Applied Scientist III

Garner Health; New York (NY); On-site; USD 236,000 - 260,000; Full time

Job summary

Garner Health is hiring a Senior Applied Scientist to design, develop, and deploy algorithmic systems powering our healthcare products. You will translate real-world constraints into objective-driven solutions and shape the metrics that judge success.

You’ll own high-stakes problems end-to-end, frame tradeoffs, and build scalable models from ML to optimization, collaborating with cross-functional teams to advance Garner’s mission to improve care and lower costs.

Qualifications

• 4+ years in Applied Science/ML roles or 2+ years with advanced degree (PhD preferred).
• Ability to translate ideas into working prototypes quickly.
• Strong judgment in selecting modeling approaches and evaluating results.

Responsibilities

• Own the most ambiguous, high-stakes problems end-to-end.
• Frame real-world constraints into clear objectives and tradeoffs.
• Define metrics to judge solution success and validate before shipping.
• Choose methods from ML, optimization, heuristics, or simple rules as needed.
• Find novel ways to frame and solve tough problems.
• Set quality bar by reviewing peers’ work and building evaluation tooling.
• Build deep understanding of the healthcare economy and Garner’s role in it.

Skills

Strong communication

Problem solving

Bias toward action

Prototype mentality

Data fluency

Education

PhD preferred

Tools

Python

SQL

AWS

Snowflake

pandas

XGBoost

PyTorch

HuggingFace

Job description

What you'll be part of

Garner is on a mission to transform the U.S. healthcare system — and we're the only proven player doing exactly that. We partner with employers to redesign how healthcare works: applying 550+ proprietary clinical metrics across 80+ specialties to a dataset of 320M+ patients to identify the best-performing doctors, then using compelling incentives to steer members to the care that helps them get healthier, faster. The result is a rare “win win” — better care and lower costs for both members and employers. In just five years, our work has helped over 2.5 million people access higher-quality care and saved $1B in healthcare costs. We recently raised our Series E and have doubled five years running. If you've ever wanted your work to solve a problem that touches every person in this country, this is the opportunity to do exactly that. You'd be joining a team fundamentally reimagining healthcare in the U.S. — and using AI to scale that impact further and faster than anyone else can.

About the Role

We are seeking an exceptional Senior Applied Scientist to join our Applied Science team. In this role, you will design, develop, and deploy the algorithmic systems that power Garner’s products and drive meaningful impact for our members. Our members rely on us to answer hard questions — Which doctor should I see? What will it cost? When should we reach out, and how? — and the quality of those answers is determined by the algorithms behind them.

What you will do

• Own the most ambiguous, high-stakes problems on the team end-to-end, and serve as a technical resource others rely on
• Frame messy, real-world healthcare and business constraints into clear objectives, tradeoffs, and decision frameworks
• Define the set of metrics needed to judge whether a solution is working, and validate solutions before they ship
• Choose the right approach for each problem, from machine learning to optimization to heuristics to simple rules, based on what the problem actually calls for
• Find novel ways to frame and solve the team’s hardest problems, proving out approaches that others build on
• Set the bar for quality by reviewing others’ work with rigor, and build the standards and evaluation tooling the team relies on
• Build a deep understanding of the healthcare economy and Garner’s place in it

To make the role concrete, here are three problems on our near‑term roadmap

• Provider tiering optimization. Build a tiering algorithm that jointly optimizes geographic access and total-cost-of-care savings across our doctor network. The objective function, constraints, and tradeoff surface are all open design questions.
• AI primary care doctor. Fine‑tune and productionize an LLM‑based primary care experience on our website, including the evaluation harness, guardrails, and ongoing quality monitoring needed to ship a medical‑adjacent product safely.
• Member engagement model. Build an ML system that ingests claims data and in‑app behavior to choose the right channel and moment for each touchpoint — SMS, push, phone, or email — to influence member behavior toward better‑quality, lower‑cost care.

What we’re looking for

• 4+ years of industry experience as an Applied Scientist, Machine Learning Engineer, Research Scientist, or equivalent; or 2+ years of industry experience with a relevant advanced degree, PhDs preferred
• A bias toward action, quickly translating ideas into working prototypes to test approaches
• Strong applied problem‑solving skills, with the ability to define good metrics and then deliver solutions that improve them
• Deep technical range, with fluency across Garner’s data and a habit of staying current with advances in the field
• Strong judgment in choosing between statistical models, heuristics, optimization approaches, and simpler algorithmic methods depending on the problem
• Strong communication skills and the ability to synthesize complex algorithmic ideas for senior and external stakeholders, and to secure buy‑in for cross‑team work
• A desire to be a part of a high‑performing, mission‑driven team that operates with urgency, a strong sense of individual accountability, and a commitment to authentic feedback

What you’ll get here

You’ll work on problems that matter, at a company working to change healthcare at scale. You’ll work at the intersection of AI and systemic healthcare reform, where the problems we solve are as interesting and compelling as the mission. At Garner, you’ll take on real, ambitious problems with real ownership and autonomy, alongside exceptional, principles-based people who genuinely want you to win. It’s demanding by design. You’ll be challenged to stretch beyond what you thought possible and receive consistent coaching to help you grow and do the best work of your career. This isn’t the right fit for everyone, and that’s intentional. The people here are driven by what’s at stake for real people, and that’s what gives our intensity its purpose.

Technologies we use

• Python, SQL, AWS, Snowflake, pandas, XGBoost, PyTorch, HuggingFace, modern LLM tooling and eval frameworks. We pick tools based on the problem, not the resume — bring your judgment.

Compensation Transparency

The target base comp range for this position is $236,000 – $260,000. Individual compensation for this role will depend on various factors, including qualifications, skills, and applicable laws. In addition to base compensation, this role is eligible to participate in our equity incentive and competitive benefits plans, including but not limited to: flexible PTO, Medical/Dental/Vision plan options, 401(k) with company match, flexible spending accounts, Teladoc Health and more.

Equal Employment Opportunity

Garner Health is proud to be an Equal Employment Opportunity employer and values diversity in the workplace. We do not discriminate based upon race, religion, color, national origin, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, reproductive health decisions, or related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, status as a protected veteran, status as an individual with a disability, genetic information, political views or activity, or other applicable legally protected characteristics. Garner Health is committed to providing accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities in our recruiting process. If you need assistance or an accommodation due to a disability, you may contact us at [e-mail].