Data Scientist

About this role

Ifakara Health Institute is recruiting a Data Scientist to support its Maternal and Newborn Health Program, with the post based in Dar es Salaam and reporting to the Data Manager. The position focuses on turning maternal and newborn health data into actionable evidence for programme implementation, performance monitoring, quality improvement, and policy and management decisions. The successful candidate will analyse maternal and neonatal datasets and generate programmatic recommendations, apply machine learning and artificial intelligence to identify trends and support predictive modelling, and design interactive dashboards and visualisations using R Shiny or Python. The role also involves conducting data quality assessments, supporting health facility assessments, reviewing and updating analysis protocols, preparing analytical reports for management and donors, and working with the MEL team, statisticians, health workers, and Ministry of Health and government counterparts.

A further responsibility is strengthening data literacy and analytical capacity at national, regional, district, and facility levels. Candidates must hold a master's degree in data science, biostatistics, computer science, statistics, health informatics, or a related field, and have two to five years of experience in data analysis or data science, especially in health-related projects. Mandatory skills include advanced statistical programming in Python, R, Shiny, and STATA, practical knowledge of machine learning algorithms and AI tools, strong data manipulation and cleaning abilities, SQL and MySQL querying, and proven capacity to train and manage teams. Applicants should also demonstrate strong statistical reasoning, experience analysing messy multi-source routine data, familiarity with tools such as ggplot2, plotly, pandas, matplotlib, NumPy, and SciPy, awareness of data ethics and security, and good written and spoken English and Kiswahili.

The position is full time and the candidate must be available to assume duties immediately. IHI offers an attractive and competitive remuneration package according to its salary scales. Applications should be submitted through the organisation's recruitment process.