Health Data Scientist

Government of Alberta•Edmonton, AB

3d•Onsite

About The Position

The Ministry of Primary and Preventative Health Services is seeking a Health Data Scientist who thrives in complexity and is motivated by the challenge of improving population health and health system performance. In this role, you will apply advanced analytical and data science methods to generate deep, system-level insights across a dynamic and interconnected health system. You will help shape analytical direction, strengthen data infrastructure, and translate complex findings into actionable intelligence for policy, planning, and operational decision-making. This is an opportunity to influence high-impact decisions, advance analytical maturity, and contribute to a culture of evidence-informed leadership across the ministry. You will advance the effective use of health data by generating insights that support system assessment, identify gaps and opportunities for improvement, forecast future health system demands, and strengthen analytics infrastructure and capacity across the branch. Through leadership, mentorship, and clear communication of analytical findings, you will ensure high-quality, standardized, and decision-focused analytics that contribute to sustainable and equitable health system outcomes.

Requirements

University graduation in a field related to science, data science, epidemiology, mathematics, biostatistics, economics, statistics, social science, plus six years progressively responsible related experience; or equivalent.
Understanding of policy development, legislative processes, regulatory reform, and planning.
Ability to apply project management principles and practices.
Expert understanding of data science principles, advanced analytics, anomaly detection, and clustering.
Strong knowledge of data governance, data management, and working with diverse internal and external data sources.
Demonstrated ability to research diseases using health and population data.
Proven capacity to critically evaluate and synthesize research literature.
Ability to assess analytical limitations, uncertainty, and alternative methodological approaches.

Nice To Haves

Awareness of political environments and their implications for decision making.
Understanding of stakeholder interests across government departments.
Knowledge of organizational dynamics and change management in public-sector settings.
Knowledge of government policies, procedures, and accountability frameworks.
Strong understanding of government roles, structures, and operations.
Strong self-management, accountability, and results orientation.
Ability to deliver high-quality work with limited direction in uncertain or rapidly evolving contexts.

Responsibilities

Apply Advanced Analytical Methods: Advanced exploratory and inferential analysis, Data preparation, System monitoring and pattern detection, Statistical modeling and data science, Research design and innovation, Epidemiological Methods.
Strengthen Data Management and Analytics Infrastructure: Methods documentation and knowledge sharing, Data standards and best practices, Data quality assessment and curation.
Produce and Disseminate High-Quality Analytical Products: Dashboard and performance reporting, Advanced data visualization, Knowledge translation and storytelling, Analytics and reporting automation, Cross-functional collaboration.
Provide Health Data Science Leadership: Analytical leadership and direction, Standards and reproducibility, Subject matter expertise, Coaching and mentorship.