Senior Data Scientist

Washington, DC (Preferred) | Remote OK (EST hours) | 🕐 Full-Time
Organization: Surgical Data Science Collective (SDSC)

You’re not just looking for another data science job.
You want to build something that matters—from the ground up.

At SDSC, we’re combining AI, surgical video data, and human expertise to reshape the future of surgical care. And we need a founding Senior Data Scientist to help lead the way.

This is a rare opportunity to build the data science foundation for a mission-driven organization working at the intersection of computer vision, medical research, and real-world impact.

• Own the end-to-end data science pipeline—from cleaning surgical video data to surfacing insights that shape patient care

• Collaborate with ML engineers to support computer vision models in real surgical environments

• Partner with researchers to translate complex needs into structured, high-quality datasets

• Analyze surgical procedure data and imaging to improve outcomes and drive innovation

• Build the data infrastructure and workflows to scale data science across SDSC

• Present your insights clearly to both technical and clinical stakeholders

• 5+ years in data science (bonus for health tech, research, or imaging-heavy work)

• Comfortable in startup environments—you see ambiguity as opportunity

• Fluent in Python, SQL, MongoDB, and AWS Postgres

• Skilled at defining projects from scratch and seeing them through

• Strong grasp of ML principles—especially around supporting computer vision models

• Master’s degree in Data Science, CS, Stats, or related field (PhD = extra credit)

• Strong communicator who can translate complexity into clarity

• Own your space. You’ll be our first full-time data scientist—with real influence from day one

• Make it matter. Your work supports research that directly improves surgical techniques and patient outcomes

• Work with top-tier minds. Collaborate with surgeons, scientists, and AI experts in a deeply cross-functional role

• Flex where you work. We’re DC-based, but open to remote for the right EST-aligned candidate

• Grow as we grow. Leadership opportunities and team-building are on the horizon

Ready to help shape the future of surgical AI—from the inside out?
Apply now and help us turn data into life-changing insights.

About us: The Surgical Data Science Collective (SDSC) is a nonprofit on a mission to unlock the power of surgical data. We bring together surgeons, scientists, and engineers to turn surgical videos into searchable, data-rich tools. Using AI, we help uncover insights that improve technique, sharpen decision-making, and elevate patient care. From smarter metrics to secure video libraries, we give surgical teams the tools to ask better questions—and find better answers. Because when surgeons get better, patients do too.