Behavioral Health Data Scientist (Human Services Data Scientist)

Are you a skilled data scientist who excels at creating efficient and beautiful scripts, packages, data pipelines, and dashboards to support program performance measurement? Do you have a commitment to social justice and enjoy working collaboratively with partners to facilitate data-informed decision making? Are you interested in putting your skills to work to make a difference in your community? The Performance Measurement and Evaluation Unit within the Department of Community and Human Services (DCHS) is seeking a savvy Data Scientist to join our team of analytic experts! 

The Department of Community and Human Services values diverse perspectives and life experiences. The Department encourages people of all backgrounds to apply, including people of color, immigrants, refugees, women, LGBTQ, people with disabilities, veterans, and those with lived experiences.  

DEPARTMENT AND DIVISION OVERVIEW:

King County's Department of Community and Human Services (DCHS) provides equitable opportunities for people to be healthy, happy, self-reliant, and connected to community. DCHS manages a wide range of programs and services to assist the county's most vulnerable residents. The department maintains a pro-equity focus aimed at developing the systems and standards necessary to achieve better outcomes for all county residents, regardless of race or income. 

This Data Scientist position is centrally located within the Performance Measurement and Evaluation (PME) unit of the DCHS Director's Office and will support the data and evaluation needs of the Behavioral Health and Recovery Division (BHRD). PME is a unit of dedicated and talented data scientists and evaluators. The PME Unit provides evaluation expertise, data management, and analytics across DCHS programs. PME collaborates with staff and community partners to design frameworks, measure outcomes, and drive continuous improvement. By fostering data-driven decision-making and sharing findings through reports and dashboards, PME strengthens equity and service effectiveness.  

BEHAVIORAL HEALTH CRISIS SERVICES DATA SCIENTIST: 

BHRD provides high-quality behavioral health services to help ensure people with mental health and substance use disorders receive the services they need. The specific focus of this Data Scientist role will be supporting BHRD’ crisis and commitment services, including programs or services designed to provide intervention, outreach, or prevention all along the crisis continuum, and activities funded by the Crisis Care Center Initiative. You will partner with evaluators, program managers, and other DCHS’s partners to develop sophisticated tracking measures and dashboards, utilize administrative databases, create shared analytic tools, conduct advanced quantitative analyses, and prepare reports that inform the operation of the behavioral healthcare system in King County.

To be considered minimally qualified applicant must demonstrate a background that provides the knowledge, skills and ability to: 

Develop Performance Measures and Dashboards

• Perform queries in structured query language (SQL) to extract, clean, and transform data from large, complex administrative databases to make tables for use in the production of performance measures, dashboards, and reports.  
• Serve as a subject matter expert in the technical specifications for key performance metrics, as well as understanding the complexities of various programs and how they are reflected in administrative data.
• Develop standardized and streamlined processes using R and Git for producing several performance metrics on Tableau dashboards that can be used across BHRD bodies of work.
• Perform complex data analyses, analyze trends, and construct key performance measures to improve King County’s behavioral health system for the benefit of its clients.
• Lead work with internal and external partners to design, create, and maintain production of key performance indicators, reports, dashboards, and trend analyses to improve performance of King County’s behavioral health and crisis systems.
• Work with stakeholders to identify data needs to support initiatives, improve quality, monitor performance, and assess impacts.

 Summarize Findings and Make Meaning of Complex Data 

• Develop tools to streamline key performance indicators and automation techniques to highlight actual performance change and identify any data system changes or data quality issues.
• Work independently to manipulate, analyze, and interpret data using appropriate statistical methods and data manipulation tools.
• Develop interactive dashboards, charts, reports, and presentations that visually represent key findings for non-technical audiences and communicate results in a way that is actionable.
• Drive towards the application of a racial equity and social justice lens across a wide variety of projects and work products. 
• Conduct written and verbal presentations that share insights and recommendations with audiences of varying levels of technical sophistication.
• As needed, participate in team, work group, division, and department meetings.
• Respond to other data requests and perform other related duties as assigned.

WE ARE LOOKING FOR CANDIDATES WHO HAVE:

• Demonstrated relevant work experience (typically 5 years), or an equivalent combination of education and work experience in finance, social sciences, statistics, public health, behavioral health, or a related field with course work in research methods and statistics and/or equivalent education and experience.
• Knowledge of equity and social justice principles and practices; lived experience with and/or understanding of the effect of place-, race- and policy & systems inequities on communities and populations.
• Extensive expertise working with large SQL databases and writing queries using structured query language (SQL).
• Experience with data management, analysis, and visualization tools, such as SQL, R, Excel, SAS, Python, and Tableau.
• Demonstrated experience conducting statistical analyses and preparing dashboards, reports, and presentations for non-technical audiences.
• Ability to develop a strong understanding of the key business processes, financial drivers and programmatic features reflected in the administrative data.
• Experience working with medical or behavioral health claims or encounter data.
• Experience extracting, matching, cleaning, managing, and validating data.
• Superb attention to detail.
• Strong analytical thinking skills.
• Strong oral and written communication skills, including the ability to communicate well with diverse groups including division leaders and executive leadership internally and externally.  
• Strong problem solving and interpersonal skills, including the ability to work independently and maintain collaborative relationships as part of a team.
• Experience successfully managing complex projects, in detail, and meeting deadlines.

DESIRED EXPERIENCE, QUALIFICATIONS, KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS

• Expert skills in SQL and R, including developing tools and packages.
• Experience working with version control systems, preferably Git/GitHub.
• Knowledge of advanced analytics and sophisticated statistical modelling techniques to identify trends, patterns, and relationships in healthcare data.
• Understanding of health and behavioral health measurement and management processes, indicators, and tools.

ADDITIONAL POSITION INFORMATION:

• This position has been designated Non- Mission Critical. Unless otherwise directed by the County Executive, department director or agency head, all employees, regardless of designation, are expected to report to work or request leave during an emergency or inclement weather. For more detailed information, please visit HR Policy County Operations During Emergency Situations and the King County Guidelines for Workforce Management in an Emergency.
• The Department of Community and Human Services (DCHS) team works in a hybrid model, with days in the office as well as telecommuting. The ratio of remote to onsite work will be dependent on business needs and is subject to change. The primary onsite location is Chinook, 401 5^th Ave, Seattle, WA 98104. Employees must reside in Washington state and within a reasonable distance to their King County worksite to respond to workplace reporting requirements.
• King County has a robust collection of tools and resources to support working remotely. The individual selected for this opportunity will join an innovative and progressive team that is redefining how we work as we transition to the department's hybrid environment. Employees will be provided with a County-issued laptop and must maintain a home workspace with an internet connection where they can reliably perform work and remain available and responsive during scheduled work hours.
• This position is exempt from the provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act and is not eligible for overtime. Typical hours are Monday - Friday, 8am - 5pm.

• Classification: Human Services Data Scientist
   

WHO MAY APPLY:
 This position is open to all qualified candidates that meet the minimum qualifications. Interviews for this selection process will take place on or around July 31, 2026 through middle of August. Candidates who wish to be considered for this position must submit an online King County application and respond to the supplemental questions. Your application may be rejected as incomplete if you do not include the requested and relevant information in the online application and supplemental questionnaire. Applications and/or supplemental questionnaires that state, "see my resume" are considered incomplete and will not be considered to be competitive. If you have any questions, please contact Alicia Larsen, [email protected].

This selection process will fill our current vacancy but also create a pool of qualified candidates should additional Human Services Data Scientist positions open up within the next 6 months.

Forbes named King County as one of Washington State's best employers.

King County is an Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) Employer

No person is unlawfully excluded from employment opportunities based on race, color, religion, national origin, sex (including gender identity, sexual orientation and pregnancy), age, genetic information, disability, veteran status, or other protected class. Our EEO policy applies to all employment actions, including but not limited to recruitment, hiring, selection for training, promotion, transfer, demotion, layoff, termination, rates of pay or other forms of compensation.

To Apply

If you are interested in pursuing this position, please follow the application instructions carefully. If you need this announcement in an alternate language or format, would like to request accommodation or assistance in the application or assessment process or if you have questions please contact the recruiter listed on this job announcement.