Director of Data Engineering

How Is This Role Important to Our Work?

The Director of Data Engineering will lead the design, development, and optimization of the organization's data solutioning to support healthcare-related data initiatives. This role will oversee all data engineering processes, including the management of healthcare data pipelines, data storage, and analytics platforms, ensuring compliance with industry regulations such as HIPAA. The Director will collaborate with stakeholders across the business to drive insights that improve patient outcomes and operational efficiencies. The role requires both technical leadership and a deep understanding of healthcare data standards, with a focus on building scalable, secure, and compliant data systems.

A Day In The Life:

• Leadership and Team Development:

  • Lead and mentor a team of data engineers and architects, fostering a culture of innovation, collaboration, and continuous improvement.

  • Provide strategic direction on data architecture, ensuring scalability, performance, and reliability of data systems.

  • Collaborate with cross-functional teams, including data scientists, analysts, IT, and healthcare professionals, to align technical solutions with business objectives.

• Data Infrastructure and Architecture:

  • Design and implement scalable and secure data pipelines for collecting, processing, and storing large volumes of healthcare data, ensuring adherence to compliance standards (e.g., HIPAA, HITECH).

  • Develop and optimize data architecture to support structured and unstructured healthcare data, including electronic health records (EHR), claims data, patient outcomes, and operational metrics.

  • Oversee the creation and maintenance of data warehouses, data lakes, and cloud-based platforms (AWS, GCP, Azure) tailored to healthcare data needs.

• Healthcare Data Compliance and Security:

  • Ensure that all data engineering activities comply with industry regulations and standards, including HIPAA, HITECH, and data privacy regulations.

  • Implement robust data governance, privacy, and security protocols to protect sensitive patient information and maintain the highest levels of data integrity.

  • Collaborate with legal, compliance, and security teams to monitor regulatory changes and adjust data policies accordingly.

• Collaboration and Stakeholder Management:

  • Work closely with business leaders, clinicians, and other stakeholders to understand their data needs and deliver tailored data solutions that drive healthcare outcomes and business insights.

  • Lead the effort in integrating data across multiple healthcare systems, ensuring interoperability and enhancing the ability to perform advanced analytics.

  • Partner with data scientists and healthcare professionals to develop predictive models, machine learning algorithms, and AI-driven healthcare solutions.

• Technology and Tooling:

  • Evaluate and implement cutting-edge data engineering tools and technologies, including cloud platforms (e.g., AWS, Azure), big data processing tools (e.g., Hadoop, Spark), and healthcare-specific data solutions.

  • Champion the use of modern data engineering practices such as automation, data orchestration, and real-time streaming to drive innovation in healthcare data management.

  • Drive the adoption of analytics platforms and visualization tools that support healthcare reporting and operational intelligence.

Nice to Have:

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Data Engineering, Information Systems, or a related field

• Experience with predictive analytics, machine learning, and AI in healthcare.

• Familiarity with healthcare industry regulations and compliance frameworks.

• Experience working in a large healthcare organization or with healthcare technology vendors.

Required Skills and Experiences:

• Accepting this director level position at BCBSMN requires signing an Employee Confidentiality, Intellectual Property Assignment and Restrictive Covenants Agreement as a condition of employment.

Experience:

• 8+ years of related professional experience, with 3+ years of management experience. All relevant experience including work, education, transferable skills, and military experience will be considered.

• Proven experience as a Director or similar leadership role in data engineering, with a strong focus on the healthcare industry.

• Extensive experience working with healthcare data systems, including EHR, clinical data, claims data, and patient records.

• Expertise in cloud-based data architectures (AWS, Azure, GCP) and big data technologies (e.g., Hadoop, Spark) in a healthcare context.

• Experience leading teams and managing large-scale data infrastructure projects in a highly regulated environment.

• Technical Skills:

  • Strong proficiency in data engineering technologies such as SQL, Python, Scala, and tools like Apache Kafka, Apache Airflow, RedShift, Databricks and Spark.

  • Deep understanding of healthcare data standards (e.g., HL7, FHIR, ICD-10, CPT) and experience working with healthcare data formats and interoperability protocols.

  • Expertise in data governance, security, and privacy best practices, particularly as they relate to HIPAA and HITECH compliance.

  • Experience in designing data architectures for analytics, machine learning, and AI applications in healthcare.

• Leadership and Communication:

  • Strong leadership and team management skills, with the ability to inspire and guide technical teams.

  • Excellent communication and collaboration skills, with the ability to convey complex data engineering concepts to non-technical stakeholders.

  • Demonstrated ability to drive cross-functional initiatives and align data engineering efforts with business and clinical objectives.