Data Scientist (Privacy Engineer) N374 (Personal Services)

Housing for Health (HFH) is a program office within Community Programs, a division under the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services (DHS) for the County of Los Angeles. HFH was created to support people experiencing homelessness with complex clinical needs. We support people in obtaining housing, improving their health and thriving in their communities. HFH is a core component of Los Angeles County's effort to respond to the homeless emergency. Where appropriate to the job function, a hybrid work schedule may be available, with employees working both remotely and from the office, as needed.   

The Privacy Engineer leads governance and access control within the Community Programs Data Engineering team. This role ensures data used by programs such as Housing for Health and other Community Programs initiatives is protected, responsibly shared, and governed in line with legal, ethical, and operational standards. The position supports implementation of access controls, classification, and de-identification strategies that enable high-impact analytics while safeguarding confidentiality.

 The Privacy Engineer plays a critical role in balancing compliance with innovation—designing solutions that unlock valuable data while minimizing risk. The role involves collaboration with legal, compliance, and engineering teams and supports one of the nation's most ambitious homelessness data systems.

$8,840.90 - $11,912.82 Monthly

ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS

• Implement and maintain RBAC and access control across datasets using Unity Catalog, Terraform, and Azure.
• Develop and maintain data catalog.
• Work closely with analytics and lead engineers during the design of semantic data models to proactively embed privacy controls, access restrictions, and risk mitigation strategies into data architecture.
• Identify and address potential data privacy vulnerabilities in new workflows, including conducting targeted assessments to prevent data leaks or breaches and implementing strategies to minimize unnecessary data exposure.
• Support integration of Master Data Management (MDM) systems to link individual records across datasets and ensure consistency of person-level identifiers.
• Develop and maintain identity resolution logic to match records across systems while preserving privacy and ensuring compliance with access policies.
• Collaborate with analytics and lead engineers to ensure identity-linked data is properly classified, masked, and handled throughout its lifecycle.
• Lead design of de-identification, masking, and minimization workflows to prepare datasets for countywide or public use.
• Advise engineering teams on embedding privacy controls during model and pipeline design.
• Identify CJIS and other sensitive data classifications and ensure they are properly isolated, redacted, or routed through compliant compute environments when required.
• Evaluate workflows for vulnerabilities and develop mitigation strategies.
• Guide the use of compute environments set up to be compliant with various requirements and coordinate with infrastructure teams.
• Develop documentation, sharing agreements, and metadata and enforce lifecycle and retention standards to support audit readiness and regulatory compliance.
• Collaborate with legal and program staff to ensure policies and controls are clearly implemented.

JOB QUALIFICATIONS

Option I: Two (2) years of experience applying advanced statistical analyses, including predictive analytics or data engineering, to produce actionable recommendations to support data-driven program, policy, and operational decision-making, at a level equivalent to the Los Angeles County class of Predictive Data Analyst. 

Experience at the level of Predictive Data Analyst is defined as using machine learning techniques or data engineering practices to analyze or support analysis of complex data sets and find statistically significant, meaningful predictive patterns, relevant to program goals, that human intelligence could not identify on its own.

 

Option II: A Bachelor's degree from an accredited college in a field of applied research such as Data Science, Machine Learning, Mathematics, Statistics, Business Analytics, Psychology, Computer Science, or Public Health that included 12 semester or 18 quarter units of coursework in data science, data engineering, predictive analytics, quantitative research methods, or statistical analysis -AND- Four (4) years of experience applying data engineering, machine learning, predictive analytics, and data management, to conduct or support hypothesis-driven data analysis to produce actionable recommendations to support data-driven program, policy, and operational decision-making.  A Master's or Doctoral degree from an accredited college or university in a field of applied research such Data Science, Machine Learning, Mathematics, Statistics, Business Analytics, Psychology, Public Health, or similar related fields may substitute for up to two (2) years of experience. 

Certificates/Licenses/Clearances

• A valid California Class C Driver License or the ability to utilize an alternative method of transportation when needed to carry out job-related essential functions.
• Successful clearing through the Live Scan and the Health Clearance process with the County of Los Angeles.

Other Skills, Knowledge, and Abilities

• 4+ years of experience implementing access control and data governance in cloud-based environments.
• Proficient with SQL, Unity Catalog, Terraform, and GitHub.
• Experience with GitHub, Azure DevOps, and CI/CD workflows for policy automation.
• Deep familiarity with HIPAA, 42 CFR Part 2, CMS, and California-specific privacy rules.
• Experience with Master Data Management (MDM) tools and methodologies to ensure accurate identity resolution across systems.
• Understanding of the privacy implications of linking person-level data and ability to design controls that support compliance while enabling analytical value.
• Familiarity with data classification frameworks and lineage tools that support visibility into where sensitive data resides and how it flows across environments.
• Skilled in translating legal requirements into technical enforcement strategies.
• Detail-oriented and experienced with metadata management, audit logging, and documentation.
• Strong cross-functional collaborator with legal, compliance, and engineering teams.
• Familiarity with Jira and GitHub for governance workflow tracking, Confluence for documentation.

PHYSICAL DEMANDS

• Stand: Frequently
• Walk: Frequently
• Sit: Frequently
• Reach Outward: Occasionally
• Reach Above Shoulder: Occasionally
• Climb, Crawl, Kneel, Bend: Occasionally
• Lift / Carry: Occasionally - Up to 15 lbs.
• Push/Pull: Occasionally - Up to 15 lbs.
• See: Constantly
• Taste/ Smell: Not Applicable

Key: 

• Not Applicable = Not required for essential functions
• Occasionally = (0 - 2 hrs./day)
• Frequently = (2 - 5 hrs./day)
• Constantly = (5+ hrs./day)

WORK ENVIRONMENT

General Office Setting, Indoors Temperature Controlled

EEOC STATEMENT

It is the policy of Heluna Health to provide equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants, without regard to age (40 and over), national origin or ancestry, race, color, religion, sex, gender, sexual orientation, pregnancy or perceived pregnancy, reproductive health decision making, physical or mental disability, medical condition (including cancer or a record or history of cancer), AIDS or HIV, genetic information or characteristics, veteran status or military service.

 

Equal Opportunity Employer/Protected Veterans/Individuals with Disabilities
This employer is required to notify all applicants of their rights pursuant to federal employment laws. For further information, please review the Know Your Rights notice from the Department of Labor.

See job description

Salary Minimum: 106090.8Salary Maximum: 106090.8