Healthcare Decision Scientist at Cambia Health Solutions in Portland

Healthcare Decision Scientist

Location: Portland, OR

Healthcare Decision Scientist (II / III)

Hybrid role (3 days/week in office) at our Salt Lake City, Boise, Fargo, Portland, Vancouver, Renton, Medford, Burlington, Lewiston, Little Rock or Springdale offices. Preference will be given to current employees and candidates who reside within a commutable distance from our Salt Lake City, Boise, Fargo, Lewiston, Little Rock or Springdale offices or who are willing to relocate.

Build a career with purpose. Join our Cause to create a person-focused and economically sustainable health care system.

Who We Are Looking For:

Every day, Cambia's dedicated team of Decision Scientists is living our mission to make health care easier and lives better. As a member of the Data & Analytics team, our Decision Scientists partner with business leaders to frame ambiguous challenges, apply advanced analytics and machine learning, and translate complex insights into clear, actionable recommendations – all in service of creating an economically sustainable health care system.

Do you have the curiosity of a scientist, the pragmatism of a consultant, and the communication skills of a trusted advisor? Do you thrive on turning data into decisions that drive measurable business outcomes? Then this role may be the perfect fit.

What You Bring to Cambia:

Qualifications:

Decision Scientist II: Master's degree (PhD preferred) in a strongly quantitative field such as Statistics, Applied Mathematics, Physics, Operations Research, Computer Science, Bioinformatics, or Econometrics and 3+ years of progressive, related work experience. In lieu of an advanced degree, a BA/BS degree with 5 years of related work experience will be considered.

Decision Scientist III: Master's degree (PhD preferred) in a strongly quantitative field such as Statistics, Applied Mathematics, Physics, Operations Research, Computer Science, Bioinformatics, or Econometrics and 5+ years of progressive, related work experience. In lieu of an advanced degree, a BA/BS degree with 8 years of related work experience will be considered.

Skills and Attributes:

·Ability to think creatively and demonstrate strong analytical skills, analyzing complex situations both independently and as part of a team, learning quickly and synthesizing solutions, options and action plans.

·Familiarity with mixed methods research, with experience in at least two of the following: advanced analytics (statistics, simulation, optimization, time series, longitudinal studies, life event modeling); data mining, NLP, machine learning (regression, clustering, neural networks, kernel methods, dimensionality reduction, ensemble methods, decision trees) and deep learning (CNN, LSTM, GAN); building solutions with tools for data mining, statistics, analysis and scripting (e.g., Python).

·Experience cleaning, aggregating, and pre-processing data from varied sources, and creating complex SQL queries for both standard and ad-hoc data mining purposes.

·Demonstrated ability to apply quantitative analysis techniques to business situations, including forecasting, descriptive statistics, statistical inference, and multivariate modeling.

·Ability to analyze and interpret qualitative data (research, feedback) and incorporate those insights into quantitative analyses.

· Proficiency with a range of business intelligence and analysis tools (R, Power BI, or Tableau) and at least one statistical/analytical programming tool (Python, R, etc.).

·Project experience with machine learning, data mining, and constructing analytical models and algorithms.

·Experience with fundamental software engineering practices (e.g., version control, unit testing, CI/CD).

·Ability to access and process structured and unstructured data in various databases and formats.

·Ability to coordinate cross-functionally and manage time and tasks effectively to drive solutions and resolve issues in a timely manner.

·Excellent oral and written communication skills to effectively interface with a broad array of internal and external contacts, including leadership.

·Additional for Decision Scientist II: Proven ability to provide analysis and data interpretation in support of strategy development, program implementation and evaluation; deep understanding of various machine learning algorithms and when to apply them; ability to maintain end-to-end ML models; ability to work with minimal direction; ability to distill informal requirements into problem definitions amid ambiguity; recognized as a technical leader by peers.

·Additional for Decision Scientist III: Ability to design systems across batch, streaming, and real-time processing; ability to evaluate cutting-edge ML research and frameworks; familiarity with semi-supervised, reinforcement, transfer, and graph-based learning; ability to simplify and improve the full ML model life cycle; strong facilitation and consensus-building skills; proven ability to influence others; ability to build ML pipelines through full ML cycles; ability to effectively lead teams without direct supervisory responsibility.

·Experience with AI tools and technologies to enhance productivity and decision-making in professional settings highly desired.

What You Will Do at Cambia:

·Design and execute analyses that uncover opportunities for business improvement and connect data, performance, and business strategy.

·Collaborate with stakeholders across sales, operational, clinical, finance, and provider functions to frame ambiguous challenges into structured analytical questions, identifying decision options, tradeoffs, risks, and expected outcomes.

·Select and apply appropriate analytical techniques (e.g., XGBoost, regression, clustering, forecasting, anomaly detection, causal analysis, experimental design) to develop predictive, descriptive, classification, segmentation, and optimization models that balance sophistication with practical applicability.

·Partner with business teams to embed insights into operational workflows, measuring intervention impact and refining approaches to deliver measurable business value.

·Present findings and facilitate decision-making conversations with leaders at all levels, translating complex analytical concepts into clear, actionable recommendations for non-technical audiences.

·Develop scalable analytical frameworks and decision-support capabilities, and contribute to MLOps, model monitoring, and agentic AI evaluation to ensure ongoing accuracy and reliability of deployed solutions.

· Incubate and evolve agentic intelligence capabilities that augment analytical insights and operationalize predictive modeling outputs. (For Decision Scientist III: take initiative to pursue larger-scope projects, recommend improvements to methods and complex algorithms, educate stakeholders to drive organizational buy-in, and mentor junior Decision Scientists.)

Pay ranges vary based on the candidate's work location. The expected hiring range depends on skills, experience, education, and training; relevant licensure / certifications; and performance history.

National pay structure — applies to the Boise, Portland, Salem, Seattle/Renton/Tacoma, Burlington, Vancouver, Lewiston, and Salt Lake City metro areas: For a Healthcare Decision Scientist II, the full salary range is $105,000-172,000 and the bonus target is 10%. For a Healthcare Decision Scientist III, the full salary range is $129,000-211,000 and the bonus target is 15%.

Regional pay structure — applies to North Dakota and to Idaho, Oregon, Washington, and Utah locations outside the metro areas listed above: For a Healthcare Decision Scientist II, the full salary range is $95,000-155,000 and the bonus target is 10%. For a Healthcare Decision Scientist III, the full salary range is $116,000-190,000 and the bonus target is 15%.

About Cambia

Working at Cambia means being part of a purpose-driven, award-winning culture built on trust and innovation anchored in our 100+ year history. Our caring and supportive colleagues are some of the best and brightest in the industry, innovating together toward sustainable, person-focused health care. Whether we're helping members, lending a hand to a colleague or volunteering in our communities, our compassion, empathy and team spirit always shine through.

Why Join the Cambia Team?

At Cambia, you can:

• Work alongside diverse teams building cutting-edge solutions to transform health care.
• Earn a competitive salary and enjoy generous benefits while doing work that changes lives.
• Grow your career with a company committed to helping you succeed.
• Give back to your community by participating in Cambia-supported outreach programs.
• Connect with colleagues who share similar interests and backgrounds through our employee resource groups.

We believe a career at Cambia is more than just a paycheck – and your compensation should be too. Our compensation package includes competitive base pay as well as a market-leading 401(k) with a significant company match, bonus opportunities and more.

In exchange for helping members live healthy lives, we offer benefits that empower you to do the same. Just a few highlights include:

• Medical, dental and vision coverage for employees and their eligible family members, including mental health benefits.
• Annual employer contribution to a health savings account.
• Generous paid time off varying by role and tenure in addition to 10 company-paid holidays.
• Market-leading retirement plan including a company match on employee 401(k) contributions, with a potential discretionary contribution based on company performance (no vesting period).
• Up to 12 weeks of paid parental time off (eligibility requires 12 months of continuous service with Cambia immediately preceding leave).
• Award-winning wellness programs that reward you for participation.
• Employee Assistance Fund for those in need.
• Commute and parking benefits.

Learn more about our benefits.

We are happy to offer work from home options for most of our roles. To take advantage of this flexible option, we require employees to have a wired internet connection that is not satellite or cellular and internet service with a minimum upload speed of 5Mb and a minimum download speed of 10 Mb.

As part of our security requirements, new hires will need access to a personal mobile device to set up Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) upon joining the company. MFA is an important layer of protection for accessing Cambia systems and is required for all employees.