Research Scientist 4 (biostatistics/health Services Research)

Research Scientist 4

The Research Scientist 4 will serve as the Assistant Director of the Bureau of Population Health. Under guidance from the Bureau Director, they will supervise and conduct a broad range of research, analysis, reporting, and evaluation activities within the Division of Data Strategy and Management (DSM) as well as managing the day-to-day activities of the Bureau.

Specific duties may include:

• Acting as a member of senior leadership of a bureau devoted to the reporting and analysis of complex Medicaid and OPWDD internal data, including providing technical expertise and daily management of the Bureau.
• Functioning as a full member of a research team, including taking a lead role in formulating and conducting research plans and project proposals that utilize sophisticated research and analytic techniques.
• Taking major responsibility for, and oversight of, projects with only occasional supervision.
• Assisting in identifying areas for research that will impact agency operations and conducts research independently.
• Monitoring project status and completion and preparing and supervising preparation of reports, ad hoc data requests, studies, dashboards, and other data products.
• Identifying and mitigating risks associated with all workplans, projects and activities, including ensuring proper allocation of resources.
• Day to day supervision, training, and management of supporting staff engaged in the execution of complex data extracts, routine data management and cleaning, and production of reports and provision of information to divisions across OPWDD and outside the agency.
• Assuming responsibility for management and supervision of junior Research Scientists, including supervising, allocating workload, ensuring training completion and certification, and verifying that time and attendance records are properly and timely maintained.
• Maintaining clear lines of communication with the Bureau Director and supporting Bureau Director activities as needed.
• Using a wide range of research methods, programs, and data sources to conduct descriptive and inferential analyses to support agency-wide initiatives related to Medicaid utilization, public health, service quality and outcomes. Data sources may include, but are not limited to: Medicaid data, enrollment data, fiscal data, case management records, survey data and data from other agencies and organizations. Programs include SAS (preferred), SPSS, SQL, and R.
• Collaborating with other research scientist and analytical staff across the Division and Agency on all phases of research to contribute to policy recommendations.
• Developing and executing new and/or highly complex algorithms and statistical predictive models and determining analytical approaches and modeling techniques to evaluate potential future outcomes.
• Establishing and modeling analytical rigor and effective use of statistical methods to analyze large amount of data, including using advanced statistical techniques and mathematical analyses.
• Managing analytical projects from data exploration, model building, performance evaluation, through implementation. Developing work plans and monitoring progress and project timelines for self and subordinates.
• Interacting with a multidisciplinary team of internal and external peers to communicate progress and outcomes of planned work regularly, effectively, and openly.
• Assisting in leading weekly team meetings to discuss team and project-related activities, issues, change, communications, and updates.
• Assisting in developing and evaluating key care quality and service delivery data and presenting findings to assist in assessment and development of related policies and procedures.
• Assisting in automating workflows, data cleaning, data extraction, and reporting to maximize efficiencies while maintaining quality.
• Working under broad supervision of the Bureau Director.

Telecommuting will be discussed at interview. Current policy requires at least half-time in office.

Bachelor's degree and five years of professional research experience in in public health, epidemiology, medicine, program evaluation, statistics, biostatistics, psychology, sociology, social science, economics, information science, or a related area. Substitution: Master's Degree in an appropriate field may substitute for one year of experience. Ph.D. in an appropriate field may substitute for an additional year of experience. Preferred Qualifications Strong statistical and data management skills. Project Management skills. Proficient in the use of data visualization tools such as Tableau and Power BI, with Tableau experience strongly preferred. Experience with SAS, SPSS, R and/or SQL (SAS experience preferred), Microsoft Excel, Word, and Power Point. Experience extracting, merging, and linking health care datasets, including Medicaid data, for the application of data visualization and advanced statistical analysis. Knowledge of statistical methods and their application for predictive analytics. Excellent communication and organizational skills. The ability to work independently as well as in a team environment.