Clinical Data Specialist
Job Summary
This position requires regular on-site work.
At UCSF, collaboration and innovation are at the heart of our mission - in our hospitals and clinics, classrooms, labs, and offices. To advance excellence in support of research, we are strengthening our on-site presence across the university. As part of this commitment, most IT teams are expected to support campus-based work. This role will be expected to work onsite as determined by the hiring manager. This includes attending onsite events as scheduled by the management team. The key job responsibilities of the Clinical Data Specialist include managing research customer requests for data sets, working with the client to understand data needs, developing clear specifications of requirements, building complex queries, writing Structured Query Language (SQL) code, and translating those needs into data extract, documentation, and code. This may include implementing tools applied to clinical information that would allow clients to achieve their research aims. The Clinical Data Specialist works closely with clinicians across all hospital/healthcare departments to understand and effectively extract data from data management systems. The incumbent will apply sound programming principles and standardized procedures for all requests to ensure reproducibility. The incumbent will support requests from various research domains. The incumbent must provide excellent customer service, troubleshoot system issues, and validate results.
The Clinical Data Specialist will build code against UCSF's APeX or other electronic healthcare systems. This role must demonstrate clear communication with clients and team members. Other responsibilities include validating data, providing output in a clear, understandable format, and overall maintaining strong customer relationships with clients.
Applies advanced professional clinical informatics concepts and extensive knowledge of industry practices to projects of all levels of scope and complexity. This includes analyzing requirements and developing user specifications for reporting and data analysis. Must have a basic understanding of medical data and statistics. Will analyze data from clinical systems to confirm results meet the requirements set by the researcher.
This position will also be the technical expert for the CMS Data Reuse program. The CMS Data Resuse program promotes the reuse of Medicare and Medicaid data for UCSF researchers. The program includes technical infrastructure, contracting support, and community building. The incumbent will serve as the liaison between researchers and technical teams to ensure each project has sufficient computing and storage resources, appropriate research tools, and timely service and support. The role serves as the official institution data steward for the files we receive from CMS. This includes communicating to the technical teams that support the systems that house the data, as well as CMS's security and compliance requirements. The incumbent will provide consulting services in the following areas: study protocol/aims consultation, funding opportunities, appropriate data selection, IRB protocol application development, and CMS reuse application process, and will ensure the recruitment of institutional experts in these fields when needed. The role will be responsible for Data Use Agreement (DUA) lifecycle management services, maintaining the CMS DUA through the project lifetime, including personnel changes, data set changes, and amendment submissions. Finally, community building is a large part of this program to ensure new research is supported and projects progress. The role will host work-in-progress meetings targeted to Medicare/Medicaid data user groups and pull in institutional experts to support the study design and progress of presented projects.
The final salary and offer components are subject to additional approvals based on UC policy. Your placement within the salary range is dependent on a number of factors including your work experience and internal equity within this position classification at UCSF. For positions that are represented by a labor union, placement within the salary range will be guided by the rules in the collective bargaining agreement. The salary range for this position is $113,800 - $178,300 (Annual Rate). To learn more about the benefits of working at UCSF, including total compensation, please visit: https://ucnet.universityofcalifornia.edu/compensation-and-benefits/index.html Department Description The University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) Department of Information Technology Academic Research Systems group is chartered to provide data services and infrastructure that support clinical researchers' computing and analytic requirements. Its services include providing data sets from clinical systems to researchers, the development support, and maintenance of UCSF's secured environment (MyResearch and REDCap). Required Qualifications
- Bachelor's degree in health care information technology, computer science, or related area, and/or equivalent combination of experience/training.
- At least 5+ years of similar work experience
- Certification: Epic Clarity Data Model (HB)
- Broadly encompassing or highly in-depth knowledge of 1-2 areas of focus in clinical informatics specialty areas. Knowledge of controlled terminology, clinical workflows, user interface optimization, clinical decision support, rules development, data integration and mining, clinical ontologies, and adoption of technology.
- In-depth knowledge of all relevant clinical informatics software and systems, and of the highly complex concepts, principles, policies, methodologies, techniques, best practices, regulations, and standards practices involved with patient care and electronic medical data management in the UC health care system.
- Ability to apply advanced problem-resolution skills to highly complex issues, quickly diagnose problems, and develop, test, and implement appropriate and effective solutions in a timely manner.
- Advanced analytical skills and expertise in documentation and reporting, with the ability to apply metrics, design and run queries, collect and analyze performance data, and produce sophisticated reports and analyses for management use.
Preferred Qualifications
- Advanced ability to serve as a technical leader and information resource, and to work collaboratively with senior staff and management across departments, providing advice, counsel, and analysis on issues of policy, functionality, system efficiency, upgrades, business analytics, and industry advances and trends.
- Advanced organizational and project management skills, with the ability to lead a team, prioritize tasks, and see projects through from inception to completion on schedule.
- Advanced interpersonal communications skills, to convey highly technical information and instructions to all levels of clinical users in a clear and concise manner, to provide technical support, and to develop and deliver training materials as needed.
License/Certification
- Epic Clarity Data Model (HB)
About UCSF The University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) is a leading university dedicated to promoting health worldwide through advanced biomedical research, graduate-level education in the life sciences and health professions, and excellence in patient care. It is the only campus in the 10-campus UC system dedicated exclusively to the health sciences. We bring together the world's leading experts in nearly every area of health. We are home to five Nobel laureates who have advanced the understanding of cancer, neurodegenerative diseases, aging and stem cells. Pride Values UCSF is a diverse community made of people with many skills and talents. We seek candidates whose work experience or community service has prepared them to contribute to our commitment to professionalism, respect, integrity, diversity and excellence - also known as our PRIDE values.
In addition to our PRIDE values, UCSF is committed to equity - both in how we deliver care as well as our workforce. We are committed to building a broadly diverse community, nurturing a culture that is welcoming and supportive, and engaging diverse ideas for the provision of culturally competent education, discovery, and patient care. Additional information about UCSF is available at diversity.ucsf.edu
Join us to find a rewarding career contributing to improving healthcare worldwide. Equal Employment Opportunity The University of California is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, age, protected veteran status, or other protected status under state or federal law. Job Code and Payroll Title 006361 CLIN INFORMATICS SPEC 4 HX Job Category Clinical Systems / IT Professionals Bargaining Unit University Professional and Technical Employees - Health Care Professionals Unit (UPTE-HX) Location San Francisco, CA Campus Mission Center Building (SF) Additional Shift Details M-F regular business hours |
University of California - San Francisco Campus and Health
Feb 12, 2026