Director, Applied Science

Garner Health; New York (NY); Hybrid; USD 439,000 - 460,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Flexible PTO

Medical/Dental/Vision plan options

401(k)

Equity incentive

Job summary

Garner Health in New York City leads the transformation of U.S. healthcare through data-driven doctor rankings and enterprise data platforms. You will head Garner Health Intelligence, overseeing a team of scientists, researchers, and product managers, setting technical direction and aligning with commercial goals.

You will own production systems end-to-end, deliver high-quality outcomes, and partner with cross-functional leaders to scale impact across healthcare providers and payers.

Qualifications

• This role requires 7+ years in applied science or related fields with hands-on algorithmic work.
• Experience running an algorithms-driven organization as a business leader.
• Proven management experience scaling technical teams and managing managers.
• Strong quantitative problem-solving with definitive metrics and standards.
• Credible technical authority to lead scientists and engineers.
• Judgment to choose appropriate modeling methods and investments.
• Executive communication to align across leadership and board.

Responsibilities

• Lead a team of applied scientists and clinical researchers to build and evolve doctor-ranking algorithms.
• Own the roadmap and standards for Garner Health Intelligence (GHI).
• Build and develop the GHI organization across Applied Science, Clinical Research, and Garner Insights.
• Be accountable for business results of GHI, including healthcare cost/quality improvements and Garner Insights performance.
• Direct the team on objective functions, tradeoffs, and decision frameworks.
• Decide investments across ML, optimization, heuristics, or simpler methods to move the company forward.
• Partner with executives and cross-functional leaders to align GHI with strategy.
• Represent Garner Health's data strategy at internal and external leadership levels.

Skills

Applied Science Leadership

Quantitative Research

Machine Learning

Team Management

Executive Communication

Strategic Thinking

Healthcare Data

Education

Advanced degree in a quantitative field

Tools

Python

SQL

AWS

Snowflake

pandas

XGBoost

PyTorch

HuggingFace

LLM tooling

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 Director of Applied Science to lead Garner Health Intelligence (GHI). The backbone of all of Garner’s products, GHI is responsible for Garner’s best-in-class doctor rankings across every medical subspecialty, as well as other foundational data assets. GHI is also the product owner of Garner Insights, the enterprise data platform that we sell to healthcare providers. Our members and customers rely on this work to answer hard questions: Which doctors are truly high quality? What will their care cost? Which providers are driving poor outcomes in a given network? The quality of those answers is determined by the algorithms your team builds.

This is not an Applied Science function charged with advising the business; you will own the business. You will set the technical direction, build and develop a world-class team, own the production systems end-to-end, and answer for both the outcomes and the commercial results they drive. You’ll manage a team of applied scientists, clinical researchers, and product managers, and will work closely with data and ML Ops engineering. The closest analog outside healthcare is the head of a quantitative trading group at a top hedge fund — someone who has done the work themselves and has since built and led the organization that does it at scale.

Where you will work:

This role will be based in our New York City office (in the Financial District). You must be willing to work in the office 3 days per week on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

What you will do:

• Lead a team of applied scientists and clinical researchers to build and evolve Garner’s foundational doctor-ranking and other doctor categorization algorithms
• Own the roadmap and standards for Garner Health Intelligence
• Build, lead, and develop the GHI organization across Applied Science, Clinical Research, and Garner Insights, hiring and growing both ICs and managers
• Be accountable for the business results of GHI, including the success of our rankings in improving healthcare cost and quality, as well as the commercial performance of Garner Insights
• Stay close enough to the work to personally shape the hardest, most ambiguous problems — setting the objective functions, tradeoffs, and decision frameworks the team builds against
• Decide where to invest, from machine learning to optimization to heuristics to simpler methods, and direct the team's effort to where it moves the company most
• Partner with the executive team and cross-functional leaders across Product, Engineering, Clinical, and Commercial to align GHI with company strategy
• Build a deep understanding of the healthcare economy and Garner's place in it, and represent GHI at the highest level inside and outside the company

The ideal candidate has:

• 7+ years of experience in applied science, quantitative research, machine learning, or a closely related field, including significant time spent personally building algorithmic systems; a relevant advanced degree is preferred
• A track record of running an algorithms-driven organization as a business — owning both the technical results and the accountability for them (for example, leading a quantitative research group at a hedge fund, or an algorithms or ML organization at a top technology company)
• Management experience, including managing managers and scaling a high-performing technical team through hiring, development, and performance management
• Deep quantitative and applied problem-solving skills, with the judgment to set the standard for how a large organization defines metrics and selects methods
• Recognized technical authority, with the credibility to lead scientists who are experts in their own right
• Strong judgment in choosing between statistical models, heuristics, optimization approaches, and simpler algorithmic methods — and in knowing when each is worth the investment
• Executive communication skills, with a track record of driving alignment across an organization and with its leadership and board
• A desire to be a part of a high-performing, mission-driven team that operates with intense urgency, a strong sense of individual accountability, and a commitment to authentic feedback

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.

This is a unique opportunity to join a fast-growing company in a transformative role, helping shape the future of healthcare.

Compensation Transparency:

The target total comp (inclusive of base + bonus) range for this position is $439,000 - $460,000. 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), 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].