AI Strategy & Data Architecture Leader

MAHEC; Asheville (NC); On-site; USD 80,000 - 98,000; Full time

Job summary

MAHEC is seeking an Enterprise Data Architect & AI Readiness Lead to own our data architecture and guide AI adoption. You will shape the strategic roadmap, establish governance, and drive data quality across clinical, operational, and financial systems.

Based in Asheville, NC, the role demands experience with Synapse/Azure, BI layers, and AI strategy, ensuring data integrity, privacy, and patient safety in a healthcare setting.

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 at an architectural level.
• Experience with BI platforms and their underlying data layers; Qlik Sense experience strongly preferred.
• Direct experience developing or implementing AI/ML strategy in an organizational context.
• Understanding AI limitations, bias risks, and data privacy in healthcare contexts.

Responsibilities

• 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 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
• 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
• Serve as 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

Skills

Data architecture

Data governance

AI strategy

Cloud data platforms

BI/data modeling

Vendor management

Education

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

Tools

Microsoft Azure

Synapse Analytics

Qlik Sense

Job description

MAHEC is seeking an Enterprise Data Architect & AI Readiness Lead to own our data architecture and guide AI adoption. You will shape the strategic roadmap, establish governance, and drive data quality across clinical, operational, and financial systems.

Based in Asheville, NC, the role demands experience with Synapse/Azure, BI layers, and AI strategy, ensuring data integrity, privacy, and patient safety in a healthcare setting.