Data Scientist (Remote Eligible)

Data Scientist (Remote Eligible)

About Mathematica:
Mathematica applies expertise at the intersection of data, methods, policy, and practice to improve well-being around the world. We collaborate closely with public- and private-sector partners to translate big questions into deep insights that improve programs, refine strategies, and enhance understanding using data science and analytics. Our work yields actionable information to guide decisions in wide-ranging policy areas, from health, education, early childhood, and family support to nutrition, employment, disability, and international development. Mathematica offers our employees competitive salaries, and a comprehensive benefits package, as well as the advantages of being 100 percent employee owned. As an employee stock owner, you will experience financial benefits of ESOP holdings that have increased in tandem with the company's growth and financial strength. You will also be part of an independent, employee-owned firm that is able to define and further our mission, enhance our quality and accountability, and steadily grow our financial strength. Read more about our benefits here: https://www.mathematica.org/career-opportunities/benefits-at-a-glance.

Primary Duties and Responsibilities:

Mathematica applies expertise at the intersection of data, methods,
policy, and practice to improve well-being around the world. We collaborate
closely with public- and private-sector partners to translate big questions
into deep insights that improve programs, refine strategies, and enhance
understanding. Our work yields actionable information to guide decisions in
wide-ranging policy areas, from health, education, early childhood, and family
support to nutrition, employment, disability, and international development. Mathematica
offers our employees competitive salaries, and a comprehensive benefits
package, as well as the advantages of being 100 percent employee owned. As an
employee stock owner, you will experience financial benefits of ESOP holdings
that have increased in tandem with the company's growth and financial strength.
You will also be part of an independent, employee-owned firm that is able to
define and further our mission, enhance our quality and accountability, and
steadily grow our financial strength. Learn more about our benefits here.

At
Mathematica, we take pride in our commitment to diversity. Building an
inclusive culture that draws on the individual strengths of employees from
different ethnic backgrounds, cultures, lifestyles, abilities, and experience
is key to our success.

We are
looking for a Data Scientist who will derive meaning from data through
the creation and deployment of data-driven approaches to solve problems and
answer important policy questions for clients. A Data Scientist owns data
processing and analysis tasks and supports more senior level data science staff
in implementing statistical, machine learning, generative AI, and other data
science methods for use in research reports, internal systems, or client
systems. Data Scientists will work on all aspects of the data science project life
cycle, including understanding client needs, building data pipelines,
monitoring data quality, developing documentation, creating visualizations,
brainstorming modeling approaches, and implementing those models. Our data
scientists underpin our company's core offerings in program improvement, policy
assessment, and data science, which yield crucial evidence and information for
policy and decision makers. This
position will work remotely or flexibly in one of our office locations.

The ideal
candidate for this open Data Science position has a strong interest in applying
their skills to healthcare and a strong statistical background in causal
inference and supporting methodologies such as imputation, matching,
weighting, regression, quasi-experimental methods, and synthetic-comparison
methods, among others. In addition to the required technical skills below, our
healthcare-focused data scientists strongly benefit from additional knowledge
of SQL or Scala, experience with big data analysis platforms such as Databricks
or Snowflake, and familiarity with healthcare datasets such as Medicare or
Medicaid claims and enrollment data and electronic medical records.

Example
projects include:

• Evaluate and monitor the impacts of an alternative payment model for primary care in terms of care quality, cost, and health outcomes for diverse beneficiaries, using claims from thousands of primary care practices across the country. Use the same data to predict future hospital costs and behavior.
• Develop and evaluate a reproducible benchmarking pipeline to compare state healthcare spending against peer markets nationwide, harmonizing multi-source claims and Census data, applying statistical matching to select comparable regions, and normalizing spending through risk-adjusted regression models to support state rate-setting decisions.
• Build
  and evaluate interpretable machine learning models to predict clinical care
  tiers from health assessment data, supporting state healthcare program's
  transition to a new assessment tool. Partner with subject-matter experts to
  engineer clinically meaningful features from raw assessment items and apply
  stratified sampling and diagnostics to deliver transparent models suited to
  high-stakes eligibility and reimbursement decisions

Specifically,
this Data Scientist contributes to team-based projects by:

• Conducting
  causal, predictive, and descriptive analyses
• Writing
  and maintaining programming systems in languages such as Python and R to build
  and evaluate models
• Developing
  reliable data pipelines to obtain, combine, and transform datasets on
  cloud, internal, and client servers
• Communicating
  technical results to diverse stakeholders including clients and cross-functional
  teams
• Developing
  and maintaining technical and methodological documentation
• Co-developing
  analysis plans with a senior data scientist or researcher
• Leading
  and managing small teams and tasks with oversight from a more senior staff
  member

Required Qualifications:

• Master's degree in a technical field such
  as statistics, econometrics, data science, data analytics, mathematics,
  operations research, computer science, and/or social science; equivalent
  years of experience can be substituted
• Demonstrated
  interest and/or experience using data science and/or statistics to
  contribute to projects with a policy/social impact in academic and/or
  professional settings
• Experience
  applying generative AI programmatically to extract insights from unstructured
  data, construct new features for analysis, or as a part of a larger systematic
  analysis
• Experience
  executing causal, predictive, and descriptive data science and statistics
  techniques including regression modeling, machine learning algorithms,
  network analysis, or natural language processing
• At least
  three years of experience performing data cleaning and analysis using
  programming languages such as R, Python, or Julia in the academic,
  extra-curricular, or professional environment
• Experience
  increasing personal efficiency by incorporating AI into the code
  development process.
• Ability
  and desire to work independently and take initiative as part of an
  interdisciplinary team that may be geographically dispersed. This includes
  being able to learn from resources such as academic articles, white
  papers, self-guided tutorials, and package documentation and willingness
  to constantly learn and contribute to knowledge sharing with team members
• Experience
  with reproducible research principles, version control, interactive
  visualizations, and common packages/libraries for supporting data science
  work in R, Python, and/or Julia (e.g., tidyverse, data.table, R Shiny, R
  Markdown, pandas, polars, NumPy, scikit-learn, MLJ.jl, DataFrames.jl,
  and/or Makie.jl)
• Desired
  but not required: production-quality machine learning applications, cloud
  computing environments (e.g. AWS), and algorithmic fairness and ethics

This position
offers an anticipated annual base salary range of $78,000- $100,000. To apply,
please submit a cover letter, resume, code samples, and salary expectations.

Staff in our Data
Solutions division will eventually work with some of our largest clients,
including the Centers for Medicaid & Medicare Services (CMS) and other
agencies. Most staff working on these contracts will be required to complete a
successful background investigation including the Questionnaire for Public
Trust Position SF-85 (https://www.opm.gov/forms/pdf_fill/sf85p.pdf). Staff that
are unable to successfully undergo the background investigation will need to be
able to obtain work outside these contracts. Staff will work with their
supervisor to get re-staffed, however if they are unable to do so it may result
in employment termination due to lack of work.

STAFFING
AGENCIES AND THIRD-PARTY RECRUITERS: Mathematica does not accept candidates for this role or any
technical role from staffing agencies or third-party recruiters. Please do not
contact technical or senior staff at Mathematica or share unsolicited resumes.
All agency inquiries go through the talent acquisition team and will be routed
accordingly.

At
Mathematica, we recognize that AI can be a valuable tool in many aspects of
work. However, for your interview(s), we ask that you do not use AI or
receive assistance from external sources. Our
interviews are designed to help us understand how you think through complex
problems, communicate your ideas, ask questions, and collaborate in real time.
We want to learn about your unique approach and experience through a natural
conversation that reflects how we work together in real scenarios at Mathematica. If you choose
to use AI or require it as part of accommodation, we ask that disclose this
before the discussion. If you do not disclose the use of AI, the interview team
will consider this as they evaluate your candidacy. If you have any questions
about these expectations or how to prepare, please reach out to your Talent
Acquisition Specialist.

We are an Equal Opportunity Employer and do not discriminate against any employee or applicant for employment because of race, color, sex, age, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, status as a veteran, and basis of disability or any other federal, state or local protected class.

At Mathematica, we understand the importance of building relationships with colleagues. If you're not located near one of our offices but would like opportunities to meet up with co-workers, we offer coworking spaces where available. Ask your Talent Acquisition partner for more information about this opportunity and whether it's an option in your area.

Any offer of employment will be contingent upon passing a background check. Various federal agencies with whom we contract require that staff successfully undergo security clearance as a condition of working on the project. If you are assigned to such a project, you will be required to obtain the requisite security clearance. Additionally, if you participate in/complete the application process and are denied, Mathematica may choose to terminate your employment.

We take pride in our employees and in their commitment to excellence. We encourage staff to collaborate in developing creative solutions to difficult problems and to share the responsibility and enjoyment of carrying out complex projects. This collegial spirit has helped us earn our reputation for innovative and high quality work.