Healthcare and Life Sciences Practice Director

About Climb

Climb is a Data and AI consultancy that partners with enterprises to design, build, and operationalize modern data platforms and production AI systems. As a Databricks partner, we go deep on lakehouse architecture, machine learning, and applied AI, with a bias toward production over proof of concept. Our team brings deep technical expertise and a builder's mindset to every engagement, and we measure our work not just by what ships, but by the business impact it drives.

Role Summary

The Healthcare & Life Sciences Practice Lead founds and owns Climb's HLS practice. This is ground-floor practice ownership: you carry the number, define the offerings, land the lighthouse logos, and build the team, with meaningful equity and no pyramid above or below you.

You are a player-coach with a seller’s scar tissue. You have sold and delivered consulting work to HLS buyers across pharma, payer, provider, and med device, and you know how data and AI actually create value in regulated healthcare environments. You will originate and close Climb’s first HLS engagements personally, co-selling with Databricks’ HLS field teams, and shape the delivery behind them.

The practice you build becomes a pillar of the firm. You define the HLS offering portfolio, build the domain IP (accelerators, reference architectures, regulatory-aware delivery patterns), and recruit the founding team that delivers it.

Key Responsibilities

• Own the HLS practice P&L: bookings, revenue, and margin, from a standing start to a scaled practice.

• Originate and close consulting engagements with HLS buyers across pharma, payer, provider, and med device. You carry the number personally in year one.

• Build the Databricks co-sell motion: relationships with HLS field engineering and account teams, joint pursuits, and lighthouse wins that anchor the partnership.

• Define and productize the offering portfolio: two to three repeatable HLS offerings (e.g., RWD/RWE platforms, claims and payer analytics, commercial data products, HIPAA- and GxP-aware AI) in the first year.

• Lead delivery oversight of early engagements; own quality and client outcomes until the practice can stand on its own.

• Build HLS domain IP: accelerators, reference architectures, and regulatory-aware AI patterns (HIPAA, GxP, model risk) that make Climb's delivery repeatable and defensible.

• Recruit and develop the founding HLS pod: senior practitioners who match the bar you set.

• Represent Climb in the HLS market: thought leadership, industry events, and the executive network that fills the top of the funnel.

Required Qualifications

• 10+ years in data, analytics, or AI, including commercial consulting experience in healthcare and life sciences within the last five years: you have sold and delivered consulting work to HLS buyers: pharma, payer, provider, or med device.

• A revenue or bookings number you owned and can speak to (practice, portfolio, or personal book) and a track record of hitting it.

• Practice-building experience: you have launched offerings, hired consultants, and owned margin, whether at a boutique data/AI firm, a Big 4 or Tier 2 HLS analytics practice, or a platform vendor’s HLS field organization.

• Deep fluency with HLS data and context: claims, EHR, real-world data, commercial datasets, and the regulatory environment (HIPAA, GxP) that governs them.

• Technical credibility on modern data and AI platforms: you can shape an architecture conversation and know when a solution is real.

• Executive presence with HLS buyers: chief data, digital, and medical officers, and the commercial and clinical leaders who own AI budgets.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in the Databricks (or Snowflake) HLS ecosystem: field engineering, partner co-sell, or on-platform delivery.

• A current network of HLS buyers and Databricks field contacts who take your calls.

• Experience designing AI governance for regulated environments.

• Background with PE-backed or growth-stage services firms.

Note on certification: Databricks experience is valued but not required at hire. Both Databricks and Anthropic certification are expected to be obtained post-hire.

Who Thrives Here

• You want to build a practice, not inherit one; the blank page excites you more than the org chart.

• You sell what you can deliver and deliver what you sold, and your references prove both.

• You know healthcare’s constraints are the moat, not the obstacle, and you build for them from day one.

• You would rather own a number with equity behind it than manage a pyramid.

Why Climb

• Ground floor, real backing. You are joining early, with founders who have built and exited a firm like this before, with a nine-figure outcome. You own the HLS playbook rather than inherit one.

• Outcomes, not hours. We sell and deliver against business results. Advancement is tied to delivery performance and account impact, not utilization targets.

• Senior team, no body-shop drag. Small pods of A-players, heavy internal AI leverage, and no bloated middle layers between you and the work.

• IP that compounds. Every engagement feeds reusable accelerators, patterns, and points of view back into the practice.

• Proximity to where decisions get made. Your clients are PE portcos and enterprise leadership teams making AI transformation calls right now.

What We Offer

• Competitive base salary with performance-based bonuses

• MacBook Pro and swag kit so you can do your best work

• Comprehensive health, dental, and vision insurance

• 401(k) with company match

• Generous holidays, flexible PTO, and remote-first work environment

• Professional development budget including Databricks and cloud certifications

• Spot bonuses for relevant certifications

• Conference attendance and thought leadership opportunities

• Collaborative, low-ego culture with direct access to leadership

• Opportunity to shape a growing practice from the ground floor

Climb is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or veteran status.