firsthand Health Inc

VP of Data & Technology

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Hiring Remotely in US

Remote

Healthtech • Information Technology • Social Impact • Software • App development

We help individuals with serious mental illness engage with behavioral health, social supports and healthcare.

The Role

firsthand supports individuals living with SMI (serious mental illness). Our holistic approach includes a team of peer recovery specialists, benefits specialists and clinicians. Our teams focus on meeting each individual where they are and walking with them side by side as a trusted guide and partner on their journey to better health.

firsthand's team members use their lived experience to build trust with these individuals and support them in reconnecting to the healthcare they need, while minimizing inappropriate healthcare utilization. Together with our health plan partners, we are changing the way our society supports those most impacted by SMI.

We are cultivating a team of deeply passionate problem-solvers to tackle significant and complex healthcare challenges with us. This is more than a job—it's a calling. Every day, you will engage in work that resonates with purpose, gain wisdom from motivated colleagues, and thrive in an environment that celebrates continuous learning, creativity, and fun.

firsthand is at a high-growth inflection point, when Medicaid most needs bold technical leadership. As we prepare to scale our track record of results into multiple new markets and new customers, we are taking this opportunity to invest in next generation data and technology leadership.

To meet this moment, we’re building a first-principles, AI-native data platform that will:Delivers underwritable value-based care performance in real timeSurface intelligence at the point of careLeverage data assets to scale population-health levers.

As VP, Data & Technology you will architect this spine, build and inspire a world-class organization (Data Engineering, Data Science / Gen AI, Software Engineering), and partner with Growth, Finance, Actuary, Value Delivery, and Clinical leaders to turn insight into outsized P&L impact.

This role reports directly to firsthand's CEO.

Your responsibilities will include:

Strategic technology leadership

Translate complex analytics into clear, actionable narratives for business and clinical stakeholders
Drive enterprise portfolio of technology investments
Partner with Value Delivery teams to guide the roadmap for predictive analytics value creation and population-health platform strategy

Data engineering / science leadership and execution

Own the data model: build near-real-time pipelines merging multi-payer claims, EHR, care-management, and engagement events
Define and evolve the modern stack: Work on a fast-paced, autonomous, agile team to build and enhance a modern cloud, database, and ELT infrastructure working with diverse healthcare data (Snowflake, dbt, Python, Airflow, Fivetran/Hightouch, and more)
Contribute as IC (12 mos) and own end-to-end infrastructure releases, platform enhancements: write critical ELT jobs, review every major pipeline, and personally green-light model deployments
Enforce HIPAA/SOC-2 security and rigorous testing, CI/CD, and observability standards

People and Culture

Recruit, mentor, and inspire a multidisciplinary team of data engineers, data scientists, and software engineers
Foster a high-accountability culture centered on mission, quality, and speed

Required Qualifications, Capabilities, and Skills

9+ yrs hands-on value-based care (payor or provider) health-care analytics (medical and pharmacy claims, clinical data) plus 5+ yrs progressive leadership of technical teams
Proven record architecting of enhancing large healthcare data-warehouse environments and analytics platforms
Strong command of SQL, Python, dbt, Airflow, and modern ELT toolchains; comfortable with version control, unit testing, and CI/CD
Applied experience with causal-inference methods and ML/AI techniques in population-health settings
Exceptional communicator; can distill technical insight for non-technical execs and frontline staff
Team player interested in working at a fast-paced startup environment, with a track record mentoring early-career data engineers, analysts, and data scientists

Preferred Qualifications

Master’s degree or PhD with a focus on health care analytics, health services/policy research, data science, statistics, or engineering
Experience working in a high-growth company environment
Deep expertise in medical & pharmacy claims data, risk adjustment, quality metrics, value-based-contract evaluation, and contract underwriting

Benefits

For full-time employees, our compensation package includes base, equity (or a special incentive program for clinical roles) and performance bonus potential. Our benefits include physical and mental health, dental, vision, 401(k) with a match, 16 weeks parental leave for either parent, 15 days/year vacation in your first year (this increases to 20 days/year in your second year and beyond), and a supportive and inclusive culture.

Vaccination Policy

Employment with firsthand is contingent upon attesting to medical clearance requirements, which include, but may not be limited to: evidence of vaccination for/immunity to COVID-19, Hepatitis B, Influenza, MMR, Chickenpox, Tetanus and Diphtheria. All employees of firsthand are required to receive these vaccinations on a cadence/frequency as advised by the CDC, whereas not otherwise prohibited by state law.

New hires may submit for consideration a request to be exempted from these requirements (based on a valid religious or medical reason) via forms provided by firsthand. Such requests will be subject to review and approval by the Company, and exemptions will be granted only if the Company can provide a reasonable accommodation in relation to the requested exemption. Note that approvals for reasonable accommodations are reviewed and approved on a case-by-case basis and availability of a reasonable accommodation is not guaranteed.

Unfortunately, we are not able to offer sponsorship at this time.

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firsthand Health Inc

firsthand is transforming the way individuals living with Serious Mental Illness (SMI) receive care. We are focused on delivering real outcomes for a cohort that has historically been underserved, stigmatized, and deprioritized. By building a service focused on whole-person care, firsthand aims to find, establish a trusting relationship with, and support quality care for individuals living with complex experiences of SMI. Most importantly, our goal is to be the trusted guide, partner, and first call for individuals we serve, guiding them to a life of stability and independence. In doing so, we will not only improve lives, but also improve the economics for managed care plans and states responsible for providing care to this community. This enables us to build solutions that scale and, as a result, change the way our society supports those most impacted by serious mental illness.

Why Work With Us

Our frontline colleagues bring lived experience with serious mental illness to their work- they’ve walked in the shoes of those we serve. They can build trust in a way many others cannot.

Much of our team has a personal connection to the mental illness space, and we come together from a wide variety of backgrounds to unite in this common mission.