Job Openings at University of Cape Town

The University of Cape Town and the Department of Health and Wellness of the Western Cape Government invite applications for the above position in the School/Department of Public Health linked to the Chief Directorate: Strategy and Health Support. The successful incumbent will head the Division of Public Health Medicine, which provides public health support to the Health Intelligence Directorate and other Divisions of the Western Cape Department of Health and Wellness.

The Faculty of Health Sciences’ vision is to be a centre of excellence in health sciences that is locally relevant and globally competitive.

• The Faculty is the top-rated Faculty of Health Sciences on the African continent and the School of Public Health has a strong international reputation, consistently ranking among the top 100 public health institutions globally.
• It is frequently the highest-ranked South African and African university in public health rankings. UCT's School of Public Health is known for its excellence in teaching, research, and service, with a particular focus on addressing public health issues relevant to South Africa.
• The School has a strong interdisciplinary orientation to population health.
• The Division runs a training programme for registrars in Public Health Medicine and oversees a range of teaching in public health at the undergraduate level, as well as supporting a wide range of research and community engagement activities in public health.

Closing date: 01 February 2026

go to method of application »

The Department of Civil Engineering at the University of Cape Town is seeking a highly skilled and motivated Chief Technical Officer (CTO)—Data Science and IT. This dynamic role combines teaching support, research facilitation, and technical leadership in the rapidly evolving fields of data science, computing, and digital infrastructure within civil engineering.

• The CTO will work closely with academic staff, researchers, and students in the Department of Civil Engineering (0.8 FTE), providing technical expertise in areas such as sensors and sensor networks/IoT, data collection, database management, data analytics, and data visualization as well as support the integration of digital technologies into the civil engineering curriculum.
• The incumbent will also assist the Faculty Office (0.2 FTE) in the development and maintenance of key software tools, such as the Student Enrolment Advising Tool (SEAT).
• This position will be based within the Department of Civil Engineering, and the CTO will collaborate with various internal and external stakeholders, including but not limited to the Department of Computer Science, the Department of Statistical Sciences, ICTS, and the UCT High Performance Computing (HPC) cluster.

Closing date: 23 January 2026

go to method of application »

Responsibilities include:

• Threat and Vulnerability Analysis – Identifying potential security risks and weaknesses.
• Incident Detection and Response – Investigating security alerts, documenting incidents, and taking action against cyber threats.
• Security Infrastructure Management – Configuring and deploying security tools to protect an organization’s network.
• Disaster Recovery Planning – Preparing strategies to mitigate damage from cyberattacks.
• Threat Hunting – Proactively searching for hidden threats that may have bypassed traditional security measures.

Qualification and experience required:

• Relevant qualification at NQF level 7 in a relevant discipline such as Computer Science or Information Systems
• 7 years’ experience in enterprise ICT applications and infrastructure of which 3 years must be relevant current
• hands-on technical experience in cyber security
• Threat Detection & Analysis – experience in and understanding of cyber threats, malware, and attack vectors.
• Incident Response – expert level experience in investigating security breaches and mitigating risks.
• Network Security – experience in and knowledge of firewalls, intrusion detection systems, VPNs, network flow interpretation and monitoring.
• Log Analysis – experience and ability to analyze logs for anomalies and security incidents.
• SIEM Tools – experience with Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) platforms like Splunk, QRadar or preferably SIEMonster.
• Programming & Scripting – Familiarity with Python, PowerShell, or Bash for automation.
• Working understanding of information security frameworks (e.g., ISO, NIST) and digital forensic methodologies and possible shortcomings they may have. Working understanding of applicable legislation (security and privacy)

Closing Data:23 January 2026

go to method of application »

The Hasso Plattner d-school Afrika at UCT is an education, training, and research school offering design-led thinking programmes to undergraduate and post graduate students registered at UCT and other higher education institutions. The school also offers professional executive programmes to the private and public sectors and community-based development practitioners.

• The d-school ‘s overall objective is to promote, train and capacitate individuals and organisations in the practice of design thinking as an enabler of innovation and new outcomes that can meet users' needs in complex socio-political and economic contexts.
• As a member of the d-school team, the Programme Lead will join an existing team responsible for the planning, managing and delivering of d-school programmes which include the Foundation programme, DT Week and the
• DTinAfrika programmes, as well as other programmes via face-to-face, online and hybrid teaching formats. This is a 3-year full-time contract position. As part of the successful delivery of programmes the role will work closelywith the other Programme Leads and coaches (full time and part time) and will report directly to the d-school’s
• Head of Programmes.

Closing date: 04 February 2026

go to method of application »

The African Climate and Development Initiative (ACDI) is looking to appoint Data Scientists to support work with our researchers, students and collaborators on diverse climate change and related research projects. ACDI is based at the University of Cape Town and supports research and training on climate change and sustainable development.

• If you have excellent data science skills and want to apply these working with large climate, environmental, socioeconomic and related datasets to answer climate and sustainability research questions, thiis the job for you.
• You will work closely with ACDI and affiliated UCT researchers on data infrastructure design and development, advanced data analysis and machine learning, application of existing software and codes, development of tools and applications, data visualization, and provide data science consultations and advice.
• These are three-year fixed term contract appointments, extendable for further years, depending on performance in the position and availability of funding.

Closing date: 06 February 2026