Job Description

The main purpose of this position is to lead, coordinate and integrate advanced analytics, artificial intelligence (AI) and data science practices and business processes of the Enterprise Information Management (EIM) Centre of Excellence (CoE) within the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) Group, to support reliable and effective decision-making.

Detailed description

The successful candidate will be responsible for the following key performance areas:

• Take responsibility for business as usual (BAU) resource planning and management to ensure effective delivery and business continuity to balance demand and supply for work completed by various projects.

• Establish and develop of AI integration strategies (strategic implementation) within the existing technology ecosystems.

• Use data-driven insights (analyse complex datasets) to guide AI model development.

• Lead the design and implementation of intelligent solutions using AI techniques such as machine learning, deep learning, natural language processing (NLP) or computer vision to create smart systems.

• Work with data scientists, software developers, business analysts, product teams and business executives (cross-functional collaboration) to translate ambiguous business needs into clear, scoped and high-impact AI projects.

• Authorise AI usage considering context of use to ensure fairness, explainability and privacy to address ethical concerns in AI systems.

• Manage and coordinate the overall data science and AI maturity assessment within the SARB against best practices

• Drive the delivery of complex projects from conception to value-realisation.

• Stay ahead of the curve on the latest advancements in AI/machine learning.

• Proactively identify and propose new opportunities for applying these technologies to drive innovation.

• Manage the performance and development of the data science and AI team.

• Coordinate and manage the development of standards, frameworks, guidelines, processes and procedures across the data science and AI capability within the SARB.

• Provide integrated reporting in relation to EIM operations, including but not limited to governance structures, projects, demand management and BAU.

Job requirements

To be considered for this position, candidates must be in possession of:

• an Honour’s degree (NQF 8) in Mathematical Sciences (i.e. Statistics, Actuarial, Economics, Informatics or Computer Science, Robotics, Applied Mathematics and Econometrics) or an equivalent qualification;

• 8−10 years’ experience as a Data Scientist and AI Engineer; and

• four years’ experience in a supervisory role in Advanced Analytics/Data Science.

The following would be added advantage:

• financial sector experience; and

• relevant data analytics certification (e.g. Google AI, IBM AI Engineering or Deep Learning AI).

Additional requirements include:

• knowledge and skill in:

• industry, organisational and business awareness;

• continual improvement and quality assurance;

• continued learning and/or professional development;

• data quality management;

• EIM strategy;

• information management;

• legislation, governance, risk and compliance; and

• quality assurance;

• experiencewith on premise and/or Cloud-Based Big Data environments (e.g. HADOOP, SPARK, NoSQL, Microsoft Parallel Data Warehouse, Amazon Web Services (AWS) or Microsoft Azure);

• optimal proficiency in AI/ML concepts such as supervised/unsupervised learning, neural networks, reinforcement learning;

• extensive knowledge of programming using programming languages such as Python (must-have), R, Java, C++;

• optimal understanding of ML Frameworks for NLP and CV Tools, i.e. Tensor Flow, PyTorch, OpenCV, Scikit-learn, spaCy, Hugging Face, NLTK, YOL O, OpenAI APIs;

• AI fairness, bias detection and compliance;

• optimal proficiency in advanced data analytics or general data analysis environment, with application of statistical/ machine learning techniques;

• familiarity with data handling tools: SQL, Python, BigQuery, Apache Spark, Pandas, R, SPSS, Microsoft Excel, MATLAB and SAS etcetera;

• ability to analyse and interpret complex data-driven problems and/or business processes that span multiple domains, identify and understand the requirements and produce relevant visualizations;

• experiencewith NLP, computer vision or reinforcement learning will be an added advantage;

• knowledge of Machine Learning operations (MLOps) practices and CI/CD pipelines;

• experience with vector databases (i.e. Pinecone, Weaviate, Milvus); publications or presentations in recognised AI/ML conferences or journals; and

• open-source contributions or participation in AI competitions (e.g. Kaggle) will be an added advantage.

In line with the SARB’s commitment to diversifying its workforce, preference will be given to suitable candidates from designated groups. People with disabilities are welcome to apply.

The SARB offers remuneration and benefits commensurate with the level of the position and in line with the market. The level at which the successful applicant will be appointed will depend on his/her competence and experience.