VP of Data

Role Description

At a high level, this person will own the entire data function at 9amHealth — data engineering and platform, analytics and BI, and data science / ML / AI. 9amHealth is a virtual care company serving members managing chronic conditions like diabetes, hypertension, cholesterol, and weight management, and data is one of the most direct levers we have on member outcomes, clinical decision-making, and how efficiently we operate.

What makes the role unique is that the data function doesn’t sit in isolation. It powers the member app, the internally built EMR, the operational tooling care teams use every day, and a growing set of AI-assisted workflows. Decisions made by the VP of Data — what we instrument, how we model the business, what we automate with ML — directly shape what members experience and what clinicians do.

Why the Role is Open

• This is a strategic leadership hire.
• The company is scaling its member base, expanding its clinical model, and investing heavily in AI-assisted care workflows.
• We need a senior data leader who can set vision for the data org, build and grow the team, and partner with the executive team to translate company strategy into a coherent data, analytics, and ML roadmap.
• We’re looking for someone who can operate with a lot of autonomy, raise the bar on data craft and rigor, and evolve the organization as we scale.
• This isn’t a heads-down execution role or a narrow analytics role.

What the Day-to-Day Looks Like

Day to day, the role is highly collaborative and fast-moving. You’d work closely with:

• The CEO and executive team on company strategy, metrics, and reporting
• Data engineers, analytics engineers, analysts, data scientists, and ML engineers across the data org
• Product and Engineering leadership on instrumentation, experimentation, and ML in production
• Clinical leadership, care coordinators, and coaches on outcomes, quality measurement, and model evaluation
• Growth, marketing, finance, and operations leaders on the metrics that run the business
• Compliance and security partners on PHI handling, HIPAA, audit, and access controls

A typical week could involve:

• Setting and communicating data vision, strategy, and roadmap across data engineering, analytics, and DS/ML
• Reviewing the core company metrics — engagement, retention, clinical outcomes, unit economics — and shaping what gets prioritized
• Partnering with Product and Clinical on experiment design, sample sizing, and reading results responsibly
• Coaching and developing managers and ICs across the data org
• Making tradeoff decisions between platform investment, analytics throughput, and ML/AI bets
• Working with engineering leadership on data architecture, real-time vs. batch needs, and model deployment
• Reviewing ML model performance, drift, and clinical safety considerations before anything ships into care workflows
• Representing data in board conversations, investor updates, and cross-functional planning

Team / Collaboration Structure

The role reports directly to the CEO and is a member of the executive team. The VP of Data will own and grow the data organization end-to-end: data engineering and platform, analytics engineering and BI, data science, and applied ML / AI.

One thing worth highlighting is how cross-functional the environment is. Data isn’t a service team that fulfills tickets — it’s embedded in how product, clinical, and operations decisions get made.

The engineering and product organization is distributed between San Diego and Vienna, plus remote teammates across the US. The VP will need to be effective leading a distributed team and comfortable building rituals and writing artifacts that keep a remote, multi-time-zone org aligned.

What We’re Looking For

• Strong candidates who have owned a full data function end-to-end at scale.
• Data leaders who have led data orgs through meaningful scale (early growth through multi-team).
• Experience in building and maturing data platforms — ingestion, warehousing, modeling, governance — without over-engineering.
• Experience in shipping ML or applied AI into a real product, not just into a notebook.
• Ability to operate in ambiguity and build clarity from it (definitions, ownership, metric trees, source of truth).
• Ability to move quickly and independently and push teams to do the same.
• Comfort in making decisions with imperfect data.
• Strong product and business instincts in addition to technical depth.
• Understanding of experimentation, causal inference, and the limits of A/B testing in healthcare contexts.
• Experience working with PHI / HIPAA and understanding the compliance, privacy, and security implications of data work in healthcare.
• Ability to defend decisions clearly to the executive team, the board, and the broader org.
• Experience in hiring, coaching, and leveling up data engineers, analytics engineers, analysts, data scientists, and ML engineers.
• Genuine fluency with modern AI-assisted tooling.
• Healthcare or regulated-industry experience is a strong plus but not required if the data and ML leadership chops are strong.

Coding Stack

The VP of Data doesn’t need to be hands-on in the production codebase, but should be technically conversant and able to make credible architecture and platform decisions. Our current stack:

• Backend: AWS, MySQL, Java/Spring Boot, some Python, JSON/REST APIs
• Frontend: TypeScript, React, Capacitor/Ionic

Tools / Systems Worth Mentioning

We work in a modern, collaborative product environment. The tools we run on day to day:

• Apple Mac
• Google Workspace
• Zoom
• Slack
• Confluence
• Jira
• Miro
• Figma
• Mixpanel
• 1Password
• Zendesk
• HubSpot
• Rippling
• AI-assisted tooling: Cursor, Claude, v0, Lovable, and rapid prototyping environments.

Biggest Challenges in the Role

The biggest challenge is balancing speed, ambiguity, and complexity at the leadership level. You’re leading data in healthcare, so the stakes are real. You’re balancing:

• Member clarity, engagement, and clinical outcomes
• Clinical safety, model evaluation, and operational efficiency
• Business economics and unit economics
• Technical constraints, data platform investment, and tech-debt tradeoffs
• AI-assisted automation versus human care workflows, including when not to automate
• PHI, HIPAA, and the privacy and security expectations of working with sensitive health data
• A distributed team across San Diego, Vienna, and remote US

The VP of Data is often the person who has to create that structure for the rest of the org.

What Makes the Opportunity Interesting

One of the most interesting parts of the role is the amount of ownership and influence. This person won’t just be running dashboards or shipping models. They’ll genuinely shape how chronic care is delivered and measured.

Because 9amHealth owns both the member-facing experience and the underlying clinical and operational infrastructure, there’s an opportunity to build data, analytics, and ML much more holistically than at most healthcare companies.

What you can expect at 9amHealth

At 9amHealth, you'll join the exciting environment of a startup with the stability of highly experienced founders that have successfully built a business from scratch. We foster a collaborative learning mindset and a passion for improvement.

We offer a comprehensive benefits package, including health, dental, and vision insurance, along with flexible PTO and work from home options. We provide a professional development budget and support continuing education, empowering our team to grow alongside the company.

Our commitment to diversity and inclusion

We are committed to creating a workforce that reflects our patients and creating a positive healthcare experience for them. We welcome applications from people of color, LGBTQ+ individuals, people with disabilities, members of ethnic minorities, and foreign born residents.