Senior Technical Assistant

Reporting To: Nutrition, Environmental Health and Non-communicable Disease Research Directorate (Principal Investigator (PI) / Research Coordinator)

Location: Ethiopian Public Health Institute (EPHI), Addis Ababa

Background: The Ethiopian Public Health Institute is implementing “Triple-Surveillance for Double-Fortified Salt (DFS-IoFA) Scale-up in Ethiopia” research projects involving field data collection, laboratory data, hospital-based surveillance data, and electronic data management. The senior technical assistant will ensure that all research data are collected, stored, cleaned, validated, analysed, and reported according to approved study protocols, institutional policies, and ethical standards. The position plays a critical role in maintaining high-quality data to support evidence-based research and scientific publications.

Purpose of the Position: The senior technical assistant is responsible for planning, coordinating, and overseeing all aspects of research data management throughout the project time period. This includes database development, data quality assurance, secure data storage, statistical support, and preparation of clean datasets for analysis and dissemination.

Key Responsibilities:

• Develop and maintain secure electronic research databases.
• Design electronic data capture tools using platforms such as ODK, or Kobo Tool box.
• Develop data management plans and standard operating procedures (SOPs).
• Ensure data quality through routine validation, cleaning, consistency checks, and verification.
• Manage data received from field teams, laboratories, selected hospital, and collaborating institutions.
• Maintain data dictionaries, codebooks, and metadata.
• Perform routine data backups and ensure compliance with data security and confidentiality policies.
• Monitor data collection progress and prepare regular data quality reports.
• Generate datasets for statistical analysis and support investigators with data extraction and management.
• Work closely with PI, statisticians, epidemiologists, laboratory scientists, and research coordinators.
• Support data analysis using statistical software such as Stata, R, or any necessary software.
• Prepare tables, figures, and summaries for technical reports, manuscripts, and presentations.
• Ensure compliance with institutional review board (IRB) requirements.
• Train research staff and data collectors and supervisors on data collection tools, data management procedures, and quality assurance.
• Perform other duties assigned by the Principal Investigator.

Qualifications and Experience:

• M.Sc. degree in. Statistics, Biostatistics, Health Informatics, Data Science, Epidemiology, or a related discipline
• Eight years’ experience MSc holders of work organising and analysing large-scale health, or nutrition survey data, or biomedical in origin, using statistical software.
• Experience with longitudinal studies, clinical research, or public health surveillance is a preferred.

Skills And Knowledge:

• ODK, Kobo Toolbox, or similar electronic data capture systems.
• Microsoft Access, or other database management systems.
• Statistical software: Stata, R, SPSS, SAS.
• Microsoft Excel (advanced).
• Data visualization tools (Power BI, Tableau, or similar).
• Knowledge of research ethics and data confidentiality requirements.
• Familiarity with Git or version control is desirable.

Duration

• 1 year with possible extension up to 3 years