Salary : $105,612.00 - $142,020.00 Annually
Location : Thurston County - Olympia, WA
Job Type: Full Time - Permanent
Remote Employment: Remote Optional
Job Number:Department: Health Care Authority
Division: SPI
Opening Date: 09/02/2026
Closing Date: 9/13/2026 11:59 PM Pacific
Salary Information: The high end of the salary range, Step M is typically a longevity step
Description Data Science and Informatics Specialist 3 (DSIS3/SPI)71081712This position will require an individual who can rapidly master the data infrastructure and data streams supporting behavioral health data work and recommend improvements in data management strategies. This individual will work on a wide range of projects interfacing with development teams, business analysts, product owners and members of the community while constantly ensuring that their work is aligned with the agency's strategic direction.
All HCA employees will apply an equity lens to their work, which may include but is not limited to all analyses of core business and processes.
About the position:This position reports to the manager of the Behavioral Health Data and Analytics team. This supervisory position will be responsible for ensuring HCA compliance with SAMSHA block grant reporting requirements, including submissions of the Treatment Episode Dataset (TEDS), Uniform Reporting System-National Outcome Measures (URS-NOM), URS Client-Level Data (URS-CLD), Inventory of Treatment Facilities (I-TF) and State Opioid Response prevention reports.This position utilizes mathematics, statistics, and specialized programming to extract knowledge from structured and unstructured health care data. As a highly experienced Data Scientist, the position focus is on ensuring high-quality data sources, creating advanced data analytics, applying statistical techniques, and developing data storytelling, in support of publicly funded behavioral health programs. This position will provide senior guidance for developing actionable insights that can be used to improve health care outcomes, solve problems, meet reporting requirements and make informed policy decisions.
This position is eligible to telework and is typically not required to report on-site.The default assigned work location of all Health Care Authority (HCA) positions - both on-site and telework eligible positions - is within the State of Washington. This position reports to Olympia, WA. Frequency of onsite work will vary based on business and operational needs.
All agency employees are required to report on-site in Olympia on their first and last days of employment to pick up and return state-issued equipment, regardless of telework status or location. DutiesSome of what you will do:- Supervise a team of data analysts, data scientists. informaticists, epidemiologists, and/or econometricians.
- Serve as key data science technical specialist for the agency, within behavioral health populations, programs and services.
- Develop a deep understanding of data limitations and known data quality and completeness issues present in the behavioral health data ecosystem.
- Conduct and oversee audits and quality reviews to develop improved, transparent processes ensuring compliance with SAMSHA block grant reporting requirements.
- Offer recommendations on strategies, needs, priorities, gaps, and tactics focused on improving behavioral health data ecosystem and high-quality data products.
- Propose and lead technical solutions informed by health care systems knowledge.
- Independently use health care claims and supplementary data sources to design and develop senior-level health care reporting and visualizations for behavioral health programs to help the agency make data-driven decisions.
- Lead and/or oversee the development of advanced algorithms, data models and interactive visualizations using SAS, R, PowerBi, Tableau, and/or Excel pivot tables.
- Determine resolution of complex issues using innovative methods to solve complex technical challenges.
- Advise, strategize and lead the development of health care data science, data quality improvement, modeling, evaluation, research, and statistical analysis.
- Lead cross-functional teams to support the design, build, and enhancement of data pipelines and infrastructure.
- Advise and strategize to meet the team's business needs during data infrastructure investment and transformation projects.
- Communicate orally and in writing to concisely explain data quality issues, impacts on agency objectives, and potential solutions for leadership review.
- Partner with agency leadership and data requestors to develop and/or translate data requests into analytic projects focused on behavioral health programs and services.
- Provide consultation to data requestors and data users regarding data access, feasibility, statistical validity, data system capabilities and limitations.
- Develop, interpret, communicate, and present data science findings to a variety of audiences, including colleagues, policymakers, and the public.
QualificationsRequired qualifications:- Experience must include at least one (1) year of supervisory experience, which may include experience leading or managing project teams.
Qualifying candidates will also meet
one of the following criteria options:
Option 1:
- Master's degree in informatics, data science, mathematics, computer science, statistics, biostatistics, epidemiology, or related technical or quantitative field.
- One (1) year of experience working with complex health care, behavioral health, or public health analytics, data visualization software and R, SAS, SQL, M code and/or Python programing.
Option 2:
- Bachelor's degree in informatics, data science, mathematics, computer science, statistics, biostatistics, epidemiology, or related technical or quantitative field.
- Three (3) years of experience working with complex health care, behavioral health, or public health analytics, data visualization software and R, SAS, SQL, M code and/or Python programing.
Option 3:
- Seven (7) years of experience working with complex health care, behavioral health, or public health analytics, data visualization software and R, SAS, SQL, M code and/or Python programing.
Required competencies:- The ability to take action to learn and grow.
- The ability to take action to meet the needs of others.
- Strong analytical skills with the ability to collect, organize, analyze, and disseminate significant amounts of information with attention to detail and accuracy.
Preferred qualifications:- Expert-level SAS programming skills with five years demonstrated experience building large and complex data sets from health care claims and/or encounter data.
- Knowledge of medical and/or pharmacy coding such as ICD-10, Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) and Healthcare Common Procedure Coding System (HCPCS) codes; healthcare business and systems.
- Comfortable interacting with staff members at all levels of the agency; high level of workload management including organization and prioritization of tasks; ability to work effectively in a multi-disciplinary team; excellent written and verbal communication skills.
- Highly advanced experience working with large and complex data sets; advanced level SQL, R, Python, SAS or other programming skills; significant experience with data visualization using Power BI, Tableau and other similar visualization tools.
- Proficiency in problem identification, ability to view issues from multiple perspectives, and generate a variety of solutions.
- Demonstrated skills in team management, facilitating group meetings, setting meeting agendas, seeking diverse perspectives, identifying action steps.
- Demonstrated skills in written communication, concisely worded and professional e-mail communication, plain language explanations of technical problems and solutions, memoranda and technical documentation.
- Demonstrated skills in the presentation of ideas and analytic results using flow diagrams, logic models, graphical and other visualizations.
How to apply:Only candidates who reflect the minimum qualifications on their NEOGOV profile will be considered. Failure to follow the application instructions below may lead to disqualification.
To apply for this position, you will need to complete your profile which includes three professional references and attach in separate files:- A cover letter that specifically addresses how you meet the qualifications for this position
- Current resume
To take advantage of
veteran preference, please do the following:
- Attach a copy of your DD214 (Member 4 long-form copy), NGB 22, or USDVA signed verification of service letter.
- Please black out any PII (personally identifiable information) data such as social security numbers. Include your name as it appears on your application in careers.wa.gov.
