(Senior) Research Scientist

COVID-19 Response in the UK 

(1-year contract role with potential to extend, UK-based, Remote)

Surgo combines behavioral science, AI and data science to bring precision to solutions that save and improve lives. With a laser focus on uncovering the ‘why’, we partner with organizations and governments to help unlock some of their biggest challenges. Surgo works on major global issues from COVID in the US to reproductive health in India. Our multidisciplinary team includes development experts, data scientists, behavioral scientists, and technologists who are skilled in collecting and interpreting data on why people behave the way they do, how complex systems work, and in developing scalable tools. We are a small but diverse team with big plans.

Role Description:

We are looking for an exceptional, creative, and highly motivated Research Scientist or Senior Research Scientist with extensive applied experience in the analysis of large-scale data sets using statistics and machine learning methods. This is a 1-year position as a contractor to deliver on our new initiatives in the UK for a recently acquired COVID-19 grant on topics ranging from COVID-19 vulnerability to vaccine uptake risk, with potential to contribute to our US/global initiatives as well (see precisionforcovid.org and covid19vaccineallocation.org, as well as our published work, to understand the type of research we do). Upon successful completion of the 1-year contract, there is the potential to extend the position and integrate this person into our other ongoing initiatives - we work on issues in global public health such as COVID-19, TB, Maternal and Child Health, and Sexual Reproductive Health. The seniority of the role depends on the experience of the individual. As (Senior) Research Scientist, your responsibilities will include:

  • Serve as scientific lead on our UK COVID-19 research program, creatively applying, adapting, and integrating innovative data science methodologies to key COVID-19 problems related to vaccine distribution, vaccine uptake, and social inequity.

  • Work closely alongside our COVID-19 UK Initiative Lead and our Director of Data Science & AI to deliver data-driven products and insights

  • Design analysis plans, socialize them, and incorporate necessary feedback across internal and external stakeholders

  • Visualize results for easy interpretation and application of insights, using graphics and layman’s language to communicate them

  • Keep up to date and explore adaptation of new methodologies, technologies, and data sources for design and implementation of Surgo’s research programs

  • Work collaboratively with other Surgo team members in management of data platforms and development of data tools

  • Present to partners and collaborators as needed in meetings and conference settings

  • Prepare and support scientific communication to journals and conferences

This position requires proven experience creatively designing studies and applying statistical methods to challenging research problems. This requires a passion for unraveling and defining challenging ad hoc research problems, identifying valuable public and private data sources, and integrating methods to answer questions through insights.

Requirements:

We are looking for a PhD-level candidate with extensive experience analyzing UK data, especially related to public health and/or inequity. Our work has a strong geographical component, so experience sourcing, computing, and visualizing geographically precise public health and social vulnerability data is a major plus (e.g. you should be comfortable building something like this). We expect you to be able to speak confidently across statistical techniques so you can identify which approach is appropriate to a novel problem. With this in mind, our ideal candidate:

  • PhD-level candidate with at least 4+ years of applied research experience using quantitative methods for public health and/or inequity in the UK.

  • Strong coding skills (R or Python; most of us use R) for data handling, cleaning, imputation, statistics, and machine learning. Proven record of producing reliable and replicable analysis is required (version control, code organization, collaborating with others on code base).

  • Exceptional proficiency in applying and interpreting statistical methods. Candidate should understand strengths and weaknesses of many common techniques and understand when to apply them, including regression (linear, logistical, mixed-effects), decision trees, cluster analysis, factor analysis, latent class analysis, principal components analysis.

  • Experience working with (public or private) geographical data in the UK.

  • Experience working with clinical data (e.g. BioBank) and survey data a plus.

  • Proven publication record

  • Excellent communication (written, verbal and visual presentation) skills

  • Available on short notice (no more than 1 month from offer)

Location: UK-based (remote, full-time)

Compensation: Highly competitive compensation. We would engage you as a contractor on a 1-year contract.

Travel: Up to 20% travel possible depending on pandemic conditions

Our hiring philosophy:

We hire for passion and core competencies.

We look for problem solvers and lateral thinkers.

We love it if you have done different things with your time.

If you think you are ideal for this position, write to us even if you don’t have all of the above preferred requirements.

 

Application:

  • Interested applicants, please send your 1) resume/CV and 2) brief cover letter to Dr. Peter Smittenaar, Director of Data Science & AI: jobs@surgoventures.org. Please add “Application for UK Research Scientist Position” in the subject of the email.

  • Short-listed applicants will go through several steps: a phone screening, a take-home project, and a presentation with subsequent 1:1s with members of the team.