Head of Data - Predict

United StatesRemoteFull Timeexecutive

OtherDataData Manager

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Sword Health is shifting healthcare from human-first to AI-first through its AI Care platform, making world-class healthcare available anytime, anywhere, while significantly reducing costs for payers, self-insured employers, national health systems, and other healthcare organizations. Sword began by reinventing pain care with AI at its core, and has since expanded into women’s health, movement health, and more recently mental health. Since 2020, more than 700,000 members across three continents have completed 10 million AI sessions, helping Sword's 1,000+ enterprise clients avoid over $1 billion in unnecessary healthcare costs. Backed by 42 clinical studies and over 44 patents, Sword Health has raised more than $500 million from leading investors, including Khosla Ventures, General Catalyst, Transformation Capital, and Founders Fund. Learn more at www.swordhealth.com.

We are seeking a Head of Data to lead our Sword Predict data science and data engineering team. This is a high-impact, player/coach role where you will both manage a talented technical team and contribute hands-on to the work that drives measurable clinical and financial outcomes for our clients.

Sword Predict is a core capability of the Sword platform that uses machine learning to identify members at high risk for musculoskeletal conditions and route them to the most appropriate care pathway. By analyzing claims data, eligibility files, prescription history, electronic medical records, and enriched external datasets, Predict enables our clients to intervene earlier, reduce unnecessary surgeries, and deliver better outcomes at lower cost.

This role is critical to our mission. The work you lead directly determines whether members get the care they need to heal—and whether our clients see the ROI they expect. You will own the technical strategy for Predict's algorithms and data infrastructure, develop your team's capabilities, and serve as a trusted technical expert in client-facing engagements alongside our sales and customer success teams.

Technical Leadership & Hands-On Contribution (~50%)

- Design, build, and refine machine learning models that identify members at high risk for costly MSK interventions using claims, EMR, and enriched external data.

- Own the technical architecture for Predict's data pipelines, ensuring reliable ingestion, transformation, and delivery of healthcare data at scale.

- Establish and maintain ML ops practices—model versioning, monitoring, retraining pipelines, and performance tracking.

- Conduct rigorous analysis of algorithm performance, cost curve impact, and ROI delivered to clients.

- Stay current on healthcare data standards, regulatory requirements, and industry best practices.

- Work closely and collaboratively with Sword’s Data team to ensure Predict’s work is embedded within the Tech team’s overall infrastructure and best practices.

Team Management & Development (~50%)

- Manage, mentor, and grow a team of data scientists and data engineers.

- Set clear goals, provide regular feedback, and create development opportunities for each team member.

- Foster a culture of intellectual rigor, collaboration, and continuous improvement.

- Hire additional team members as Predict scales.

Client-Facing Technical Expertise

- Serve as Predict's technical subject matter expert in client meetings, sales cycles, and implementation discussions.

- Translate complex data science concepts into clear, compelling narratives for non-technical audiences.

- Partner with customer success and sales teams to demonstrate Predict's value proposition and build client confidence.

- Support business reviews, QBRs, and strategic discussions with data-driven insights alongside our Health Economics & Customer Insights team.

Cross-Functional Collaboration

- Work closely with product and engineering teams to align Predict's technical roadmap with platform strategy.

- Collaborate with health economics to validate clinical and financial outcomes.

- Partner with data access and integration teams to expand the data assets available for Predict models.

5-7 years of experience in data science, machine learning engineering, or a related technical field.

2+ years of experience managing technical teams, with a track record of developing talent and delivering results through others.

Expertise in healthcare data, particularly medical and pharmacy claims data; experience with EMR data is highly valued.

Strong foundation in machine learning techniques (e.g., gradient boosting, random forests, logistic regression, survival analysis) and their application to real-world problems—deep learning or transformer experience is not required.

Proficiency in Python and the modern data science stack (pandas, scikit-learn, etc.).

Experience building and maintaining production data pipelines using tools like Airflow, dbt, Spark, or similar.

Familiarity with ML ops practices—model deployment, monitoring, versioning, and lifecycle management.

Excellent communication skills with the ability to explain technical concepts to non-technical stakeholders and represent the team in client-facing settings.

Based in the United States with eligibility to work without sponsorship.

Experience at a healthcare technology company, health plan, or healthcare analytics vendor.

Familiarity with healthcare economics, value-based care models, or population health management.

Exposure to predictive models for utilization management, risk stratification, or care navigation.

Experience working in a high-growth startup environment where priorities shift and resourcefulness is rewarded.

Comfort operating in ambiguity and driving clarity for your team.