Background: Harvard School of Public Health has a long-standing collaboration with a number of medical and public health academic institutions in East Africa. Over the past 20 years, we conducted several large clinical trials on infectious diseases, maternal and child health, and nutrition. MDH, an independently chartered organization with affiliation to Harvard University, and its partners manage a large program for care and treatment of HIV/AIDS in the Dar es Salaam region that supports provision of services for more than 90,000 patients at forty-nine sites within the Dar es Salaam Region.

Job Description:

Design, implement, and maintain a supported large scale data center (DC) and data base management system (DBMS) concerning health related patient and operational data in Tanzania. The successful candidate will be responsible for providing and overseeing supervision for approximately 100 DC staff including mid-level data supervisors and data management and entry personnel at both a central site in Dar es Salaam, and up to 50 remote sites primarily in Dar es Salaam and possibly elsewhere in Tanzania. Responsibilities will include development of data staff to an international standard of performance, and achieving and maintaining DC functions to international standards jointly established with senior management. The position holder will also oversee and supervise units responsible for information technology operations, public health evaluation, quality improvement, and training. In support of these goals, s/he will be responsible for up-to-date documentation, user trainings and certifications for DC management and a supported DBMS system, and for developing, maintaining, and testing data entry, validation, backup, and recovery procedures, and for processes to prevent catastrophic data loss and systems failures. Planning and management responsibilities will include development of budgets and resource needs. The SI Director reports to the Chief Executive Officer of MDH.

Examples of specific tasks:

• Draft and update operations manuals including detailed daily work tasks for mid-level managers and other staff, and for use and functionality of the supported DBMS.

• Draft and update training manuals and schedule regular trainings based on documented needs to improve DC performance.

• Assist the HR Manager in creating and implementing novel recruitment procedures that effectively identify, develop, and retain top level Tanzanian professionals in SI abilities.

• Actively promote an environment of excellence, learning and positive feedback

• Design and implement regular (i.e. weekly) audits and data-based performance assessments of the DBMS and associated staff, including written and practice certifications to assess staff capabilities and performance

• Work with users to determine and develop specifications for data entry and checking applications, including algorithms to maintain a high level of data accuracy, internal consistency, and integrity based on accepted international standards.

• Ensure data and system security in compliance with standards of confidentiality and archiving.

• Liaise with the IT unit to ensure that hardware requirements are adequately communicated and implemented including the installation and maintenance of a 24/7 DBMS in a physical environment with frequent power and communication loss.

• Assist end users and other data unit members in obtaining secure and reliable remote access to DBMS and data based implementation of hierarchical rule structures.

• Monitor resource use/burden to troubleshoot bottlenecks in performance of DBMS to ensure efficient operation.

• Develop and supervise personnel in custom application development of DBMS applications as needed.

• If a foreigner is hired, experience in the transfer of technical skills so that a local Director can be groomed and take over within two years of hire and maintain the same level of quality and efficiency in the work environment

Minimal Qualifications:

• Demonstrated management capabilities in low-income settings with supervision of at least 25 persons resulting in documented outputs that meet or exceed international standards, for at least three years.

• Demonstrated ability to effectively lead a team of professionals in data management, information systems and operations research and establish effective communication and management processes, both orally and in writing, with internal and external staff and users.

• Bachelor’s Degree from a university/college or equivalent formal training institution in computer science and/or advanced data systems engineering.

• Advanced training in epidemiology and/or biostatistics, desirable. At minimum, basic knowledge of statistics as evidenced by adequate performance in formal training courses or other documented experience, such as published papers or reports.

• Two years hands-on experience working with large scale and high volume DBMS design, implementation and support using Oracle, Microsoft SQLServer, MySQL or other industry standard DBMS.

• Professional certification as a data systems engineer from a recognized accrediting association or vendor with focus on implementation and management of client-server DBMS and associated operating systems.

• Willing to relocate to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania for at least 2 years.

Examples of specific technical capabilities:

• Starting with hardware components and software s/he should be able to fully build, install and configure DBMS software applications and associated operating systems

• Provide basic technical support and assistance with associated hardware and advanced support for software

• Ability to research and design queries and reports

• Analyze user problems and recommend and implement creative alternatives or solutions in resource poor settings

• Maintain network users, directories and the security of the system

Compensation: Competitive salary and benefits commensurate with experience and at par with international norms.