Data Scientist at Discovery Limited

What is the role

In the Discovery Health Intelligence unit, our core purpose is “creating intelligence for a healthier tomorrow” by leveraging Discovery’s vast data to drive valuable insights to improve both clinical and operational environments. Key to our purpose is obtaining and structuring quality data, leveraging cutting edge analytical innovations and delivering actionable insights in a sustainable and meaningful way. We leverage an integrated, collaborative, and multidisciplinary approach to ensure our objectives and goals are met.

The role entails building and recommending a foundational and sustainable data science system and architecture while considering the current environment. A key focus on scalability, abstraction and frameworks are crucial to succeed in the role. The role will initially build components and systems on the ground while still envision a long-term and sustainable architectural structure. The team is expected to scale rapidly with different leadership roles available. The role may include international exposure with Discovery partnerships.

What you will do

The successful applicant will be working within a highly specialized and growing team to enable delivery of advanced analytics system capability.

Responsibilities will include:

• Collaboratively design, specify and implement a full stack healthcare analytics solution underpinned by a project delivery focus

• Connecting with a multitude of stakeholders to understand the data, systems, and analytical architecture in a healthcare context

• Understand healthcare business pipeline and assess where scalable healthcare analytics can enhance the pipeline

• Devise strategy around roll out of healthcare analytics

• Specify software and hardware decision making framework

• Understanding large structured and unstructured datasets to recommend improvement to algorithms and technologies

• Understand meta-data management systems and orchestration architecture in the designing of ML/AI pipelines

• Research and application of the most up to date analytics, machine learning and AI techniques

• Work with a range of stakeholders to ensure to present and apply insights effectively in the environment

• Monitoring model performance

• Improve processes and databases where opportunities arise

What skills you will need

Technical skills core:

• Expert in programming languages such as R, Python, Scala

• Experience in interactive data exploration and data-driven story telling

• Understanding and application of Big Data and distributed computing principles (Hadoop and MapReduce)

• Strong analytical and statistical knowledge with an understanding of the latest machine learning algorithms for both structured and unstructured data

• Strong ability to communicate findings and recommendations from data (visual, verbal and written)

• Production environment machine learning and AI

• DevOps/DataOps and CI/CD experience

• Proficient understanding data manipulation skills including SQL to extract, transform and load data

Technical skills additional:

• Azure experienced preferred

Behavioural skills:

• A passion for data exploration and complex healthcare environment

• Self-starter

• Willingness to learn and grow exponentially

• A restless curiosity towards data and uncovering unknown correlations

• Ability to work cohesively in a team environment and balance multiple priorities

• A team player who can work alone when required and without supervision

• High level of attention to detail, resilience, enthusiasm, energy and drive

• Positive, can-do attitude

• Ethical and able to maintain confidentiality and manage boundaries

• Aligned to Discovery values and core purpose

Professional Qualifications & Experience

• Honours or Master’s degree in either Data Science, Statistics, or Applied Mathematics with some experience in software engineering, computer science or working with big disparate sets of data, OR

• Honours or Master’s degree in Computer Science or Software Engineering with solid experience in statistical modelling, data mining and machine learning

• Other analytical qualifications will also be considered if accompanied by the relevant experience

• 5 to 15 years of experience is preferred

EMPLOYMENT EQUITY   
                             
The Company’s approved Employment Equity Plan and Targets will be considered as part of the recruitment process. As an Equal Opportunities employer, we actively encourage and welcome people with various disabilities to apply.