Senior Data Scientist

Senior Data Scientist

Organization: Surgical Data Science Collective

Location: Washington, DC (Preferred, open to remote EST)

Type: Full-Time

Position Overview:

We’re looking for a driven and experienced Senior Data Scientist to join our expanding team in Washington, DC. This is a founding role, giving you the opportunity to build SDSC’s data science capabilities from the ground up while working at the cutting edge of AI, computer vision, and surgical innovation.

In this role, you’ll play a pivotal part in helping medical researchers bring their computer vision projects to life, using data to drive advancements in surgical procedures and outcomes. You’ll be hands-on with complex datasets, supporting research efforts, optimizing models, and turning raw data into actionable insights that improve real-world healthcare.

As our first full-time data science hire, you’ll work closely with product, engineering, and ML teams to define data infrastructure, shape workflows, and lay the foundation for scalable data science operations. For the right candidate, this role also offers the opportunity to grow into a leadership position, hiring and mentoring a data science team over time.

This position is ideal for a data scientist with a proven track record in multiple projects, particularly in health tech and big data. We’re looking for someone who thrives in a fast-paced startup environment, can lead projects independently, and communicates effectively with both technical and non-technical stakeholders.

If you’re excited about building from scratch, driving real-world impact in healthcare, and shaping the future of surgical AI, then this job might be for you.

Key Responsibilities:

• Analyze large datasets from surgical procedures, medical imaging, and AI models to extract meaningful insights.

• Collaborate with ML engineers to optimize machine learning algorithms for surgical computer vision applications.

• Conduct statistical analysis and generate reports to support research initiatives and enhance surgical outcomes.

• Clean, process, and transform raw data into high-quality datasets for analysis and model training.

• Work closely with researchers to define data requirements and structure datasets for computer vision applications.

• Ensure data integrity and accuracy across all stages of the data pipeline.

• Present findings and recommendations to both technical and non-technical audiences in a clear and compelling manner.

Qualifications:

• Master’s degree in Data Science, Computer Science, Statistics, or a related field (Phd is a plus).

• Independent and driving toward problem solving.

• 5+ years of experience in data science, preferably in healthcare or a research-focused environment.

• Proficiency in Python, SQL for data manipulation and analysis.

• Past experience working with MongoDB and AWS Postgres.

• Experience in defining data science projects from scratch.

• Knowledge of machine learning engineering principles, with a focus on understanding and supporting computer vision model development.

• Strong problem-solving skills and attention to detail. Strong communication skills, with the ability to convey complex data insights to non-technical stakeholders.

About us: SDSC is a non-profit organization dedicated to improving surgical outcomes by leveraging the power of artificial intelligence. We work with surgeons to generate comprehensive metrics from surgical videos, providing them with valuable information to enhance their procedures. We also help surgeons create searchable libraries of their surgical videos, complete with secure backups. By empowering surgeons with our cutting-edge technology, we aim to improve patient outcomes and advance the field of medicine.