Global Senior Data Processing Specialist

ICF International; Rockville (MD); On-site; USD 120,000 - 160,000; Full time

Job summary

ICF International seeks an experienced Senior Data Processing Specialist to provide technical leadership for data processing, digital data collection, and innovation under The DHS Program and other large-scale surveys.

The Senior Data Processing Specialist will lead the design, testing, deployment, and support of complex computer-assisted personal interviewing (CAPI) systems and data-processing activities across multiple country surveys.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in a relevant field.
• At least 10 years of experience in survey data processing or related technical work.
• 5+ years designing, developing, testing, deploying, and supporting CAPI applications with CSPro.
• 5+ years programming in Python, Java, C#, JavaScript or similar language.

Responsibilities

• Lead the design, testing, deployment, and maintenance of CAPI applications for population and facility surveys using CSPro and other technologies.
• Translate survey specifications into reliable, user-friendly data-collection applications and validate findings.
• Provide senior technical guidance and mentoring to Data Processing Specialists, consultants, and country counterparts.
• Pilot, evaluate, and improve AI-assisted data processing tools and automate data-processing tasks.

Skills

Technical leadership

Mentoring

Cross-functional collaboration

Problem solving

Education

Bachelor's degree in CS/IS/Math/Stats/Demography/Public health/Data science

Master's degree in a relevant technical/public health field

Tools

CSPro

Python

Java

C#

JavaScript

Job description

ICF is seeking an experienced Senior Data Processing Specialist to provide technical leadership for data processing, digital data collection, and data-related innovation under The DHS Program and other large-scale surveys in low- and middle-income countries. The Senior Data Processing Specialist will lead the design, testing, deployment, and support of complex computer-assisted personal interviewing (CAPI) systems and associated data-processing activities across multiple country surveys. This is a senior, hands-on role: the successful candidate will resolve complex technical and data-quality problems, strengthen the skills of Data Processing Specialists, consultants, and country counterparts, and promote consistent technical practices across the survey portfolio. The Senior Data Processing Specialist will also help shape how AI and automation are used in DHS data processing, contributing to a team that includes AI engineers and other specialists. This includes helping pilot, evaluate, and improve tools such as AI-assisted anomaly detection and identifying processing tasks that can be safely automated. This position will require travel internationally approximately 20 to 30 percent of the time, including trips that may extend for several weeks.

Key Responsibilities

CAPI and field systems

• Lead the design, programming, testing, deployment, and maintenance of complex CAPI applications for population and facility surveys using CSPro and other appropriate technologies.
• Translate questionnaires, skip patterns, validation rules, sample-management requirements, biomarker protocols, and other survey specifications into reliable and user-friendly data-collection applications.
• Lead technical readiness reviews and support pretests, training, survey launches, and initial fieldwork.
• Diagnose and resolve complex application, device, synchronization, communications, and data-quality problems.

Data processing and quality

• Provide technical oversight for survey data processing, including automated quality checks, standardized tabulations, dataset preparation, metadata, anonymization, and disclosure protection.
• Ensure consistency among questionnaires, CAPI applications, datasets, tabulation specifications, and final survey outputs.
• Develop reusable code, testing procedures, documentation, templates, and technical guidance that improve quality and efficiency across surveys.

Technical leadership and capacity strengthening

• Provide senior technical guidance and mentoring to Data Processing Specialists, consultants, and country counterparts, and advise Survey Managers and Survey Portfolio Managers on technical issues.
• Lead training and capacity strengthening for in-country data-processing staff, IT personnel, trainers, supervisors, and other technical counterparts, including the appropriate use of new tools.
• Collaborate with survey managers, statisticians, survey methodologists, biomarker specialists, GIS specialists, analysts, and other technical experts.

Innovation, automation, and AI

• Work with AI engineers and other teammates to pilot, evaluate, and improve AI-assisted data processing tools, such as anomaly detection for data quality, before they are scaled.
• Identify data processing tasks that could be safely automated, and help develop reusable scripts or pipelines to automate them.
• Contribute to standards for testing, documentation, expert review, and confidentiality when automated and AI-assisted tools are used with survey data.
• Capture lessons learned and help translate successful innovations into sustainable tools, standards, and operating procedures.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in computer science, information systems, mathematics, statistics, demography, public health, data science, or a related discipline, or an equivalent combination of education and relevant experience.
• At least 10 years of progressively responsible experience in survey data processing, digital data collection, software development, data management, or related technical work with substantial experience supporting large-scale population, health, facility, or similarly complex surveys.
• 5+ years of experience designing, developing, testing, deploying, and supporting CAPI applications, including advanced proficiency with CSPro.
• 5+ years of experience programming and problem-solving experience using Python, Java, C#, JavaScript, or another general-purpose programming language.
• 1+ year of experience with survey data validation, quality assurance, processing, and preparation of analysis-ready datasets, and with diagnosing and resolving complex software, systems, and data-quality problems.

Preferred Qualifications

• Master's degree in a relevant technical, statistical, demographic, or public health discipline.
• Experience with the DHS Program or a comparable international survey program such as MICS, LSMS, PHIA, or national census operations.
• Expert-level CSPro programming and application development exp