Senior Research Fellow (Software Engineering & AI) Job UoN

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Responsibilities:

Technical & Strategic Leadership

• Provide overall technical leadership for CEMA’s software engineering and AI strategy, ensuring alignment with research priorities, funder requirements, and national and regional health agendas.
• Lead the architecture, development, deployment, and maintenance of secure, scalable, and high-performance software platforms supporting epidemiological
• modelling, simulations, dashboards, and decision-support tools.
• Define and enforce software engineering best practices, including code quality, testing, CI/CD, documentation, security, and sustainability.

AI, Data Science & Modelling Systems

• Lead the design and implementation of AI and machine learning solutions for epidemiological analysis, forecasting, health systems modelling, and policy evaluation.
• Oversee the integration of AI/ML workflows with modelling pipelines, data platforms, and visualization tools.
• Promote responsible, explainable, and ethical AI practices within public health and policy contexts.

Data Platforms & Governance

• Design and implement robust data architectures including data pipelines, APIs, and interoperable systems that support large-scale, multi-country datasets.
• Lead the development and enforcement of data governance, privacy, security, and compliance frameworks aligned with international standards (e.g., GDPR or
• equivalent).
• Ensure effective use of cloud and high-performance computing (HPC) environments to support complex modelling workloads.

Team Leadership & Capacity Strengthening

• Lead, mentor, and coordinate multidisciplinary technical teams including software engineers, data scientists, and research staff.
• Build internal capacity through training programs, technical workshops, and digital learning modules in software engineering, AI, and data science.
• Contribute to talent development and succession planning within CEMA’s digital and analytics functions.

Research, Partnerships & Dissemination

• Contribute to applied research through co-authorship of peer-reviewed publications, technical reports, and policy briefs.
• Represent CEMA in technical engagements with government agencies, academic partners, funders, and international collaborators.
• Support proposal development by shaping the digital, AI, and software components of competitive research grants.

Qualifications

• PhD in any of the following fields; Computer Science, Software Engineering, Data Science, Computational Biology, or a closely related quantitative field.
• Minimum of 5 years progressive experience in software engineering, AI/ML, data science, or computational research, including leadership of complex technical programs.

Demonstrated expertise in:

• Full-stack software engineering (e.g., Python, R, JavaScript, modern web frameworks)
• System architecture and API design
• Cloud and/or high-performance computing environments

How to Apply

NOTES

• Applicants should email their application letters, certified copies of certificates and curriculum vitae (CV) giving details of their qualifications, experience and three (3) referees, as well as indicating their telephone and e-mail contacts.
• Applications and related documents should be addressed to the Director, Human Resource, University of Nairobi.
• Applicants should indicate their current designations/immediate previous designation, salary, and benefits attached to those designations.
• The application letter must bear the reference code indicated in the advertisement.
• Late applications will not be considered.
• Applications should be emailed as one file in PDF to: recruitswengai@uonbi.ac.ke

CLOSING DATE: MONDAY, MAY 11, 2026