Data Scientist – Great Plains

The CDC Foundation helps the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) save and improve lives by unleashing the power of collaboration between CDC, philanthropies, corporations, organizations and individuals to protect the health, safety and security of America and the world. The CDC Foundation is the go-to nonprofit authorized by Congress to mobilize philanthropic partners and private-sector resources to support CDC’s critical health protection mission. Since 1995, the CDC Foundation has raised over $1.9 billion and launched more than 1,300 programs impacting a variety of health threats from chronic disease conditions including cardiovascular disease and cancer, to infectious diseases like rotavirus and HIV, to emergency responses, including COVID-19 and Ebola. The CDC Foundation managed hundreds of programs in the United States and in more than 90 countries last year. Visit www.cdcfoundation.org for more information.  

• Location: Remote, must be based in the United States
• Salary Range: $103,000-$116,000, plus benefits
• Position Type: Grant funded, limited-term opportunity
• Position End Date: June 30, 2025 

• The Data Scientist will play a crucial role in advancing the CDC Foundation's mission by leveraging data to inform strategic decisions and initiatives. Working within the Great Plains Tribal Epidemiology Center (GPTEC), the public health authority subsidiary of the Great Plains Tribal Leaders Health Board (GPTLHB), the Data Scientist will utilize advanced analytics, statistical techniques, machine learning algorithms, and data visualization techniques to derive insights that support public health efforts and share these insights with tribal communities.  The Data Scientist will work collaboratively to ensure that all levels of data processes are integrated seamlessly into the developing informatics architecture, aligned with tribal needs, and maintain focus on accessibility for tribal communities. GPTEC aims to create a comprehensive, user-friendly public health database for its 18 tribal communities. Data obtained from multiple sources – such as tribal programs, state health departments, and the Indian Health Service, among others – is cleaned, partitioned, analyzed, and distributed to tribal public health departments to be used to inform public health activities. Ensuring the successful construction of GPTEC’s data infrastructure, including the creation of real-time tribal specific dashboards, is the key goal of the Data Scientist. The Data Scientist’s activities support the goal of GPTEC to fully exercise public health authority broadly among the State, Tribal, Local, and Territorial (STLT) ecosystem, and locally at the direction of its member tribes, for the practice of conducting public health investigations, carrying out interventions, providing surveillance and tracking services, and performing epidemiological analysis, visualizations, and reporting. The Data Scientist will be hired by the CDC Foundation and assigned to the Data Coordinating Unit of GPTEC. S/he will work closely with GPTEC and WAI staff to complete project activities. This position is eligible for a fully remote work arrangement for U.S. based candidates.

• Data:
• Responsible for expanding and optimizing data and data pipelines.
• Code/transform unstructured data to structured formats that are analyzable by GPTEC and Tribal epidemiologists from various sources.
• Collect or extract data from various sources, transforming and cleaning it to ensure accuracy and consistency. Load data into storage systems or data warehouses.
• Optimize data pipelines, infrastructure, and workflows for performance and scalability.

• Visualization and Communication:
• Collaborate with GPTEC Data Coordinating Unit staff and epidemiologists to plan the content of data dashboards.
• Collaborate with GPTEC staff and tribal public health departments to solicit data visualization needs.
• Build tribal-specific dashboards using all available data sources based on GPTEC staff and tribal input.
• Ensure dashboards are easily interpretable by a general audience in digital and printed form.
• Create compelling visualizations and reports to communicate findings to partners and decision-makers.
• Present data-driven insights in a clear and understandable manner to facilitate informed decision-making.

• General:
• Develop, implement, and improve data analysis and visualization tools for use by organization staff, to provide timely, relevant information that informs decisions affecting the public’s health.
• Integrate data flows into the informatics system, providing for automation of data flows where possible and streamlining of data and visualization processes.
• Provide data-driven support and guidance to inform public health policies and initiatives.
• Stay abreast of emerging trends, technologies, and methodologies in data science and analytics.
• Explore innovative approaches to address complex public health challenges and improve data analysis capabilities

• Bachelor’s degree or higher in Computer Science, Data Science, Statistics, Epidemiology, or related field. Master’s or PhD in related field (ex: MPH) preferred, but not required.
• Highly proficient and experienced with SQL, Python, JavaScript, C#, etc.
• Proficiency in SAS and R required.
• Expertise in Tableau required with a focus on interactive data visualization using Tableau. 3+ years of experience preferred.
• Understanding of API ecosystems and experience in designing, developing, and deploying Tableau dashboards using live data.
• Experience working with relational databases.
• Understanding of cloud and distributed systems principles and experience with large-scale, big data methods.
• Strong analytical thinking and problem-solving abilities.
• Ability to interpret complex datasets and derive meaningful insights.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
• Ability to effectively convey technical concepts to non-technical partners.
• Flexibility to adapt to evolving project requirements and priorities.
• Professional certifications in data science, machine learning, or public health analytics preferred.
• Outstanding interpersonal and teamwork skills; collegial; energetic; and able to develop productive relationships with colleagues, partners, and partners.
• Demonstrated ability to work well independently and within teams.
• Experience working in a virtual environment with remote partners and teams.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office.

• This role is involved in a dynamic public health program. As such, roles and responsibilities are subject to change as situations evolve. Roles and responsibilities listed above may be expanded upon or updated to match priorities and needs, once written approval is received by the CDC Foundation, in order to best support the public health programming.

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment and will not be discriminated against on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, mental or physical disabilities, veteran status, and all other characteristics protected by law.

We comply with all applicable laws including E.O. 11246 and the Vietnam Era Readjustment Assistance Act of 1974 governing employment practices and do not discriminate on the basis of any unlawful criteria in accordance with 41 C.F.R. §§ 60-300.5(a)(12) and 60-741.5(a)(7). As a federal government contractor, we take affirmative action on behalf of protected veterans.

The CDC Foundation is a smoke-free environment.

Relocation expenses are not included.