Digital Earth Africa aims to improve the lives of people across the African continent by translating Earth observations into insights that will support sustainable development.
Our platform and services enable African governments, industry and decision-makers to track changes across the continent in unprecedented detail. This provides valuable insights for better decision-making across many areas, including flooding, drought, soil and coastal erosion, agriculture, forest cover, land use and land cover change, water availability and quality, and changes to human settlements.
We are built on partnerships with African governance and in-country expertise to create sustained capability development in Africa. Digital Earth Africa is working with the African and international community to ensure that Earth observation data is analysis ready, rapidly available and readily accessible to meet the needs of our users. More information about the organization can be found at https://www.digitalearthafrica.org
Digital Earth Africa has partnered with South African National Space Agency to establish a Program Management Office situated in South Africa, Gauteng, Pretoria. The following vacancy exists within the Program Management Office to be filled by an individual with the relevant skills, drive, competencies, and qualifications.
The role will be based in West Africa to promote geographical diversity.
Appointments to the DE Africa Program Management Office will be on a short to medium-term contractual basis subject to renewal based on performance and budget availability.
TECHNICAL MANAGER (USER ENGAGEMENT and SCIENCE SUPPORT) – WEST AFRICA
12 Months Fixed-Term Performance-Based Contract
Reporting to the Lead Scientist, the successful candidate will be primarily responsible for the development and maintenance of the DE Africa Jupyter notebook collection, use case materials and training programs related to these, including . They will work closely with the science, technology and communications teams, as well as key stakeholders and external users across Africa, to i) identify and develop materials related to existing DE Africa data and services, as well as new use cases, ii) identify existing approaches and where necessary develop new methodologies for the Use Cases, and iii) where required to develop efficient training plans related to these. Responsibilities will include but are not limited to;
- Preparing technical materials (e.g. Jupyter notebooks) and documentation to support user needs; Supporting the training and capacity-building program for DE Africa across partner institutions;
- Partner engagement and management to ensure objectives of each partnership are being fulfilled to expectations including the development of additional partnerships;
- Stakeholder engagement and outreach on the use and benefits of the DE Africa infrastructure;
- Identifying new applications, partnerships and innovations that can scale the use and uptake of DE Africa products at the country level for more effective decision-making and policy;
- Be available to present at workshops and conferences across Africa and internationally;
- Maintaining and promoting awareness of the DE Africa help desk and provide help desk assistance to users across Africa;
- Supporting the development of challenges and hackathons;
- Supporting the development of case studies and blogs about new use cases and innovation on the use of earth observation data to support development challenges;
- Developing and communicating training status reports and other project presentation materials as needed
The ideal candidate will have:
A relevant Bachelor’s degree or equivalent qualification;
- Knowledge of remote sensing principles and experience in working with time-series remotely sensed data and image processing/GIS software including workflow development and scripting;
- Proven experience in working with Earth Observation datasets or EO analysis platforms;
- Demonstrated ability to develop well documented Python scripts or Jupyter Notebooks for EO analysis;
- Demonstrated ability of successful collaboration with stakeholders and clients including internationally;
- Excellent communication skills and the ability to work as an effective member of a team;
- An interest in the African environment and a broad understanding of processes that affect it;
- Demonstrated experience in working with Digital Earth Africa, the Africa Regional Data Cube or other Open Data Cube Community activities;
- Proficiency in Microsoft Office applications (Word, Excel, Power Point, Project, Visio, etc.);
- Ability to develop and maintain positive working relationships with technical, financial teams, end users, and key stakeholders; and
- Experience running technical training programmes.
Key areas of responsibility will include but are not limited to:
- Maintenance of a demand driven DE Africa Jupyter notebook portfolio;
- User engagement and training;
- Partner engagement and support;
- Stakeholder engagement and support.
Background verification, including criminal record, credit checks, security clearances, qualification and citizenship checks as well as competency assessment and psychometric testing, may form part of the selection process.
DE Africa reserves the right to not make an appointment.
DE Africa subscribes to the principles of Employment Equity and welcomes applications from all persons with disabilities. Preference will be given to candidates in accordance with this.
Closing date: 15 February 2023
Should you meet the above requirements, please register your detailed CV at Current Opportunities (mcidirecthire.com)
Communication will only be conducted with short-listed candidates. If applicants have not heard from us within 4 weeks of the closing date, they must assume that their applications were unsuccessful.