We are seeking a senior individual contributor - a role with director-level strategic scope and executive visibility who sits at the intersection of clinical medicine, health care quality benchmarking, and applied data science/AI. This person will combine deep clinical informatics expertise with hands-on Databricks engineering and AI/ML skill to build algorithms that do two things simultaneously: (1) close documentation and coding gaps that affect risk adjustment, mortality index, and quality attribution, and (2) identify gaps and variation in the actual clinical processes of care that drive the metrics used by national hospital ranking and rating programs (e.g., CMS Star Ratings, U.S. News & World Report, Leapfrog, Vizient, Healthgrades, IBM Watson Health/Chartis 100 Top Hospitals).
This is not a traditional CDI (clinical documentation integrity) role, and it is not a traditional data engineering role - it is a hybrid role for someone who can translate clinical nuance into data science problems, build and productionize those solutions in Databricks, and connect the output directly to performance improvement and public reputation/ranking outcomes.
Job LocationTendo has hubs in San Francisco, CA; Salt Lake City, UT; Chicago, IL; Nashville, TN; and Philadelphia, PA. Candidates may be located in any one of our hub locations.
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ResponsibilitiesClinical & Quality Methodology Expertise- Maintain expert-level, current knowledge of major hospital ranking, rating, and benchmarking methodologies, including but not limited to: CMS Hospital Compare/Star Ratings, CMS Value-Based Purchasing and Hospital-Acquired Condition programs, U.S. News & World Report Best Hospitals methodology, Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade, Vizient quality and safety benchmarking, Healthgrades, and payer-specific quality programs.
- Translate the technical specifications of these methodologies (risk-adjustment models, attribution logic, exclusion/inclusion criteria, observed-to-expected ratios) into data requirements and analytic models.
- Serve as the clinical/quality subject-matter expert bridging quality, coding/CDI, clinical operations, and analytics/IT teams.
- Operate as one of the organization's senior-most authority on hospital ranking/rating methodology, advising executive and clinical leadership on the strategic implications of methodology changes and ranking trends.
Algorithm & AI Model Development- Design, build, and validate AI/ML and rules-based algorithms that detect documentation and coding gaps affecting severity of illness, risk of mortality, HCC/risk adjustment, and quality measure attribution.
- Detect variation and gaps in clinical processes of care (e.g., core measure compliance, sepsis bundle adherence, readmission risk drivers, mortality outliers) that influence benchmarked outcomes.
- Apply NLP/LLM-based approaches to mine clinical notes, structured EHR data, and coded claims data to surface actionable, clinically valid insights.
- Partner with CDI, coding, quality, and clinical leadership to convert algorithm findings into workflow and performance-improvement interventions.
Databricks & Data Engineering- Build, optimize, and maintain scalable data pipelines and feature stores in Databricks (Delta Lake, PySpark, MLflow, Unity Catalog) that integrate EHR, claims, coding, and quality-measure data.
- Develop and deploy predictive and generative AI models within the Databricks Lakehouse environment, including model monitoring, versioning, and governance.
- Ensure solutions meet healthcare data standards for security, privacy (HIPAA), and auditability.
Strategic Leadership & Influence- Set the multi-year strategic roadmap for ranking/rating performance across the organization, in partnership with the GM of Insights and executive sponsors.
- Serve as a trusted advisor to C-suite and clinical executive leadership on quality strategy, investment prioritization, and reputational risk tied to public rankings.
- Influence and align priorities across clinical, coding/CDI, quality, IT/analytics, and executive stakeholders without formal management authority; mentor and provide technical guidance to other analysts and data scientists as needed.
Performance Improvement & Reporting- Design benchmarking dashboards and predictive indicators that give clinical and executive leadership early visibility into ranking/rating trajectory.
- Recommend and help prioritize clinical process improvements based on algorithm findings, tying interventions directly to specific ranking/rating levers.
- Present findings and recommendations to physician leadership, quality committees, and executive stakeholders in clinically credible, data-grounded terms.
- Represent the analytics/quality function directly to senior executive leadership on ranking/rating strategy, risk, and resource needs.
Requirements- Clinical background and licensure/credentialing (e.g., RN, MD/DO, PharmD, or equivalent clinical degree) or a graduate degree in Clinical/Health Informatics with substantial hands-on clinical quality experience.
- 10+ years of experience in clinical informatics, clinical quality, CDI, or population health analytics, including direct experience with hospital ranking/rating methodologies.
- 5+ years of hands-on experience building data pipelines and/or ML models in Databricks (Spark, Delta Lake, MLflow); strong SQL and Python skills.
- Demonstrated experience applying AI/ML (including NLP/LLM techniques) to clinical and/or claims data for gap detection, risk stratification, or quality measurement.
- Deep working knowledge of ICD-10-CM/PCS coding, risk-adjustment models (e.g., APR-DRG, MS-DRG, HCC/RAF), and how coding/documentation quality affects publicly reported outcomes.
- Ability to work independently as a senior IC operating with director-level scope, autonomy, and executive exposure - driving projects end-to-end from clinical hypothesis to deployed algorithm to executive-level recommendation.
- Excellent communication skills; able to translate technical/statistical findings for physician and executive audiences.
Nice to Have- Master's or doctoral degree in Clinical Informatics, Health Data Science, Public Health, Nursing, or Medicine.
- Direct experience supporting or improving performance against U.S. News, CMS Star Ratings, Leapfrog, or Vizient benchmarks.
- Experience with Databricks Unity Catalog, Genie/AI-BI tools, or MLOps in a regulated healthcare environment.
- Familiarity with FHIR, HL7, and EHR data models (Epic Clarity/Caboodle, Cerner, etc.).
- Prior experience in a matrixed hospital or health-system environment working across quality, coding/HIM, clinical operations, and IT/analytics.
- Experience operating as a strategic, senior-level advisor to C-suite/executive leadership.
Base Salary Range$157,250 - $212,750
This salary range is offered with the understanding that final compensation is based on a number of factors including geography and experience. Tendo also offers an equity package, annual bonuses, and benefits.
BenefitsFor full time employees, Tendo also offers full health benefits (medical, dental, and vision), flexible spending and health savings accounts, company paid life insurance, company paid short-term and long-term disability, company equity, voluntary benefits, 401(k), company paid holidays, flexible time off, and an employee wellness program ("Breathe").
