Senior Director, Data Development
About The Position
Verana Health is seeking a Senior Director, Data Development to lead the application of machine learning to transform clinical data into scalable healthcare data products. Reporting directly to the Chief Data & Science Officer, this leader will address complex problems across therapeutic areas including urology, ophthalmology, and oncology. The team develops machine learning systems using structured and unstructured electronic health record data, including clinical text and imaging, to support Verana Qdata products and generate real-world insights. The role combines technical leadership, organizational development, and cross-functional partnership. The Senior Director will oversee the development and operationalization of clinically meaningful machine learning systems, ensuring that data products use fit-for-purpose approaches and meet quality requirements. This includes work with heterogeneous clinical datasets and rigorous attention to validation, explainability, and scientific quality. The role involves strategic leadership and hands-on technical engagement across model development and deployment workflows, including the use of pretrained language models and foundation models. The position works closely with Product Management, Engineering, Medical, and Commercial teams. Verana Health is remote-friendly, but candidates near the Bay Area or New York City office hubs are preferred. Candidates based in the Bay Area, New York City, and Knoxville, Tennessee receive priority consideration; for these locations, the role follows a hybrid schedule of three days per week in the office and the remaining days working from home. Employees must have permanent residency in one of the listed states, or be willing to relocate. Applicants must be authorized to work in the United States; visa sponsorship is not available.
Requirements
- Master’s degree or doctorate in a quantitative discipline such as data science, computer science, machine learning, biostatistics, or biomedical informatics.
- 10 or more years of experience applying machine learning to clinical or healthcare datasets, including recent experience deploying, fine-tuning, evaluating, or operationalizing foundation models and applied machine learning systems.
- 5 or more years managing technical teams.
- Strong programming experience using Python, SQL, PySpark, R, or similar tools.
- Experience working within modern cloud-based machine learning ecosystems and deployment environments, such as Databricks, SageMaker, MLflow, or distributed compute platforms.
- Experience moving machine learning systems from experimentation into production, including model evaluation, monitoring, performance optimization, and cross-functional operationalization.
- Experience working with clinical datasets derived from EHR systems and related healthcare data sources.
- Clear communication skills and ability to deliver internal and external presentations, particularly to executive teams.
- Ability to work effectively with cross-functional teams and inform a data product roadmap.
- Ability to prioritize and manage multiple initiatives with high attention to detail.
Nice To Haves
- Familiarity with machine learning approaches for clinical imaging data.
Responsibilities
- Lead a team developing and operationalizing machine learning solutions for structured and unstructured healthcare data, including clinical text and imaging workflows.
- Guide the evaluation, fine-tuning, deployment, and monitoring of pretrained language models for healthcare applications.
- Help define technical strategy and development priorities for machine learning capabilities supporting Verana’s data products.
- Establish best practices for model lifecycle management, validation, reproducibility, explainability, and documentation.
- Partner with Product, Engineering, Medical, and Commercial teams to align technical solutions with scientific and business objectives.
- Drive high standards for data quality, model governance, and clinical relevance in production data products.
- Mentor and develop machine learning scientists and technical leaders across the organization.
Benefits
- Market-leading medical, dental, and vision insurance plans.
- 401(k) match.
- Flexible time off programs.
- Paid parental leave.
- Annual learning and wellness stipend.
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Senior
