Data Scientist at University of Cape Town

• UCT, through the HPI–UCT Digital Health Partnership, is seeking a skilled and motivated Data Scientist to be seconded to the Provincial Health Data Centre (PHDC) and the growing portfolio of digital health and routine health data research it supports.
• The successful candidate will play a key role in onboarding and training researchers requiring access to the PHDC’s Secure Data Environment, while contributing to the development and strengthening of the data infrastructure that enables high-quality health research. This position forms part of the long-standing partnership between UCT’s Centre for Integrated Data and Epidemiological Research (CIDER) and the PHDC and offers an opportunity to contribute to impactful research and the advancement of digital health in the Western Cape.
• The post would suit someone with a strong technical background in data engineering, data architecture and software development, with a view to applying their skills to health data and research.
• The ideal candidate will be comfortable working with secure and sensitive data, developing and supporting data pipelines and web applications, and collaborating with researchers and technical teams in a fast-changing environment.

Key responsibilities include: 

• Support the onboarding of researchers to the PHDC Secure Data Environment.
• Provide training and technical support to researchers using the Secure Data Environment.
• Develop, maintain and support data pipelines using Databricks or similar platforms.
• Develop and maintain web applications and associated data services.
• Apply secure coding, access control and data privacy principles when working with sensitive patient-level data.
• Support data integration, processing and transformation using Python, Apache Spark and SQL.
• Contribute to monitoring, audit logging and CI/CD processes.
• Work collaboratively with technical teams, researchers and other stakeholders to support digital health research projects.
• Contribute to the ongoing development and improvement of the PHDC’s data infrastructure.

Requirements for the post:

• A Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Data Science, Software Development, Engineering or a related field.
• A minimum of 4 years’ experience in data engineering, data architecture or a related field.
• Experience supporting data pipelines in Databricks or similar platforms.
• Experience developing and/or maintaining web applications.
• Proficiency in Python, particularly for data engineering, and Flask.
• Knowledge of Apache Spark fundamentals and SQL.
• Knowledge of data security, privacy and access-control principles.
• Understanding of CI/CD fundamentals, monitoring and audit logging.
• Experience with cloud platforms.
• Working knowledge of HTML, JavaScript and CSS.
• Strong analytical thinking and problem-solving skills, with the ability to work effectively in a fast-changing environment and adapt to changing requirements.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to work collaboratively and respectfully as part of a multidisciplinary team.
• A high level of integrity, discretion and commitment to data confidentiality, particularly when working with sensitive patient-level data.

The following would be advantageous: 

• Honours’ degree would be advantages
• Experience with health information systems and health data;
• Experience with analytical programming languages such as Stata, R or Scala; and
• Research experience and/or Master’s-level postgraduate studies.

The 2026 annual cost of employment is between R661 967 and R778 783. This post is a two-year appointment on condition of satisfactory progress and available funding.

Closing date: 10 November 2026