Director – Health AI and Data Science at Guidehouse in McLean, VA

Director – Health AI and Data Science Location: US - VA, McLean Job Family: Data Science Consulting Travel Required: Up to 10% Clearance Required: Ability to Obtain Public Trust What You Will Do: Guidehouse is seeking a Director in our Health AI and Data Science practice to lead the delivery of data products, AI-enabled solutions, and scientific support that help healthcare leaders make better, faster decisions grounded in data. In this role, you will own end-to-end client delivery across multiple accounts and capabilities — partnering with executives and product owners to translate priority decisions into clear use cases, governed metrics, and a roadmap of analytics, decision intelligence, and AI capabilities. You will provide day-to-day delivery leadership (scope, schedule, staffing, risk, and quality), guide multidisciplinary teams (data science, data engineering, analytics, and UX/visualization), identify and support capture of new business, and ensure solutions are secure, scalable, and adopted in the client’s operating cadence. The ideal candidate combines strong consulting leadership, a hypothesis-driven scientific research background, and executive communication with enough technical depth to steer delivery tradeoffs and drive teams from discovery through implementation and measurable impact. Lead end-to-end delivery of multiple concurrent AI, data science (including qualitative/qualitative scientific support), and data product engagements, ensuring on-time, high-quality outcomes across public and commercial health workstreams, vendors, and client teams. Co-lead scientific support service line to support hypothesis-driven research, statistical analyses, peer-review manuscript publication, and data-driven storytelling targeted to diverse audience personas (executives, community, etc.) Partner with client executives and product owners to define decision-centric use cases and success measures, translating strategy into a prioritized roadmap of data products, analytics, and AI capabilities. Translate executive decisions into clear product requirements and governance (KPI definitions, metric logic, decision thresholds, scenarios, and action triggers), ensuring outputs are trusted, repeatable, and decision-ready. Direct analytics and model development across teams—framing hypotheses, guiding quantitative and qualitative methods, validating assumptions, and driving from root cause to opportunity sizing, prioritization, and quantified value cases. Develop and quality-assure executive-ready deliverables (decision memos, briefs, and exhibits) that clearly communicate the “so what,” tradeoffs, and recommended actions for C-suite and senior government audiences. Lead senior stakeholder engagement and delivery governance, running working sessions and executive readouts; synthesizing inputs; aligning decision-makers; managing risks and dependencies; and driving timely decisions across client and internal leadership. Build, staff, and grow high-performing delivery teams through an apprenticeship model—coaching consultants through associate directors, setting clear expectations, and ensuring the right mix of functional, technical, and domain skills. Drive business development and account expansion (with emphasis on federal health accounts), leading proposals and capture efforts; shaping solution approaches; and developing reusable delivery accelerators and data product assets. Establish delivery standards for scalable, secure data products, including data quality practices, documentation, and responsible AI considerations appropriate for executive decision-making. Own engagement financial and operational performance—managing scope, budgets, staffing, and margins; monitoring delivery health; and proactively mitigating risks to ensure sustainable, repeatable delivery. What You Will Need: PhD degree in health sciences A minimum of TEN (10) years of experience in management consulting, analytics, AI, data science, and/or data product delivery, including leading complex, multi-workstream programs. A minimum of 10 years of people leadership experience, including recruiting, coaching, performance management, and building diverse, high-performing teams. A minimum of FIVE (5 ) years supporting federal, state, and commercial health organizations, including leading account management and business development capture, especially the U.S.DepartmentofVeterans Affairs agency A minimum of FIVE (5) years of leading management and business capture of hypothesis-driven scientific support research activities, including survey development and validation, qualitative/quantitative statistical methods Demonstrated experience delivering executive-facing data products (e.g., KPI/metric layers, dashboards, forecasting/optimization, decision intelligence) from discovery through launch and adoption. Proven ability to lead senior client stakeholders, facilitate working sessions, and produce clear, compelling executive communications (briefs, decision memos, and presentations). Strong understanding of modern data and AI delivery practices (cloud data platforms, data engineering, MLOps, data quality/observability, and model risk management) sufficient to guide teams and make architectural tradeoffs. Experience owning delivery operations and financials, including scope management, staffing, budgets, risk/issue management, and quality assurance across multiple engagements. What Would Be Nice To Have: Healthcare data expertise: Hands-on familiarity with common healthcare data sources/standards (e.g., claims, EHR, HL7/FHIR, HEDIS, risk adjustment), and how they impact measurement and decision-making. People & practice growth: History of scaling teams, building reusable assets/accelerators, and contributing to thought leadership (whitepapers, conference talks, internal training). Budgeting & team orchestration: Experience owning delivery budgets/forecasts and structuring cross-functional teams, roles, and cadences to execute multi-workstream programs predictably. The annual salary range for this position is $226,000.00-$376,000.00. Compensation decisions depend on a wide range of factors, including but not limited to skill sets, experience and training, security clearances, licensure and certifications, and other business and organizational needs. What We Offer: Guidehouse offers a comprehensive, total rewards package that includes competitive compensation and a flexible benefits package that reflects our commitment to creating a diverse and supportive workplace. Benefits include: Medical, Rx, Dental & Vision Insurance Personal and Family Sick Time & Company Paid Holidays Position may be eligible for a discretionary variable incentive bonus Parental Leave and Adoption Assistance 401(k) Retirement Plan Basic Life & Supplemental Life Health Savings Account, Dental/Vision & Dependent Care Flexible Spending Accounts Short-Term & Long-Term Disability Student Loan PayDown Tuition Reimbursement, Personal Development & Learning Opportunities Skills Development & Certifications Employee Referral Program Corporate Sponsored Events & Community Outreach Emergency Back-Up Childcare Program Mobility Stipend About Guidehouse Guidehouse is an Equal Opportunity Employer–Protected Veterans, Individuals with Disabilities or any other basis protected by law, ordinance, or regulation. Guidehouse will consider for employment qualified applicants with criminal histories in a manner consistent with the requirements of applicable law or ordinance including the Fair Chance Ordinance of Los Angeles and San Francisco. If you have visited our website for information about employment opportunities, or to apply for a position, and you require an accommodation, please contact Guidehouse Recruiting at 1-571-633-1711 or via email at RecruitingAccommodation@guidehouse.com. All information you provide will be kept confidential and will be used only to the extent required to provide needed reasonable accommodation. All communication regarding recruitment for a Guidehouse position will be sent from Guidehouse email domains including @guidehouse.com or guidehouse@myworkday.com.  Correspondence received by an applicant from any other domain should be considered unauthorized and will not be honored by Guidehouse.  Note that Guidehouse will never charge a fee or require a money transfer at any stage of the recruitment process and does not collect fees from educational institutions for participation in a recruitment event. Never provide your banking information to a third party purporting to need that information to proceed in the hiring process. If any person or organization demands money related to a job opportunity with Guidehouse, please report the matter to Guidehouse’s Ethics Hotline. If you want to check the validity of correspondence you have received, please contact recruiting@guidehouse.com. Guidehouse is not responsible for losses incurred (monetary or otherwise) from an applicant’s dealings with unauthorized third parties. Guidehouse does not accept unsolicited resumes through or from search firms or staffing agencies. All unsolicited resumes will be considered the property of Guidehouse and Guidehouse will not be obligated to pay a placement fee. Additional Locations: US - Remote (Any location)