Applied AI Health Scientist (ARPA-H)

General Information 

• Job Code: SHR-BI-05T 

• Location: On Site (Washington, D.C.)

• Employee Type: Exempt, Full-Time Regular  

• Telework: Ad hoc as determined by client

• Salary Range: $129,985.76 - $149,483.62 per year (how we pay and promote)  
• Citizenship: U.S. Citizen as required by client

Position Overview 

Are you passionate about managing information to drive innovation and impact? 

As a Applied AI Health Scientist supporting our client, you will play a pivotal role in shaping our success. This is a Science and Engineering and Technical Advisor (SETA) role in the Proactive Health Mission Office at the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) responsible for providing expertise in artificial intelligence and machine learning to support a program advancing AI diagnostics for rare diseases. Successful candidates have the ability to critically assess technical approaches, advise program leadership, and ensure that funded performers and partners are meeting the highest standards of rigor, reproducibility, and real-world applicability. You will contribute expertise across the full lifecycle of AI system development: data aggregation and curation, model training and benchmarking, and deployment/validation in real-world clinical settings.

Primary Responsibilities 

While not an exhaustive list, the key duties for the position include: 

• Review and evaluate AI/ML technical proposals and deliverables from external teams. 

• Provide guidance on model development, training methods, and validation strategies. 

• Advise on integration of multimodal health data (EHR, imaging, genomic, and patient-reported). 

• Assess alignment of model architectures and approaches with program goals and clinical use cases. 

• Evaluate benchmarking results and provide feedback on methodological soundness. 

• Advise on deployment considerations, including interpretability, reliability, and safety in real-world settings. 

• Collaborate with clinical SMEs to ensure AI outputs align with clinician expectations and workflows.  

• Identify risks, gaps, or weaknesses in technical approaches and recommend corrective actions. 

• Support program leadership with technical assessments, reports, and recommendations. 

• Produce high-quality written reports and presentations that synthesize complex technical findings for diverse audiences. 

Requirements

Minimum Education and Experience:

• Master's degree in Computer Science, Machine Learning, Data Science, or related field.  

• 10+ years of relevant professional experience.

Basic Requirements:

• Experience applying advanced ML methods (LLMs, deep learning, etc) to complex health datasets. 
• Familiarity with clinical and biomedical data types, including EHR, genomic, and imaging data. 
• Demonstrated ability to review, critique, and guide AI/ML technical work at a high level. 
• Strong understanding of evaluation methods for AI/ML, including robustness, fairness, interpretability, and reproducibility. 
• Strong written and visual communication skills, with ability to produce high-quality reports and presentations.  

• Intermediate experience with Microsoft Office productivity software and collaboration tools such as Microsoft Teams and SharePoint. 

Skills That Set You Apart:

• Experience in healthcare AI or biomedical applications. 
• Familiarity with the rare disease field  
• Prior involvement in technical advisory, evaluation, or SETA-style roles. 
• Experience working with interdisciplinary teams including clinicians and patient stakeholders. 
• Experience working in an early-stage, fast-paced, startup environment 

About Ripple Effect 

Ripple Effect is an award-winning women-owned, 200-person company of communicators, scientists, researchers, and analysts. Established in 2003, and named as one of the “Best and Brightest Companies to Work For” since 2020, Ripple Effect has earned acclaim for delivering unparalleled consulting services and top-tier talent across federal, private, and non-profit sectors.  

Benefits

At Ripple Effect, we reward our employees for their contributions to our mission. Our comprehensive total rewards package includes competitive pay, exceptional benefits, and a range of programs that support your work/life balance and personalized preferences. 

Learn more about our benefits and culture here.