Data Scientist IV

Data Scientist IV

The Institute for Child Health Policy (ICHP) at the University of Florida is seeking a Data Scientist IV to join its leadership team. This role focuses on supporting research and program evaluation for Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP), assessing the quality of care for beneficiaries. The ideal candidate will have expertise in administrative healthcare data, Medicaid policy, and advanced analytical methods. Responsibilities include leading research projects, developing data-driven insights, collaborating with a multidisciplinary team of health policy researchers and economists, and authoring technical reports. Strong communication skills and a proven track record in data science are essential.

Research Development: Leverage expertise in healthcare administrative and clinical data to support the design and execution of research studies evaluating healthcare quality, access, and outcomes for the Medicaid population. Apply advanced analytical methods and predictive analytics to address key complex policy and operational questions. Lead development of study frameworks, analytic plans, and methodological documentation. Collaborate with multidisciplinary research teams to identify critical healthcare challenges and translate research objectives into executable analytic strategies. Serve as lead or first author on technical reports, policy briefs, peer-reviewed journal articles, and other scholarly or applied publications. Produce high-quality written products suitable for internal leadership, state and federal stakeholders, and academic dissemination.

Data Analytics: Apply data science methodologies using SAS, Python, R, and SQL to analyze large-scale healthcare administrative and clinical datasets. Develop, optimize, and validate analytic code and database queries to integrate multi-source data into centralized analytic environments. Ensure rigorous data transformation, quality assurance, and reproducibility of analytic workflows. Interpret findings within the context of Medicaid policy and healthcare delivery systems.

Scientific Reporting and Policy Integration: Interpret and apply state and federal regulations relevant to assigned projects, identifying policy implications based on research findings and integrating recommendations into descriptive and technical reports. Demonstrate exceptional written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to independently author technical documentation, methodological appendices, analytic summaries, and executive-level briefings. Drive strategic initiatives, lead enterprise change management efforts, and foster collaborations with external stakeholders within the Medicaid agency.

Team Development, Training, and Hiring: Participate in recruitment, training, supervision, and mentorship of analytic staff. Provide guidance on methodological rigor, documentation standards, reproducibility practices, and professional development. Lead or co-lead project teams, providing strategic, tactical, and operational leadership. Promote a culture of analytical excellence, scholarly contribution, and high-quality written and oral communication.

Other Duties: Support drafting budgets, data use agreements, and other project-related duties as assigned.

Expected Salary: $98,000 - $110,000

Required Qualifications: A Bachelor's Degree in data science, statistics, bioinformatics, analytics, or similar field and seven years of experience; Master's Degree in data science, statistics, bioinformatics, analytics, or similar field and five years of experience; Doctoral Degree in data science, statistics, bioinformatics, analytics, or similar field and three years of experience.

Preferred: 5+ years of client relations activities, interpreting and synthesizing client requirements and effectively communicating complex healthcare analytic outcomes to client satisfaction. Experience in mining large payer databases with various healthcare benefit structures for Federal and State public plans. Strong supervisory experience leading project teams and/or demonstrated mentorship ability guiding new analysts. Excellent written and oral communication skills. Ability to communicate technical outcomes with a high degree of detail and precision to technical audiences, while at the same time being able to communicate those outcomes to non-technical audiences in an approachable and understandable manner. Exceptional problem-solving abilities, strong organizational skills, attention to detail, and the ability to multitask while meeting deadlines.

Special Instructions to Applicants: In order to be considered, you must upload your cover letter and resume. Application must be submitted by 11:55 p.m. (ET) of the posting end date. This is a time limited position. This requisition will be used to fill multiple positions. This requisition has been reposted. Previous applicants are still under consideration and need not apply.

Health Assessment Required: No