Field-based Data Management Senior Specialist | LAC , West Africa, East Africa, Southern Africa, the Middle East and Europe, and Asia | 2024

Chemonics seeks Field-Based Data Management Senior Specialists (FB-DMSS) to be based in countries in which FEWS NET 8 operates. The FB-DMSS working under the supervision of the Data Management Advisor, provides support to ongoing data management activities across the team’s sectors (e.g., Food Security Decision Support, Conflict, Markets and Trade, Livelihoods, Nutrition) across six regions located in LAC (Guatemala), West Africa (Niger), East Africa (Kenya), Southern Africa (Zimbabwe), the Middle East and Europe (TBD), and Asia (Sri Lanka). This includes support for FEWS NET DS data management and engagement within FEWS NET and external audiences in relation to FEWS NET data management. This position will be based in one of FEWS NET’s regional offices, in collaboration with key partners in the broader food security and nutrition community. Highly qualified candidates who have legal work authorization and are based in select countries in which FEWS NET 8 operates may be considered. Countries are as follows:

  • LAC region: Guatemala, Colombia, Haiti, Honduras, and El Salvador.
  • East Africa Region: Burundi, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Sudan, and Uganda;
  • West Africa Region: Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Mali, Nigeria, Niger, Benin, and Togo.
  • Asia region: Afghanistan, Burma, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Pakistan.
  • South Africa region: Sri Lanka, Angola, DRC, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Zambia.
  • MENA and Europa: Lebanon, Yemen and Ukraine.

We are looking for individuals who have a passion for making a difference in the lives of people around the world.

FEWS NET is an integrated set of activities funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and is intended to provide timely, accurate, evidence-based, and transparent food security early warning information and analysis. FEWS NET supports local and regional food security networks with the global objective of achieving food security for all.

The eighth phase of FEWS NET includes the Decision Support (DS) project which is charged with providing integrated monitoring and analyses of current and forecast acute food insecurity in countries worldwide to support the USAID’s Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance (BHA) policy and programmatic decisions. Based on an in-depth understanding of local livelihoods, the FEWS NET DS Team members monitor information and data on factors that affect food security, such as conflict, weather conditions and climate, crops, pasture, markets and trade, and nutrition. The work of the FEWS NET DS Team relies on close collaboration with international, regional, and national partners on food security data and information gathering and analysis. Major activities include joint monitoring and assessments, data sharing and exchanges, collaborative analysis and reporting, and technical capacity strengthening. FEWS NET DS maintains six regional offices which coordinate and oversee the technical and administrative management of over 40 country offices.

Responsibilities

  • Assisting with the formatting of datasets collected or acquired by the DS Team for upload into the FDW, in accordance with guidance from the Hub
  • Ensuring data are processed, cleaned, and archived in a timely fashion, in line with Hub, DS Team and client requests. Undertaking this responsibility will include working closely with country and regional offices and sector specialists to ensure timely completion of data entry and processing tasks.
  • Extracting data from unstructured source documents, such as PDFs and Excel sheets
  • Geo-coding extracted data and uploading it into the FDW
  • Tracking and resolving data upload issues with the Hub; creating and, as relevant, responding to helpdesk tickets using Jira system
  • Identifying data irregularities and inconsistencies in source documents and processed datasets and proposing and implementing approved solutions
  • Supporting and assisting in the design, implementation, and maintenance of the DS Team’s new and/or existing applications and initiatives to leverage MDTS processes and tools
  • Supporting and assisting in the design, implementation, and maintenance of the DS Team’s new and/or existing applications and initiatives to manage, analyze, and visualize data for both regular and ad hoc reporting and decision support efforts
  • Providing in-person and remote recurring and ad hoc capacity strengthening to DS staff on FDW processes and tools, including uploading files, data extraction, and the use of related offline tools
  • Providing in-person and remote recurring and ad hoc capacity strengthening to DS staff on MDTS processes and tools
  • Assisting in the management and supervision of subcontractor task orders associated with DS data processing, as requested
  • Supporting ongoing and future initiatives related to data collection and survey tools, the production of high-quality visual analyses, and data visualization tools (including interactive data monitoring products and tools).
  • Providing support to other data processing/data management tasks across the project, as needed
  • At the discretion of the supervisor, this position may be expected to manage a limited number of staff

Qualifications

  • At least 10 years of relevant experience (with Master’s degree), or 12 years of relevant experience (with Bachelor’s degree) is required.
  • Bachelor’s degree (or equivalent work experience) in a relevant field such as computer science or related information systems field required, Masters degree preferred.
  • Fluency in written and spoken English is required; French, Spanish, and/or Arabic language skills are desired
  • Technical skills and knowledge in Python programming language is required
  • Demonstrated previous experience with statistical tools to perform analyses, such as Excel, PowerBI, or Tableau is required.
  • Previous experience with mobile data collection tools (e.g., ODK, Magpi, KOBO), methods, and management is required
  • Additional skills with databases, scripting, and use of cloud services are desired

Demonstrated previous experience using large socioeconomic datasets for analyses is desired

  • Familiarity with Agile framework and software development methods and processes is desired
  • Excellent research skills and ability to focus on details is required
  • Demonstrated ability to communicate clearly and concisely both orally and in writing is required
  • Demonstrated ability to provide guidance and capacity strengthening to adult learners is required
  • Ability to work effectively both independently and as part of a multicultural team across numerous geographies is required

Application instructions

Please apply using the following link by November 21 2024 at 11:59 PM ET. No telephone inquiries, please. Chemonics will contact short-listed candidates.

Chemonics is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate in its selection and employment practices on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, political affiliation, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, disability, genetic information, age, membership in an employee organization, or other non-merit factors.

Chemonics values the protection of your personal data. If you are in the European Union, please read our EU Recruiting Data Privacy Notice to learn how we process personal data. You may access the notice via the following link: https://chemonics.com/eu-recruiting-data-privacy-notice/.

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