Data Scientist

The Data Scientist-Northeast Program Evaluation Center (NEPEC) is organizationally part of the VA Central Office (VACO) Office of Mental Health and Suicide Prevention (OMHSP). This position is in direct communication with OMHSP, as well as the Director and Associate Directors of NEPEC. The primary purpose of this position is to evaluate VA specialized mental health systems.

Data Scientist (NEPEC) GS-1560-13 The primary purpose of this position is to evaluate VA specialized mental health systems. The VA treats more than 1.7 million Veterans with psychiatric and substance use problems every year; these Veterans comprise more than 25% of all VA patients. Mental health care is delivered through more than 20 million outpatient encounters, 90,000 inpatient, and 30,000 stays in residential treatment facilities. The OMHSP (11OMHSP) monitors the delivery and quality of mental health care as guided by the Uniformed Mental Health Services Package (VHA Handbook 1160.01). NEPEC has the responsibility for providing strategic guidance in program evaluation to improve the quality and availability of mental health treatment.

This includes, but is not limited to, performing ongoing national monitoring and evaluation of mental health services in VA, as well as designing, implementing, and evaluating innovative mental health programs being disseminated throughout VA. The data and reports are utilized by senior leadership in VACO and regularly provided to other Federal agencies, Congress and the White House. The duties and responsibilities of the incumbent include but are not limited to the following: Program Evaluation Duties: The incumbent can conceptualize and conduct program evaluation projects involving large healthcare data sets using knowledge about multiple fields of research that bridge diverse disciplines.

Work primarily related to identifying the methods, processes, algorithms, tools, and systems to extract and interpret findings from varied structured and unstructured data sets related to the data science lifecycle. The primary requirements of the work are applying professional knowledge of computer science and mathematical and statistical theories, techniques, and methods to gather, analyze, design, and construct new processes for modeling, interpret, and/or report quantitative information, trends, relationships, and correlations among or within data sets. Conducting projects requires a versatile skill set within the realm of Data Analytics, Modeling, Optimization, Governance and Visualization while having the ability to utilize and apply statistical methods and techniques to enhance data analysis.

Additionally, the incumbent should feel comfortable utilizing a variety of programming languages and environments, e.g., SQL, Python/R/SAS, and PowerShell/CMD/Bash. Data Management and Data Syndication Duties: NEPEC supports the needs of OMHSP's program evaluation efforts. As part of this support, the incumbent serves in a leadership role on projects focusing on meeting specific evaluation aims as defined by NEPEC leadership. The incumbent may provide technical and scientific supervision of the work of staff assigned to these projects and monitor progress toward project goals and deadlines. The incumbent engages in significant interaction and active coordination about data management and data syndication with staff at other OMHSP evaluation centers, OMHSP senior staff, and CDW.

To support OMHSP activities the incumbent: Uses multiple software packages and operating system environments suitable for working with, manipulating, and analyzing large datasets. Contributes to and maintains a transparent and reusable data architecture for mental health data. Provides NEPEC staff with technical training as deemed necessary by the Director, both orally and in writing.

Represents NEPEC on OMHSP, VHA wide, or interagency work groups in lieu of the Director or Associate Directors, attends conference calls or briefings, reviews materials, and reports on these activities. Incumbent will use life cycle process models to perform their work. There are various data science lifecycle models that consist of a set of processes in an application that transforms data into useful knowledge. Data science life cycle models incorporates principles, techniques, and methods including data cleaning, data management, analytics, visualization, and engineering. The incumbent may be called upon to support the data management needs of staff outside NEPEC who are involved in program evaluation, implementation, and research projects.

They help the Director of NEPEC with the data management responsibilities associated with coordinating with these staff and facilitating their use of data in appropriate and efficient ways. Analyzing a variety of data sources to provide data-driven insights to the organization to streamline processes. Work Schedule: Monday-Friday 8:00am-4:30pm Telework: Ad-Hoc available in accordance with policy.

Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Functional Statement #:PD03739A Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized. Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized.