Data System Officer

About this role

Ifakara Health Institute (IHI) is recruiting a Data System Officer to support its Maternal and Newborn Health Program, based in Dar es Salaam and reporting to the Data Manager. The post-holder will strengthen the management, integration, security, and use of maternal and newborn health data systems to support programme implementation, monitoring, and decision-making. The officer will collaborate with ICT teams from the Ministry of Health and PMO-RALG to integrate maternal and neonatal variables into government electronic medical record and electronic health record systems. They will administer data systems and servers, manage Apache web server configurations, automate backups, and build data-driven applications using Django, Java, and Laravel.

They will apply encryption, access controls, and HL7 and FHIR standards, conduct data quality assessments, manage permissions for secure data sharing, and update data management protocols. The role involves training data clerks and health workers on data collection tools such as REDCap and supporting routine monitoring and evaluation, regional performance reviews, and quality improvement activities. Candidates should hold a bachelor's degree in information technology, computer science, software engineering, health information systems, or a related field. Requirements include strong programming experience with Python (Django), Java, and proficiency in R, Shiny, and STATA, along with SQL and MySQL query optimization.

Hands-on experience with Apache servers, server-side security, HL7 and FHIR standards, backup automation, encryption, access control, and large dataset cleaning and validation is essential. Proven REDCap experience and two to five years in data management roles, especially in health projects, are required. Candidates should also have experience with EMR or EHR systems, ODK, and fluency in English and Kiswahili. IHI is a leading African research organization spanning biomedical and ecological sciences, intervention studies, health-systems research, service delivery, and policy translation.

The full-time position offers an attractive, competitive remuneration package under IHI salary scales. Interested candidates should apply through IHI's recruitment process; no application fee is charged.