intuitive and valuable to the end-user.

Example questions or scenarios:

• "A government client wants to 'use AI' to improve their customer service portal, but they don't know where to start. How do you guide this conversation?"
• "You built a model with 95% accuracy, but the client is hesitant to adopt it because they don't understand how it works. How do you build trust?"
• "Describe a time when you had to pivot your technical approach because of a change in business requirements."

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Key Responsibilities

As a Data Scientist at Steampunk, your day-to-day work will be highly dynamic, blending deep technical execution with strategic collaboration. Your primary responsibility is to design, develop, and deploy machine learning and AI models that solve specific client challenges. This involves everything from exploratory data analysis and feature engineering to model training and validation. You will spend a significant portion of your time writing Python code, querying databases, and experimenting with new GenAI frameworks to push the boundaries of what is possible for our clients.

Collaboration is central to this role. You will work side-by-side with data engineers who help scale your pipelines, software engineers who integrate your models into production applications, and UX designers who ensure the insights are presented intuitively. You will frequently participate in agile ceremonies, presenting your progress and roadblocks to the broader team. Furthermore, you will act as a technical advisor to federal stakeholders, translating their mission objectives into mathematical formulations and keeping them updated on model performance and ethical AI considerations.

You will also drive internal innovation initiatives. Whether you are building proof-of-concept GenAI applications, contributing to internal code repositories, or mentoring junior analysts, you are expected to be a proactive problem solver. Your work will directly shape the technical strategy of your projects, ensuring that Steampunk remains a leader in delivering secure, scalable, and human-centric data solutions.

Role Requirements & Qualifications

To thrive as a Data Scientist at Steampunk, you must bring a strong foundation in computer science, statistics, and applied machine learning. We look for candidates who are not only technically sharp but also adaptable and highly communicative.

• Must-have skills – Advanced proficiency in Python and SQL. Deep understanding of machine learning libraries (e.g., Scikit-learn, TensorFlow, PyTorch). Experience with data manipulation tools (Pandas, NumPy). Strong verbal and written communication skills, specifically the ability to explain complex concepts to non-technical audiences.
• GenAI specific requirements – For roles focused on Generative AI, you must have hands-on experience with LLMs, prompt engineering, LangChain, LlamaIndex, vector databases (like Pinecone or Milvus), and RAG architectures.
• Experience level – Typically, we look for 3+ years of applied industry experience in data science, machine learning, or AI engineering. Prior experience in technology consulting or working with federal/government clients is highly valued.
• Nice-to-have skills – Familiarity with cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, or GCP) and MLOps tools (MLflow, Docker, Kubernetes). Eligibility for a U.S. security clearance is often a strong differentiator due to the nature of our federal contracts.

Common Interview Questions

The questions below represent the types of technical and behavioral challenges you will face during your interviews. They are drawn from actual candidate experiences and are designed to illustrate patterns rather than serve as a memorization list. Focus on understanding the underlying concepts and how to communicate your thought process clearly.

Machine Learning & Generative AI

This category tests your theoretical knowledge and practical application of ML and AI algorithms, with a heavy emphasis on modern NLP and LLM techniques.

• How do you evaluate the performance of a Generative AI model when there is no clear "ground truth"?
• Explain the concept of embeddings and how they are used in a vector search system.
• What are the common pitfalls of using Large Language Models, and how do you mitigate hallucinations?
• Walk me through the mathematical difference between L1 and L2 regularization.
• How would you design a recommendation engine for a client with very sparse user data?

Coding & Data Manipulation

These questions evaluate your ability to write clean, efficient code and manipulate data to extract meaningful insights.

• Write a Python function to parse a highly nested JSON file and extract specific key-value pairs into a Pandas DataFrame.
• Given a table of user logins, write a SQL query to find the maximum number of consecutive days each user logged in.
• How do you handle missing data in a time-series dataset?
• Write an algorithm to find the top K most frequent words in a massive text corpus.
• Explain how you would optimize a slow-running SQL query that joins multiple large tables.

Behavioral & Client Management

This section focuses on your soft skills, cultural fit, and ability to navigate the complexities of consulting and stakeholder management.

• Tell me about a time you had to communicate a complex technical limitation to a non-technical stakeholder.
• Describe a situation where you had to work with extremely messy or incomplete data. How did you proceed?
• Tell me about a time you disagreed with a product manager or client about the technical direction of a project.
• How do you prioritize your work when dealing with competing requests from multiple stakeholders?
• Why are you interested in working at Steampunk, and how does our focus on human-centered design resonate with you?

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Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Do I need an active security clearance to be hired? While having an active clearance is a significant advantage for many of our federal projects, it is not always a strict prerequisite. Many roles allow you to be hired and undergo the clearance process after joining, provided you meet the eligibility requirements.

Q: How much of the interview focuses on Generative AI versus traditional data science? This depends heavily on the specific job requisition. For the "Data Scientist Generative Ai" roles, expect the technical deep dives to heavily index on LLMs, RAG, and NLP. For general Data Scientist roles, you will face a more balanced mix of traditional ML, statistical modeling, and data engineering.

Q: What is the format of the technical coding screen? You will typically use a shared coding environment (like CoderPad) to solve data manipulation and algorithmic problems in Python or SQL. The focus is on your problem-solving process, how you handle edge cases, and your ability to write clean, functional code, rather than executing perfect syntax on the first try.

Q: What is Steampunk’s remote work policy? Work arrangements vary by project and client requirements. Some roles are fully remote, while others, particularly those requiring classified work or close federal collaboration, may require a hybrid presence in offices like St. Louis, MO, or Murrieta, CA. Be sure to clarify the specific expectations with your recruiter.

Q: How long does the interview process typically take? The end-to-end process usually takes between 3 to 5 weeks. This timeline accounts for recruiter screens, technical assessments, and coordinating schedules for the final cross-functional panel interviews.

Other General Tips

• Embrace Human-Centered Design: Steampunk differentiates itself by putting the user first. Whenever you answer a system design or scenario question, explicitly mention how you would consider the end-user's experience, interface, and needs.
• Think Out Loud: During technical screens, silence is your enemy. Walk the interviewer through your logic, state your assumptions, and explain why you are choosing a specific data structure or algorithm before you start typing.

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• Contextualize Your Impact: When answering behavioral questions, always use the STAR method (Situation, Task, Action, Result). Focus heavily on the "Result"—quantify your impact, whether it was improving model accuracy, saving compute time, or driving a specific business decision.
• Ask Strategic Questions: Use the time at the end of your interviews to ask insightful questions about the client challenges Steampunk is currently facing. This demonstrates your consulting mindset and genuine interest in the company's mission.

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Summary & Next Steps

Interviewing for a Data Scientist role at Steampunk is a rigorous but highly rewarding process. It is an opportunity to showcase not only your technical mastery of machine learning and GenAI but also your ability to solve meaningful, large-scale problems for the public sector. By focusing your preparation on clean coding, robust model design, and empathetic client communication, you will position yourself as a standout candidate.

Remember to balance your time between reviewing core algorithms and practicing how you articulate complex ideas to non-technical audiences. The strongest candidates are those who can seamlessly bridge the gap between advanced data science and practical, human-centered solutions. For more targeted practice, you can explore additional interview insights, mock questions, and resources on Dataford to refine your technical storytelling.

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This compensation data provides a baseline understanding of the salary range and total rewards you can expect for this role. Use this information to guide your expectations and ensure you are prepared for compensation discussions, keeping in mind that final offers will factor in your specific experience level, location, and clearance status.

Approach your upcoming interviews with confidence. You have the skills and the drive to succeed in this dynamic environment. Trust in your preparation, stay curious, and show the interviewers the unique value you will bring to the Steampunk team.