AI & Data Architect

Mountain Area Health Education Center; Asheville (NC); On-site; USD 76,000 - 103,000; Full time

Job summary

Mountain Area Health Education Center seeks an Enterprise Data Architect & AI Readiness Lead to oversee MAHEC's data architecture, governance, and AI strategy. You will own the data warehouse, integration patterns, and data lineage, while shaping the roadmap for AI adoption aligned with MAHEC's mission.

You will drive data standards, governance, and risk assessment, ensuring AI tools are evaluated with bias mitigation and patient safety in mind.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of progressive experience in data architecture, data engineering, or enterprise data management.
• Hands-on proficiency with modern cloud data platforms (Azure / Synapse) and data modeling.
• Experience with BI platforms and their underlying data layers; Qlik Sense QVD architecture and data modeling experience strongly preferred.
• Experience developing or implementing AI/ML strategy in an organizational context — including governance, DUAs/BAAs, and data residency terms.

Responsibilities

• Own the design, documentation, and continuous improvement of MAHEC's enterprise data architecture, including the Synapse data warehouse, integration patterns, and data lineage across source systems.
• Establish and enforce data standards, naming conventions, and schema governance for AI-ready data.
• Lead data quality assessment and remediation with monitoring systems to surface issues before analytics outputs or AI inputs.
• Manage and govern external data partnerships and integrations with provenance tracking.
• Serve as the primary technical author of MAHEC's data architecture documentation: ER diagrams, data dictionaries, integration maps, and lineage.
• Develop and maintain MAHEC's organizational AI strategy and governance framework.

Skills

Data architecture

Data governance

Communication skills

AI strategy

Education

Master's degree in computer science, data science, information systems, health informatics, or a closely related field

Tools

Azure / Synapse Analytics

Qlik Sense

Data lineage tooling

Job description

JOB SUMMARY

MAHEC's ability to adopt artificial intelligence responsibly and effectively is not just a technology imperative — it is a data imperative, rooted in the people, processes, and systems that produce and govern the data lifecycle. AI tools are only as reliable as the data that underlies them, and in a community health center context, unreliable data carries direct patient safety and privacy implications. The Enterprise Data Architect & AI Readiness Lead owns both sides of that equation. This person is responsible for the architectural integrity of MAHEC's enterprise data systems and for developing the strategic roadmap that guides how the organization evaluates, adopts, and governs artificial intelligence. These two functions are intentionally held in the same role — because decisions about AI adoption and decisions about data architecture are not separable, and treating them as such creates exactly the gaps this role is designed to prevent. This is MAHEC's primary internal authority on enterprise data architecture and AI strategy. The role carries real technical accountability for the quality and trustworthiness of our data, and real strategic accountability for how the organization engages a rapidly evolving AI landscape — with intention, rigor, and fidelity to our mission.

SPECIFIC RESPONSIBILITIES

Data Architecture & Integrity

• Own the design, documentation, and continuous improvement of MAHEC's enterprise data architecture, including the Microsoft Synapse data warehouse, integration patterns, and data lineage across clinical, operational, and financial source systems
• Establish and enforce data standards, naming conventions, and schema governance that ensure data is consistent, auditable, and AI-ready across the enterprise
• Lead data quality assessment and remediation efforts, developing monitoring systems that surface structural issues before they propagate into analytics outputs or AI model inputs
• Manage and govern external data partnerships and integrations, including population health partnerships, ensuring that inbound and outbound data is properly documented, validated, and integrated with appropriate provenance tracking
• Serve as the primary technical author of MAHEC's data architecture documentation: entity relationship diagrams, data dictionaries, integration maps, and lineage documentation

AI Strategy & Governance

• Develop and maintain MAHEC's organizational AI strategy, including a phased adoption roadmap calibrated to MAHEC's data maturity, operational context, and mission commitments
• Establish an AI governance framework including vendor evaluation criteria, risk assessment protocols, acceptable use policies, and ongoing monitoring standards appropriate to a federally qualified health center environment
• Lead evaluation and piloting of AI tools across clinical and administrative contexts, with explicit attention to bias, fidelity, and patient safety; ensure that all new product evaluations include review and negotiation of data use agreements (DUAs), business associate agreements (BAAs), and data residency and retention terms before any organizational commitment is made
• Serve as MAHEC's primary liaison to AI vendors and technology partners, translating organizational data architecture into implementation requirements and holding vendors accountable to data standards and governance commitments
• Maintain active awareness of the evolving AI regulatory and policy landscape and translate emerging requirements into organizational practice

Data Governance

• Serve as a core technical leader within MAHEC's Data & Analytics Governance Committee translating governance policy into architectural and operational practice
• Lead the technical dimension of data stewardship: ensuring that governance decisions about data ownership, access classification, and retention are implemented in the architecture — not just documented on paper
• Partner with clinical, operational and research leadership to mature the governance framework from its founding phase into a durable institutional capability with clear accountability structures
• Develop governance standards specifically applicable to AI: input data documentation, model versioning, output auditing, and decommissioning protocols that ensure AI tools remain accountable throughout their lifecycle

KEY COMPETENCIES

HealthCare Knowledge

Having the drive to keep yourself abreast and up to date on the new breakthroughs in your area of expertise and communicating them to the rest of the team, as appropriate. This also includes keeping up with your licensure and yearly training requirements within your area expertise along with MAHEC’s organizational training. Finally, the ability to apply the depth of knowledge maintained and gained through this process in real life scenarios as appropriate.

Interpersonal Skills

Showing the ability to meet difficult situations with grace, professionalism, and understanding. Within your area of expertise, showing respect and showing empathy where appropriate with your colleagues, patients, and their family at all times, even when its most difficult to do so. This is done, in part, by effective listening, being your authentic self, showing responsibility and dependability, and being patient with others.

Organizational Values

Adherence to MAHEC’s founding principles and incorporating them every day. This includes, among others, having integrity and accountability, reverence for other cultures and equitable practices, ability to manage change, and displaying a clear understanding of organizational dynamics. Doing these things creates a culture where people want to do the best for each other and gives personal ownership towards the goal of helping people in their time of need.

PHYSICAL DEMANDS

Light - Moderate energy level: Lift and carry 25 - 35 lbs.

EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE

Required 5+ years of progressive experience in data architecture, data engineering, or enterprise data management, with demonstrated ownership of a complex, multi-source data environment

Hands‑on proficiency with modern cloud data platforms (Microsoft Azure / Synapse Analytics strongly preferred); ability to reason about data models, schemas, and integration patterns at an architectural level

Experience with BI platforms and their underlying data layers; Qlik Sense QVD architecture and data modeling experience strongly preferred

Direct experience developing or implementing AI/ML strategy in an organizational context — meaning you have evaluated vendors, written governance frameworks, or led pilots

Demonstrated understanding of AI limitations, failure modes, and bias risks — particularly in contexts where the underlying data is incomplete or clinically sensitive; the ability to be AI-critical, not just AI-enthusiastic, is non-negotiable given MAHEC's patient safety and privacy commitments

Experience with data governance frameworks: data classification, stewardship models, access controls, and the operational work of turning governance policy into architectural practice

Strong written and verbal communication skills; able to produce a technical architecture document and a leadership-facing strategy memo in the same week

Strongly Preferred Experience in healthcare, public health, FQHC, or social sector data environments; familiarity with HL7/FHIR, EHR data structures, or clinical quality measure data is a meaningful differentiator

Experience managing external data partnerships and integrations (ADT/HIE feeds, state and federal data exchanges, population health data aggregators)

Exposure to federal reporting environments (UDS, eCQMs, HEDIS) where data precision carries regulatory and reputational consequences

Working knowledge of metadata management, data cataloging tools, or master data management practices

Master's degree in computer science, data science, information systems, health informatics, or a closely related field preferred

SCHEDULE

Regular attendance on-site is an essential function of this position. Typical business hours are Monday – Friday, 8:00 am to 5:00 pm (or flexed to best meet the needs of the clients and/or the Division); 40 hours per workweek; weekend, holiday, or evening coverage is occasionally required. Work hours will need to be flexible in order to respond to special work assignments, or evening activities, as requested by the team leader. The employee must live within a reasonable daily commuting distance to MAHEC IT Business Offices (Asheville, NC) by or before the first day of work.

COMPENSATION

$89,200 annually (exempt) + MAHEC Total Rewards Package

MAHEC does not provide employment-based US visa sponsorship, now or in the future. All new employees must provide valid, original I-9 documents on their first day of work and must be independently eligible to work in the United States. At MAHEC, we strive to equip all team members with Total Rewards (pay + benefits) to honor their service, support their health, manage their financial security, build their career, and thrive. MAHEC is a qualifying employer for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) Program. Employees who meet federal requirements may be eligible to have remaining student loan balances forgiven after 10 years of qualifying payments while working full-time at MAHEC.

Other Information

All MAHEC employees and learners will be required to receive the Flu vaccine or have an approved exemption. MAHEC Talent Management is located at 121 Hendersonville Road, Asheville, NC 28803. Equal Opportunity Employer. Thank you for your interest in employment with Mountain Area Health Education Center in Asheville, NC, where we are committed to improving health in western North Carolina through innovative health professions education and compassionate healthcare. MAHEC was established in 1974 to improve training and retention of healthcare professionals across our region. We are dedicated to excellence in clinical care, health professions education, and innovative practices that can be replicated nationally. The largest of the nine state AHEC's, MAHEC serves NC's 16 westernmost counties to address national and state concerns with the supply, retention, and quality of health professionals especially in rural areas.