African Energy Futures Is Hiring For Senior and Junior
Data Scientists
Applications are open for two positions supporting the
African Energy Futures Initiative: AI and Data Platforms Lead and Junior Data
Scientist. The roles are suited to professionals who want to contribute to
stronger African energy and development data systems, digital tools, research
and evidence-based storytelling.
The appointments are offered on 12-month fixed-term
contracts and are open to candidates based on the African continent.
About African Climate Foundation
The African Climate Foundation is an African-led regional
climate foundation working at the intersection of climate and development. It
supports governments, financiers, civil society organisations, researchers,
institutions and businesses working towards an inclusive African climate
transition.
The foundation’s operational hub is in Cape Town, South
Africa, while its work extends across the continent through partnerships,
research, policy engagement and capacity-building initiatives.
About African Energy Futures
African Energy Futures is an initiative housed within the
African Climate Foundation. It works to strengthen African institutions’
ability to understand and shape energy systems by developing knowledge, tools
and locally relevant research.
The initiative supports African energy analysts through
training, locally led research hubs, collaboration among institutions,
policy-focused studies and work placements connected to real-world energy
challenges. Its broader objective is to increase Africa’s role in energy
research, policy and investment.
About The Strategic Data And Intelligence Unit
The African Climate Foundation and African Energy Futures
are establishing a shared Strategic Data & Intelligence Unit to improve how
African energy and development data are collected, governed, analysed,
visualised and used.
The multidisciplinary unit will maintain an online
data-visualisation platform, produce evidence-based narratives and provide
analytical services to grant-making and regranting organisations. It will also
help build independent African capability in data infrastructure, analysis and
data storytelling.
Available Roles
- AI
and Data Platforms Lead
- Junior
Data Scientist
1. AI And Data Platforms Lead
The AI and Data Platforms Lead is a senior technical role
combining product development, data engineering, applied artificial
intelligence and practical software development. The successful candidate will
design and deliver the unit’s digital and AI-enabled capabilities.
Responsibilities
- Lead
the technical design, development and improvement of the online data
platform and visualisation tools.
- Translate
user needs into product roadmaps, prototypes, specifications and tested
releases.
- Work
with Ember and other partners to adapt or integrate platform components
while building independent African Climate Foundation and African Energy
Futures capability.
- Design
systems that support accessibility, low-bandwidth use, maintainability,
multilingual expansion and responsible open access where appropriate.
- Build
data-ingestion, transformation, storage, metadata, versioning and
publishing pipelines.
- Integrate
structured and unstructured data from public, partner and internal sources
using APIs, automated workflows and documented manual processes.
- Collaborate
with the Junior Data Scientist on data validation, provenance,
reproducibility, access control and release standards.
- Maintain
technical documentation, repositories, testing processes, backups and
business-continuity arrangements.
- Identify,
prototype and deploy AI applications for data discovery, extraction,
classification, cleaning, summarisation, visualisation, research and
knowledge management.
- Develop
retrieval, search and assisted-analysis tools connected to trusted
organisational data and evidence.
- Use
human-in-the-loop evaluation to manage hallucination, bias,
confidentiality, intellectual-property and security risks.
- Provide
training, templates and technical support to colleagues and manage
technical vendors or contributors when necessary.
Required Qualifications And Experience
- A
degree or equivalent practical experience in computer science, data
engineering, information systems, software engineering, computational
science or a related field.
- At
least six years of relevant experience in software, data-platform,
data-engineering or applied-AI roles.
- Experience
delivering user-facing tools.
- Strong
proficiency in Python and SQL.
- Experience
working with APIs and databases.
- Familiarity
with modern web-based data-visualisation approaches.
- Practical
experience with cloud infrastructure, deployment, version control, testing
and secure data workflows.
- Hands-on
experience applying large language models or machine-learning tools to
real organisational use cases.
- Ability
to explain technical choices, risks and trade-offs clearly to
non-technical colleagues.
- Excellent
written and verbal communication skills in English.
Desirable Experience
- Open-data
platforms, geospatial data, energy data, development indicators or
public-interest technology.
- Data
protection, cybersecurity, AI governance or model evaluation in nonprofit
or research environments.
- Experience
supporting organisations operating across multiple African countries and
variable digital-infrastructure environments.
2. Junior Data Scientist
The Junior Data Scientist will turn fragmented and
inconsistent information into reliable, usable datasets. This role is intended
for an early-career analyst who is interested in detailed problem-solving and
developing expertise in African energy and development data.
Responsibilities
- Search
for and catalogue public, academic, commercial and partner datasets across
African countries and regions.
- Download,
request, extract or transcribe information from spreadsheets, reports,
APIs, databases and other source formats.
- Maintain
source registers, data inventories and update schedules.
- Engage
institutions and partners to clarify definitions, obtain missing
information and document permissions.
- Clean,
standardise, merge and restructure datasets using repeatable scripts and
documented procedures.
- Reconcile
country names, units, currencies, dates, technology classifications and
other coding systems.
- Identify
duplicates, gaps, implausible values and inconsistencies, and escalate
unresolved issues.
- Prepare
data for publication, visualisation and analysis while preserving raw
files and audit trails.
- Maintain
metadata, data dictionaries, change logs and quality-control records.
- Produce
descriptive statistics, tables, charts and maps under the guidance of the
senior data scientist.
- Conduct
literature and source reviews to provide context for quantitative
findings.
- Replicate
published calculations and check figures, labels, notes and citations
before release.
- Support
country profiles, comparative dashboards, data stories and
strategic-analysis assignments.
- Upload
and test datasets and content on the platform, report issues, and maintain
shared repositories and documentation.
- Participate
in training, peer review, team planning and engagement with the wider
African data community.
- Use
AI-assisted tools where appropriate while checking outputs against
original sources and following unit protocols.
Required Qualifications And Experience
- A
bachelor’s degree in statistics, economics, data science, computer
science, engineering, geography, energy, development studies or another
relevant quantitative field.
- One to
three years of relevant experience, including internships, research
assistantships or a strong portfolio of applied projects.
- Working
proficiency in Python or R and spreadsheets.
- Familiarity
with SQL is strongly preferred.
- Practical
experience cleaning and analysing real-world datasets and producing basic
visualisations.
- High
accuracy, organisation and persistence when handling repetitive or
detailed tasks.
- Ability
to document sources and methods clearly and ask for help when data are
ambiguous.
- Good
written and verbal communication skills in English.
Desirable Experience
- African
public data, energy statistics, development indicators or geospatial
information.
- Git,
notebooks, APIs, Power BI, Tableau or web-based visualisation tools.
- Experience
extracting data from PDFs or poorly structured source files.
Work Arrangement And Contract Details
- Location:
Remote across Africa.
- Operational
hub: Cape Town, South Africa.
- Contract:
Fixed-term contract.
- Duration:
12 months.
- Renewal:
Renewable by mutual agreement and subject to project success.
- Start
date: Immediately.
- Work
authorisation: Applicants must have the legal right to work in the
country where they are based.
Application Details
- Deadline:
4 October 2026.
- Application
route: Submit an application through the dedicated BambooHR vacancy
page for the relevant role.
- Outcome
notification: Applicants who do not receive a response by 30 November
2026 should consider their application unsuccessful.