Principal Consulting Epidemiologist

Principal Consulting Epidemiologist

J.S. Held is seeking a Principal Epidemiologist to join our Health Sciences practice. This role is ideally suited for a senior consulting professional who combines deep technical expertise in epidemiology with a strong seller–doer mindset, experience supporting litigation and regulatory matters, and the ability to contribute meaningful revenue growth through an established client base.

The successful candidate will play a key role in delivering expert-driven analyses and testimony across complex disputes, regulatory investigations, and high-impact advisory engagements. While preference will be given to candidates with expertise in occupational or environmental epidemiology, we are open to adjacent disciplines (e.g., pharmacoepidemiology, injury epidemiology) where there is a demonstrated track record in litigation, risk assessment, or regulatory support.

Job Responsibilities

Client Development & Revenue Growth (Seller–Doer)

• Originate, develop, and expand client relationships across legal, corporate, and regulatory sectors
• Maintain and grow a portable book of business, contributing to practice revenue targets
• Lead business development efforts, including opportunity identification, scoping, pricing, and proposal development
• Collaborate with cross-functional experts (toxicology, industrial hygiene, environmental science, economics) to deliver integrated client solutions

Expert Services & Testimony

• Serve as a consulting and testifying expert in litigation, arbitration, and regulatory matters
• Prepare and deliver expert reports, depositions, and oral testimony
• Translate complex epidemiologic findings into clear, defensible, and persuasive insights for legal counsel, regulators, and executive stakeholders
• Support high-profile and sensitive matters, including mass torts, environmental exposure cases, and occupational health disputes

Project Leadership & Delivery

• Lead and manage complex, multi-disciplinary epidemiological engagements
• Design and oversee study protocols, including exposure assessment, outcome definition, and causal inference strategies
• Ensure rigorous QA/QC processes across all analyses and deliverables
• Manage project teams, timelines, budgets, and client expectations in a consulting environment

Methods & Analytics

• Apply advanced epidemiologic methodologies, including:
• Cohort and case–control studies
• Time-series and longitudinal analyses
• Meta-analyses and systematic reviews
• Survival and sensitivity analyses
• Causal inference techniques
• Utilize statistical and analytical tools such as R, Python, SAS, or Stata to generate defensible, litigation-ready outputs
• Critically evaluate external studies and literature to support expert opinions and rebuttals

Practice Building & Thought Leadership

• Mentor and develop junior consultants and analysts within the Health Sciences team
• Contribute to thought leadership, including publications, conference presentations, and client briefings
• Support go-to-market initiatives and enhance J.S. Held's visibility in expert services and advisory markets
• Help shape and expand the firm's epidemiology and health risk capabilities globally

Qualifications

Required

• Doctoral degree (PhD, ScD, or DrPH) in Epidemiology from a regionally accredited, research-intensive (non-profit) university
• Approximately 15+ years of post-graduate, client-facing consulting experience, delivering epidemiological analyses within litigation, regulatory, or risk management environments
• Demonstrated seller–doer track record, including a portable book of business and consistent delivery against annual revenue and origination targets
• Proven experience serving as an expert witness, including authorship of expert reports and participation in depositions and/or courtroom testimony, with the ability to perform effectively under cross-examination
• Advanced expertise in epidemiologic methods and strong command of statistical tools (e.g., R, Python, SAS, SPSS, or Stata), with the ability to lead technical teams and guide analytical workstreams
• Exceptional written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to clearly present complex methodologies and findings to attorneys, regulators, and senior business leaders

Preferred

• Familiarity with U.S. litigation processes, including experience supporting mass torts, class actions, or regulatory enforcement matters
• Established professional visibility, including peer-reviewed publications, conference presentations, committee participation, or leadership roles in professional societies
• Experience working within or alongside multidisciplinary consulting teams (e.g., toxicology, industrial hygiene, environmental science, economics)

Additional Information

Some of the Benefits We Have Include

J.S. Held understands all our employees are people and sometimes life needs flexibility. We work to always provide an environment that best supports and suits our team's needs.

• Our flexible work environment allows employees to work remotely, when needed
• Flexible Time Off Policy
• Medical, Dental, and Vision Insurance
• 401k Match
• Commuter Benefits

A reasonable estimate of the base salary range for this role is $150,000 - $300,000. Any offered salary range is based on a wide array of factors including but not limited to skillset, experience, training, location, scope of role, management responsibility, etc.

In addition to base salary, J.S. Held offers a variety of annual bonus programs. Eligibility and details for these bonus schemes will be discussed during the interview process.

Other Duties Please note this job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties, or responsibilities required of the employee for this job. Duties, responsibilities, and activities may change at any time with or without notice.

By submitting your application, you acknowledge that you have read the J.S. Held Online Privacy Notice and hereby freely and unambiguously give informed consent to the collection, processing, use, and storage of your personal information as required and described therein. California residents can click here to learn more about the personal information we collect and here to learn about additional privacy rights that may be available.

We embrace diversity and our commitment to building a team and environment that fosters professional and personal enrichment is unwavering. We are greater when we are equal! J.S. Held is an equal opportunity employer that is committed to hiring a diverse workforce. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, race, color, religion, national origin, disability, protected Veteran status, age, or any other characteristic protected by law. If you are an individual with a disability and would like to request for a reasonable accommodation, please email View email address on click.appcast.io and include "Applicant Accommodation" within the subject line with your request and contact information.