Research Analyst
Position in: Anywhere in
Africa
Do you want to help deepen
public understanding of Africa’s watchdog media and digital democracy pioneers?
Code for Africa (CfA) has immediate vacancies for
full-time Research Analysts to
join our pan-African CivicSignal team.
Applicants must have
demonstrable experience in analytical research and open source intelligence
into media ecosystems or digital civic engagement, and should be comfortable
with using data-driven social analytics, survey/polling methodology, landscape
analysis and a combination of data mining and media monitoring tools to produce
actionable insights and citable reports for a range of partners including
international donors, development agencies and policymakers.
The ideal applicant is
fluent in English and/or French and/or Arabic.
Successful candidates will join CfA’s transnational CivicSignal research team, which drives analysis of the continent’s media ecosystem and emerging civic technology sector. As part of a multinational and multilingual team, you will use digital collaboration tools and natural language processing (NLP) and machine intelligence toolkits to create research reports and datasets for a global audience and international institutional partners.
Required: minimum requirements include
- An
understanding of media ecosystems and/or digital advocacy and/or digital
civic engagement.
- A
minimum of one year’s experience in the field, and/or evidence of a
substantive research project using ML/NPL/AI analysis tools.
- Proficiency
in Python or R
- Proficiency
in statistical analysis and market research, along with related
qualitative and quantitative research methods.
- Strong
analytical and logical skills, with a demonstrable track record
translating data into actionable insights.
- Excellent
communication skills, including the ability to write for publication,
present research insights and shape research proposals.
- Meticulous
eye for detail to ensure data integrity and precision.
- The
ability to collaborate with a diverse set of multidisciplinary project
stakeholders.
- Experience
in working with remote, distributed teams with agile methodologies.
Preferred: candidates who are able to
demonstrate the following will have an advantage
- Competence
in computational linguistics, Natural Language Processing, and
specifically the methodologies and tools offered by the
MediaCloud.org platform.
- Competence
in other open source intelligence (OSINT) research techniques, including
data scraping, data mining and other intelligence gathering techniques.
- Previous
experience of contributing to reports and research publications
- Multiple
languages, such as French, Arabic and other languages spoken in Africa.
- Knowledge
of network analysis.
Language and Location
Requirements:
- Location:
Anywhere in Africa
- Languages:
English, French, Arabic
- Preferred
but not required additional languages: French or Arabic
About the Role:
You will help design and
conduct digital research and analysis into Africa’s watchdog media and digital
democracy initiatives across the continent.
As a Research Analyst on
CfA’s CivicSignal team,
you will work with a transnational team of other specialist researchers and
data analysts to generate actionable insights into the media ecosystem, and how
other civic watchdogs function in Africa. This will include data-driven
research into digital democracy initiatives, civic engagement mechanisms and
the regulatory frameworks that shape ecosystems or that influence events such
as elections and public policymaking. You will also help map the changemakers
or pioneers who steer decision-making, and the ownership/composition and
funding models for key roleplayers.
Your research will
leverage CivicSignal’s own natural language processing and classification
tools, such as MediaCloud, along with additional databases built by using
survey and polling methodologies. Your team will regularly deploy machine
learning and other artificial intelligence techniques, including sentiment
analysis, n-gram analysis, cluster analysis, and social listening to produce
actionable intelligence tools and briefing documents. This will include
creating lexicons of country- and language-specific terms and phrases, to
trigger early warnings about inflammatory or otherwise dangerous content.
Responsibilities: Your daily responsibilities will include
- Designing
and implementing pioneering digital research projects for both internal
teams and external partners in academia, development agencies and policy
think-tanks.
- Managing
CfA’s computational linguistics toolkit, built on MediaCloud software, to
apply machine learning and other NPL processes to analyse the content
produced by media and other civic watchdogs for everything from political
partisanship and gender bias, to toxic speech and influence operations.
- Digitising
and integrating external qualitative research from strategic partners into
CfA’s core collections, to enable contextual fresh insights.
- Co-drafting
analytical data-driven reports and research papers designed to help shape
public discourse within our ecosystems, or to help guide intervention/development
strategies at donor/support agencies.
What We Offer:
- A
competitive salary, subject to experience, with opportunities for
performance-based growth, both in terms of career path and public stature.
- A
dynamic workplace, with a transnational team, occasional international
travel, and generous vacation benefits.
- Ongoing
opportunities to learn new cutting-edge skills and techniques/technologies
to future-proof yourself in a rapidly evolving industry.
- A
chance to shine on a global stage, writing for international audiences and
interacting with colleagues around the world.
How to apply:
Please fill in this form by 15 February 2023.
