Position Title: Mobility Data and Quantitative Analysis Specialist – Geopolitical Shocks Report
Duty Station: Kabul, Afghanistan
Expected Start Date of Deployment: 15 September 2026
Deployment Duration: 3 months, 16 days
Organizational Context and Scope:
Under the overall supervision of the Chief of Mission in Afghanistan and the direct supervision of the Senior Programme Coordinator, DTM, and in close coordination with relevant IOM Afghanistan, regional and headquarters colleagues, the incumbent will support the development of a flagship analytical report: How Geopolitical Shocks Reshape Population Movements;
The incumbent will develop the time-series, event-linked and population-profile analysis underpinning How Geopolitical Shocks Reshape Population Movements. The incumbent will begin event chronology, data inventory and exploratory flow analysis immediately and work in parallel with the Senior Migration and Mobility Research Specialist. Maps will be produced in-house using validated geographic data and specifications prepared by the incumbent.
The incumbent will work as part of a parallel two-person report team and coordinate closely with the corresponding research or analytical specialist. IOM’s in-house information management and GIS teams will support approved data access, validation and map production. All work must comply with IOM standards on data protection, confidentiality, ethical analysis and information security. Where advanced analytics or artificial intelligence-assisted methods are used, they must remain transparent, proportionate, subject to human review and consistent with IOM standards; sensitive or personally identifiable data must not be entered into unauthorized tools or environments.
Responsibilities and Accountabilities:
- Compile an inventory of approved Flow Monitoring, Border Consortium, survey, returnee monitoring and relevant secondary datasets and assess coverage, frequency, definitions, breaks in series and comparability.
- Work with the research specialist to construct a validated shock/event chronology and define transparent analytical windows for before, during and after comparisons.
- Clean, harmonize, integrate and document movement datasets and produce reproducible time series, flow-change and profile analyses by border point, route, destination and population characteristics where available.
- Assess and clearly document changes in methodology, coverage, missingness, outliers and other limitations that affect trend interpretation or event-linked comparisons.
- Produce accurate analytical tables and charts and share timely intermediate findings so that interpretation and report drafting proceed in parallel.
- Prepare validated map-ready data, classifications, titles, legends and caveats for map production by the in-house GIS team.
- Maintain a quality-control log and apply IOM requirements for data protection, disclosure control, information security and responsible use of analytical tools.
- Finalize the technical annex, code or documented workflows, metadata, analytical files and limitations note and deliver a structured technical handover to IOM.
Expected Assignment Outputs:
- Data inception package within 10 working days, including inventory, comparability assessment, event chronology, analytical windows, disaggregation plan and quality-control protocol.
- Cleaned dataset and exploratory time-series and profile analysis by 20 October 2026.
- Complete event-linked analysis, tables, charts, map specifications and draft technical annex by 20 November 2026.
- Final reproducible datasets, scripts/workflows, metadata, quality-control log, technical annex and handover by 18 December 2026.
Required Qualifications and Experience:
EDUCATION
Master’s degree or higher in statistics, data science, demography, economics, geography, information management, public policy analytics or a related field from an accredited academic institution with at least three years of relevant professional experience; or a university degree in the above fields with at least five years of relevant professional experience.
EXPERIENCE
- Experience in quantitative analysis, mobility data, humanitarian information management, migration statistics or population research.
- Demonstrated experience with time-series, event-study, change analysis, flow data or repeated cross-sectional datasets.
- Proven experience integrating and comparing datasets with changing coverage, definitions or temporal frequency.
- Experience analysing migration, border, return, displacement or humanitarian datasets; DTM, Flow Monitoring or comparable systems experience is strongly preferred.
- Familiarity with responsible AI-assisted coding or analytical workflows is desirable, provided methods are transparent, validated and compliant with data-protection and information-security requirements.
SKILLS
- Advanced proficiency in R and/or Python for data cleaning, time-series analysis, visualization and reproducible workflows.
- Strong ability to assess data quality, comparability, missingness, outliers and breaks in series.
- Ability to create clear charts, analytical tables, metadata and map-ready files
- Ability to communicate association, uncertainty and methodological limitations accurately.
Languages
Fluency in English is required (oral and written). Working knowledge of Dari, Pashto, or another relevant regional language is an advantage.
How to apply
Application Process (IMPORTANT)
This opportunity is managed through the IOM Deployment Roster. You can refer to this link:
https://bit.ly/Consultant-MobilityDataandQuantitativeAnalysis
To apply:
- Candidates must first register in the Deployment Roster via the online sign-up on the platform –Â https://globalroster.iom.int/
- Complete the profile and submit required information.
- Apply to this specific opportunity through the roster platform
Only candidates who complete the roster registration process will be considered.
Additional Information
- Application to this opportunity closes on the indicated date at 2359UTC.
- No late application will be accepted.
- This position can either be offered as a consultancy or STA.
- A remote commencement will be considered pending visas and administrative arrangements
- For candidates engaged under the STA/AFS modality, the actual staff costs and appointment level will depend on the selected candidate’s applicable grade, step, entitlements, and deployment arrangements.
- For candidates engaged under the Consultancy modality, the indicated expertise level should not be interpreted as a staff grade. Any consultancy engagement will be administered in accordance with IN/84 and subject to the applicable consultancy review and approval requirements.
- Final engagement remains subject to funding confirmation and completion of the relevant administrative processes.
- Please refer to the Post Description for full details on scope and requirements