Position: Full time or on a part time/contract basis
Company:
insight2impact | i2i is a new facility advancing the impact of data in financial inclusion. It was established by FinMark Trust and Cenfri in 2015 to respond to a growing need among financial inclusion stakeholders for a facility to inform and support data initiatives, as well as drive collaboration to improve the sophistication, accuracy and consistency of data used in the design of effective programmes, policies and products.
i2i seeks to be the leading global facility for the effective measurement and use of high quality, client-centric data to unlock development outcomes through financial inclusion. i2i is funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in partnership with The MasterCard Foundation.
About FMT and Cenfri. FinMark Trust is a not-for-profit independent trust, based in Johannesburg, whose mission is to make financial markets work for the poor through research and by advocating for change on the basis of research findings. Cenfri is an independent think tank, based in Cape Town, with a mission to support financial inclusion and financial sector development through facilitating better regulation and market provision of financial services. This vision is achieved through research, providing advice and developing capacity-building programmes for regulators, donors, financial service providers and other parties operating in the low-income market.
Job Purpose: Data Science Associate – Applications Lab (DSA)
The DSA will be responsible, together with the Application Lab team, to achieve the i2i’s objective to increase the use of client centric data by FSPs, and will focus particularly on big data and the use of alternative data and analytical methodologies. The DSA will also focus on developing Data Science skills within FSPs. This will be achieved through direct engagement with FSPs including the provision of technical support to FSPs to generate and implement innovative data and analytics in decision making. i2i’s Applications Lab team will also provide technical assistance to external analytics and related institutions in order to crowd in developers and entrepreneurs to catalyse innovation in the use of APIs, analysis, analytical tools and open data projects.
This role will be based at FinMark Trust in Midrand and will report to the Head of the Applications Lab. The DSA will be assisted by a Business Intelligence Research Associate (BI RA), who will focus on traditional data management, governance and leadership within FSPs.
Qualifications:
A Master’s degree is preferred (In computer science/electronic engineering, mathematical statistics or related fields) with at least 3 years of experience in the application of machine learning.
In lieu of, a Bachelor’s Degree or an Honours degree will be accepted as long as the candidate has 5 years of progressive experience, or any suitable combination of education, training or experience thereof.
Experience:
3 to 6 years of experience within an analytics team of a large innovative FSP, or an analytics consulting environment, with at least 3 years of experience with machine learning methods.
Experience in and an understanding of relational database concepts, dimensional database concepts, and database architecture and design, including unstructured databases, very large data repositories, and an understanding of how to deal with data imperfections
Experience in alternative client data analytics (including cloud computing, natural language processing, text mining and image or video analytics), using alternative sources of data (like social media data, unstructured data), big data concepts and in translating client data into practical market solutions.
Experience with a statistical programming language, like R or Python, and a database querying language like SQL, preferably for multiple platforms. A basic understanding of statistics, including an understanding of which different techniques would be valid (or would not be valid) in specific contexts is beneficial.
An understanding of data visualization as well as the principles behind visually encoding data and communicating information.
The following experience will be beneficial:
An understanding of how financial service providers interact with data to make decisions, and of the internal business dynamics of financial service providers, including familiarity with how data functions can be organised within FSPs, and an understanding of the processes behind product development.
Experience in dealing with a variety of stakeholders including private sector companies and research providers;
Experience with new and upcoming modelling techniques.
Experience and exposure to working in developing countries
Personal Attributes / Criteria:
Innovative and ‘Out-of-the-box’ thinker.
Self-motivated, creative and optimistic personality.
Ability to interact with and communicate effectively with teams from various business (IT, BI, New product development etc.), to articulate key messages clearly and explain technical concepts to a semi-technical audience, and to all levels of enterprise decision makers.
Adaptive to agile technology environment and strong problem solving abilities.
Desire to contribute to the development of data and analytical skills and markets in Africa.
Duties and Responsibilities:
Engagement with FSPs regarding project and proposal development. Guide FSPs to an appropriate engagement option, negotiate the terms of each new project (including deliverables), develop a scope of work, and enter into agreements with FSPs. Once projects are accepted, determine resource requirements, timelines, track project progress and monitor to ensure projects adherence to agreements and FSP expectations.
Manage multiple projects simultaneously and provide regular reports, articulate business value, act as liaison with FSPs, manage expectations, participate in onsite visits and contribute technically to project (applications of new analytic techniques using new data sources, providing technical advice etc.).
Efficient and effective interaction and management of project members (i2i, technical consultants, FSPs), providing appropriate guidance as required. Reporting on projects, providing feedback to management on progress and regarding capacity requirements;
Effective project administration, including time and budget optimisation, expenditure controls, clear communication of timelines and updates, effective utilization of resources (human & non-human) and overseeing logistics scheduling;
Production of written outputs and other mediums used to disseminate project insights to stakeholders, including the accurate integration of project team members’ input into final document;
Packaging/presenting information effectively (i.e. achieving the desired impact) and disseminating findings and insights through oral presentations to employees and external stakeholders.
Travel required up to 40%
Should you wish to apply for the position and feel you have all the essential experience and qualifications, please send your CV in a Word document to Helen Wilson (helenwilson@helenwilson.co.za)