Join us in making a real impact on public health and supporting a healthier future for our community!

As a Senior Data Scientist on our team, you'll lead and execute data science projects aimed at enhancing public health. Your expertise in machine learning, statistical analysis, and programming (Python, SQL, R) will be essential. If you have experience in MLOps and data engineering, that's a significant advantage. While knowledge of public health principles is a plus, it's not a requirement – we value your data science skills and your ability to translate them into actionable solutions.

We're looking for someone who's not afraid to roll up their sleeves and explore creative ways to tackle public health challenges using data. If you're passionate about extracting valuable insights from diverse data sources and believe that better health outcomes can be achieved through better data, you're the ideal candidate.

In our team, collaboration is key. We work closely with internal and external partners because we recognize that no single person or team possesses all the necessary knowledge and experience. We're ambitious, unafraid of taking risks, and we're seeking an intellectually curious and motivated individual who's eager to contribute to our mission of turning data into actionable insights that benefit our communities.

This position plays a pivotal role in accelerating the transformation of data into meaningful actions that protect and improve the health and well-being of our state's diverse population. Your passion for data science and your drive to make a difference will be at the heart of our collaborative efforts.

Responsibilities:

• Lead and participate in the procurement, design, development, implementation, and enhancement of public health data systems and supporting databases, in collaboration with program areas, IT teams, and vendors.
• Design and implement public health information systems and programs, including use cases and workflow analyses.
• Administer program-specific data sets, ensuring data quality evaluation and improvement.
• Develop and maintain automated data pipelines for efficient data processing.
• Independently propose and oversee public health-related projects, including serving as a principal investigator for research grants.
• Track and report on project progress, barriers, and next steps.
• Engage with stakeholders to assess, manage, and communicate changes resulting from surveillance system and data analytics activities.
• Provide project updates and deliverables within specified timelines.
• Perform complex data modeling and analysis, including data gathering and processing, model development, descriptive and statistical analysis.
• Create and optimize disease-specific datasets for modeling and analytics.
• Analyze data and model results for reports, presentations, and recommendations.
• Offer public health data science expertise for data management, analysis, and reporting.
• Provide leadership to direct reports, including coaching for improved effectiveness and performance.
• Handle hiring, disciplinary actions, and staff requests promptly.
• Mentor and instruct staff in project management, stakeholder communication, and analytics methods.
• Deliver training and system familiarization to data system end users and technical staff.

Required Qualifications: Your experience may have been gained concurrently and through a combination of education, professional experience and paid or unpaid lived experience.

OR

• One of the above options ANDthe following:
  1. An Understanding of Public health, disease surveillance, healthcare informatics/surveillance systems and epidemiologic practices
  2. An understanding of strategies for achieving effective data acquisition, management, quality, storage, use, and application to address clinical care and population health needs.
  3. Data communications security and privacy techniques; legal and ethical issues regarding confidentiality and use of individually identifiable public health and medical record data.
  4. Experience interpreting and evaluating information to analyze, summarize, and prepare reports.
  5. Experience interpreting and analyzing medical, health and other data obtained from a variety of sources.
  6. Experience Conveying complex information effectively using oral and written communication.

About Washington State Department of Health

Our programs and services help prevent illness and injury, promote healthy places to live and work, provide information to help people make good health decisions and ensure our state is prepared for emergencies. To accomplish all of these, we collaborate with many partners every day. We help ensure a safer and healthier Washington by: Working to improve health through disease and injury prevention, immunization, and newborn screening Providing health and safety information, education and training so people can make healthy choices Promoting a health and wellness system where we live, learn, work, play and worship Addressing environmental health hazards associated with drinking water, food, air quality and pesticide exposure Protecting you and your family by licensing healthcare professionals, investigating disease outbreaks and preparing for emergencies

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