Human Rights Watch is an American-founded international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights.

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Solutions Technologist

Job Type

Full Time

Qualification

BA/BSc/HND

Experience

5 years

Location

Nairobi

Job Field

ICT / Computer

Responsibilities:

Technology Integration and Growth: Implement and maintain new and existing tools and processes related to research, contribute to the growth of the overall technology tool base, write vital, clear documentation, and help mainstream technology to researchers across Human Rights Watch.

Support the acquisition and analysis of data for human rights investigations across various thematic and geographic areas, in line with the priorities set by Human Rights Watch’s global strategy, and working with the Research Technologist. This acquisition of data could involve: scraping public information; creating machine readable data with approaches such as optical character recognition; finding hard to access data; finding company and website data; and other related processes. Alongside relevant colleagues, develop processes and guidance on the secure and ethical acquisition of data.

Work closely with HRW’s Information Security and Technology department to ensure that agreed development processes are followed, information is securely managed and that any scripts, software, or new tools conform to HRW’s in-house security and safety standards.

Automate ways of working, for instance building out technical solutions to automate day-to-day research processes within the Digital Investigations Lab. This could involve integrating open source tools within the team’s existing workflows, software development, writing scripts to automate daily tasks, leveraging internal tools such as Power Automate and Power BI and exploring machine learning techniques.

Integrate findings and analysis into Human Rights Watch research by collaborating closely with the Digital Investigations Lab and other researchers to analyze the data, write up findings, and present information, either on GitHub or on the Human Rights Watch website in a concise and accurate manner, in accordance with guidance provided by Human Rights Watch;

Collaborate closely with colleagues with diverse technical backgrounds and located in multiple locations around the world who conduct investigations with non-traditional human rights techniques, such as remote sensing, data analysis and open source research methodologies. You will ensure effective coordination and delivery of activities in a fast-paced environment where new challenges often present themselves;

Engage with researchers across HRW regional and thematic divisions to understand existing research workflows and adapt solutions developed by our Research Technologist to fit their workflows or requirements.

Follow and help set best practices as set out by the Digital Investigations Lab on storing data, discovery, verification and analysis of data, ensuring consistency across how research is carried out across the organization;

Develop internal standards, processes and best practices concerning the acquisition, storage and analysis of data with other interested parties internally;

Qualifications:

Education: A level of education that when combined with your professional experience will adequately show you have the capability to perform the role of Research Technologist at Human Rights Watch. Candidates who have relevant academic degrees, computer science, or security certifications are encouraged to apply.

Experience: A minimum of five (5) years of relevant work experience in software development, data-systems design or information technology is required, preferably with international human rights, journalism or related organizations.

• Implement and maintain new and existing tools and processes related to research, contribute to the growth of the overall technology tool base, write vital, clear documentation, and help mainstream technology to researchers across Human Rights Watch.
• Support the acquisition and analysis of data for human rights investigations across various thematic and geographic areas, in line with the priorities set by Human Rights Watch’s global strategy, and working with the Research Technologist. This acquisition of data could involve: scraping public information; creating machine readable data with approaches such as optical character recognition; finding hard to access data; finding company and website data; and other related processes. Alongside relevant colleagues, develop processes and guidance on the secure and ethical acquisition of data.
• Work closely with HRW’s Information Security and Technology department to ensure that agreed development processes are followed, information is securely managed and that any scripts, software, or new tools conform to HRW’s in-house security and safety standards.
• Automate ways of working, for instance building out technical solutions to automate day-to-day research processes within the Digital Investigations Lab. This could involve integrating open source tools within the team’s existing workflows, software development, writing scripts to automate daily tasks, leveraging internal tools such as Power Automate and Power BI and exploring machine learning techniques.
• Integrate findings and analysis into Human Rights Watch research by collaborating closely with the Digital Investigations Lab and other researchers to analyze the data, write up findings, and present information, either on GitHub or on the Human Rights Watch website in a concise and accurate manner, in accordance with guidance provided by Human Rights Watch;
• Collaborate closely with colleagues with diverse technical backgrounds and located in multiple locations around the world who conduct investigations with non-traditional human rights techniques, such as remote sensing, data analysis and open source research methodologies. You will ensure effective coordination and delivery of activities in a fast-paced environment where new challenges often present themselves;
• Engage with researchers across HRW regional and thematic divisions to understand existing research workflows and adapt solutions developed by our Research Technologist to fit their workflows or requirements.
• Follow and help set best practices as set out by the Digital Investigations Lab on storing data, discovery, verification and analysis of data, ensuring consistency across how research is carried out across the organization;
• Develop internal standards, processes and best practices concerning the acquisition, storage and analysis of data with other interested parties internally;

• A level of education that when combined with your professional experience will adequately show you have the capability to perform the role of Research Technologist at Human Rights Watch.
• Candidates who have relevant academic degrees, computer science, or security certifications are encouraged to apply.