Epidemiology Strategist (CDC)

Skylight

6h•$130,000 - $165,000•Remote

About The Position

At Skylight, epidemiologists play a critical role in improving the digital infrastructure that powers public health. In this role, you’ll work across teams to make sure the information systems we co-develop with our government partners are firmly grounded in applied public health practice. We work with a team at CDC that builds and maintains an integrated disease surveillance system used by state, tribal, local, and territorial (STLT) health departments across the country. It gives jurisdictions case management for a wide range of conditions, and a secure path for moving epidemiologic, laboratory, and clinical data to CDC. Our role is to modernize it — a cloud-based platform designed to improve scalability, security, and adaptability to evolving public health needs. You’ll be a primary source of epidemiology expertise for the teams building that platform, solving ad hoc problems as they surface and taking a systematic lens to where the work is headed overall. Your job is to keep evolving features, user experience, and data models aligned with public health policy, case surveillance and investigation workflows, and what health departments actually need from their data. The work runs on two tracks at once: building out the modernized, cloud-based platform while the long-standing legacy version stays in production for the jurisdictions that depend on it. You’ll be part of a small team of epidemiologists providing niche subject matter expertise to both internal and external partners. With STLT health departments, that means sharing the guidance they need to carry out public health surveillance. Internally, it means working with product managers, designers, researchers, and engineers — bringing public health practice into technical decisions, and translating in both directions.

Requirements

At least 5–7 years of experience in public health practice, including past employment at a state, tribal, local, or territorial health department
Experience using integrated disease surveillance systems and conducting case investigation workflows
Familiarity with public health data standards, including ELR, eCR, and HL7 message mapping guides
Comfort with ambiguity, iterative problem solving, and helping teams prioritize the most meaningful next step
Experience navigating and adapting to evolving public health policies, data requirements, and real-world constraints
Ability to work successfully within a professional services environment (e.g., can communicate effectively with clients)
A passion for creating better public outcomes through great government services
Experience working on cross-functional teams (product, design, engineering, ops) in iterative delivery
A mindset and work approach that aligns with our core values

Nice To Haves

MPH, MSPH, or PhD in epidemiology
Experience configuring surveillance system features such as custom data-entry form builders and workflow decision-support rules
Experience working on multidisciplinary teams involving public health, informatics, and software development
Experience applying human-centered design principles to public health or health IT work
A recognized reputation across the public health community for excellence in public health practice
Prior experience working in the civic tech space
Experience working in a remote team environment

Responsibilities

Act as an internal epidemiology strategist, working with technical, product, and research leads to represent the day-to-day realities of epidemiologists and disease investigators in system design, development, and implementation decisions
Partner with CDC and state, tribal, local, and territorial (STLT) public health stakeholders to align system workflows and functionality with evolving public health policies, practices, and data requirements
Make sure the system supports real-world case investigation and surveillance workflows across a range of conditions and programs
Translate national public health standards into concrete guidance that can be implemented at the STLT level
Provide technical assistance to support surveillance, investigation, and analysis activities across the jurisdictions that use the system
Develop, test, and release standardized disease data collection forms aligned to CDC message mapping guides
Provide subject matter expertise on integrating core public health data streams, such as electronic laboratory reporting (ELR), electronic case reporting (eCR), vital records, and immunizations
Help the team decide which user needs and system issues to tackle first, and how to approach them iteratively using human-centered design
Advocate for STLT needs and priorities so that public health voices are represented at every level of the work

Benefits

Medical insurance, dental insurance, vision insurance
Short-term and long-term disability insurance
Life and AD&D insurance
Dependent care FSA, healthcare FSA, health savings account
Dollar-for-dollar 401(k) match up to 10% of your salary with no vesting period
Flexible paid-time-off policy (generally around 25 days per year), plus 11 paid federal holidays
Up to 12 weeks paid-time-off for all eligible new birth, adoption, or foster parents
Performance rewards, including annual salary increase, annual performance bonus, spot bonuses, and stock options
Business development / sales bonuses
Referral bonuses
Annual $2,000 allowance for professional development
Annual $750 allowance for tech-related purchases
Annual swag budget of $100 to display your Skylight pride with some merchandise (hoodies, hats, and more)
Flexible, remote-friendly work environment
An environment that empowers you to unleash your superpowers for public good