Director, Forward Deployed Engineering

Job description

Transform healthcare with us. At Qualified Health, we’re redefining what’s possible with Generative AI in healthcare. Our infrastructure provides the guardrails for safe AI governance, healthcare-specific agent creation, and real-time algorithm monitoring—working alongside leading health systems to drive real change. This is more than just a job. It’s an opportunity to build the future of AI in healthcare, solve complex challenges, and make a lasting impact on patient care. If you’re ambitious, innovative, and ready to move fast, we’d love to have you on board. Join us in shaping the future of healthcare. JOB SUMMARY: Qualified Health is seeking a Director of Forward Deployed Engineering to own the end-to-end data relationship with some of the most prestigious health systems in the country. In this fast-paced, high-ownership role, you will lead a pod of Healthcare AI Solutions Engineers—forward-deployed consultants who design, build, and operate the data infrastructure powering our AI-driven clinical and operational workflows. Your pipelines don’t just move data—they directly enable AI systems that help clinicians make better decisions for their patients. As the leader of this team, you are accountable for delivery quality, partner satisfaction, and the professional growth of every engineer in your pod. You’ll leverage AI-assisted development practices to drive speed and quality, and you’ll set the standard for what’s possible at the intersection of healthcare data and artificial intelligence. This role demands executive-level judgment, deep technical credibility, and the consultant’s ability to earn trust quickly and adapt across complex partner environments. You take ownership, think critically, and solve problems independently—while empowering your team to do the same. KEY RESPONSIBILITIES - Own the end-to-end data integration for 2–4 health system partners—from initial onboarding through live production operations—with full accountability for delivery timelines and partner satisfaction - Lead a pod of 2–3 Forward Deployed Engineers, mentoring and developing forward-deployed consultants while delivering against tight partner timelines (initial rollout target: <90 days from kickoff) - Serve as the primary technical relationship owner for your partners’ data and IT teams—running orientation calls, scoping sessions, and executive check-ins at the CTO/CMIO level, and bringing a consultant’s ability to communicate complex technical decisions to senior stakeholders - Design and build data pipelines that ingest Epic Clarity data, transform it through FHIR standards, and deliver AI-ready datasets via Delta Lake and Delta Sharing—the foundation for everything the product does; leverage AI-assisted development tooling to accelerate delivery and improve quality - Collaborate with the Product, AI Engineering and Data Science teams to scope new workflow data requirements, support product prototyping initiatives, and ensure pipeline outputs support backtesting, production inference, and evaluation - Drive continuous improvement of integration patterns, tooling, and technical standards—building reusable components that accelerate future deployments and raise the quality bar across the team REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS: - 7+ years as a data engineer or engineering leader, with experience building production data pipelines, leading technical teams, and owning client relationships end-to-end - Strong expertise in Epic Clarity/Caboodle data models—you know your way around the clinical tables that power healthcare AI - Proficiency with Databricks (PySpark, Delta Lake), SQL Server, and Azure cloud services (ADLS, Key Vault, ADF) - Experience with FHIR/HL7 healthcare interoperability standards and data transformation patterns - Executive-level client-facing communication—you can present data architecture decisions to a health system CTO, scope a new workflow with a CMIO, and debug a complex SQL query in the same day - Consultant mindset: the ability to earn partner trust quickly, adapt to new environments, and deliver high-quality outcomes under tight timelines - Data quality obsession—you build validation frameworks and monitoring, not just pipelines; you catch problems before the partner does - Ownership mentality: takes full accountability for team delivery, partner outcomes, and technical quality from scoping through production - Critical thinking: applies structured reasoning to evaluate options, anticipate risks, and make sound decisions independently under uncertainty - Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Data Science, Mathematics, or related technical field PREFERRED SKILLS: - Experience with healthcare data from multiple EHR vendors (Epic, Cerner, eCW, athenahealth, NextGen) - Terraform or infrastructure-as-code experience for tenant provisioning - Background in healthcare consulting, EHR implementation, forward deployment, or health system IT - Experience with real-time data processing (HL7 feeds, FHIR subscriptions, streaming pipelines) - Familiarity with AI-assisted development tools (e.g., GitHub Copilot, Cursor, or similar) to accelerate engineering and prototyping - Prior experience managing or mentoring forward-deployed engineers or technical consultants TECHNICAL ENVIRONMENT: Our data infrastructure is built on modern cloud technologies including: - Azure Databricks + Data Factory (plus Fabric and Snowflake integrations) - PySpark for distributed data processing - GitHub Actions + Terraform for CI/CD and Infrastructure as Code - Python with type-safe patterns and modern frameworks - Healthcare data formats including FHIR, Epic Clarity, and other EHR schemas WHAT SUCCESS LOOKS LIKE: - High-quality data pipelines delivered on schedule with thorough testing and documentation - Proactive issue identification with technical problems caught and resolved before impacting partners - Reusable components that reduce implementation time for subsequent integrations - Clean production deployments with minimal post-launch issues - Technical credibility with partner IT teams based on quality of work and consulting prescence - A high-performing pod of Healthcare AI Solutions Engineers who grow under your leadership and consistently deliver partner outcomes. IMPACT & GROWTH OPPORTUNITY: As a Director, Forward Deployed Engineering at Qualified Health, you'll build the data infrastructure that powers AI-driven insights for major health systems. Your work directly enables better patient care by ensuring high-quality, reliable data flows into clinical decision support tools. This role offers deep technical learning in healthcare data, exposure to diverse health system architectures, and growth potential into senior technical or platform architecture roles as we scale. WHY JOIN QUALIFIED HEALTH? - Mission that matters: We partner with the country's leading health systems to safely deploy AI that improves patient care, operational efficiency, and financial performance. Your work directly impacts clinical outcomes for millions of patients. - Serious traction: 14+ health system partners including the University of Texas system, University of Rochester Medical Center and Jefferson Health — scaling to 100K+ users. - Public Benefit Corporation: We're organized to prioritize patient outcomes alongside business performance. This isn't lip service — it's in our charter. - Comp that competes: We offer market competitive base salary, meaningful equity with real upside, and comprehensive benefits. We are happy to offer flexible working hours and an inclusive environment that fosters creativity and innovation, OUR COMMITMENT TO DIVERSITY Qualified Health is an equal opportunity employer. We believe that a diverse and inclusive workplace is essential to our success, and we are committed to building a team that reflects the world we live in. We encourage applications from all qualified individuals, regardless of race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, national origin, marital status, disability, or veteran status. Pay & Benefits: The pay range for this role is between $185,000 and $225,000, and will depend on your skills, qualifications, experience, and location. This role is also eligible for equity and benefits. Join our mission to revolutionize healthcare with AI. To apply, please send your resume through the application below.