Behavioural Data Science Consultant – Community‑Driven HPV Messaging

About the role

UNICEF is seeking a Behavioural Data Science Consultant to support a multi‑country project that tests community‑generated health messages aimed at increasing HPV vaccination uptake among adolescents in Kenya and Uganda. The 11‑month consultancy will be remote, based within the Centre of Excellence in Nairobi, and will focus on designing and validating data pipelines, natural‑language‑processing models, and experimental analytics that underpin the crowd‑sourced messaging methodology.

Key responsibilities

• Design and implement end‑to‑end data pipelines for collecting, cleaning, and storing community‑generated message data.
• Develop and fine‑tune NLP models for thematic clustering and message refinement.
• Set up and manage crowd‑forecasting tools and support the execution of cluster‑randomised controlled trials (cRCTs).
• Analyse experimental results to assess the impact of peer‑driven messaging on HPV vaccine uptake.
• Document methodology, produce technical reports, and collaborate with multidisciplinary teams including behavioural scientists and public‑health experts.

Required profile

• Advanced degree (MSc/PhD) in Data Science, Computer Science, Statistics, or a related quantitative field.
• Proven experience in applied research projects involving large‑scale data collection and experimental design.
• Strong understanding of behavioural change interventions and public‑health communication.
• Ability to work independently and deliver high‑quality outputs within tight timelines.

Required skills

• Data pipeline development (e.g., ETL processes, database management).
• Natural Language Processing (NLP) for thematic clustering and text analytics.
• Statistical analysis and experimental analytics for cRCT evaluation.
• Proficiency with programming languages such as Python or R.

What we offer

• 11‑month contract with competitive consultancy rates.
• Fully remote work arrangement.
• Opportunity to influence public‑health policy and improve vaccine coverage in low‑resource settings.