Chief Data Officer - (Job ID 3419)

Kanini; Nashville (TN); On-site; USD 200,000 - 350,000; Full time

Job summary

KANINI seeks a visionary Chief Data Officer to lead enterprise data strategy, cloud modernization, governance, and AI-enabled transformation across payer, provider and health-tech sectors.

The role requires building scalable data platforms, ensuring HIPAA/HITECH compliance, and driving measurable business outcomes through data and AI initiatives.

Qualifications

• Extensive enterprise data leadership experience
• Healthcare data ecosystems experience
• Leadership of global data teams
• Cloud data platforms and Lakehouse expertise
• AI/ML strategy and production deployment
• Agentic AI understanding and orchestration

Responsibilities

• Define and drive the enterprise data strategy, roadmap and operating model.
• Lead distributed data engineering, architecture, analytics and data science teams.
• Manage P&L, budgets, and investments across data initiatives.
• Establish data governance, quality, metadata, master data and stewardship frameworks.
• Drive data initiatives across payer, provider, clinical ops and value-based care.
• Ensure HIPAA/HITECH compliance and data privacy and security.
• Lead cloud data architecture and modernization, platform migrations and optimization.
• Define AI/ML strategy and integrate AI capabilities into workflows.
• Establish responsible AI practices: governance, explainability, monitoring, privacy, risk management.
• Advance DevOps, DataOps, MLOps and CI/CD for data/AI solutions.
• Align data initiatives with business value and capture KPIs and dashboards.

Job description

Job Description

We are seeking an accomplished and visionary

Job Description

We are seeking an accomplished and visionary Chief Data Officer to lead our enterprise-wide data strategy, cloud data modernization, governance, and AI-driven transformation initiatives. The ideal candidate will bring a strong blend of strategic leadership, technical expertise, and business acumen to build scalable, secure, and intelligent data ecosystems that drive measurable business outcomes across healthcare operations.

The Chief Data Officer will partner closely with C-suite executives and business leaders to establish a data-driven culture, modernize data platforms, strengthen data governance, and leverage advanced analytics, AI/ML, and agentic AI capabilities to improve clinical and operational efficiency, support value-based care, and enable better decision-making across payer, provider, and health-tech environments.

Key Responsibilities

• Enterprise Data Strategy & Leadership
• Define and execute the enterprise-wide data strategy, roadmap, and operating model aligned with organizational objectives.
• Lead and scale high-performing, globally distributed data engineering, architecture, analytics, and data science teams.
• Manage P&L responsibilities, resource planning, budgets, and strategic investments across data initiatives.
• Establish enterprise data governance, data quality, metadata management, master data management, and data stewardship frameworks.
• Healthcare Data & Regulatory Compliance
• Drive data initiatives across healthcare ecosystems, including payer, provider, clinical operations, claims, and value-based care. Ensure compliance with HIPAA and HITECH regulations, healthcare data privacy, security, and applicable regulatory requirements.
• Cloud Data Architecture & Modernization
• Lead the design and implementation of scalable, secure, and high-performance cloud data platforms, including hands-on experience with Lakehouse architecture.
• Drive cloud modernization, data platform migration, and optimization initiatives across enterprise environments.
• AI, Machine Learning & Agentic AI
• Define and execute the AI/ML strategy, integrating advanced analytics and AI capabilities into healthcare and business workflows.
• Establish responsible AI practices covering model governance, explainability, monitoring, privacy, and risk management.
• DevOps, DataOps & Operational Excellence
• Drive DevOps, DataOps, MLOps, and CI/CD practices to accelerate the deployment and maintenance of data and AI solutions.
• Business Value & Stakeholder Management
• Align enterprise data initiatives with business priorities and measurable outcomes.
• Establish KPIs and executive dashboards to track data quality, platform performance, AI adoption, cost efficiency, and business value.

Required Qualifications & Experience

• Extensive experience in enterprise data leadership, data strategy, data architecture, and large-scale digital transformation, preferably in a Chief Data Officer, VP of Data, Head of Data, or equivalent senior leadership role.
• Mandatory healthcare industry experience across payer, provider, health-tech, healthcare services, or related healthcare data ecosystems.
• Proven experience building and leading high-performing, globally distributed data and analytics organizations.
• Strong expertise in cloud data platforms, Lakehouse architecture, data engineering, enterprise integration, and cloud modernization.
• Demonstrated experience taking AI/ML solutions from strategy and experimentation through production deployment.
• Practical understanding of agentic AI, AI agents, reasoning models, and autonomous workflow orchestration.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience driving data transformation across large, complex, or multinational healthcare organizations.