Job Description

Posting number: PH1764C-EA

Department: PUBLIC HEALTH

Job classification: SENIOR DATA SCIENTIST

Posting type: Open

Categories: Public Health

FIRST DAY OF FILING:

The application filing period will begin on Wednesday, August 19, 2026 at 8:30 a.m., (PT) - Continuous.
We will keep accepting applications until the position is filled. The application window may close unexpectedly once we have enough qualified candidates.

This examination will remain open until the needs of the service are met and is subject to closure without prior notice.

The LA County Board of Supervisors recently declared a local state of emergency for homelessness, and the County is working to revise and expand our response to help all who are affected. We are looking for qualified and passionate individuals to help us in the mission of addressing issues like housing, mental health, and substance use. If you are looking for a new career that will directly benefit the population of LA County, this may be the opportunity for you.

The County of Los Angeles Department of Public Health is seeking qualified candidates to fill emergency Senior Data Scientist vacancies related to the homelessness crisis.

Under the emergency order, applicants who meet the requirements may be hired for an initial period of up to 90 days, with an opportunity for permanent County employment.

During your initial work period, you will be assessed on your work performance. This assessment will be weighted 100%.

Those who successfully pass the assessment will be considered for permanent appointment to Senior Data Scientist.

DEFINITION:

Under general supervision, leads the development and application of methods to identify, collect, process, organize, and analyze structured and unstructured data using advanced statistical prediction, inference, and optimization; effectively communicates results to County, departmental, and divisional decision makers and provides ongoing support to strengthen data-driven program design and management.

For information about the specific classification standards for this position, please visit the following link: SENIOR DATA SCIENTIST

Examples of duties

What will I do as a Senior Data Scientist?

• Collaborates with division, departmental, and countywide stakeholders to solicit, define, and manage highly complex data science projects from conception through implementation; ensures that projects result in actionable insights and recommendations that can be used to support business decisions and allocate resources; and provides ongoing consultation during program implementation of recommendations as necessary to ensure program fidelity.

• Provides technical oversight to small teams of Data Scientists and Predictive Data Analysts as necessary to ensure project success.
• Leads the discovery process with departmental stakeholders to document business requirements and frame business problems so that appropriate corresponding data science techniques and products can be identified and deployed.
• Collaborates with other department subject matter experts to understand, identify, and select available and relevant sources of data for use cases, including internal, external, structured, and unstructured data sources; and provides guidance to other department data experts in the selection and transformation of such sources.
• In conjunction with the Information Technology organization, supports collection, integration, and retention requirements for large sets of structured and unstructured data from disparate sources; acts as a resource for senior data engineers and architects in the selection and design of systems for use by the data science team.
• Reviews proposals by Data Scientists and analysts regarding selection and improvement of data science tools and ensures that the team’s tools and systems are well documented.
• Conducts and coordinates statistical inference of data and conveys findings and conclusions orally, in writing, visually, in presentations, and by developing interactive tools as appropriate to communicate effectively with a wide range of audiences, including technical and nontechnical staff, stakeholders, and members of the public.
• Works with program staff to understand the implications of analyses and to ensure that findings are actionable and support data-driven program, policy, and operational decision-making.
• Assists in implementing recommended business process changes in ways retain fidelity to best practices identified through the analysis and recognize the operational realities underlying existing business processes; provides ongoing consultation as recommended changes and new programs grow and evolve, including recommending modifications to adopted goals and metrics.
• Coordinates with various functional teams to develop and implement products, services, tools, or business process changes resulting from the analysis.
• Creates and validates advanced analytic products (e.g., Recommender Engines, Auto Classification algorithms, Predictive Scoring, geo-spatial clustering, NLP classifier, etc.) and places them in production; works with nontechnical program managers and staff to understand analytic products and to integrate them into departmental programs.
• Recommends ongoing improvements to methods and algorithms that lead to findings, including new information.
• Creates and monitors performance of automated-detection systems and provides business metrics for overall project to show improvements initially and over multiple iterations. Provides ongoing tracking and monitoring of performance of decision systems and statistical models and troubleshoots and implements enhancements and fixes to systems as needed.
• Develops and maintains a high level of expertise in statistical programming languages and packages and other software tools; provides training and support to Data Scientists and Predictive Data Analysts as necessary; and ensures the quality of code and programming logic generated by the data science team.

Qualifications

REQUIREMENTS TO QUALIFY

Option I:Two (2) years of experience carrying out complex data science projects* that included independently developing and applying methods to identify, collect, process, structure, and analyze data using statistical prediction, inference, and optimization to support data-driven program design and management, at a level** equivalent to the Los Angeles County class of Data Scientist

Option II: A Bachelor’s degree*** from an accredited college or university in a field of applied research such as Data Science, Machine Learning, Mathematics, Statistics, Business Analytics, Psychology, or Public Health that included 12 semester or 18 quarter units of coursework*** in data science, predictive analytics, quantitative research methods, or statistical analysis

Six (6) years of experience, including two (2) years in a lead capacity****, applying and overseeing the application of machine learning, predictive analytics, data management, and hypothesis-driven data analysis to make actionable recommendations to support program, policy, and operational decision-making.

A Master’s or Doctoral degree*** from an accredited college or university in a field of applied research such as Data Science, Machine Learning, Mathematics, Statistics, Business Analytics, Psychology, or Public Health may substitute for up to two (2) years of experience.

LICENSE:

A valid California Class C Driver License or the ability to utilize an alternative method of transportation when needed to carry out job-related essential functions.

PHYSICAL CLASS:
Physical Class II – Light: This class includes administrative and clerical positions requiring light physical effort that may include occasional light lifting to a 10 pound limit and some bending, stooping, or squatting. Considerable ambulation may be involved.

SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS INFORMATION:
You MUST meet the above requirement(s) in order to be appointed to fill any vacancies related to this recruitment.

*Complex data science projects include artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), or sophisticated algorithms.

**You may still qualify even if your job title isn’t exactly the same as the ones listed. What matters is that your experience is at a similar level — meaning your job involves similar responsibilities, requires comparable skills and knowledge, and takes place within a similar organizational structure. Please provide a clear explanation of your experience to demonstrate that it is at the appropriate level.

***To receive credit for your education, include a legible copy of all relevant official documents, including your transcript from an accredited institution or email it to hrexams@ph.lacounty.gov within seven calendar (7) days of filing your application. The document should show the number of units and the type of unit system used (e.g., semester, quarter) and be in English. If not in English, then translation is required. International degrees must be evaluated for equivalency to US standards and indicate the number of units and unit system. Documents marked as unofficial will not be accepted. For more information on our standards for educational documents, please visit: https://file.lacounty.gov/SDSInter/dhr/070812_PPG123.pdf

• Official Transcript is defined as a transcript that bears the college seal and states "official and/or copy" issued by the school's registrar office. A printout of the transcript from the school's website is NOT considered official and will not be accepted and may result in your application being incomplete and rejected.
• We do not accept password-protected documents. Ensure documents are unlocked before attaching to your application or sending to the exam analyst.

*****Lead capacity is defined as act as team or group leader to at least two (2) or more journey or lower-level employees with responsibility for assigning, coordinating, and reviewing the work, ensuring proper work methods are followed, and providing technical assistance and training.

Supplemental information

EXAMINATION CONTENT:

ANTI-RACISM, DIVERSITY, AND INCLUSION (ARDI):
The County of Los Angeles recognizes and affirms that all people are created equal and are entitled to all rights afforded by the Constitution of the United States. The Department of Human Resources is committed to promoting Anti-racism, Diversity, and Inclusion efforts to address the in equalities and disparities amongst race. We support the ARDI Strategic Plan and its goals by improving equality, diversity, and inclusion in recruitment, selection, and employment practices.