Senior Director, AI Operations and Services

Overview

Informatics & Analytics (I&A) serves patients present and future, by collaboratively building a sustainable informatics and analytics ecosystem of tools and services to support and grow the research, clinical, and business missions of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (DFCI). The Senior Director of AI Operations and Data Science Services is an executive leader, serving as supervisor and mentor to 20-35 FTEs, who is responsible for designing and managing Artificial Intelligence (AI)-related tools, platforms, and services for 2000+ DFCI users, for partnering with other DFCI leaders to deliver high-impact AI solutions for clients across Research, Clinical, and Operations, and for providing leadership and expertise for the design of policies, processes, and governance for responsible and effective use of AI.

Located in Boston and the surrounding communities, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute is a leader in life changing breakthroughs in cancer research and patient care. We are united in our mission of conquering cancer, HIV/AIDS, and related diseases. We strive to create an inclusive, diverse, and equitable environment where we provide compassionate and comprehensive care to patients of all backgrounds, and design programs to promote public health particularly among high-risk and underserved populations. We conduct groundbreaking research that advances treatment, we educate tomorrow's physician/researchers, and we work with amazing partners, including other Harvard Medical School-affiliated hospitals.

• Serves as the primary subject matter expert for AI technology, platforms, and services for the of department and Institute
• Responsible for architecting, building, and configuring Dana-Farber’s operational AI tools and platforms
• Collaboratively develops institutional AI strategy in partnership with Research, Clinical, and Operational leaders
• Technical “horizontal” leader within I&A for AI and data science use cases in Operations, Clinical Practice, and Research in partnership with the 3 “vertical” client-facing leaders
• Manages $5M+ of contracts and personnel resources (e.g, Snowflake, Databricks, John Snow Labs, Informatics Core Services, Azure, Onyx)
• Core Member of the Dana-Farber AI Governance Committee
• Develops Institute AI policies and guidance for validation, testing, deployment, and monitoring of clinical artificial intelligence tools/models in partnership with the CIO, CQO, CDAO, General Counsel, and AI Governance Committee. Helps DFCI responds to regulatory guidelines from federal and state agencies
• Delivers $2-5M in annual value from AI initiatives in partnership with I&A client-facing verticals
• Responsible for building the AI infrastructure necessary to support the $40M+ federated AI research collaboration known as the Cancer AI Alliance, in partnership with other technical leaders and architects at Memorial Sloan Kettering, Fred Hutch Cancer Center, Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins, and Dana-Farber
• Keeps abreast of AI & data science strategies in other academic medical centers. Represents Dana-Farber in conversations with AI leaders from other Cancer Centers and with AI/cloud vendors (e.g., Microsoft, Amazon, Google Cloud, NVIDIA)
• Responsible for developing and maintaining direct productive relationships with VPs and SVPs, including the CIO, Chief Counsel, CQO, CMIO, VP Enterprise Data & Analytics, and VP Research Informatics Operations
• Interacts directly with research faculty to provide AI operations and data science services through the Informatics Core. Represents all Informatics & Analytics capabilities to these clients
• Budget responsibility $5-10M. Acts as a responsible steward of DFCI and I&A financial resources. Responsible for managing an AI and data-science core services team in support of DFCI research labs, which includes negotiation of service level agreements, and careful budget management
• Helps Dana-Farber develop and advance our culture of measurement and learning, by partnering with the CQO, CMIO, research leaders, and others to design and implement quality-improvement trials, randomization within the medical record, and other real-world observational learning to improve the outcomes and experience of patients and providers

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, AND ABILITIES REQUIRED:

• Expert in the application of AI, data science, and machine learning in research and healthcare environments
• Machine Learning & Deep Learning: Expertise in supervised and unsupervised learning, neural networks, NLP and LLM models for healthcare applications like predictive analytics, imaging, pathology, and clinical decision support
• Proficient in AI Frameworks & Cloud Services, able to configure and deploy secure, scalable, HIPAA-compliant AI solutions in commercial cloud vendors (e.g., Azure, Google Cloud) and in on-premises high-performance computing environments
• MLOps: Expertise in managing the model lifecycle (training, deployment, monitoring), using Kubernetes and orchestration systems as well as tools like MLFlow for assuring the reproducibility of computational research while ensuring compliance with relevant regulation (e.g., HIPAA) and applicable policies
• Experience with software licensing, copyright law, and patents
• Experience designing and deploying scalable AI systems for healthcare, preferably including radiology, digital pathology, medical text, audio recordings, claims data
• Experience using common healthcare data standards (e.g., DICOM, OMOP, FHIR, HL7)
• Experience collaboratively developing AI strategy for an organization, preferably healthcare
• Experience leading multi-disciplinary teams (ML & data scientists, AI scientists & engineers, data engineers, prompt engineers, clinicians) to collaboratively deliver high-impact business initiatives
• Proven record of hiring top technical talent and ensuring growth and job satisfaction of team members. Able to build relationships with top graduate programs in the Boston area to develop talent pipelines
• Proficient in guiding and supporting career development and performance management, and developing new leaders
• Strong publication record in AI and biomedicine
• Experience developing AI policy and guidance for an institution, and ensuring deployed AI models meet scientific and safety standards, comply with healthcare regulations, and make a measurable difference
• Experience in turning AI models into consumable healthcare products and services, such as diagnostic tools or clinical decision support systems
• Clinical Collaboration: experience partnering with clinicians and other healthcare professionals to ensure AI tools address real-world challenges and are validated for practical use in clinical settings
• Strong client service orientation with excellent interpersonal skills; able to interact effectively with all levels of staff and external contacts
• Presents results persuasively and accurately verbally or in writing, and in delivering good or bad news
• Collaborates effectively across the enterprise. Skillfully influences stakeholders to ask better questions and sharpen focus on analyses that will have the highest and broadest impact for DFCI
• Demonstrates self-awareness, professionalism, agility and flexibility, a strong work ethic, appropriate humility, and the ability to lead through challenging situations. Thinks and acts consistently with a broader “we” mentality, i.e., what’s best for DFCI as a whole vs. self, “my team,” or “my group”, or “my department”

MINIMUM JOB QUALIFICATIONS:

The position requires a PhD in a STEM field, with 15+ years of relevant professional experience, including 5+ years in a biomedical or healthcare setting, and 10+ years of direct people management experience. An advanced degree may substitute for some professional experience (master’s for 1 year; PhD for 3 years).

SUPERVISORY RESPONSIBILITIES:

Manages a group of 20-35+ FTE or budget equivalent, which includes other people managers. The senor director manages multiple teams. May supervise up to 50 additional FTE via matrix or vendor partnerships, including outsourced and offshore resources. 

PATIENT CONTACT: None

At Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, we work every day to create an innovative, caring, and inclusive environment where every patient, family, and staff member feels they belong. As relentless as we are in our mission to reduce the burden of cancer for all, we are committed to having faculty and staff who offer multifaceted experiences. Cancer knows no boundaries and when it comes to hiring the most dedicated and compassionate professionals, neither do we. If working in this kind of organization inspires you, we encourage you to apply.

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute is an equal opportunity employer and affirms the right of every qualified applicant to receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, gender identity or expression, national origin, sexual orientation, genetic information, disability, age, ancestry, military service, protected veteran status, or other characteristics protected by law.

Pay Transparency Statement

The hiring range is based on market pay structures, with individual salaries determined by factors such as business needs, market conditions, internal equity, and based on the candidate’s relevant experience, skills and qualifications.

For union positions, the pay range is determined by the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA).