Job Opportunity for Lead, Data Science at Madhi Foundation in Chennai

This is an exciting role, with a direct ability to influence systemic- state reform, participate in stakeholder management within the Department of School Education and work directly on organisational strategy and improving field outcomes for the last-mile child! The lead will support the Data Science, IT/ EMIS and MEL sub-verticals at Madhi and within the State; to strengthen the information management system within the Department of School Education. Based on the vision roadmap of the TNVN suite of applications, this role will also support Samagra Shiksha to build a system that is designed to support stakeholders to make data-driven decisions. This role will strive to continuously innovate for all the activities pertaining to the DFG vertical and support various team members to execute their roles well.

Madhi works closely with the Tamil Nadu School Education Department to conceptualise and implement large scale quality improvement programmes in Tamil Nadu’s government schools. Over the course of the next 5 years Madhi will strengthen its existing programmes in the state (as well as undertake new programmes) with the singular aim of ensuring transformative improvement in the quality of school education in Tamil Nadu. Madhi’s programmes in Tamil Nadu are consolidated under a single umbrella called Project: TN Soars, comprising 3 critical projects: 1. Ennum Ezhuthum (The Tamil Nadu state Foundational Learning Mission), 2. TechForEdSystems and 3. Tamil Nadu STEAM Model Schools.

Ennum Ezhuthum: We are currently also working as the ‘Chief Management Partner’ for Tamil Nadu’s official Foundational Learning Mission, The ‘Ennum Ezhuthum Mission’ – a Rs. 500 Cr Mission of national and regional importance aimed at universalising foundational learning for all children in Tamil Nadu’s 37,000 government schools.

TechforEdSystems: Madhi is working towards revolutionizing the state’s education governance systems through TechforEdSystems – an end-to-end monitoring solution including sophisticated applications and processes developed by Madhi, which enables the system to effectively integrate technology and data into its governance and decision making systems.

Tamil Nadu STEAM Model Schools: To ensure holistic growth of children from underserved communities and to empower them with the skills to work toward their dreams, the Department of School Education has embarked on an ambitious project of setting up ‘Tamil Nadu Model Schools’ that will serve children from the most marginalized backgrounds and equip them with skills and knowledge such that their disadvantages get mitigated and no longer impede their success in academics, work and life. Madhi has joined the Department to assist in the setting up of these 38 Model Schools, each exemplifying the principles of equity and inclusion in letter and spirit, enabling every student, irrespective of their background, to receive equal opportunities to aspire and achieve their goals.

Your Team (Data For Governance):

The Data for Governance team believes in the power of technology and data in transforming the education landscape. The team is versatile and dynamic and is a multifaceted group comprising data analysts, app developers, field specialists, data scientists etc. They all work together seamlessly to make magic happen day after day, doing whatever it takes to take us closer to the vision of reimagining school systems to eliminate the foundational learning crisis in India. The primary role of the DFG team is to support the information management systems and processes at Samagra Shiksha, Tamil Nadu. This can be done through efficient structuring of the information management system and a suite of mobile applications (TNVN) and dashboards designed to collect and process meaningful data from the field.

In this role, you will be responsible for:

• Operate with a great sense of ownership and urgency and own all decisions taken by the Data for Governance team
• Be able to analyse large data sets and create comprehensive reports utilising visualised data
• Liaise with the State Education Department’s Data Management Cell for their data analysis and associated visual reporting requirements
• Build and maintain strong relationships with stakeholders within the State Department
• Thought partner with the State, as required, to create skeletal data maps/ data architecture systems towards optimising the processing of large scale data sets, obtained from classroom observations in each school in TN
• Collaborate with senior managers from other verticals at Madhi to optimise insight gathering from field-data
• Support with Madhi’s Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) efforts to improve Madhi’s programme efficacy and efficiency
• Regularly review data collection processes, including regular field visits and data quality assessments, and adjust processes as needed (ie: conceptualising and conducting internal process evaluations, as required)
• Support respective team members to organise qualitative data collection activities (ie- FGDs, discussion forums etc)
• Support vertical heads to create and maintain internal project-wise data dashboards to support programmatic learning and iteration
• Support relevant external and internal stakeholders with a large-scale RCT style impact evaluation of our flagship projects
• Manage a team of Data Analysts and Specialists

You will thrive in this role if you:

• Demonstrate the highest degree of integrity throughout all activities and are obsessed with data integrity
• Possess demonstrable leadership skills and a resilient entrepreneurial mindset
• Have proven negotiation skills with various stakeholders
• Have a functional understanding of data frameworks and legacy data systems management
• Have a functional understanding of MySQL databases (limitations and strengths)
• Possess a strong understanding of survey design, sampling strategies, applied methods of statistical analysis, process evaluation cycles, impact evaluation cycles, RCTs; all given real life data collection constraints
• Can conceptualise and build data/ tech systems or improve, where necessary, the process of collection of large scale field data; are comfortable dealing with qualitative and quantitative field data
• Can analyse, report and present the collected data sets – all with a view of strengthening data monitoring and governance systems within the state
• Have experience working with a high performance, collaborative, constructive team and can ask tough questions to push the team’s thinking in order to raise the bar of excellence and quality of outcomes
• Can strike a balance between empathy and accountability and can adapt to a not-for-profit startup that values both
• Believe in the power of data-driven governance and can strengthen internal and external database systems to enable policy makers to derive actionable insights from the data collected

Mandatory prerequisites include:

• At least 6-8 years of relevant work experience with a minimum of 3 years in a managerial position.
• Experience in the education/development sector would be an added advantage
• Functional knowledge of SPSS, R, SQL (or other data manipulation software), POWER BI,
• TABLEAU ( or other data visualisation software)
• A postgraduate degree in a relevant field of study from a reputed institution with specialisation in Mathematics, Econometrics, Computer Science, Information Technology/Management or Statistics
• Excellent written communication and report writing skills in English along with proficiency in oral communication in Tamil
• Evidence of excellent leadership and project management skills
• Excellent knowledge of MS Office, G Suite, Digital Survey Tools and Data Visualisation Tools

Bonus points if you:

• Have worked with large MySQL databases
• Have worked as part of an app / software development team
• Have experience in handling data models, reporting packages
• Can conduct analysis of large scale datasets, where data cleaning is a requirement
• Can conceptualise/ architect database design
• Can operationalise lean data collection

This role will report to:

Lead, Ennum Ezhuthum Mission

Location:

Chennai, Tamil Nadu

Please note:

You will be expected to bring your own laptop, with updated software (MS Office 2016)

For more information, please write to: apply@madhifoundation.org