Data Manager

**Main purpose of the job**:

- Wits VIDA Research Unit joined the multi-national Child Health and Mortality Prevention Surveillance Project (CHAMPS), led by Emory University, in 2017
- The Child Health and Mortality Prevention Surveillance (CHAMPS) program, supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, aims to increase understanding of how, where, and why children are getting sick, enabling scientists and public health leaders around the world to take action
- The program operates across nine international sites with high childhood mortality rates throughout South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa
- CHAMPS helps make the world a safer place by conducting research and strengthening capacity in poor and vulnerable countries, to recognize and address the root and emerging causes of child mortality
- The incumbent will provide Senior Data Management for the Wits VIDA CHAMPS program, overseeing all data platforms and databases, data collection, storage, quality, and linkages, and providing leadership of data management requirements across CHAMPS streams (Health Demographic Surveillance System, pregnancy, Minimally Invasive Tissue Sampling, social behavioral science, community impact, and engagement)

**Location**:

- **Wits Vaccines & Infectious Diseases Analytics (VIDA) Research Unit - Soweto, Johannesburg**

**Key performance areas**:

- Data Management_
- Strategically plan and develop data collection tools and methods aligning with study design and investigators to support all relevant research studies
- Collaborate proactively with senior researchers to plan for study requirements
- Develop, refine, and implement data management plans and tools to ensure data is collected, processed, and stored in compliance with ethical, regulatory, legal, protocol, sponsor, and organization requirements
- Ensure confidentiality, quality, security, accessibility, and integrity of research data
- Overseeing the collection of data from multiple sources and ensuring data quality through regular audits and assessments
- Providing training and support to researchers and other colleagues on how to use data management tools and systems
- Collaborating as required to develop and maintain data-sharing agreements
- Archiving and preserving data for future use and access
- Developing and implementing data analysis and reporting processes to support decision-making and drive research initiatives
- Communicating data-driven insights and recommendations to stakeholders, including researchers, funding agencies, and external partners for example
- Develop and maintain Power BI dashboards within the team/studies
- Support student database development requirements as needed
- Prepare and present reports and plans including ad hoc requirements
- Ensure that study data backup procedures are solid and regular to prevent any potential data loss
- Ensure continuous improvement of processes, efficiency, and effectiveness, and oversee team productivity
- Generate, update, and contribute to Standard Operating Procedures
- Quality Assurance_
- Automate repetitive manual processes through scripting and design models for data cleaning, validation, and reporting
- Checking of forms for missing data and specific edits as required by protocol
- Liaise with the study officers at sites concerning data queries and manage the flow of queries as per specific protocol
- Ensure that research data is entered correctly and timeously as per protocol
- Ensure the availability of data for analysis is clean by performing logic checks as per specific protocol
- Resolve discrepancies and queries with relevant parties as per protocol
- Database Development and Maintenance_
- Perform regular data verification analysis
- Develop databases on ODK central, ODK aggregate, OpenHDS, or SQL (or applicable) before study initiation
- Oversee data cleaning and correction activities as per specific protocol
- Identification and resolution of database and validation errors per protocol
- Participate in study-specific meetings and/or study team meetings to discuss general issues and data management matters
- Stakeholder relations_
- Build and maintain authentic, professional relationships and communicate effectively and efficiently with all internal and external stakeholders (suppliers, collaborators, researchers, donors, etc.)
- Train staff effectively; foster a practice of knowledge exchange and peer learning
- Manage internal and external stakeholder expectations and communicate appropriately with initiative and solutions
- Maintain a high standard of successful internal and external stakeholder relations (eg. negotiations, building productive relationships)
- Escalate issues appropriately, ensuring adequate discretion and risk management, and demonstrate integrated problem-solving
- Effectively manage work processes, teams, and relationships to maintain high levels of productivity
- Staff Management_
- Oversee data management capacity requirements across CHAMPS streams, managing t