DATA SCIENTIST (ASSISTANT MANAGER)
Closing Date: Monday, 21 Jun 2021 at 5.00 p.m.
Job Purpose
Reporting to the Manager
– Business Intelligence (B.I) & Analytics, the Data Scientist’s role will:
• Help to create and maintain a state-of-the art Big Data platform for deep
analytics, that will generate business insights in line with the Central Bank
of Kenya Mandate.
• Consultatively gather requirements by understanding the business challenges attempted to be resolved in reference to the data available and data to be acquired.
• Model business problems, discovering insights and opportunities through statistical, algorithmic, machine learning and visualisation techniques, working closely with clients, data and technology teams to turn data into critical information used to make sound business decisions.
• Assist in applying data mining techniques and conduct statistical analysis to large, structured and unstructured data sets to understand and analyse different phenomena.
• Monitor and optimize performance of developed models by driving experiments, benchmarking, etc.
Responsibilities
Data
- Delve into data from different systems, structured
and unstructured, both batch and real time, to discover hidden
relationships and useful information.
- Assist the gathering of data for use in Data Science
models, ensuring that chosen datasets best reflect the organisations
goals.
- Perform data pre-processing including data
manipulation, transformation, normalisation, standardisation,
visualisation and derivation of new variables/features.
- Utilize advanced data analytics and mining
techniques to analyse data, assess data validity and usability; review
data results to ensure accuracy; and communicate results and insights to
stakeholders.
- Assist various mathematical, statistical, and
simulation techniques to typically large and unstructured data sets in
order to answer critical business questions and create predictive
solutions which drive improvement in business outcomes.
- Assist analytics and insights across the
organisation by developing advanced statistical models and computational
algorithms based on business initiatives.
- Code, test and maintain scientific models
and algorithms and identify trends, patterns, and discrepancies in data
and determine additional data needed to support insight. Process, clean
and verify the integrity of data used for analysis.
- Use data profiling and visualisation techniques
using tools to understand and explain data characteristics that will
inform modelling approaches.
- Communicate data information to business with
respective stakeholders, presenting trends, correlations and patterns
found in complicated datasets in a manner that clearly and concisely
conveys meaningful insights and defend recommendations under the
supervision of data scientists.
- Utilize the appropriate data storage and
data mining tools to ensure value can be extracted from the sourced data.
- Mine data using state-of-the-art methods and
enhances data collection procedures to include information that is
relevant for building models.
- Identify recurring problems and bottlenecks that
might be improved, collaborate with System Administration and cross
functional teams to impart new technologies in the analytics,
infrastructure, or further research into statistical methodology.
People
- Provide engagement and drive change through
influence and the strategic use of data across the Bank, develop big data
and machine learning models for various areas of the business.
- Be an analytics subject matter expert, developing
and driving adoption of Business Intelligence & Analytics using Big
data, ETL and Analytical tools for the business and management
information.
- Liaise and collaborate with the Data Science
Team providing support to stakeholders in the department for its data
centric needs.
- Collaborate with subject matter experts to spot
viable use cases, select the relevant sources of information, and
translate the business requirements into data mining/science outcomes.
- Present findings and observations to the
team for development of recommendations.
Product
- Support various mathematical, statistical, and
simulation techniques to answer business questions within specific areas
of focus. Develop modelling solutions that enable the forecast of quality
data outcomes.
- Ensure that volumetric predictions are modelled so
that resource requirements are optimally considered.
- Support reporting production and ensure
sustainable and effective modelling solutions.
- Support and implements operational plans, rules,
methodologies and coding initiatives.
- Support and implement the strategy for deploying
into production automation software so that it is accurate and well
maintained.
Technology &
Architecture
- Assist in building machine learning models and
utilise distributed data processing and analysis methodologies.
- Competent in Machine Learning programming in R or
Python, with supplementary skills in Matlab, Java, etc. Familiar with the
Hadoop distributed computational platform, including broader ecosystem of
tools such as HDFS / Spark / Kafka.
Qualifications
- Bachelor’s Degree in Information Studies,
Mathematics, Statistics, Economics, Information Technology, Computer
Science, Electrical /Electronics Engineering.
- Post Graduate degree in Information Studies,
Mathematics, Statistics, Economics, Information Technology, Computer
Science, Electrical / Electronics Engineering is an added advantage.
- Certifications or professional memberships in any
of the following areas
- Proficiency in application and web development.
- . Structured and Unstructured Query languages e.g.
SQL, Qlik/Qlikview, Tableau, Python, C#, Java, C++, HTML.
- Completion of online coursework in Data Science,
Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning through Udemy, Coursera, Udacity,
edX, etc. is an added advantage.
Work Experience
- At least 5 years’ relevant work experience with
hands on experience in Data Science and Data Analytics.
Technical Competencies
Technology Business
Partnering
- Proven hands on track record of translating
business problems into analytical framework, developing analytical plans
for answering complex problems and delivering analytical insights, to add
value to business teams.
- Excellent communication skills, with the ability
to present technical results to non-technical audiences.
- Proven development experience in software and
software engineering.
- Understanding of financial services data
processes, systems, and products.
- Experience in technical business intelligence
- Knowledge of IT infrastructure and data
principles.
- Project management experience.
- Experience in building models (credit scoring,
propensity models, churn, etc.).
Data and Business
Analysis
- Experience in working with unstructured data (e.g.
Streams, images).
- Understanding of data flows, data architecture,
ETL and processing of structured and unstructured data.
- Using data mining to discover new patterns from
large datasets.
- Implement standard and proprietary algorithms for
handling and processing data.
- Experience with common data science toolkits, such
as SAS, R, SPSS, etc.
- Solid hands-on understanding of Database, Data
Modelling, SQL Developer, Data Warehouse concepts and advanced analytics
concepts. Implementation experience is preferred.
- Hands-on expertise in data manipulation via the
use of structured data tools (e.g., SQL), & unstructured data tools
and platforms (e.g., Spark, Hadoop, Hive, etc.), with capability to do
exploratory analysis on both sets of data
- Experience with data visualisation tools, such as
Power BI, Tableau, etc.
- Knowledge of Database query writing and reporting
tools such as SQL Reporting, SQL Developer, Excel, Toad etc.
- Experience with System Development Lifecycle
and IT best practices and Change Management principles.Behavioral / General Competencies
- Strong analytical and creative problem-solving
skills.
- Curiosity, creativity, innovative and an empirical
mindset.
- Team player.
- Demonstrated ability to work in a large,
matrixed organization, successfully influencing others & building
relationships through exceptional communication skills.
- Excellent written and verbal
communication/presentation skills.
- Excellent ability to multi-task and manage
simultaneous projects and initiatives.
- Strong planning, organization, critical thinking,
decision-making skills and problem-solving aptitude.
How to Apply
