Data Scientist

Founded in South Africa in 2007, Praekelt.org harnesses the power of mobile communication between patients, health workers and the health system to ensure that:

- patients are informed and empowered,
- health workers are supported and valued,
- and health system officials have the information they need to make informed and effective decisions to improve service delivery and quality.

We’re looking for a **Data Scientist** to join our team. Someone who blends math, algorithms, and an understanding of human behaviour with the ability to hack together systems to get answers to interesting human questions.

**Key Focus Areas**
- Evaluation of new technologies for Data Science and data engineering
- Assist in building an organisational Data Science strategy to support both research and project delivery objectives
- Provide evidence-based recommendations to inform the strategic implementation of programmes
- Help us understand if our projects are achieving their goals by measuring and analysing their impact
- Drive the collection of new data and the refinement of existing data sources
- _Experimental Design:_ Develop expertise and tools for rapidly cycling through different experimental design permutations. As there is opportunity for designing innovative experiments and comparing the feasibility and benefits of different approaches to digital impact evaluation;
- _Cross Disciplinary interfacing: The _Praekelt team is drawn from many different backgrounds. A focus area is understanding and extracting the value from these diverse skill sets and ensuring good collaboration with the Data Science team
- Work collaboratively within the multidisciplinary teams implementing our programmes
- Work with the Strategy and Experience Design, Engineering and SRE teams to design and develop monitoring tools for real time impact measurement
- Actively assist with driving the Data Science strategy within the organisation.

**Requirements of the Role**
- A degree in Statistics/Computer Science/Information Systems/Engineering/Analytics or related field
- A minimum of 3-5 years working experience within a data analysis, data scientist or data engineering environment
- Three or more years of experience working in one of the following:

- a multi-disciplinary team
- an academic research environment
- a governmental or non-profit research organisation
- Experience working with distributed computing tools is a plus
- Strong statistics training combined with strong scripting and programming skills
- Experience solving difficult problems with poorly defined constraints
- Proven ability to understand, prepare, and analyze large and complex data sets. Ability to collaborate and work with cross-functional, multi-disciplinary teams
- Analyze data, draw insights, and prepare reports in a cohesive, intuitive manner
- The ability to think strategically, act quickly, multi-task and work collaboratively in an environment that values creativity and flexibility
- Coaching and mentoring
- Experience in delivering software projects using an agile and responsive approach would be preferred.
- Experience working in an academic/ research environment would be preferred.
- Desirable: experience working with remote teams

**What will set you apart from other applicants?**
- Experience in Machine learning, Data analytics, Natural Language Processing or implementing scalable, high volume systems
- Experience in, and knowledge of, software development process with experience of the scrum / agile methodologies being useful
- The ability to think strategically, act quickly, multi-task and work collaboratively in an environment that values creativity and flexibility
- Passionate about the digital industry and an avid consumer of digital media - always in the know about the latest trends, technologies and platforms

Praekelt.org is committed to creating a fully inclusive and diverse environment that embraces difference, cultivates inclusivity and is committed to people feeling like they belong within all teams in the organisation. We actively encourage applicants of all races, ethnicities, religions, ages, genders, sexual orientations and abilities.