Research Systems Programmer/Analyst

Overview

RTI’s Division of Healthcare Payment and Quality in the Health Practice Area is seeking dynamic and detail-orientated candidates for a full-time Research Programmer / Analyst with Python, SAS, or SQL analytic programming experience.

The Research Programmer / Analyst will work with researcher teams to analyze and synthesize complex qualitative and quantitative administrative health data from multiple sources into meaningful results.

Individuals in this role will provide analytic development and statistical programming expertise to project teams conducting research using healthcare data, especially large and complex health insurance claims and survey data, in a fast-paced environment.

This position is based in Research Triangle Park, NC; Waltham, MA; Washington, DC; or any other U.S. location as a telecommuter.

Responsibilities

Core responsibilities :

• Approximately 85% of working time will require :
• Applying coding expertise and best practices to query, merge, and analyze complex healthcare data from large relational databases
• Leveraging a variety of quantitative methods to standardize, blend, and distill data from multiple disparate sources, transforming them into analytic insights for use in client reports, journal manuscripts, abstracts, or posters for professional meetings
• Iteratively developing and maintaining Python, SAS, or SQL code with an emphasis on increasing efficiency, minimizing computational errors, implementing process improvements, and other approaches that add value to business processes and analytic results
• Participating in thorough code review and documentation, as well as parallel coding efforts for other programmers to maintain quality standards and ensure that code may be efficiently transferred among team members as needed
• Constructing analytic datasets and databases to support deliverables for various public health and healthcare financing engagements
• Collaborating with project team members to review, critically evaluate, and refine business requirements, and then translate those requirements into programming logic
• Demonstrating established functional leadership skills on projects, including advising and mentoring fellow programmers, proactively resolving day-to-day issues of small to medium complexity, incorporating sound coding best practices and standards, and developing these behaviors among early-career staff

Approximately 15% of working time will require :

• Supporting strategic initiatives within the larger programming group and health practice area such as identifying emerging technologies for potential adoption, creating efficiencies or novel coding approaches both within and across projects, mentoring staff, and collaborating with analysts and other programmers to support research objectives
• Participating in industry conferences and continuing education on healthcare-related and / or technical coding topics (including learning new coding languages) as applicable to the role and evolving business needs
• Routinely sharing insights gained from the above activities with fellow programmers, leaders, and other division staff through activities such as presentations at staff meetings, contributions to collective codebase utilities, and training early career staff

Candidates will be asked to provide a code sample and logs.

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Qualifications

Minimum Qualifications :

BS / BA or advanced degree in data science, computer science, statistics, social sciences, health policy or related field with at least 8 years of programming experience OR the equivalent combination of education and experience.

An equivalent combination of education and experience is defined as a Master’s degree in the same areas mentioned above and at least 6 years of relevant experience

• Minimum of 6 years of combined experience (depending on degree, above) with Python, SAS, or SQL analytical coding with demonstrated expertise in the linkage of various types of data files
• Programming experience using data stored in relational databases such as Teradata, Snowflake, DB2, Oracle, and SQL Server
• Experience designing and implementing flexible, reusable, scalable, computationally efficient and easily maintainable programming code for use across multiple projects
• Demonstrated understanding of analytic programming quality and best practices, including experience with QA / QC procedures (e.

g., peer review of code, parallel programming) and the ability to teach these skills to others

• Demonstrated experience with all phases of the Analytic Development Life Cycle
• Organizational and planning skills that enable independent work while contributing to a team effort
• Analytic thinker with exceptional attention to quality and detail
• Good interpersonal skills, including written and oral English-language skills, the ability to effectively manage competing deadlines, and the ability to work independently on a day-to-day basis while regularly collaborating with project teams
• Applicants must be legally authorized to work in the United States, have lived in the United States for at least 3 of the last 5 years, and should not require now, or in the future, sponsorship for employment visa status

Preferred Qualifications :

• At least 2 years of experience in a functional or technical leadership role with experience teaching others coding best practices, conducting thorough code reviews, and guiding teams through one or more phases of the Analytic Development Life Cycle
• Experience with other open-source programming languages such as R, Java, and Perl
• Experience leveraging relational database management concepts to build or enhance large systems of analytic datasets
• Healthcare industry experience, analytic experience in work with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and / or knowledge of healthcare terminology and taxonomy / classification systems (e.

g., ICD-10, CPT, HCPCS)

• Programming experience within CMS data systems such as the Integrated Data Repository (IDRC), Chronic Conditions Warehouse (CCW), or Centralized Data Repository (CDR)
• Understanding and use of issue tracking and code versioning tools such as Jira or Git
• Experience with Linux / Unix
• Ability to provide quality programming output while also identifying overall enhancements to programming or project team processes to advance quality, efficiency, and collaboration effort
3 days ago