Data Scientist Consultancy

Job Posting Organization:
UNICEF, the United Nations Children's Fund, is a leading organization dedicated to promoting children's rights and well-being globally. Established in 1946, UNICEF has been operational for over 70 years and works in 190 countries and territories. The organization focuses on children's survival, protection, and development, providing essential services such as vaccines, nutrition, education, and protection from violence and exploitation. With a workforce of over 12,000 staff members, UNICEF is funded entirely by voluntary contributions from individuals, businesses, foundations, and governments, emphasizing its commitment to improving the lives of children worldwide.

Job Overview:
The scientist" style="border-bottom: 1px dotted #007bff !important;">Data Scientist Consultancy position is situated within UNICEF’s Health and HIV Unit, specifically in the Data and Analytics team for Maternal, Newborn, Child, and Adolescent Health (MNCAH). This role is pivotal in enhancing global accountability and supporting countries in utilizing data to achieve better health outcomes. The consultant will be responsible for developing and scaling data systems and analytics under the AHEAD initiative, which aims to improve the use of routine health data across health systems. The position requires collaboration with various teams to ensure that data is transformed into actionable insights, thereby supporting public health planning and decision-making. The consultant will work closely with country offices and ministries of health to improve data quality and accessibility, ultimately contributing to more effective health systems.

Duties and Responsibilities:
The consultant will undertake a variety of tasks, including:

• Collaborating with country offices and ministries of health to access, clean, and analyze routine health information systems (RHIS) and administrative data.
• Customizing analytics pipelines and visualizations to meet specific national and subnational decision-making needs.
• Designing and maintaining automated data pipelines to standardize data from diverse sources.
• Developing tailored outputs such as dashboards and summaries for country reviews and planning meetings.
• Supporting the maintenance and expansion of the MNCAH Global Database, ensuring data integrity and harmonization.
• Developing a technology suite that integrates outputs from R scripts with large language models for natural language querying.
• Ensuring all workflows are documented and reproducible, contributing to capacity strengthening within the organization.

Required Qualifications:
Candidates must possess a minimum of 5 years of progressively responsible professional experience in data science, data engineering, or health data analytics, particularly in MNCAH data. They should have demonstrated experience in designing reproducible data pipelines, handling large datasets, developing statistical models, and building interactive dashboards. Proficiency in R and Python, as well as experience with version control systems like GitHub, is essential. Candidates should also have experience in supporting decision-makers in low- and middle-income countries and possess excellent communication skills in English, with proficiency in another UN language being highly desirable.

Educational Background:
A bachelor’s degree in Data Science, Statistics, Computer Science, Epidemiology, Public Health, Engineering, Health Informatics, or a related quantitative field is required. Additional certifications or training in data engineering, data visualization, or advanced statistical methods using R are considered assets.

Experience:
The position requires a minimum of 5 years of relevant experience in data science or health data analytics, with a focus on applying advanced data techniques in public health contexts. Candidates should have experience in developing and maintaining data pipelines, conducting data quality assessments, and building data visualizations.

Languages:
Fluency in English is mandatory, and proficiency in another UN language is highly desirable. This is important for effective communication and collaboration within the international context of UNICEF's work.

Additional Notes:
The consultancy is set to last from November 1, 2025, to October 30, 2026, and is primarily remote. Candidates must submit a completed profile in UNICEF's e-Recruitment system, including a cover letter, CV, and a financial proposal. The financial proposal should detail costs per deliverable and total costs for the assignment. UNICEF will cover any emergent travel costs and requires that selected candidates have valid health insurance. The selected candidate must also confirm their fully vaccinated status against COVID-19, although this requirement does not apply to those working remotely.