Medior or Senior Data Science Advisor At Royal Tropical Institute

About KIT Royal Tropical Institute

Based on a national heritage site in Amsterdam, KIT Royal Tropical Institute is an independent centre of expertise and hospitality dedicated to sustainable development. Guided by the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations, we assist governments, NGOs, and private corporations worldwide to build inclusive and sustainable societies. Our experts provide research, advisory and training services focussing on global health, economic development, gender and intercultural communication.

Our campus in Amsterdam is one of the city’s leading hospitality venues en sustainability hotspots. It houses an education centre for students and professionals, including a graduate school in global health, a certified eco-friendly hotel complemented by conference and events facilities. We are also home to SDG House: a thriving community of sustainability experts, social entrepreneurs, and NGOs with a membership of more than 70 organisations.

The SED & Gender unit is responsible for improving the performance of programmes, companies and organisations that pursue sustainable and inclusive development. The main fields of work of the unit are Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL), Inclusive Food Systems, Responsible Agribusiness and Gender.

The Monitoring & Evaluation (M&E) for Social Impact team translates its partners’ expressed needs into actionable research questions and tailored methodologies. Using qualitative or quantitative methods, or a mix of these, we turn the question of which strategies improve livelihoods into traceable evidence. We want to expand our innovative work on data collection, processing, analysis and visualisations further. That’s why we are looking for a:

Medior or Senior Data Science Advisor

32/40 hours per week

We are seeking a creative professional who can think outside the box and develop new approaches and methodologies to use the vast amounts of data available for social and environmental good and monitoring changes towards the SDGs.

You are the ideal person for this role if you

• Enjoy and has extensive experience designing data-driven methodologies for the monitoring or evaluation of sustainable (economic) development projects;
• Know (secondary) data (sources) available and can advise on best options to answer applied research questions;
• Design, train, and deploy into production environments both supervised and unsupervised models that turn data into insights, including predictive modelling to forecast risk or outcomes;
• Develop fit-for-purpose data products such as R-Shiny dashboards;
• Take the intellectual lead and be the person responsible for the implementation of assignments;
• Manage and co-ordinate (team) work to deliver high-quality and timely results;
• Communicate clearly and effectively with the team, clients, and partners;
• Coache colleagues in their professional development, strong team player;
• Combine scientific rigour to pragmatic approaches;
• Is driven by doing impactful work for a better world.

About you

• Knowledge and experience of (quasi-)experimental design for impact evaluations, including a sound understanding of quantitative evaluation methods;
• Data science expertise, including, for example, Supervised Machine Learning Models (Classifiers), Unsupervised Machine Learning Models (PCA, Clustering);
• Scientific programming proficiency in R (including Shiny) and/or Python;
• Experience collecting, processing, and analysing large (primary and/or secondary) (geo)data sets, including text and remote sensing imagery;
• Knowledge of econometric techniques (for example, difference-in-difference and propensity score matching);
• Knowledge of database structures and organisation of data (data dictionaries, indexing, unique identifiers);
• Good communication and interpersonal skills with team members and external clients;
• Full professional proficiency in English;
• Fieldwork experience in low or middle-income countries, ability to travel for short missions on a semi-regular basis;
• For a medior position, a minimum of 3-5 years of experience with a proven track record/skills in the field of data science and light project management;
• A minimum of 7-10 years of work experience, project acquisition experience, good project management skills, including budgeting and financial control, are required for a senior position.

What do we offer?

• A salary based on age, qualifications and experience for the medior advisor will be between €3.752, – and €4.723, – gross per month for a 40-hour workweek. For a senior advisor the salary, based on qualifications and experience, is between €4.723, – and €5.269, – gross per month for a 40-hour working week;
• In addition, there is an 8% holiday allowance and admission to the KIT pension fund (ABP);
• Initial 12-month contract, with the possibility of renewal;
• The opportunity to apply and develop the best of your expertise within an exciting, dynamic and multi-disciplinary working environment;
• Pleasant working environment housed in a historic building in the heart of Amsterdam, overlooking Oosterpark;
• Travel policy; NS-Business card or kilometre allowance, optional a bicycle plan.