Data Scientist

Overview

The Data Scientist will play a crucial role in advancing the CDC Foundation's mission by leveraging data to inform strategic decisions and initiatives in a public health organization. This role is aligned to the Workforce Acceleration Initiative (WAI). WAI is a federally funded CDC Foundation program with the goal of helping the nation’s public health agencies by providing them with the technology and data experts they need to accelerate their information system improvements.

Working within the City of Worcester Division of Public Health Office of Data, Research, Epidemiology, and Innovation, the Data Scientist will utilize advanced analytics, statistical techniques, and machine learning algorithms to derive insights that support public health operations, planning and policy. This position is designed to augment existing public health data leadership and systems to not operate independently of established governance or analytic workflows.

The Data Scientist will be hired by the CDC Foundation and assigned to the City of Worcester Division of Public Health Office of Data, Research, Epidemiology, and Innovation. This position is eligible for a fully remote work arrangement for U.S. based candidates.

Responsibilities

• Collaborate with the public health staff and its partners to understand their data needs and objectives in aligning analytics with existing data governance, supporting data modernization and interoperability efforts, and ensuring consistency with established analytic standards and best practices.[GU3] 
• Develop, implement, improve, and maintain analytic and visualization tools that support public health decision-making.
• Analyze complex public health datasets to identify trends, patterns, disparities, and performance indicators.
• Apply statistical methods and machine learning methods to support forecasting, risk assessment, and program evaluation to extract actionable insights.
  • Continuously optimize algorithms for enhanced accuracy and performance.
  • Create compelling visualizations and reports to communicate findings to partners and decision-makers.
  • Present data-driven insights in a clear and understandable manner to facilitate informed decision-making.
  • Provide data-driven support and guidance to inform public health policies and initiatives.
  • Support documentation, reproducibility, and knowledge transfer to internal staff to build long-term capacity.
  • Stay abreast of emerging trends, technologies, and methodologies in data science and analytics.
  • Explore innovative approaches to address complex public health challenges and improve data analysis capabilities.
  • Contribute analytic support to quality improvement initiatives and workforce development priorities identified by WDPH leadership.
  • May develop predictive models to anticipate disease patterns, assess risk factors, and guide intervention strategies.

Qualifications 

Required:

• Bachelor’s degree or higher in Data Science, Statistics, Epidemiology, or related field. Master’s or PhD in related field preferred.
• Minimum 5 years of relevant professional experience in applied data science, analytics, or informatics roles, preferably within public health, healthcare, government, or mission-driven environments.
• Demonstrated experience supporting data modernization or system-building initiatives including data integration and standardization across multiple source systems.
• Experience with data manipulation and analysis tools (e.g., SAS, STATA, SPSS, R).
• Experience with data visualization tools (e.g., ARCGis, Power BI).
• Experience developing data driven dashboards or analytic products that support operational decision-making.
• Strong analytical thinking and problem-solving abilities.
• Ability to interpret complex datasets and derive meaningful insights.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
• Ability to convey technical concepts to non-technical partners effectively.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite.
• Up to 10% domestic travel may be required. 

Preferred Qualifications:

• Professional certifications in data science, machine learning, or public health analytics preferred.
• Flexibility to adapt to evolving project requirements and priorities.
• Knowledge of machine learning frameworks.
• Outstanding interpersonal and teamwork skills; collegial; energetic; and able to develop productive relationships with colleagues, partners, and partners.
• Demonstrated ability to work well independently and within teams.
• Experience working in a virtual environment with remote partners and teams.
• Ability to document business practices and workflows, identify opportunities for improvement, support process improvement, discover issues and deliver improved value.
• Ability to effectively communicate insights and plans to cross-functional team members and management.
• Experience using data to make decisions, gathering data insights by design to improve outcomes.

Job Highlights

• Location: Remote, must be based in the United States, Up to 10% domestic travel may be required
• Salary Range: $92,700-$134,275 per year, plus benefits. Individual salary offers will be based on experience and qualifications unique to each candidate. 
• Position Type: Grant funded, limited-term opportunity
• Position End Date: June 30, 2027
   

Special Notes

This role is involved in a dynamic public health program. As such, roles and responsibilities are subject to change as situations evolve. Roles and responsibilities listed above may be expanded upon or updated to match priorities and needs, once written approval is received by the CDC Foundation in order to best support the public health programming.

The CDC Foundation is a smoke-free environment.

Relocation expenses are not included

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment and will not be discriminated against on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, mental or physical disabilities, veteran status, and all other characteristics protected by law. 

We comply with all applicable laws including E.O. 11246 and the Vietnam Era Readjustment Assistance Act of 1974 governing employment practices and do not discriminate on the basis of any unlawful criteria in accordance with 41 C.F.R. §§ 60-300.5(a)(12) and 60-741.5(a)(7). As a federal government contractor, we take affirmative action on behalf of protected veterans.

About the CDC Foundation

The CDC Foundation helps CDC save and improve lives by unleashing the power of collaboration between CDC, philanthropies, corporations, organizations and individuals to protect the health, safety and security of America and the world. The CDC Foundation is the go-to nonprofit authorized by Congress to mobilize philanthropic partners and private-sector resources to support CDC’s critical health protection mission. The CDC Foundation manages hundreds of programs each year impacting a variety of health threats from chronic disease conditions including cardiovascular disease and cancer, to infectious diseases like rotavirus and HIV, to emergency responses, including COVID-19 and Ebola. Visit www.cdcfoundation.org for more information.