Data Stewardship Manager at Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR)

About the job:

• The CSIR has a vacancy for a Data Stewardship Manager in the Data Intensive Research Initiative South Africa (DIRISA) group within the National Integrated Cyberinfrastructure System (NICIS) that forms part of the Next Generation Enterprises and Institutions (NGEI) cluster. 
• The incumbent will be expected to work at strategic, tactical, and operational levels of management to deliver on DIRISA’s mandate and strategy and apply project management expertise together with appropriate technical/domain/sector/industry specific technical acumen to achieve project goals by managing the total project management life cycle within project constraints according to applicable project management framework(s). 
• This position is based in Pretoria and will report to the Manager: DIRISA.

Key responsibilities:

• Lead and manage the conceptualization and implementation of data stewardship standards, policies and guidelines within an ICT infrastructure development team of DIRISA and within NICIS;
• Advocate, coordinate and support across user communities, the formulation and adoption of data stewardship policies and recommended practices focused on disciplines and across the research data management life cycle;
• Facilitate the development of standards for data stewardship that are internationally benchmarked and harmonized with principles of Open Data and Open Science;
• Ensure that data stewardship policies regulate the accessibility, utilisation, and dissemination of DIRISA’s products and services across the data management lifecycle (acquisition, preservation, maintenance, and archiving of digital assets);
• Drive the dissemination and public disposition of DIRISA in terms of approved data stewardship policies across the DIRISA user base;
• Promulgate policies and standards and promote acceptance by the community of data providers and users and a wider audience (such as national, provincial, and municipal governments);
• Promote the adoption of recommended practices by data custodians and data generators in research data management (RDM) throughout its life cycle;
• Ensure that appropriate data provider agreements are entered into with data custodians;
• Analyse, document and coordinate the implementation of systems and processes to meet standards and conform to policies for RDM;
• Manage a subgroup of DIRISA and drive the implementation and automation of RDM policies with DIRISA software engineers, developers, system administrators, and data standards developers;
• Coordinate and drive the development and coherence of domain-specific RDM policies such as Ethics, Security, and Privacy.
• Ensure strategic alignment of DIRISA’s RDM standards and policies with national directives and priorities;
• Maintain relationships and interact with key stakeholders and users to ensure that their opinion is considered in the formulation of RDM standards and policies;
• Prepare and present periodic progress reports to ensure feedback and communication with stakeholders;
• Regularly review contemporary and emerging trends in RDM standards and policies, and ensure that their implications are accommodated in, and improve DIRISA’s service delivery;
• Serve as an expert on data management principles for the research community in general; provide stakeholders and data providers with guidance and information on recommended practices for RDM;
• Participate as part of the DIRISA team in the review and development of ICT standards and procedures, and best practices to ensure compliant service delivery;
• Interact and liaise closely with other NICIS service areas in the development and deployment of RDM standards and policies;
• Mentor and advance knowledge of staff, provide guidance and leadership in DIRISA related to standards and policy implementation;
• Conduct awareness sessions, workshops, and training for researchers, students, and staff on governance, data management planning, datathons / hackathons, and best stewardship practices;
• Participate in and contribute to related activities in the DIRISA portfolio;
• Apply data science methods (e.g., machine learning, statistical modelling, visualization) to derive insights from research datasets;
• Collaborate with researchers to design reproducible data pipelines and analytical workflows;
• Support innovation by identifying opportunities to leverage AI, big data, and advanced analytics for national research priorities.

Qualifications, skills and experience:

• An Honours degree in computer science, information science, information systems or related fields with at least ten years’ experience in data science, information systems or related of which three years should be in data management in a related field and five years in stakeholder interaction, evidenced by chairing data related structures;
• A Master’s degree will be advantageous;
• Knowledge of data management, and a desire to advance expertise in emergent trends such as Open Data and Open Science;
• A track record of data governance responsibility or contribution to at least one data/information management project;
• Knowledge at graduate level, of data, information and knowledge management, value chain management and operationalization strategy;
• An understanding of standards, the standards development lifecycle, intellectual property, copyright in the South African context, and of relevant existing policies and legislation, e.g. POPI, Spatial Data Infrastructure Act; National Policy on Data and Cloud
• Knowledge of, and skills to manage continuous improvement and change management;
• Willingness to learn additional skills and to mentor and collaborate within a team of data and ICT personnel;
• Understanding of finances and budgets;
• People management and leadership skills;
• Excellent communication and presentation skills;
• High-level planning and organisational skills.

Closing Date

• 22/09/2025