AI Strategy Associate Director - State Health

Guidehouse•Bentonville, AR

1d•$122,000 - $203,000

About The Position

Guidehouse is seeking an experienced AI and data practitioner to join its AI and Data practice, focused on State Health agencies and particularly Medicaid programs. The Associate Director will help agencies responsibly develop and operationalize AI solutions, connecting strategy to execution and working with agency leaders to define high-value use cases, establish enterprise AI strategies, and advance AI enablement. This leadership role spans state health mission outcomes, data and AI capabilities, and practical implementation. The Associate Director will guide clients through the full lifecycle—from identifying and prioritizing use cases through designing the operating model, data foundations, governance, and delivery approach required to put solutions into production. The role oversees cross-functional teams and works with client executives and program leaders to deliver measurable value through AI, analytics, and modern data practices.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university.
Must be located within the United States and be a U.S. citizen.
Must be able to obtain and maintain a Federal or DoD Public Trust.
At least 7 years of hands-on AI, data, analytics, or engineering experience, including applied AI/ML work.
At least 5 years delivering technical solutions and programs for public sector clients, with significant experience in State Health and/or Medicaid environments.
Demonstrated experience defining AI use cases, translating business needs into solution requirements, and moving solutions from concept to implementation.
Strong understanding of AI/ML technologies, data platforms such as Azure, AWS, GCP, Databricks, or Snowflake, and modern analytics methodologies.
Working knowledge of GenAI capabilities and patterns, including productivity opportunities and the controls required.
Experience with the full delivery lifecycle, including architecture, development oversight, deployment planning, monitoring, and operational support models.
Ability to collaborate across technical and non-technical stakeholders, including agency executives, program leaders, engineering teams, and architecture teams.
Strong communication, facilitation, and relationship-building skills.
Travel up to 10% during key peak periods, such as client kickoff and implementation.

Nice To Haves

Master’s degree.
AI and/or cloud certifications in Azure, AWS, GCP, Databricks, or Snowflake, and relevant GenAI credentials.
PMP or comparable delivery leadership credential.
Hands-on experience bringing GenAI solutions into production with governance, monitoring, and adoption support.
Direct experience with Medicaid systems and data sources such as MMIS, data warehouses or lakes, eligibility systems, provider systems, managed care data, or program integrity tools.
Experience with health data interoperability initiatives and standards, such as FHIR-based approaches.
Familiarity with state procurement and contracting processes, including RFP response leadership.

Responsibilities

Advise State Health and Medicaid leaders on enterprise AI strategies, including core capabilities such as data readiness, governance, model lifecycle management, tooling, and priority mission and operational use cases.
Lead engagements from strategy through implementation, emphasizing outcomes, adoption, and sustainable operations.
Translate health and Medicaid business challenges into actionable AI/ML and analytics solutions using cloud and data platforms such as Azure, AWS, GCP, Databricks, and Snowflake.
Partner with IT, program, privacy, security, legal, and procurement stakeholders to align delivery with agency policies and applicable regulations.
Facilitate use case discovery and prioritization workshops across agency divisions.
Define AI use case portfolios and roadmaps balancing quick wins, longer-term modernization, and foundational capabilities.
Create adoption plans covering workforce readiness, change management, training, and communications.
Guide design and implementation of AI and GenAI capabilities, including decision support, predictive analytics, intelligent document processing, summarization, search, customer service augmentation, caseworker tools, workflow automation, and program integrity.
Advise on production readiness, including model monitoring, drift, validation, human-in-the-loop workflows, and incident response procedures.
Partner with data engineering and architecture teams to design data pipelines and curated datasets for trusted analytics and AI.
Apply Medicaid and State Health data knowledge across claims, encounters, eligibility, enrollment, provider data, managed care, long-term services and supports, pharmacy, behavioral health, and social determinants.
Support data integration and interoperability approaches using standards and frameworks such as FHIR and HL7.
Help define data quality, lineage, metadata, and access patterns that support scalable AI and analytics.
Establish practical AI governance approaches for intake, review, risk management, and approvals.
Incorporate responsible AI, transparency, auditability, and privacy-preserving practices into delivery.
Collaborate with security and privacy stakeholders to align with State Health expectations, including HIPAA-aligned privacy practices, agency controls, and contractual requirements.
Drive growth through capture support, proposal development, oral presentations, and strategic pursuits focused on State Health and Medicaid.
Collaborate with partners and directors to expand the firm's footprint in State Health and related health and human services organizations.
Contribute to thought leadership and represent the firm in client discussions and industry forums.

Benefits

Medical, prescription, dental, and vision insurance.
Personal and family sick time and company-paid holidays.
Position may be eligible for a discretionary variable incentive bonus.
Parental leave and adoption assistance.
401(k) retirement plan.
Basic and supplemental life insurance.
Health Savings Account and dental/vision and dependent care Flexible Spending Accounts.
Short-term and long-term disability.
Student loan paydown.
Tuition reimbursement, personal development, and learning opportunities.
Skills development and certifications.
Employee referral program.
Corporate-sponsored events and community outreach.
Emergency back-up childcare program.
Mobility stipend.
Flexible benefits package.