What are the responsibilities and job description for the Data Scientist position at State of Utah?
FT / PT Status – Part-Time Salary – $32.81 - $54.94 Hourly Wage Remote Work / In-Office – Hybrid Recruiter – Angie Rhodes | arhodes@utah.gov | Application Deadline – 5/5/2026
Key Responsibilities
Love to swim in data and improve its value to end users? Come work for the Office of Financial Services within the Utah
State Medicaid program as a Data Scientist.
Medicaid is a valuable public good that around 15% of Utah’s population accesses every year. The Data Scientist role
allows you to directly impact the individuals who rely on these services by providing reports, visualizations, and
predictive analytics to the legislators, federal agencies, and advocacy groups in charge of improving access to care and
health outcomes.
This position requires advanced programming experience with SQL and relational databases. Critical thinking is a must
as the right answer is not always obvious or known. Having extensive experience with the Python programming
language is also strongly preferred.
A skills test will be administered to assess skills needed for this position prior to interviews being scheduled.
Preference may be given to those with a completed Master's degree in Statistics, Economics, Mathematics, Finance, or a
related field as determined by the hiring official.
Minimum or "day-one" qualifications:
Location –
288 North 1460 West
Salt Lake City, Utah, 84116
United States
Background Check Required – You must successfully pass a criminal history check.
Drug Test Required – No
Schedule Code – B - Competitive Career Service
Why You Should Join Our Team
Benefits
In Utah, we believe hard work is important, but balance is essential. Finding work/life balance is a vital element to our culture. To find out more about WHY Utah , click here . Other benefits may include:
EEO Statement The State of Utah is committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, gender identity, or Veteran status. We also consider qualified applicants regardless of criminal histories, consistent with legal requirements. For accommodations, please contact (801) 957-9390.
Key Responsibilities
Love to swim in data and improve its value to end users? Come work for the Office of Financial Services within the Utah
State Medicaid program as a Data Scientist.
Medicaid is a valuable public good that around 15% of Utah’s population accesses every year. The Data Scientist role
allows you to directly impact the individuals who rely on these services by providing reports, visualizations, and
predictive analytics to the legislators, federal agencies, and advocacy groups in charge of improving access to care and
health outcomes.
This position requires advanced programming experience with SQL and relational databases. Critical thinking is a must
as the right answer is not always obvious or known. Having extensive experience with the Python programming
language is also strongly preferred.
A skills test will be administered to assess skills needed for this position prior to interviews being scheduled.
Preference may be given to those with a completed Master's degree in Statistics, Economics, Mathematics, Finance, or a
related field as determined by the hiring official.
- Risks found in the typical office setting, which is adequately lighted, heated and ventilated, e.g., safe use of office equipment, avoiding trips and falls, observing fire regulations, etc.
- Typically, the employee may sit comfortably to perform the work; however, there may be some walking; standing; bending; carrying light items; driving an automobile, etc. Special physical demands are not required to perform the work.
- Effective July 1, 2021, State of Utah Employees must either reside in Utah or be in the process of relocating to Utah within 30 days of their start date.
- This position may currently be a hybrid of both in-office and remote work days. Please note, a position's eligibility for remote work is established by agency management and is subject to change at their discretion, at any time, and for any reason.
- Reports total quarterly costs of the Medicaid program to Federal Agencies to procure federal funds.
- Forecasts changes in member enrollment and costs for implementation of new initiatives, including implementing predictive analytics and time-series forecasting for certain problems.
- Automates complex reporting and extract, transform, load (ETL) processes.
- Builds on existing reports to expand their scope and efficiency.
- Builds data visualizations and interactive dashboards with open-source Python packages.
- Documents the data warehouse, including locations and meanings of key fields and how they can be joined with other data.
- Documents issues with the data warehouse and communicates those issues effectively to the appropriate parties.
- Builds new mathematical paradigms to model unknown enrollment patterns, such as disenrollment trends with the end of the public health emergency (related to COVID-19), as well as predicting enrollment within new benefit programs.
- Categorizes, stratifies, and assigns priorities to risk factors for covered clients.
- Arrays the data in terms of demographics, eligibility components, age, sex, severity of illness, etc., and use of data in conjunction with analysis of various services.
- Provides statistical and accounting data to obtain federal approval for State of Utah waiver requests.
- Maintains areas of the State Plan and Administrative Rules dealing with reimbursement, including interfacing with federal officials to ensure compliance with federal regulations.
- Designs detailed analysis, summarizes findings, and communicates effectively to management and other staff.
- Provides day-to-day monitoring and tracking of assigned reimbursement programs ensuring accurate payment of planned expenditures.
- Independently finds solutions to problems.
Minimum or "day-one" qualifications:
- Bachelor's degree in a technical field (Data Science, Information Systems, Math, Statistics, Economics, etc.)
- Experience with SQL
- Experience with Python
- Proven ability to implement complex data solutions using Python and SQL
- Proficiency with Python and SQL
- Master's degree or higher in a technical field
- Experience designing and maintaining complex ETL pipelines
- Experienced in ML solutions
Location –
288 North 1460 West
Salt Lake City, Utah, 84116
United States
Background Check Required – You must successfully pass a criminal history check.
Drug Test Required – No
Schedule Code – B - Competitive Career Service
Why You Should Join Our Team
Benefits
In Utah, we believe hard work is important, but balance is essential. Finding work/life balance is a vital element to our culture. To find out more about WHY Utah , click here . Other benefits may include:
- Job Stability: Enjoy the security and reliability of employment within a well-established organization.
- Career Growth: Develop valuable skills and gain opportunities for leadership within a large organization.
- Meaningful Work: Contribute to an important service that benefits the community and supports organizational goals.
- Supportive Work Environment: Be part of a team that values cooperation, strong work ethics, and mutual support.
EEO Statement The State of Utah is committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, gender identity, or Veteran status. We also consider qualified applicants regardless of criminal histories, consistent with legal requirements. For accommodations, please contact (801) 957-9390.
Salary : $33 - $55