Behavioural Data Science Consultant – Social & Behaviour Change (Remote)

About the role

UNICEF is seeking a Behavioural Data Science Consultant to lead the data‑driven components of a project that tests community‑generated health messaging to boost HPV vaccination among adolescents in Kenya and Uganda. The consultant will work remotely, collaborating with multidisciplinary teams to design, implement, and evaluate AI‑enabled pipelines that turn crowd‑sourced messages into actionable insights.

Key responsibilities

• Design and build data pipelines for collecting, cleaning, and storing community‑generated messages.
• Develop and fine‑tune natural language processing (NLP) models for thematic clustering and message refinement.
• Implement crowd‑forecasting algorithms and support cluster‑randomized controlled trials (cRCTs) to assess impact.
• Validate analytical results, produce dashboards, and communicate findings to stakeholders.
• Document methodology and contribute to knowledge‑sharing resources.

Required profile

• Advanced degree (MSc/PhD) in Data Science, Computer Science, Statistics, or related field.
• Experience in designing end‑to‑end data pipelines and applying NLP techniques to social‑behavioral data.
• Familiarity with experimental design, especially cRCTs, in public‑health contexts.
• Strong analytical mindset with ability to translate complex results into clear recommendations.

Required skills

• Data engineering (ETL, databases, cloud storage).
• Natural Language Processing (topic modeling, clustering, text classification).
• Statistical analysis and experimental evaluation.
• Programming in Python or R for data science workflows.

What we offer

• Opportunity to influence health communication strategies for vulnerable populations.
• Collaboration with leading experts in behavioural science, AI, and public health.
• Flexible remote work arrangement for the 11‑month contract.