Position overview

The Decision Support Unit (DSU) is led by an Executive Group Manager reporting to the Chief Operating Officer within Canberra Health Services (CHS).

The DSU’s role includes:

• Promoting accountability to achieve CHS’ strategic goals.
• Building organisational capability to embed Activity Based Funding (ABF) as a tool in managing hospital operations.
• Aligning ABF with Operational Planning across CHS Clinical Divisions.
• Provision of ICT Services for CHS including related infrastructure and service support.
• Undertaking data quality activities to improve accuracy of outputs.
• Provision of Health Information Services including clinical coding, medical records management and ongoing clinical data capture improvement activities.
• Coordinating the use of clinical benchmarking within CHS.
• Contributing to operational decision making through the provision of insights and actionable intelligence across business foundations; ABF, workforce, patient flows and costs.
• Responding to requests for Government briefings (internal and external).

Reporting directly to the Senior Director within the Decision Support Unit (DSU), the Senior Data Scientist will lead the design, development, validation, and support of technical solutions for various data science problems and research. The position will be supported directly by the Senior Director of Business Intelligence on strategic matters.

Key Responsibilities

The position will:

1. Lead the team in analyzing health data problems and designing evidence-based, impactful solutions that are aligned with government priorities and stakeholder needs.
2. Encourage diversity, inclusiveness, and respect within the team and across stakeholders.
3. Provide clear, structured advice and guidance that supports organizational objectives and stakeholder expectations.
4. Build strong, collaborative working relationships with internal and external stakeholders to achieve coordinated outcomes.
5. Promote continuous improvement in the development of health data and analytical products for Canberra Health Services.
6. Embed rigorous performance measures and monitoring mechanisms to ensure the delivery of high-quality analytics that drive strategic decision-making.
7. Identify and implement innovative methods to enhance data analysis and service delivery.
8. Foster an environment that supports innovation, adaptability, and evidence-based practice within the Business Intelligence Unit.

Competencies

Specific competencies include but are not limited to the following.

• Work independently or under limited guidance in relation to your area of expertise.
• Ability to mentor and guide diverse teams and stakeholders in a collaborative and influential manner.
• Ability to synthesise and analyse complex information and make decisions.
• Displays critical thinking skills and forms defensible conclusions based on evidence and sound judgement.
• Effective communication skills and the ability to develop and maintain networks across CHS and with external parties.
• Be committed to the improvement of service delivery and CHS’ strategic goals.
• Provide ongoing contribution to innovation and improvement in the organisation.

Qualifications

Specific qualifications include, but are not limited to, the following.

Essential

Technical Expertise

• Bachelor Degree in Data Science, Computer Science, or related field or Masters/ PhD Degree in Data/Computer Science.
• Demonstrated strong quantitative analytical capability including advanced predictive and forecasting modelling, machine learning, optimisation, and large-scale data interpretation using modern data science tools such as Python, R, and SQL.

Desirable

• Have an understanding of how the National Safety and Quality Health Service (NSQHS) indicators align with this role.

Experience

Specific experience includes but is not limited to the following.

Essential

• More than five years’ professional experience in healthcare, hospital, and medical data science and analytics roles.
• Strategic Thinking
  • Ability to analyse complex information, consider broader implications, and guide data-driven decision-making.
• Leadership and Collaboration
  • Proven ability to lead and collaborate effectively, promoting a positive work culture that aligns with the ACTPS Shared Capability Framework.
• Commitment to Excellence
  • Experience or knowledge of the CHS Exceptional Care Framework, and all other related frameworks.

Desirable

• Demonstrated experience delivering advanced analytics, predictive modelling, forecasting, optimisation, and data science solutions across multiple hospital and healthcare domains, such as Emergency Departments, Elective Surgery services, Cardiology, Oncology, and broader clinical and operational settings.

Prior to commencement

Appointment to this position is conditional on being granted and retaining appropriate clearances:

• Undergo a pre-employment National Police Check.
• Comply with Canberra Health Services Occupational Assessment, Screening and Vaccination policy.

Important information

All employees are required to:

• Adhere to the Canberra Health Services Values and the ACT Public Service Code of Conduct.
• Act in accordance and comply with all relevant Safety and Quality policies and procedures.

Be available for weekend and/or after-hours work. CHS is leading the drive to digitally transform health service delivery in Australia through the implementation of a territory wide Digital Health Record. Computer literacy skills are required, which are relevant to this role as you will be responsible for completing required documentation and becoming a proficient user of the Digital Health Record and/or other Information Technology systems; once proficient, you will need to remain current with changes, updates, and contingencies.

What you Require (Key Selection Criteria)

These are the key selection criteria for how you will be assessed in conjunction with your resumé and experience.

1. Demonstrated ability to provide strong quantitative analytical capability using modern data science tools such as Python, R and SQL.
2. Demonstrated ability to analyse complex information, to discover trends and patterns using a variety of algorithms and modules, consider broader implications and present data using various visualization techniques in order to make informed business decisions.
3. Proven ability to create analytical solutions for business by combining various tools, applied statistics and machine learnings
4. Proven ability to lead and collaborate effectively, promoting a positive workplace culture that aligns to the Capability Framework.
5. Demonstrates understanding of, and adherence to, safety and quality standards, Work Health and Safety and the positive patient experience. Displays behaviour consistent with CHS’s values of reliable, progressive, respectful, and kind.

Work environment description

The following work environment description outlines the inherent requirements of the role and indicates how frequently each of these requirements would need to be performed. Please note that the ACT Public Service is committed to providing reasonable adjustments and ensuring all individuals have equal opportunities in the workplace.