Senior Director, Data Development

Verana Health; San Francisco, Knoxville, New York (CA, TN, NY); Hybrid; USD 245,000 - 275,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

100% health, vision, and dental coverage

401(k) match

Flexible vacation plans

$700 annual learning and wellness stipend

Job summary

Verana Health is looking for a Senior Director, Data Development to lead machine learning initiatives in healthcare. This pivotal role requires a strong leader with extensive experience in managing technical teams and deploying machine learning applications in clinical scenarios.

The ideal candidate will possess a master's or doctorate in a quantitative field and have over 10 years of experience. Join us in driving healthcare innovation through real-world data insights.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of experience applying machine learning to healthcare datasets.
• 5+ years managing technical teams.
• Strong programming skills in Python, SQL, or similar.

Responsibilities

• Lead a team developing machine learning solutions for healthcare data.
• Guide deployment of pretrained models for healthcare applications.
• Define technical strategy and priorities for machine learning capabilities.

Skills

Machine learning applications to clinical datasets

Programming experience (Python, SQL, etc.)

Cloud-based ML ecosystems

Technical team management

Clinical imaging data knowledge

Communication skills

Education

Master’s or doctorate in a quantitative discipline

Tools

Databricks

SageMaker

MLflow

PySpark

Job description

Verana Health is a digital health company that delivers quality drug lifecycle and medical practice insights from an exclusive real‑world data network. It has recently secured a $150 million Series E led by Johnson & Johnson Innovation – JJDC, Inc. (JJDC) and Novo Growth, the growth‑stage investment arm of Novo Holdings.

We are driven to create quality real‑world data in ophthalmology, neurology, urology, and oncology to accelerate insights across the drug lifecycle and within medical practices. Our internal purpose, DRIVE—Diversity, Responsibility, Integrity, Voice-of‑Customer, End‑Results—guides our culture and values.

Job Title: Senior Director, Data Development

You will report directly to the Chief Data & Science Officer and solve complex real‑world problems across multiple therapeutic areas, including urology, ophthalmology, and oncology. The team develops machine learning systems using structured and unstructured electronic health record (EHR) data, including clinical text and imaging data, to support Verana Qdata® products and real‑world insight generation. Day‑to‑day activities include algorithm development, data pre‑ and post‑processing, code implementation, modeling, inference, and interpretation.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead a team developing and operationalizing machine learning solutions for structured and unstructured healthcare data, including clinical text and imaging workflows.
• Guide the evaluation, fine‑tuning, deployment, and monitoring of pretrained language models for healthcare applications.
• Help define technical strategy and development priorities for machine learning capabilities supporting Verana’s data products.
• Establish best practices for model lifecycle management, validation, reproducibility, explainability, and documentation.
• Partner cross‑functionally with Product, Engineering, Medical, and Commercial teams to align technical solutions with scientific and business objectives.
• Drive high standards for data quality, model governance, and clinical relevance in production data products.
• Mentor and develop machine learning scientists and technical leaders across the organization.

Required Skills and Experience

• Master’s or doctorate in a quantitative discipline (e.g., data science, computer science, machine learning, biostatistics, biomedical informatics).
• 10+ years of experience applying machine learning to clinical or healthcare datasets, including recent experience deploying, fine‑tuning, evaluating, or operationalizing foundation models and applied machine learning systems.
• 5+ years managing technical teams.
• Strong programming experience using Python, SQL, PySpark, R, or similar tools.
• Experience working within modern cloud‑based machine learning ecosystems and deployment environments (e.g., Databricks, SageMaker, MLflow, distributed compute platforms).
• Experience moving machine learning systems from experimentation into production environments, including model evaluation, monitoring, performance optimization, and cross‑functional operationalization.
• Familiarity with machine learning approaches for clinical imaging data.
• Experience working with clinical datasets derived from EHR systems and related healthcare data sources.
• Clear communication skills and the ability to deliver presentations to executive teams.
• Ability to work effectively with cross‑functional teams to inform data product roadmap.
• Ability to prioritize and manage multiple initiatives with high attention to detail.

Benefits

• 100 % health, vision, and dental coverage for employees.
• 401(k) match.
• Flexible vacation plans.
• $700 annual learning and wellness stipend.

Salary Range

$245,000 – $275,000 (a geographic premium may be applied to base salary).

Final Note

You do not need to match every listed expectation to apply for this position. Here at Verana, we know that diverse perspectives foster the innovation we need to be successful, and we are committed to building a team that encompasses a variety of backgrounds, experiences, and skills.

Caution to Job Applicants

Be vigilant against potential scams. Verana Health will never ask for payment or personal information upfront. Verify company details, cross‑check job offers, and trust your instincts. Any legitimate job offer will be received by a Verana Health email account (not via gmail, text or other means). Report suspicious activities to protect yourself and others in the job‑seeking community.