Careers

Description:

This position is working for the I-TECH Zimbabwe HIV Care and Treatment program, funded by the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) funding under a cooperative agreement with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The I-TECH Zimbabwe program works with the Zimbabwe Ministry of Health to provide HIV services, site support and quality improvement at 389 health care facilities in 19 districts. The primary objective of this cooperative agreement is to improve district and facility performance in comprehensive prevention, treatment, care, and support of HIV/AIDS and HIV-related conditions in Zimbabwe. An important component of the program is its monitoring and evaluation (M&E) system that collects patient-level and aggregated client data from the facilities on to tablets using the CommCare platform. The data is synced to a central MySQL data base. Program teams then perform data analysis and visualization using Excel and Power BI. Such analysis informs activities at the facility level to improve performance and guides program planning and resource use. Program data is also importantly used for biweekly updates to the funder and quarterly reporting on 22 PEPFAR indicators. The M&E system is run by a Harare based team of data managers and IT specialists.

We are seeking a forward-thinking and proactive Data Scientist to provide data management and statistical guidance to the Harare team and to analyze program data to improve understanding of program performance. This work will include the following primary activities: 1) support implementation of I-TECH’s data collection tools, processes, and system updates; 2) conduct routine and non-routine data analysis of aggregated facility and patient level data; 3) oversee data cleaning, quality control, and assembly and organization of datasets for implementation and analysis; 4) write data management code and resolve queries; and 5) design and expand report templates, formats and dashboards.

The Data Scientist will also provide technical assistance for evaluation and epidemiology projects within this portfolio of work, drafting protocols, writing reports and publishing findings. This position will mentor others in research and evaluation methodology and build the capacities of the I-TECH Zimbabwe program to use and apply data toward program improvements.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

Data Management
Implementation of data collection and other field-based activities
• Develop, bench-test, and maintain electronic data collection forms, platforms, and monitoring systems
• Coordinate with the Harare-based partner on the design of data collection, quality control, data transfer, data management, and report generation

Data quality monitoring and assurance
• Assist in the development, implementation and documentation of data quality assurance procedures
• Monitor incoming data; develop run, and maintain quality assurance code and generate queries; maintain audit trail for data cleaning
• Provide timely and accurate responses to technical queries
• Initiate and lead larger data quality and cleaning activities within and across activities
• Advise on data storage, version control, and archiving practices

Data management
• Maintain the central repository of data collection forms and version control
• Assemble and clean datasets resulting from large-scale data collection and implementation activities
• Prepare datasets for specified pooled and site-specific analyses
• Maintain a proactive and forward-thinking approach to data management

Research design, implementation, analysis and reporting
Research design
• Develop appropriate study designs, analysis techniques, and conceptual models to answer research questions and evaluation goals
• Develop tools for program research and evaluations
• Serve as resource to the Principal Investigator, teams, and other stakeholders on specific concepts, study designs, and analyses

Implementation
• Provide major conceptual guidance on program development, innovation, and evaluation
• Oversee data collection for quantitative components of research studies and program evaluations
• Manage and facilitate Human Subjects requirements including preparation, submission, and tracking
• Communicate with funder as needed
• Prepare progress reports and ensure compliance with funder requirements

Analysis
• Identify appropriate statistical analyses methods and conduct statistical analysis
• Mentor colleagues on research and evaluation methodology and build the capacities of the I-TECH Zimbabwe program to use and apply data toward program improvements

Reporting and dissemination
• Develop and present dissemination materials, such as abstracts, posters, reports and PowerPoint presentations
• Lead or support manuscript writing and submission