Job description
firsthand supports individuals living with SMI (serious mental illness). Our holistic approach includes a team of peer recovery specialists, benefits specialists and clinicians. Our teams focus on meeting each individual where they are and walking with them side by side as a trusted guide and partner on their journey to better health.
firsthand’s team members use their lived experience to build trust with these individuals and support them in reconnecting to the healthcare they need, while minimizing inappropriate healthcare utilization. Together with our health plan partners, we are changing the way our society supports those most impacted by SMI.
We are cultivating a team of deeply passionate problem-solvers to tackle significant and complex healthcare challenges with us. This is more than a job—it’s a calling. Every day, you will engage in work that resonates with purpose, gain wisdom from motivated colleagues, and thrive in an environment that celebrates continuous learning, creativity, and fun.
firsthand is at a high-growth inflection point, when Medicaid most needs bold technical leadership. As we prepare to scale our track record of results into multiple new markets and new customers, we are taking this opportunity to invest in next generation data and technology leadership.
To meet this moment, we’re building a first-principles, AI-native data platform that will:Delivers underwritable value-based care performance in real timeSurface intelligence at the point of careLeverage data assets to scale population-health levers.
As VP, Data & Technology you will architect this spine, build and inspire a world-class organization (Data Engineering, Data Science / Gen AI, Software Engineering), and partner with Growth, Finance, Actuary, Value Delivery, and Clinical leaders to turn insight into outsized P&L impact.
This role reports directly to firsthand’s CEO.
Your responsibilities will include:
Strategic technology leadership
- Translate complex analytics into clear, actionable narratives for business and clinical stakeholders
- Drive enterprise portfolio of technology investments
- Partner with Value Delivery teams to guide the roadmap for predictive analytics value creation and population-health platform strategy
Data engineering / science leadership and execution
- Own the data model: build near-real-time pipelines merging multi-payer claims, EHR, care-management, and engagement events
- Define and evolve the modern stack: Work on a fast-paced, autonomous, agile team to build and enhance a modern cloud, database, and ELT infrastructure working with diverse healthcare data (Snowflake, dbt, Python, Airflow, Fivetran/Hightouch, and more)
- Contribute as IC (12 mos) and own end-to-end infrastructure releases, platform enhancements: write critical ELT jobs, review every major pipeline, and personally green-light model deployments
- Enforce HIPAA/SOC-2 security and rigorous testing, CI/CD, and observability standards
People and Culture
- Recruit, mentor, and inspire a multidisciplinary team of data engineers, data scientists, and software engineers
- Foster a high-accountability culture centered on mission, quality, and speed
Required Qualifications, Capabilities, and Skills
- 9+ yrs hands-on value-based care (payor or provider) health-care analytics (medical and pharmacy claims, clinical data) plus 5+ yrs progressive leadership of technical teams
- Proven record architecting of enhancing large healthcare data-warehouse environments and analytics platforms
- Strong command of SQL, Python, dbt, Airflow, and modern ELT toolchains; comfortable with version control, unit testing, and CI/CD
- Applied experience with causal-inference methods and ML/AI techniques in population-health settings
- Exceptional communicator; can distill technical insight for non-technical execs and frontline staff
- Team player interested in working at a fast-paced startup environment, with a track record mentoring early-career data engineers, analysts, and data scientists
Preferred Qualifications
- Master’s degree or PhD with a focus on health care analytics, health services/policy research, data science, statistics, or engineering
- Experience working in a high-growth company environment
- Deep expertise in medical & pharmacy claims data, risk adjustment, quality metrics, value-based-contract evaluation, and contract underwriting
Benefits
For full-time employees, our compensation package includes base, equity (or a special incentive program for clinical roles) and performance bonus potential. Our benefits include physical and mental health, dental, vision, 401(k) with a match, 16 weeks parental leave for either parent, 15 days/year vacation in your first year (this increases to 20 days/year in your second year and beyond), and a supportive and inclusive culture.
Vaccination Policy
Employment with firsthand is contingent upon attesting to medical clearance requirements, which include, but may not be limited to: evidence of vaccination for/immunity to COVID-19, Hepatitis B, Influenza, MMR, Chickenpox, Tetanus and Diphtheria. All employees of firsthand are required to receive these vaccinations on a cadence/frequency as advised by the CDC, whereas not otherwise prohibited by state law.
New hires may submit for consideration a request to be exempted from these requirements (based on a valid religious or medical reason) via forms provided by firsthand. Such requests will be subject to review and approval by the Company, and exemptions will be granted only if the Company can provide a reasonable accommodation in relation to the requested exemption. Note that approvals for reasonable accommodations are reviewed and approved on a case-by-case basis and availability of a reasonable accommodation is not guaranteed.
Unfortunately, we are not able to offer sponsorship at this time.
