Contract Data Scientist at Layer Health in Boston, MA

Layer Health was founded in 2023 by leading machine learning researchers from MIT and Harvard Medical School. We are building an AI layer that can accurately and scalably synthesize information from medical records, with the mission to reduce friction everywhere in healthcare. Our LLM-powered platform is solving chart review once and for all, across use cases. For health systems, our first product dramatically accelerates clinical registry abstraction in areas ranging from surgery and cardiology, to oncology. Our long term vision is for our AI layer to safely transform patient care and minimize unnecessary heartbreak. Layer Health’s diverse founding team brings expertise across machine learning, UI/UX, large language models, and medicine.

Here’s a collection of articles about our product, mission, recent funding round, etc.

Job Description

You will work with the Layer Health ML team applying our existing ML workflow to tailor models for a specific clinical use case. You will design, build, evaluate, and iterate on these models — combining strong data science fundamentals with modern LLM techniques to deliver high-accuracy, production-ready solutions across new clinical domains.

This is a high-velocity, high-ownership role for someone who enjoys diving deep into error modes, making targeted improvements, and closing the loop between model performance and real-world impact.

What you’ll do:

• Own end-to-end development of models for specific use cases: Build and iterate using our ML/LLM-powered workflows for new clinical areas, from initial prototyping through production refinement.
• Conduct evaluation & error analysis: Own rigorous evaluation of model performance; perform deep error analysis to identify systematic failure modes and drive targeted improvements.
• Ship frequent, high-quality updates to models based on data, feedback, and observed edge cases.
• Leverage LLM application & tooling: Apply modern LLM techniques (prompting strategies, structured outputs, tool use, eval frameworks) to improve accuracy and robustness.
• Support analytics & metrics: Contribute to metrics, reporting, and internal dashboards that track model performance and downstream impact.

We look for:

• Good data science fundamentals, including knowledge of best practices for evaluating model performance and error analysis. (A proven track record of successful projects in healthcare or clinical applications is a bonus, but not required.)
• Familiarity with modern applied LLM techniques and their practical implementations, for example e.g. standard prompting techniques, LLM frameworks, structured output usage, etc. (any experience using these techniques is a bonus).
• Solid programming skills in Python.
• A strong technical communicator who thrives in a fast-paced environment.
• Proactive mindset to identify and solve problems, continuously improving our data science capabilities.
• An excited and adaptable team player who wants to disrupt the healthcare industry with AI/ML, alongside an awesome team. 
• Willingness to be hybrid with our team in either our Boston or NYC office 3 days per week.

Expected compensation range for this role is $40 - $70/hour. Compensation is dependent on experience, overall fit to our role, and candidate location. Expected compensation ranges for this role may change over time. If your compensation requirement is greater than our posted salary ranges, please still consider applying to our role. We will make a determination as to whether an exception can be made. 

If you are excited about this role, we encourage you to apply even if you don't feel that you meet every single requirement. We're eager to meet people that believe in our mission and can contribute to our team in a variety of ways. We welcome diverse perspectives, rigorous thinking, and fearlessness in challenging the status quo. 

Join us and help us transform healthcare with AI. Layer Health is committed to foster an environment of inclusion that is free from discrimination.  We are an Equal Opportunity Employer where employment is decided on the basis of qualifications, merit, and business need. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, protected Veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.