Job Description

Primary Responsibilities:

• Provide authoritative guidance for terminology development and implementation efforts; lead enterprise terminology activities and supervise agreement-wide terminology resources to ensure consistent quality and adherence to best practices and standards. 
• Participate in the development, review, and verification of clinical terminology specifications in national VA, DoD, and partner initiatives; influence, recommend, and prioritize the adoption of appropriate standards (e.g., SNOMED CT, LOINC, RxNorm, FHIR) for interoperability and quality. 
• Direct development of mappings and terminology modeling to relevant standards for various clinical domains; maintain and update value sets, concept domains, and information models in response to new standards, policies, or project activities. 
• Architect, manage, and support the VA’s semantic infrastructure, ontologies, metadata standards, and related terminology tooling; ensure scalable and reusable information assets are in place for clinical care and health IT initiatives. 
• Serve as terminology consultant to VHA program offices, Office of Connected Care, EHR Modernization, and external partners; contribute to project requirements, strategic planning, system selection, and project evaluation. 
• Maintain comprehensive knowledge of all relevant policies, regulations, and best practices overseeing health standards and clinical vocabulary use; assure that all terminology work meets current regulatory, documentation, and performance requirements. 
• Analyze the impact, feasibility, and effectiveness of current and proposed terminologies, standards, and models; evaluate existing and emerging terminologies and propose innovative solutions for achieving clinical and business objectives. 
• Provide expert analysis, curation, and creation of clinical terminologies, ensuring clinical accuracy, relevance, and usability in support of VA and partner system/program needs. 

Minimum Requirements:

• Master’s degree or higher in nursing, health informatics, pharmacy, medicine, or an equivalent clinical specialty.  Eight (8) years of additional relevant experience may be substituted for education. 
• Minimum of ten (10) years of experience in clinical terminology development, mapping, and implementation in healthcare information systems. 
• In-depth experience mapping and modeling clinical data to SNOMED CT, LOINC, RxNorm, FHIR, and other key standards. 
• Demonstrated ability to design, build, and update terminology value sets and ontologies, and to use terminology tooling at an expert level. 
• Strong command of current policies, guidelines, and regulatory requirements governing clinical standards terminology 
• Experience providing expert guidance and oversight for large-scale terminology initiatives, including experience leading multidisciplinary teams. 
• Outstanding communication skills to effectively collaborate with clinical, informatics, technical, and executive stakeholders. 
• Ability to analyze and articulate complex issues in terminology, standards, and clinical data integration clearly and succinctly. 
• U.S. citizenship and ability to obtain/maintain a federal security clearance (Public Trust or higher). 

Preferred Qualifications:

• Doctorate (PhD, MD, PharmD, or equivalent) in a clinical or informatics field. 
• Clinical background and licensure/certification as a physician, nurse, pharmacist, or allied health professional, including experience with disability-related domains. 
• Demonstrated national or international recognition for contributions to clinical terminology standards, value set stewardship, or interoperable health information exchange. 
• Experience supporting terminology-related requirements for major federal initiatives (e.g., VA, DoD, ONC). 
• Publication, teaching, or standards-setting committee involvement in health informatics or clinical terminology. 
• Deep knowledge of and participation in the maintenance, curation, and governance of metadata, ontologies, and semantic frameworks in large healthcare organizations. 
• Familiarity with interoperability standards, regulations (e.g., 21st Century Cures Act), and VHA-specific policy or technical environments 

Benefits (including but not limited to):

• Health, dental, and vision plans
• Optional FSA
• Paid parental leave
• Safe Harbor 401(k) with employer contributions 100% vested from day 1
• Paid time off and 11 paid holidays
• No cost group term life/AD&D plan, and optional supplemental coverage
• Pet insurance
• Monthly phone and internet stipend
• Tuition and training reimbursement