Senior Data Scientist

Cardiovascular care is often the #1 cost for health plans and employers, with the current fee for service model incentivizing providers to maximize volume and throughput at the expense of clinical outcomes and patient satisfaction. Karoo’s mission is to improve the lives of every cardiac patient in America by transforming the current care model to improve patient outcomes at significantly lower cost. Karoo deploys a value-based approach which combines a blend of traditional, guideline-based medicine and state of the art digital tools to accomplish this important mission by enabling the conversion to, and success in, value-based care arrangements for cardiovascular networks, health systems and payers. Karoo is backed by leading venture capitalists, including First Trust Capital Partners and BIP Ventures, and has near and medium-term plans for further rounds.

Job Description

Location: Pittsburgh preferred, or remote, U.S.-based

Type: Full-time technical role

Karoo is a venture-backed startup, prior to Series A, on a mission to transform cardiovascular care. Our platform is designed to empower large provider groups and health systems to succeed in value-based care contracts with payers by improving patient outcomes and reducing cost of care through better coordination, analytics, and disease management. While our initial focus is cardiology, we are building a scalable operating system for managing complex conditions across the healthcare spectrum.

This is a rare opportunity to join a mission-driven founding team at a pivotal stage and help define the future of healthcare technology, with the power to improve the lives of patients with cardiovascular disease, the number one cause of death in America today.

Karoo Health is seeking a skilled and dedicated developer to join our Engineering team. As a data scientist at Karoo Health, you show a clear passion for quality and love to bring software to life. You are energized by the idea of building something new and want to work on problems that matter.

In order to do this job well, you must be a curious and eager problem solver with a hunger for building well-designed, high-quality solutions.  You have a passion for great work and strive to produce simple solutions to complex problems. Knowing there are always multiple answers to a problem, you know how to engage in a constructive dialogue to find the best path forward. 

When applying, please include a description of why you’re interested in this role.

• Design and Architect Data Systems: Lead the design, construction, installation, and optimization of highly reliable, scalable, and secure data architecture.
• Design Core Healthcare Data Models: Own the design and evolution of foundational data models and schemas from the ground up, leveraging industry standards such as TUVA, OMOP and FHIR to translate clinical, operational, product, and reporting needs into scalable table structures, entities, and relationships.
• Develop Data Pipelines: Build and maintain complex, production-grade data pipelines that ingest, process, enrich and normalize large volumes of healthcare data ensuring consistency, usability, and data integrity across downstream applications.
• Data Quality and Governance: Establish and enforce data quality standards, monitoring, and validation processes to ensure the accuracy, completeness, and consistency of data used for analytics.
• Performance Optimization: Implement query tuning, indexing, and partitioning strategies to maximize the performance and efficiency of data processing systems and data retrieval.
• Cloud Infrastructure: Design and deploy scalable, secure, cloud infrastructure leveraging infrastructure-as-code best practices.
• Safeguard Data: Ensure strict compliance with healthcare data regulations (e.g., HIPAA, HITRUST) and implement data security best practices.
• Build and Maintain EMR Integrations: Develop direct, bi-directional integrations with electronic medical record platforms.

• Deep, hands-on experience working with healthcare data, including healthcare data standards and common data models such as TUVA, OMOP, or FHIR.
• Demonstrated experience designing core data models and schemas from scratch, including translating business, clinical, product, or user requirements into scalable data structures.
• Experience mapping raw healthcare data into standardized healthcare data models, including resolving data quality, normalization, terminology, and structural inconsistencies.
• Hands-on experience integrating directly with EMR/EHR platforms, ideally including eClinicalWorks, AthenaOne, Epic, or comparable systems.
• Experience with healthcare data regulations (e.g., HIPAA, HITRUST) and data formats (e.g. FHIR)
• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or related field, or equivalent work experience
• Minimum 8 years of dedicated professional experience in a Data Scientist or Data Engineering role, preferably within a startup or fast-paced healthcare technology environment.
• Expert proficiency in SQL and at least one programming language used for data processing (Python or Scala).
• Deep experience designing and managing Data Warehouses (e.g., Snowflake, Google BigQuery, AWS Redshift) and experience with Data Lake technologies (e.g., S3, Delta Lake).
• Demonstrated hands-on experience with Big Data processing frameworks like Apache Spark or Dask.
• Deep understanding of cloud platforms (AWS preferred) and cloud-native development, including services like S3, Lambda, and RDS.
• Hands-on experience with workflow orchestration tools such as Apache Airflow or AWS Step Functions for managing data pipelines.
• Expert knowledge of system architecture, scalability, and performance optimization for data systems.
• Experience with test automation, CI/CD, and DevOps best practices for data deployments.
• Ability to work independently and make high-impact technical decisions.
• Must be legally authorized to work in the United States and not require employer sponsorship now or in the future

• Competitive salary and equity in an early-stage startup.  
• Opportunity to define the technical solution from the ground up
• Possibly fully remote work environment with flexible hours
• Health benefits, learning stipends, and professional development support
• A collaborative and transparent company culture that values creativity and ownership

At Karoo Health Inc (“Karoo”), we believe that improving healthcare starts with creating a more equitable and inclusive world, both inside and outside our organization. We are committed to fostering a diverse workforce that reflects the communities we serve, and to building a culture where every team member feels valued, supported, and empowered. Our commitment to inclusion is reflected in initiatives such as equitable compensation practices, employee resource groups, inclusive benefits, and more.

Karoo Health is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We maintain a strict policy of non-discrimination for all applicants and employees. What does that mean for you? It means that we are dedicated to providing a workplace that is inclusive, respectful, and free from discrimination or harassment of any kind.

Employment decisions at Karoo Health are made based on merit, qualifications, and business need, without regard to race, religion, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, disability, marital status, veteran status, political affiliation, or any other characteristic protected under applicable law. This policy applies to every aspect of the employment journey, from recruitment and hiring to compensation, benefits, training, promotion, performance evaluation, and beyond.

We’re committed to doing the right thing, always, and that includes creating a fair and inclusive hiring process and workplace for all.

In the United States, compensation is determined by factors including location, role level, job-related skills, experience, and market conditions. Some positions may also be eligible for bonuses, equity, or other benefits. To learn more about Karoo Health’s benefits, please contact our People Team.