Data Scientist

Who We Are!

🌍 Africa has the world’s youngest and fastest-growing population. By 2035, the continent is poised to contribute more young people to the global workforce each year than the rest of the world combined.

At Educate! we're obsessed with impact. We leverage iterative learning to build highly scalable youth employment solutions aimed at unlocking the potential of the world’s youngest continent.

Educate! prepares youth in Africa to learn, earn and thrive in today’s economy by:

Introducing an employment-focused school subject into secondary and
Delivering livelihood boot camps for out-of-school youth, with a focus on marginalized rural girls and young women.

To date, more than 500,000 youth have been meaningfully impacted across Uganda, Rwanda, Kenya, and Tanzania, and along the way, Educate! has become the largest youth employment and skills provider in East Africa.

Educate! is a team of over 300 largely African staff and 300 volunteer youth mentors. We prioritize building an engaging, fulfilling and growth oriented work environment. 50% of our top 30 leaders have been with us for over 5 years, 10+ alumni have started their own organizations, and 6 current or former team members were Acumen Fund East Africa fellows.

We have been backed by top foundations such as Imaginable Futures, Livelihood Impact Fund, Jack Dorsey’s #startsmall, CIFF and Echidna Giving. Educate! won a 2018 Klaus J. Jacobs Prize and a 2015 WISE Award, and has been highlighted by the World Bank’s S4YE's Impact Portfolio, an Al Jazeera documentary, BBC, The Brookings Institution as one of 14 case studies on scaling education, and the Gates Foundation as a Goalkeepers Accelerator. In 2022, we received a catalytic investment from philanthropist Mackenzie Scott to scale our systems change work.

Educate!'s long-term vision is to design solutions that measurably impact millions of youth across Africa each year.

Good to note: To Our Awesome Applicants! 🚀💫

We know that incredible candidates sometimes hesitate to apply if they don’t meet every requirement. If this role excites you, we encourage you to apply!

We’re looking for passionate individuals who believe in our mission and can bring unique perspectives to our team—not just those who check every box. We value diversity and strongly encourage women and individuals from all backgrounds to apply.

Position Overview

Educate!, the largest youth skills service provider in East Africa, is seeking a Data Scientist. We aren’t just looking for someone to optimize algorithms; we are looking for an architect of opportunity. As our lead Data Scientist, you will sit at the intersection of social science and theory and advanced analytics, moving beyond simple correlations to solve the "causal puzzles" of youth success. You won’t just report on what is happening in our programs; you will help refine our "Theory of Change" by identifying the underlying mechanisms that drive livelihood gains and youth success. This is a rare opportunity to apply rigorous analysis to design products that seek to transform the life trajectories of thousands of young people across Africa.

You will have the mandate to build and codify the Data Science function from the ground up. Working directly with Global Directors across Product, Tech, and Evaluation, you will bridge the gap between complex model outputs and actionable policy. Whether you are designing sophisticated machine learning frameworks or translating high-signal narratives for partners, your work will be the an engine for evidence-based decision-making. If you are a pragmatic technologist who is driven by the desire to see your code manifest as real-world impact, this is your next career-defining challenge.

What You’ll Do🌟

Theory-Driven Causal Discovery

Construct Causal Frameworks: Move beyond correlation. You will leverage behavioral science and economic theory to develop "Theories of Change" that map the latent social mechanisms driving youth success.
Hypothesis-Led Feature Engineering: Don't just throw data at a wall. You’ll formulate and test rigorous hypotheses to identify the "why" behind program performance, turning social science theory into predictive variables.
Inform Product Strategy: Act as a strategic partner to Product and Evaluation teams, identifying high-leverage use cases where data-driven insights can fundamentally pivot program design or delivery.

Advanced Analytics and Pragmatic Modeling

Build Outcome-Focused Models: Develop and maintain sophisticated models—from rule-based frameworks to advanced ML—designed to predict and drive key indicators like student retention, livelihood gains, and pedagogy adoption.
Analyze Heterogeneity: Go deeper than "average" results. You will employ advanced statistical tactics to examine how program impacts vary across different demographics and contexts.
Prioritize Impact over Complexity: Lead with a "Minimum Viable Model" mindset, selecting the right tool for the job to ensure technical solutions are maintainable, scalable, and—most importantly—useful for field operations.

Strategic Translation & Insight "Last-Mile"

Data Storytelling & Visualization: Synthesize complex statistical findings into compelling, high-signal narratives and visuals that empower non-technical leaders and government partners to make evidence-based decisions.
Close the Insight-Action Loop: Co-create with Product and Eval teams to ensure model outputs aren't just "reports" but are deployed as A/B tests, product experiments, or model updates.
Decision-Support Standardization: Establish a unified framework for data storytelling, ensuring that every analysis cycle culminates in a clear "Go/No-Go" decision for stakeholders.

Building the Data Science Function

Design the Data Science Lifecycle at Educate!: Own the end-to-end Data Science workflow at Educate!—from initial intake and prioritization to validation and productionalization.
Build the Organizational Memory: Implement a "Lessons Learned" framework that codifies wins and "productive failures," ensuring the team’s collective intelligence grows with every model iteration.
Cross-Functional Infrastructure Strategy: Collaborate with Tech, Metrics, and RME leads to ensure our data stack and pipelines evolve to support increasingly sophisticated analytical needs.

Who You Are 🦸‍♀️🦸‍♂️

Master’s in a Social Science field (Economics, Sociology, Psychology, Public Policy) with a heavy quantitative focus, OR a degree in Data Science/Statistics with significant experience in social research.
Proficiency in R or Python for data manipulation and statistical analysis.
Strong command of SQL for querying complex databases.
Experience with causal inference, longitudinal data analysis, and econometrics.
Proven track record of designing surveys, handling "messy" real-world data from emerging markets, and working with impact evaluation frameworks.
Ability to explain a "p-value" to a teacher and "youth agency" to a software engineer.
A deep passion for education reform, youth empowerment, and the development landscape in East Africa.

Technical Stack (Preferred)

Languages: Python (pandas, scikit-learn, statsmodels) or R (tidyverse, ggplot2, lme4)
Tools:
SQL: BigQuerySQL for structured data
Version Control: Git/GitHub,
Field Data Collection: ODK/SurveyCTO
Data Visualization: Looker, Tableau
Unstructured/Semi-structured Data:
Familiarity working with semi-structured data (JSON, nested fields, open text fields)
Experience integrating qualitative context (program documentation, transcripts) into quantitative analysis workflows
Exposure to text analysis methods — thematic coding, basic NLP, or LLM-based feature extraction
Methods: RCTs, Propensity Score Matching, Difference-in-Differences, and basic Machine Learning (Random Forests, Clustering).
Fits our Five Cultural Tenets (see What is Educate! About? below); Learn more by looking at Educate!’s culture deck here

Terms

We are open to this position being based in one of our offices in East Africa, preferably Kenya or Uganda.

What We Offer

A vibrant, mission-driven environment with a supportive and fun team.
Competitive salary based on experience.
Learning & growth opportunities

Application Process: Rolling basis, interviews happening soon!

Our Culture & Tenets(Values) 🌱

We’re ambitious. Are you? Educate! is growing fast, so new opportunities are opening up and expanding all the time. We’re inspired by people with drive, and we love to help them reach their full potential. We expect everyone at Educate! to contribute above and beyond their job description, grow their skills, and advance their careers, and we are committed to supporting our staff members on that journey of their careers, and we are committed to supporting our staff members on that journey.

We put Youth First, Impact-Obsessed - We are purpose-driven, focused on impact, and prioritize what truly matters. We listen to youth, design our efforts around their needs, and ensure every dollar creates transformative experiences they value.
We Exceed Expectations - We take pride in going above and beyond to achieve the best results—proactively identifying problems and seeking solutions without waiting or stopping at what's requested.
We Are Always Learning - We are committed to seeking and applying new knowledge and ideas. We stay open-minded and continuously try new things, experiment, grow, and improve. We invest in learning for ourselves and our teams.
We are One Team, Many Views - We value all individuals, believe diverse ideas and open dialogue drive excellence, foster a supportive and respectful environment where everyone can freely express themselves. We work as one team and prioritize the organization's mission over personal or team interests.
We have the Startup Mindset - We innovate relentlessly to grow our impact, we never think “we have arrived” or “we’re done.”We constantly challenge the status quo, embrace change, and move quickly toward our vision. Unafraid of failure, we question anything that hinders progress.

Every person at Educate! — from interns to the executive director — is evaluated by how they live up to these five cultural tenets. They are at the core of how we achieve our mission and why we work as well as we do. Educate is committed to providing an inclusive and welcoming environment for all who interact in our community. In creating this environment, we encourage people from a variety of cultures, backgrounds and life experiences to join our diverse team.

We’re committed to ensuring all candidates are screened for child and youth safety. As part of the process, you’ll need to provide a Certificate of Good Conduct. Educate! reserves the right to withdraw employment offers if any risks to youth are identified.

This position was originally posted by Educate! and has been curated by PurposePhil Career. To apply, please visit the original listing on the "apply" link on the side. We are not affiliated with the employer organization of this job ad or consultancy, and provide this curated listing as a service to our users.

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