Technical Specialist – Data Scientist for Global Pulse position is available in the UNDP office in Indonesia. Global Pulse is an innovation initiative in the Executive Office of the United Nations Secretary-General, harnessing today’s new world of digital data and real-time analytics to gain a better understanding of changes in human well-being. Global Pulse established a Pulse Lab in Jakarta in 2012 in partnership with the Government of Indonesia. Pulse Lab Jakarta functions as an open innovation space where policy experts together with UN development practitioners and other partners can experiment with data. The Data Scientist will work under the supervision of the PLJ Head of Office, and closely with the global research team, the PLJ Data Engineer and PLJ Research Project Officer.

Key Responsibilities

• Define, design, implement and write up research projects harnessing Big Data to improve both understanding of population behavior, needs, and vulnerabilities as well as capacity to monitor and evaluate the impacts of development polices and programmes;
• Perform exploratory data analysis of new data sources or new uses for existing data sources;
• Assist in developing new approaches to detecting events and trends within real-time data sources, for instance, online media, social networks
• Think strategically about uses of data and how data use interacts with data collection design, data privacy, data security and research ethics;
• In addition, design and implement statistical data quality procedures around new data sources;
• Moreover, mentor other members of the PLJ Data Science Team

Qualifications and Requirements

• Bachelors degree or equivalent in statistics, applied mathematics, physics, computational finance, economics, computer science, engineering, politics or other related disciplines.
• Familiarity with data mining and big data analytics;
• At least 7  years of experience in analysis and data visualization;
• Experience in a branch of computational informatics (development, health, bio-, geo-, etc), using machine learning;
• Likewise, experience working with Big Data, social network data, and geospatial data/satellite imagery;
• Experience analyzing data from social monitoring systems, monitoring and evaluation work, or other survey work in developing countries;
• Similarly, experience writing research proposals, scientific articles and technical reports;
• Familiarity working with quantitative and qualitative data;
• Experience with scripting, coding, and web design required for data access, analysis, and presentation;
• Demonstrated experience presenting work to both technical and non-technical audiences;
• Willingness to evaluate and adopt the latest advances in data mining, artificial intelligence and data visualization.
• Proficiency in English. Working knowledge of other UN language desirable