Remote opportunity at
GiveDirectlySenior Data Scientist, MNO Data
GiveDirectly is an organization that delivers cash directly to people living in poverty and crisis, aiming to make cash transfers the global benchmark for aid. Operating…
Career Tools
About This Role
GiveDirectly is an organization that delivers cash directly to people living in poverty and crisis, aiming to make cash transfers the global benchmark for aid. Operating in over 15 countries, the organization integrates technology into field processes and employs rigorous, independent evaluations to measure its impact. The Senior Data Scientist, MNO Data will spearhead analytical efforts to infer residence locations using Mobile Network Operator data, helping target aid households and…
Job Description
GiveDirectly is an organization that delivers cash directly to people living in poverty and crisis, aiming to make cash transfers the global benchmark for aid. Operating in over 15 countries, the organization integrates technology into field processes and employs rigorous, independent evaluations to measure its impact. The Senior Data Scientist, MNO Data will spearhead analytical efforts to infer residence locations using Mobile Network Operator data, helping target aid households and track sudden community displacements.
This role suits an analytical professional with a strong background in spatial-temporal data, machine learning, and mathematical modeling who wants to apply technical expertise to humanitarian causes. Responsibilities include refining analytical method templates, writing specifications for operator engineers, assessing data capabilities, and designing privacy-focused solutions like aggregation and privacy-enhancing technologies. The professional will collaborate closely with external telecom partners and internal teams, explaining complex methodologies to both technical and non-technical stakeholders. This position involves substantial international travel, ranging from 25% to 50% of the time, often on short notice for workshops and emergency responses. Candidates can be hired in specific eligible countries where employment infrastructure exists, including Cameroon, Canada, Colombia, DRC, Germany, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Netherlands, Nigeria, Poland, Portugal, Rwanda, South Africa, Spain, Turkey, Uganda, United Kingdom, and United States.
Responsibilities
- Refine and expand analytical method templates to determine residence, detect displacement, or estimate poverty using operator records
- Design novel methods when specific interventions require new analytical solutions
- Engage with telecom operators to explain data needs and guide technical designs
- Evaluate the types of information inferrable from an operator data set given sparsity and data types
- Write technical tests, parameters, pseudocode, and validation criteria for data engineers to execute
- Guide operator engineering teams through implementation both in writing and in person
- Adjust methodologies to fit computational limits and data volume constraints
- Conduct in-country workshops with operators to set up analyses and tune parameters
- Integrate new analytical and implementation components back into standard templates
- Design analyses for privacy and data minimization from inception
- Safeguard partner data confidentiality and improve internal security tools
- Create internal training materials to educate technical and non-technical colleagues on data limits and strengths
Requirements
- Strong background in mathematical modeling, machine learning, and statistics
- Deep familiarity with spatio-temporal data including temporal filtering, GIS, probability distributions, and sparse observations
- Ability to reason without ground truth and set parameters based on data shape
- Pragmatism regarding trade-offs between accuracy and operational implementability
- Excellence in communication and relationship-building across technical and leadership audiences
- Experience writing clear technical specifications that external teams can implement
- Ability to review and find logical errors in SQL and Python written by others
- Commitment to privacy by design and data confidentiality
- Fluency in English
- Willingness to undertake substantial international travel between 25% and 50% of the time
Qualifications
- Direct experience with Call Detail Records or latching data
- Comparable experience with mobility, transport, sensor, or remote-sensing data
- Familiarity with privacy-enhancing technologies such as private set intersection, secure multi-party computation, or homomorphic encryption
- Poverty modeling experience
- Familiarity with survey data and survey instruments
- Prior experience inside or working closely with a mobile network operator
- Open-source contributions in mobility estimation
- Proficiency in French, Portuguese, Swahili, or Spanish
Core Skills
Benefits
- Base salary, performance bonus at target level, and annual benefits stipend dependent on employment country
Frequently Asked Questions
Answers are based only on the employer’s listing; where it doesn’t say, neither do we.
What is the location policy for this role?
This role is remote, but hiring is prioritized in specific countries where GiveDirectly has established employment infrastructure, including Cameroon, Canada, Colombia, DRC, Germany, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Netherlands, Nigeria, Poland, Portugal, Rwanda, South Africa, Spain, Turkey, Uganda, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
How much travel is required for this position?
The position requires substantial international travel, accounting for roughly 25% to 50% of your time for workshops and emergency responses, sometimes at short notice.
Are visa sponsorships available?
GiveDirectly is unable to sponsor or take over sponsorship of employment visas in the United States or the United Kingdom at this time.
What languages are preferred for applicants?
English is required. French, Portuguese, Swahili, or Spanish are listed as language preferences.
Sample Interview Questions
AI-generated questions tailored to this specific role — a preview of the full practice set.