Associate Applied Scientist

About the Role

As an Associate Applied Scientist at Garner Health, you will be embedded in the Applied Science team, focusing on answering critical questions about healthcare choices and costs. This role involves owning production systems end-to-end, from problem framing and objective definition to shipping and iterative improvement based on real-world outcomes. The work is described as analogous to a quantitative researcher at a top hedge fund.

Key Responsibilities

• Ship production algorithmic systems end-to-end, from problem framing to launch to iteration.
• Frame messy, real-world healthcare and business constraints into clear objectives, tradeoffs, and decision frameworks.
• Define the set of metrics needed to judge whether a solution is working, and validate solutions before they ship.
• Choose the right approach for each problem, from machine learning, optimization, heuristics, to simple rules.
• Bring new ideas to work, experimenting with approaches beyond the obvious to get better results.
• Produce rigorous, well-validated work, and review peers' code and analyses.
• Build a deep understanding of the healthcare economy and Garner's place in it.

Near-term roadmap problems include:

• Provider tiering optimization, jointly optimizing geographic access and total-cost-of-care savings.
• Member engagement model using ML to ingest claims data and in-app behavior to influence member behavior towards better-quality, lower-cost care.

Requirements & Tech Stack

• Python, SQL, AWS, Snowflake, pandas, XGBoost, PyTorch, HuggingFace, modern LLM tooling and eval frameworks.
• A bias toward action, quickly translating ideas into working prototypes.
• Strong applied problem-solving skills, with the ability to define good metrics and deliver solutions that improve them.
• A solid command of the methods your work calls for and the data your models depend on.
• Strong judgment in choosing between statistical models, heuristics, optimization approaches, and simpler algorithmic methods.
• Strong communication skills, with the ability to present work clearly to senior stakeholders.
• A desire to do work that matters and be held to a high standard.
• Engagement with AI tools as part of how you do your best work, and accountability for outcomes that matter.

Qualifications

• A Bachelor's or Master's degree (in progress) in Computer Science, Mathematics, Statistics, Economics, or a related STEM field, with an expected graduation date of Fall 2026 or Spring 2027.