Associate Researcher - Impact Analytics

Solace

2d

About The Position

Healthcare in the U.S. is fundamentally broken. The system is so complex that 88% of U.S. adults do not have the health literacy necessary to navigate it without help. Solace cuts through the red tape of healthcare by pairing patients with expert advocates and giving them the tools to make better decisions—and get better outcomes.
We're a Series C startup, founded in 2022 and backed by Inspired Capital, Craft Ventures, Torch Capital, Menlo Ventures, Signalfire, and IVP. Our U.S. based team is lean, mission-driven, and growing quickly.
Solace isn't a place to coast. We're here to redefine healthcare—and that demands urgency, precision, and heart. If you're looking to stretch yourself, sharpen your edge, and do the best work of your life alongside a team that cares deeply, you're in the right place. We’re intense, and we like it that way.
Read more in our Bloomberg funding announcement here.

Requirements

• Master's-level training in Public Health (HSR or Biostatistics concentration), Health Services Research, Health Policy with quantitative concentration, Epidemiology, Biostatistics, or a closely related field
• Approximately 1-3 years of post-graduate experience working with healthcare data; structured research-assistant work during graduate training counts toward this
• Zotero for organizing literature
• PubMed search syntax — Boolean operators, MeSH terms, filters
• SQL for complex querying and data manipulation
• R or Python for statistical analysis and research computing (stack tier pending — see CLIN-1328)
• Structured literature search, screening, and evidence-synthesis methods
• Notion (or a comparable structured knowledge-management platform) for collaborative documentation and library-building
• Healthcare claims data structures, particularly Medicare RIF/LDS files
• Cohort construction and longitudinal analysis methods relevant to claims data
• Descriptive epidemiology and standard regression techniques for observational data
• A willingness to evaluate and adopt AI-assisted literature research tools — the role contributes to ongoing tool evaluation rather than requiring day-1 fluency in any specific one
• High standards for defensible research and willingness to be honest about what the data can and cannot support
• Business sense and the ability to deliver on non-academic timelines while making pragmatic research choices
• Strong written communication, with the ability to write clearly for both technical and executive audiences — and to write briefings that hold up when leadership asks pointed follow-up questions
• Attention to detail in code, documentation, and results
• Comfort working across two stakeholders with different priorities, and the judgment to be honest about capacity when they pull in different directions
• Natural curiosity that extends beyond a narrow specialty

Nice To Haves

• Healthcare data standards (ICD-10, HCPCS, NDC, DRG codes) and Medicare/commercial insurance structures
• Quasi-experimental and causal-inference methods relevant to claims-based outcomes research (propensity score matching, difference-in-differences, survival analysis)
• Reproducible-analysis practices and version control (git)
• VRDC operational conventions (cell-size suppression, output-review caps, named-seat constraints) — or willingness to ramp on these quickly
• Hands-on experience with Medicare claims data specifically (rather than commercial claims only)
• Prior work under a CMS DUA or in a CMS Innovator-licensed environment
• A peer-reviewed or working-paper first or co-author publication based on original work
• Prior work in health tech, digital health, or startup environments

Responsibilities

• Run structured literature searches on questions that matter to Solace's strategic direction and maintain a working literature library the CMO can pull from
• Synthesize the published evidence base honestly — what the literature does and doesn't support — into briefings useful to leadership conversations
• Construct cohorts and execute analyses inside the CMS Virtual Research Data Center (VRDC) on Medicare claims data, working from analytic specs designed by senior researchers and the Head of Impact Analytics
• Build and maintain analytical datasets and code with attention to data quality, integrity, and reproducibility
• Translate VRDC output into findings the research team can review, iterate on, and use downstream
• Document analytic work to a standard that supports team-wide reproducibility and review
• Partner with senior researchers, clinical, and operations stakeholders on shaping research questions worth pursuing
• Contribute to white papers, case studies, and (over time) peer-reviewed publications, in supporting and co-author roles

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Entry Level