Forward Deployed Engineer
Qualified Health · United States
- Hybrid
- Full-time
- $120,000 / year
- United States
Job highlights
- Design and build data pipelines for healthcare AI.
- Consult with health system partners on data integration.
- Utilize AI tools to accelerate development.
- Diagnose and solve complex data problems.
- Ensure high-quality, reliable data solutions.
About the role
Job Summary
Qualified Health is seeking a Forward Deployed Engineer to serve as a technical implementation specialist and forward-deployed consultant for our healthcare data integration and AI initiatives. This is a fast-paced, high-ownership role for someone who thrives in dynamic environments, takes initiative, and drives outcomes without waiting to be told what to do next.
In this hands-on consulting role, you’ll design and build robust data pipelines that transform raw healthcare data from diverse sources (Epic, LIMS, PACS, SharePoint, etc.) into production-ready datasets powering our AI platform—while also acting as a trusted technical advisor to our health system partners. You will leverage AI-assisted code development to accelerate delivery and set a new standard for what’s possible at the intersection of healthcare data and artificial intelligence.
We are looking for critical thinkers who can independently diagnose ambiguous problems, architect creative solutions, and communicate technical findings clearly to both technical and non-technical audiences. You must be comfortable operating with a consultant’s mindset—adapting quickly to new partner environments, earning trust through quality of work, and delivering results under tight timelines.
You own: Technical implementation, ETL development, data quality validation, pipeline construction, troubleshooting, and production deployment execution, and partner-facing technical consulting
Manager owns: Partner relationships, requirements gathering, timeline management, stakeholder communication, issue escalation, and ensuring delivery meets expectations
Together you deliver: Successful data integrations that meet partner needs on time with high quality
This is a technical role for someone who loves working with data, enjoys solving puzzles, and takes pride in building reliable, production-grade solutions.
Key Responsibilities
Technical Implementation & Development
- Design and build ETL pipelines using PySpark, SQL, and Azure data services to process healthcare data from multiple source systems
- Execute data extraction and transformation operations on complex healthcare datasets, ensuring accuracy and compliance with established standards
- Develop data quality validation frameworks to identify and resolve issues during integration, QC, and backtesting phases
- Troubleshoot technical issues including data schema mismatches, transformation logic errors, and performance bottlenecks -- independently diagnosing root causes and driving resolution
- Build reusable data components and standardized integration patterns that accelerate future implementations
- Optimize pipeline performance for large-scale healthcare datasets, ensuring efficient processing and resource utilization
- Implement data validation rules specific to healthcare contexts (e.g., clinical code validation, temporal logic checks, referential integrity)
- Write and maintain technical documentation for data pipelines, transformations, and integration patterns
- Support production deployments by coordinating with infrastructure teams and conducting final testing
- Leverage AI-assisted code development tools to accelerate delivery and improve solution quality
Client Consulting & Collaboration
- Serve as a trusted technical advisor to health system partners, translating complex data and AI concepts into clear, actionable guidance
- Partner with Data Integration Manager to translate partner requirements into precise technical specifications
- Participate in technical discussions with partner IT teams to understand data schemas, access methods, and integration constraints
- Provide expert guidance on data mapping specifications, transformation approaches and architecture decisions
- Identify data quality issues and work with Manager to coordinate resolution with partners
- Communicate technical findings from QC and backtesting clearly to both technical and non-technical stakeholders
- Adapt consulting approach and communication style to the culture and maturity of each partner environment
- Contribute to continuous improvement of tools, processes, and technical standards
Product Prototyping & Innovation
- Support rapid prototyping of new AI-powered product features and data capabilities in close collaboration with product and engineering teams
- Translate partner use cases and field insights into prototype solutions that demonstrate the potential of the Qualified Health platform
- Build and iterate on proof-of-concept integrations and analytical tools to test new approaches before full-scale implementation
- Leverage AI-assisted development practices to compress prototyping cycles and explore solutions at speed
- Document learnings and outcomes from prototyping efforts to inform product roadmap decisions and reusable patterns
- Bring a builder’s mindset to ambiguous problem spaces, moving quickly from idea to working demonstration
Required Qualifications
- 5+ years of experience in data analytics, data engineering, or solution delivery roles, with demonstrated expertise in data integration and ETL processes
- Strong analytical toolkit with proficiency in: PySpark for distributed data processing, Advanced SQL for data querying and transformation, Excel for data analysis and reporting
- Production ETL experience: Track record of building and maintaining production-grade data pipelines with proper error handling and monitoring
- Data quality focus: Experience implementing validation frameworks and troubleshooting data quality issues
- Azure cloud platform: Hands-on experience with Azure Databricks, Data Factory, Blob Storage, Delta Lake
- Consultant mindset: ability to earn trust quickly, communicate complex ideas to diverse audiences, and deliver value in client-facing environments
- Ownership Mentality: takes full accountability for the quality and outcome of your work from scoping through production
- Attention to detail: Commitment to accuracy, testing, and delivering reliable solutions
- Collaborative working style: Comfortable partnering with non-technical colleagues and adapting to feedback
- Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Data Science, Mathematics, or related technical field
Preferred Skills
- Epic Clarity experience: Direct work with Epic's relational database structure and clinical data models
- Healthcare data experience: Prior work with healthcare datasets (EHR, claims, clinical, lab data)
- Healthcare data standards knowledge: Understanding of FHIR, HL7v2, DICOM, LOINC, SNOMED, ICD-10
- Healthcare compliance awareness: Understanding of HIPAA requirements and healthcare data security best practices
- Data warehouse/lakehouse experience: Familiarity with dimensional modeling and modern data architecture patterns
- DevOps practices: Experience with Git, CI/CD pipelines, and infrastructure-as-code
- Performance tuning: Proven ability to optimize complex data transformations for scale
- LIMS/PACS experience: Prior work integrating laboratory or imaging systems data
- Multiple data format fluency: Experience with JSON, XML, Parquet, CSV, and other healthcare interchange formats
- Experience with AI-assisted development tools (e.g., GitHub Copilot, Cursor, or similar) to accelerate coding and prototyping
- Prior experience in a client-facing technical consulting, forward deployment, or solutions engineering role
Technical Environment
Our data infrastructure is built on modern cloud technologies including:
- Azure Databricks + Data Factory (plus Fabric and Snowflake integrations)
- PySpark for distributed data processing
- GitHub Actions + Terraform for CI/CD and Infrastructure as Code
- Python with type-safe patterns and modern frameworks
- AI-assisted development tooling for accelerated engineering
- Healthcare data formats including FHIR, Epic Clarity, and other EHR schemas
What Success Looks Like
- High-quality data pipelines delivered on schedule with thorough testing and documentation
- Proactive issue identification with technical problems caught and resolved before impacting partners
- Reusable components that reduce implementation time for subsequent integrations
- Clean production deployments with minimal post-launch issues
- Technical credibility with partner IT teams based on quality of work
- Efficient troubleshooting with quick diagnosis and resolution of data quality issues
Impact & Growth Opportunity
As a Forward Deployed Engineer at Qualified Health, you'll build the data infrastructure that powers AI-driven insights for major health systems. Your work directly enables better patient care by ensuring high-quality, reliable data flows into clinical decision support tools. This role offers deep technical learning in healthcare data, exposure to diverse health system architectures, and growth potential into senior technical or platform architecture roles as we scale.
Why Join Qualified Health?
This is an opportunity to join a fast-growing company and a world-class team, that is poised to change the healthcare industry. We are a passionate, mission-driven team that is building a category-defining product. We are backed by premier investors and are looking for founding team members who are excited to do the best work of their careers.
Our employees are integral to achieving our goals so we are proud to offer competitive salaries with equity packages, robust medical/dental/vision insurance, flexible working hours, hybrid work options and an inclusive environment that fosters creativity and innovation.
Our Commitment to Diversity
Qualified Health is an equal opportunity employer. We believe that a diverse and inclusive workplace is essential to our success, and we are committed to building a team that reflects the world we live in. We encourage applications from all qualified individuals, regardless of race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, national origin, marital status, disability, or veteran status.
Key skills/competency
- Data Engineering
- ETL Development
- PySpark
- SQL
- Azure Data Services
- Healthcare Data
- AI-assisted Development
- Technical Consulting
- Data Quality
- Problem Solving
Skills & topics
- Forward Deployed Engineer
- Data Engineering
- ETL
- PySpark
- SQL
- Azure
- Healthcare Data
- AI
- Technical Consulting
- Data Quality
- Data Integration
- Cloud Computing
- Problem Solving
- Data Pipelines
- Solution Delivery
How to get hired
- Tailor your resume: Highlight PySpark, SQL, Azure, and ETL experience relevant to healthcare data.
- Showcase consulting skills: Emphasize client-facing experience and problem-solving abilities.
- Demonstrate ownership: Provide examples of taking initiative and driving projects to completion.
- Prepare for technical questions: Be ready to discuss data pipeline design, troubleshooting, and optimization.
- Research Qualified Health: Understand their mission and AI initiatives in healthcare.
Technical preparation
Behavioral questions
Frequently asked questions
- What are the primary responsibilities of a Forward Deployed Engineer at Qualified Health?
- The Forward Deployed Engineer at Qualified Health is responsible for designing and building robust data pipelines using PySpark, SQL, and Azure data services. This includes data extraction, transformation, quality validation, troubleshooting, and production deployment. You will also act as a technical advisor to health system partners, helping them integrate data for AI initiatives.
- What technical skills are most important for this Forward Deployed Engineer role?
- Key technical skills include 5+ years of experience in data engineering and ETL, proficiency in PySpark, advanced SQL, and Azure cloud platform services like Databricks and Data Factory. Experience with healthcare data, AI-assisted development tools, and a strong understanding of data quality are also crucial.
- How does Qualified Health use AI in this role?
- AI is leveraged through AI-assisted code development tools to accelerate the design and building of data pipelines and solutions. This helps in faster delivery and exploring new possibilities at the intersection of healthcare data and artificial intelligence.
- What kind of healthcare data will I be working with as a Forward Deployed Engineer at Qualified Health?
- You will be working with a variety of healthcare data from diverse sources such as Epic, LIMS, PACS, and SharePoint. This includes EHR, claims, clinical, and lab data, with a need to understand healthcare data standards like FHIR and HL7v2.
- What does a 'consultant mindset' mean for this Forward Deployed Engineer position?
- A 'consultant mindset' means being adaptable to new partner environments, earning trust through high-quality work, and delivering results under tight deadlines. It involves clearly communicating complex technical ideas to both technical and non-technical audiences and proactively identifying and solving problems.
- What is the career growth potential for a Forward Deployed Engineer at Qualified Health?
- This role offers significant growth potential. You can deepen your technical expertise in healthcare data and diverse health system architectures, with opportunities to advance into senior technical or platform architecture roles as the company scales.
- What is the technical environment like at Qualified Health?
- Qualified Health utilizes a modern cloud-based data infrastructure, including Azure Databricks, Data Factory, Fabric, Snowflake, and PySpark for distributed data processing. They also use GitHub Actions, Terraform for CI/CD, Python, and AI-assisted development tooling.