Principal Programmer, RWE

Job Description

Purpose

The role of the Principal Programmer is to provide leadership and expertise in RWE Statistical Programming to Veramed’s clients across a range of projects, clients and therapeutic areas

Key Responsibilities

The Principal Programmer (RWE) will be responsible for taking the lead on the manipulation of large databases and generation of reports to enable exploration of “real world” healthcare data (derived predominantly from electronic health records (EHR) and medical claims datasets).

The Principal Programmer (RWE) is expected both to lead work projects but also to work independently (including carrying out QC checks on their own deliverables and interim outputs). The Principal Programmer (RWE) will, additionally, be expected to review outputs from other colleagues, typically those more junior to them, and to provide advice on process improvements if any errors (whether one-off or systematic) are found in other peoples’ work. They will also carry out a number of management activities.

Technical
• Build analytic data sets from raw RWE datasets (i.e. EHR and/or US/European Medical Claims datasets) using SQL or other relational database languages
• Conduct complex statistical programming on RWE analytic datasets using R or SAS to generate statistically valid outputs including point estimates, Kaplan-Meier plots
• Build and populate table shells as per SAP
• Carry out oncology-specific analyses such as determination of line of therapy (using algorithms)
• Carry out data cleaning and wrangling activities including imputation of missing data
• Deploy formal statistical tools such as MCAR to measure and report level of variable missingness
• Build proxies and/or workarounds to report on relevant outputs when key variables of interest are missing from the raw dataset
• Make use of common data models to allow projects to be reproduced across various datasets/countries
• Carry out rapid feasibility requests to determine number of patients available for a particular study (and/or assess dataset vs any other requirements)
• Build time-saving tools and macros to be used for future projects, including creation of metadata to allow easy identification in future

General
• Participate effectively in internal and client study team meetings including presenting study updates in client meetings
• Share scientific, technical and practical knowledge within the team and with colleagues
• Build effective collaborative working relationships with internal and client team members
• Seek opportunities to develop innovative ideas, sharing when appropriate
• Lead creation of, and implement internal training programmes (including materials)
• Drive internal and client process improvement initiatives including determining and resolving any systematic cause of errors
• Be aware of all the latest developments in primary field of expertise and disseminate as appropriate

Perform work in full compliance with applicable legislation, regulations, company policies, procedures and training

People Management
• Line management of statisticians and other technical staff. Accountable for overall performance of direct reports
• Provide coaching and mentoring of staff to achieve “excellence”.
• Direct employee career development and ensure line reports receive appropriate training to perform their day-to-day jobs
• Interview and effectively on-board and integrate new staff members
• Provide technical leadership and coaching

Minimum Qualification Requirements
• Have a bachelor’s degree in data science, computer science, statistics, mathematics, chemistry or other subject with high statistical/numerical/modelling content
• Have the equivalent of at least 8 years of relevant industry experience
• Possess excellent R and SQL programming skills and the ability to implement complex logic
• Be familiar with RWE datasets and a wide range of epidemiological/statistical techniques used in RWE studies
• Possess strong communication, time management and documentation skills

Other Information/Desirable Requirements
• Hold a master’s degree in Epidemiology, Biostatistics, Computer Science, or other subject with high statistical content
• Possess pharmaceutical/life sciences industry experience
• Have training or experience in epidemiological methods
• Be comfortable creating complex analysis data sets derived from various data sources
• Have a careful eye for outliers and errors

Veramed is a B Corp accredited company which means that we use the power of business to build a more inclusive and sustainable economy meeting the highest verified standards of social and environmental performance, transparency, and accountability.

As an organisation that has people at the heart of it, Veramed is committed to creating a diverse environment and is proud to be an equal opportunities employer. We foster a working culture where employees have integrity, honesty and respect for one another without regard to race, national origin, religion, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation or disability. All qualified applicants will receive equal consideration for employment.