Senior Director, Data Science & AI

Location: Franklin, TN, United States

Job Summary

The Senior Director, Data Science & AI serves as the strategic and operational leader for the organization's enterprise-wide data science and artificial intelligence initiatives. This role is responsible for shaping and executing CHS's data-driven innovation agenda, with a focus on improving healthcare outcomes, optimizing operational efficiency, and generating measurable business value. The Senior Director leads a multidisciplinary team of data scientists and AI specialists, fostering a culture of technical excellence and ethical innovation. This position partners closely with senior leaders across clinical, financial, and operational domains to translate high-impact business challenges into scalable AI and machine learning solutions that align with CHS's mission and strategic goals.

Essential Functions

• Defines and leads the enterprise-wide strategy for data science and artificial intelligence, ensuring alignment with CHS’s clinical, operational, and business priorities. Establishes a clear vision and multi-year roadmap for leveraging advanced analytics and AI to drive innovation, improve outcomes, and deliver measurable value.
• Builds, mentors, and leads a high-performing team of data scientists and AI professionals. Establishes a culture of innovation, continuous learning, and data-driven decision-making.
• Partners with executive leaders across quality, safety, finance, operations, nursing, and informatics to translate complex business challenges into actionable data science and AI solutions. Serves as the primary liaison between technical teams and business stakeholders, ensuring clear communication and alignment across clinical and operational priorities.
• Leads the end-to-end lifecycle of data science and AI initiatives - from identifying opportunities and sourcing data to model development, deployment, performance monitoring, and continuous optimization - ensuring cross-functional alignment, business adoption, and lasting impact.
• Guides the development and implementation of advanced AI use cases, including predictive analytics, patient risk modeling, clinical decision support, demand forecasting, capacity optimization, and natural language processing (NLP).
• Establishes and enforces enterprise standards for data governance, model development, validation, deployment, monitoring, and ethical AI usage.
• Champions innovation and the adoption of modern AI techniques such as deep learning, generative AI, and reinforcement learning where appropriate.
• Ensures compliance with federal and state regulations regarding data privacy, security, and AI model usage in healthcare (e.g., HIPAA, FDA, ONC).
• Communicates complex technical concepts, insights, and recommendations effectively to executive audiences and non-technical stakeholders.
• Performs other duties as assigned.
• Complies with all policies and standards.

Qualifications

• Master's Degree in Data Science, Computer Science, Statistics, Bioinformatics, or a related quantitative field required
• Ph.D. preferred
• More than 10 years of progressive experience in data science, AI, or advanced analytics required
• 5-7 years in a leadership role managing data science teams required
• Experience in a large healthcare system preferred

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

• Proven track record of developing and implementing successful, large-scale data science and AI initiatives that have delivered significant business value.
• Demonstrated experience in shaping data science strategy and influencing executive-level decision-making.
• Expert-level knowledge of machine learning, deep learning, statistical modeling, data engineering, and model deployment best practices.
• Proficiency with advanced analytics using Python and familiarity with libraries such as pandas, numpy, scikit-learn, Keras, and TensorFlow.
• Strong experience with cloud platforms (e.g., AWS, Google Cloud, Azure, Oracle) and the deployment of ML/AI applications in a cloud environment.
• Extensive experience working with large, complex datasets, including clinical and healthcare data, and proficiency in data integration from various sources like relational databases (e.g., BigQuery, Postgres-SQL) and data lakes.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to articulate a vision, influence stakeholders, and lead cross-functional teams.
• Strong executive presence and the ability to influence, communicate, and collaborate across all levels of the organization.
• Experience managing budgets, vendor relationships, and strategic partnerships related to data science and AI.
• Commitment to ethical AI development and responsible innovation.