Scientific Lead

Hi there
Are you eager to learn new things and implement your own ideas while working with an international and passionate team of professionals?

Would you like to contribute to digital research solutions that have a meaningful impact on healthcare and science?

As our Scientific Lead - Health Data Research, you will drive D4L's scientific agenda and lead a growing team of researchers working with real-world health data. You will oversee applied research projects, mentor junior scientists, and ensure scientific excellence across all studies.

In this role, you will bridge science, product, technology, and strategy, ensuring that D4L's products and data infrastructure meet the needs of health research. You will represent D4L in the scientific community, contribute to publications, and play a key role in shaping our research strategy.

Your future role

• Lead and mentor the Science Team, setting priorities and ensuring scientific quality across projects
• Design, supervise, and publish applied research studies using real-world data (EHR, PROs, COAs, wearable/sensor data, unstructured data like clinical notes or images)
• Align research needs with product and engineering teams to inform feature development and data usability
• Contribute to grant proposals, ethics applications, and scientific evaluations (e.g., D4L Research Credits Program)
• Represent D4L in scientific collaborations, conferences, and OHDSI-related initiatives
• Translate analytical results and research findings into clear, actionable insights for internal and external stakeholders in collaboration with Business Development team

What You Need To Succeed

• Hands-on expertise with RWD/RWE, plus solid skills in R and Python, desirable OMOP and OHDSI tool experience
• Proven experience conducting and publishing health data research with large-scale or real-world datasets
• Knowledge of ETL processes, SQL databases (PostgreSQL), and handling unstructured data
• Proven expertise in AI/ML and data visualization
• Strong leadership and mentoring skills in a multidisciplinary research environment
• Excellent scientific communication and the ability to translate complex results into strategic insights
• PhD (or MD/MS or equivalent) in Data Science, Epidemiology, Biostatistics, Public Health, or a related discipline
• Languages: Must: English and German; desirable: French, Portuguese/Spanish, Korean

Why you will love working with us

• Nonprofit work with a clear purpose: Make the world a healthier place. With us, you will find a fulfilling and meaningful task in a nonprofit environment that will advance our society.
• A diverse and international team of professionals working together at 3 locations (Potsdam, Berlin and Singapore).
• Real work life balance with flexible working hours, 30 days of paid vacation, and the possibility for mobile work.
• The option to work abroad remotely up to 2 months per year from various countries, depending on your role and responsibilities.
• Support in the areas of private healthcare and sustainable mobility.
• An attractive budget for your further career development.
• Employee driven initiatives like the climate initiative and the DEI (diversity, equity & inclusion) initiative.

Good to know

• We especially welcome applicants from the LGBTQI+ community, people with a migration background, people of color, and individuals with disabilities or chronic illnesses to the team.
• If you need support or special assistance during the application or interview process due to a disability, please feel free to let us know and we are happy to accommodate you as much as possible.
• This position offers an unlimited contract.
• For this position it is important that you are able to regularly be present in our Berlin and sometimes in our Potsdam office.
• Please enclose your complete documents (CV, letter of motivation, references, salary expectations and earliest possible starting date) with your application.

About Us
Data4Life
is a nonprofit organization with the vision of making the world a healthier place. With an international team, we work together on the mission to digitize health research. By linking technology and research, we make health data available to research in a comprehensive, digital and secure way. Our interdisciplinary team in Potsdam, Berlin and Singapore brings together experts from fields such as product development, digital engineering, data security and science. Data4Life was founded in 2017 and is funded by the Hasso Plattner Foundation.

We care about Diversity
: Many different lives, careers, and development paths lead to Data4Life. We welcome experts from a wide range of backgrounds and experiences to our international team, offering everyone equal opportunities to be themselves and develop to the best of their abilities. Diversity, equity, and inclusion are not just nice words at Data4Life – we put them into practice in all of our activities and projects, striving to incorporate them in our everyday lives. For this reason, we signed the Charta der Vielfalt (Diversity Charter) in 2022.