Senior Data Scientist – @iLabAfrica at Strathmore University

Job Title: Senior Data Scientist
Department: @iLabAfrica
Reporting to: Head of Data Science

Basic job summary:
The role is responsible for leading advanced data science workstreams related to AI model development, benchmarking, safety testing, and applied analytics. will involve implementing data ingestion frameworks,

Duties & Responsibilities:
1.Data Pipelines and Reporting
• Contributes significantly to the creation of the data architecture in terms of projected and expected data needs, performance and efficiency KPIs.Scopes and stages work into well-defined milestones to avoid monolithic deliverable.
• Go-to expert in are or the codebase. Understands architecture of the entire systems and provides technical advice and weights on the technical decisions that impact whole project.
• Able to successfully design and build end-to-end solutions with guidance from experts in the fields.
2.Data Science Strategy and Planning
• Contribute to the development and implementation of data science strategies.
• Work with cross-functional teams to identify and prioritize data science requirements.
• Support in recommending and implementing new technologies to enhance data science capabilities.
3.Data Quality and Governance
• Ensure the accuracy and reliability of data through data profiling, cleansing, and validation.
• Collaborate with data governance teams to establish and maintain data quality standards.
• Acquire data from primary or secondary data sources, filter, and clean data, maintain databases/data systems, and ensure data quality.
• Research on governance trends, best practices and improves on existing implementations. Constantly looking for improvements on the previous iterations.
4.Advanced Analytics and Modeling
• Model, design, and implement AI algorithms using diverse sources of data.
• Design and implement rigorous evaluation pipelines for AI models including large language models (LLMs), retrieval-augmented systems, and task-specific models.
• Support in the development and maintenance of benchmarking datasets (e.g. agricultural Q&A, edge cases, contextual prompts) to support standardized model assessment.
• Lead technical safety testing of AI advisory systems, including hallucination detection, inappropriate content identification, and escalation logic.
• Support the development and testing of guardrails, disclaimers, and fallback mechanisms for farmer-facing advisory use cases.
• Design and analyse experiments (e.g. A/B testing, persona-based trials) to assess AI output quality, usability, and performance across different contexts.
• Work closely with Data Engineers and MLOps Engineers to ensure AI pipelines are reproducible, auditable, and well-documented.
• Explore, learn, and deliver more complex tasks, including robust scheduled code execution, building frameworks and Apis for the rest of the team and building eventbased data processing
5.Collaboration and Stakeholder Management
• Collaborate with internal and external stakeholders to gather business requirements and understand analytical needs.
• Provide support and training to end-users on utilizing data science tools and interpreting analytical outputs.
• Support in writing reports, documentations, and publications related to business intelligence.
• Liaise and work effectively with the software development team to ensure all data needs are well addressed in projects.
• Research new and emerging trends in data science to grow skills and facilitate client projects.
6.Project Management and Follow-up
• Achieve results through follow-up of projects through to completion.
• Monitor project progress, manage priorities, commit to achieving quality outcomes, adhere to documentation procedures, and seek feedback from stakeholders to gauge satisfaction.

Minimum Academic Qualifications:
• Bachelor's or Master’s degree in Data Science, Statistics, Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence, or a closely related quantitative field.

Experience:
• Applicants should possess at least 5 years of progressive experience in data science, advanced analytics, or applied research roles, with demonstrated responsibility for complex analytical or modelling tasks.

Competencies and Attributes:
• Demonstrable experience with generative AI systems and large language models (LLMs), including experimentation with modular GenAI architectures such as retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), knowledge-graph-enhanced models, or similar frameworks.
• Strong technical expertise in machine learning, predictive analytics, statistical modelling, and data-driven evaluation methodologies.
• Proficiency in Python for data analysis and modelling, SQL for data extraction and transformation, and experience with data visualization and reporting tools (e.g. Power BI, Tableau, or equivalent).
• Demonstrated ability to work with large, complex datasets, design analytical workflows, and translate technical results into actionable insights for technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Experience building, adapting, and evaluating LLM-based systems for specific domains or contexts, including prompt design, retrieval strategies, grounding mechanisms, and structured knowledge integration.

Are you qualified for this position and interested in working with us? We would like to hear from you. Kindly send us a copy of your updated resume and letter of application (ONLY) quoting “Senior Data Scientist” on the subject line to recruitment@strathmore.edu by 27th February 2026.

Due to the large number of applications, we may receive, kindly note that only the shortlisted candidates will be contacted. Please be advised that Strathmore University is an equal opportunity employer and does NOT ask for money from applicants under any circumstances during its recruitment process.

Interested applicants are encouraged to exercise caution upon receiving any such interview opportunity that requires payment of any money.