Job Title: Data Officer

Reports to: Data Manager – East and Southern Africa (DM-E&SA)

Direct Reports: None
Location: South Africa (with National, Regional and International travel as required)

Salary Range: R30 000 – R35 000 per month

Job Purpose

The Institute for Justice and Reconciliation (IJR) is seeking a Data Officer to take responsibility to coordinate survey and data management activities across the Afrobarometer network.

Afrobarometer (AB) is a pan-African, nonpartisan, nonprofit research organization that measures the political, economic, and social atmosphere in African countries. Guided by the vision of a world in which Africa’s development is anchored in the realities and aspirations of its people, AB provides high-quality data and analysis on citizens’ evaluations and experiences of democratic governance and quality of life.

AB is structured around five core teams that manage key functions, including: Surveys, Analysis, Communications, Capacity Building, and the AB Secretariat, which is responsible for overall project management. The organization’s data management function underpins the production of all survey data and is integral to the credibility and impact of AB’s work.

Led by the Director of Surveys (DoS), the Surveys Unit manages fieldwork, questionnaire programming and review, data cleaning and weighting, sampling, and the finalization, and public release of country data sets across the Afrobarometer Network.

The Data Officer will be responsible for executing data management tasks across the full survey data lifecycle, from questionnaire programming and real-time fieldwork monitoring, through data cleaning, weighting, and finalization, to data documentation for an assigned regional portfolio of countries. Where necessary, the Data Officer will be asked to assist with data tasks outside their primary region of focus.

Based at the Institute for Justice and Reconciliation, the Data Officer is the primary point of contact for day-to-day data management support and technical assistance in Southern Africa.

With the support of the Core Partner (CP) Project Manager, Assistant Project Manager, and Data Research Assistants, the Data Officer will have primary responsibility for the following tasks:

Questionnaire programming and pre-fieldwork preparation

• Support the Data Manager for fieldwork (DM/F) in programming AB master questionnaires in Survey to Go (STG) (or other software as agreed) in each of the national languages used by AB (English, French, Portuguese, Swahili, Arabic), including extensive checks of linked questions and all other elements of data capture.
• Ensure timely programming of indigenized questionnaires in SurveyToGo (STG) or other agreed survey platforms for assigned countries, including checks of skip logic, question linking, sample programming, and tablet setup
• Review programmed questionnaires prior to fieldwork and provide timely feedback on any errors or issues requiring correction.
• Ensure proper archiving of all programming files according to AB protocols.
• Support other survey preparations, including reviewing and programming samples, setting up and testing tablets, and related tasks.
• Support and train National Partner and Core Partner staff in the AB data programming protocols.
• Provide field technical assistance (both in-country and remotely) to fieldworker training workshops and during fieldwork.

 

Real-time fieldwork monitoring

• Monitor AB’s real-time data quality monitoring (RTDQM) systems for assigned countries during fieldwork, ensuring timely upload of interviews and adherence to data capture standards.
• Support National Partners in implementing RTDQM effectively, including training country monitors and following up on flagged issues.
• Serve as the primary data management point of contact for National Partners in the assigned region, providing responsive and practical technical support throughout the survey cycle.
• Identify and escalate data capture problems to the Data Manager East and Southern Africa (DM/E&SA), as they arise, and coordinate with country teams to implement timely corrections.
• Document any significant incidents or events during fieldwork (e.g., sampling deviations, security incidents, or oversamples) to ensure these are properly reflected in final data sets and documentation.

 

Data cleaning and finalization

• Support the Data Manager Post Fieldwork (DM/PF) in ensuring that AB country data sets are cleaned to the highest standard, correctly weighted, and finalized in as timely a way as possible.
• Support the review and cleaning of country data sets to ensure compliance with all AB data cleaning protocols.
• Coordinate with National Partners and the Surveys Team to identify, document, and resolve data issues, escalating complex or unresolved issues to the DM/E&SA.
• Ensure availability and completeness of sampling information from country teams and the Network Sampling Specialist for assigned countries.
• Calculate, verify, and integrate sampling weights into country data sets in accordance with AB weighting protocols.
• Maintain clear documentation of weighting procedures and any corrections applied.
• Refer methodological questions or complex weighting issues to the DM-PF, as needed.
• Prepare final country data sets in SPSS and other required formats, including national-language and English-labelled versions for French, Portuguese, KiSwahili, and Arabic-speaking countries.

 

Data tracking, documentation, and distribution

• Maintain accurate, up-to-date trackers capturing data set status, cleaning progress, weighting, corrections, and release versions for all assigned countries.
• Prepare codebooks, Technical Information Forms (TIFs), and tables for Summaries of Results (SOR) for assigned countries.
• Ensure all draft and final data files are correctly labelled and archived in accordance with AB version control and archiving protocols.
• Share final country data sets with the appropriate National Partners, Core Partners, and CMT members as directed by the DM/E&SA.
• Contribute to within-round and multi-round data merges, as directed.

 

Other activities

• Actively support the DM/E&SA, Data Manager, Fieldwork West Africa (DM/F&WA), and other Data Officers working on countries outside the assigned regional portfolio when capacity allows or when surge support is needed, including taking on data cleaning, programming, monitoring, or documentation tasks as directed.
• Contribute to reporting and internal documentation related to data quality and performance as directed.
• Contribute occasionally and/or as requested to AB analysis through authorship/co-authorship of AB publications, especially as relates to data collection methods, data quality and related issues.
• Contribute to updating the AB Survey Manual to capture new protocols, methods, and expectations for each round.
• Other tasks as requested by the DoS, the DM/E&SA, DM/F&WA, and other members of the Surveys Unit.

 

Qualifications

Minimum requirements

• A South African Citizen or valid work permit enabling legal employment in South Africa – required.
• Bachelor’s degree in social sciences, statistics, information sciences or a related field
• At least two years of experience in a relevant position involving large-scale data collection and management, preferably in a multinational context
• Experience with data capture, processing and management softwares, especially SurveyToGo
• Experience with data cleaning, weighting, documentation, version control, and archiving
• Exceptional attention to detail and strong organizational skills
• Good communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to work effectively with partners across different countries and cultural contexts
• Ability to work independently with minimum supervision and meet deadlines in a remote-work environment
• Availability for regular travel within assigned region and occasional travel to other regions
• Ability to speak, work and write fluently in English
• Flexibility and willingness to work on a wide range of tasks

 

Desirable

• Working knowledge of French, Portuguese and/or Arabic
• Experience working in a multinational or network-based research organization
• Proficiency in database management (SQL) and/or other programming languages (e.g., Python, Stata)
• Basic to intermediate level competency in data analysis and use of social statistics, especially SPSS and R
• Experience building dashboards or tracking tools
• Interest in and understanding of governance, democracy, and development issues in Africa

 

Application Process

• Submit your CV to Simone Naidoo at vacancies@ijr.org.za

 

The deadline for applications is close of business 21 October 2026. If you have not heard from us within 2 weeks of the closing date, please consider your application unsuccessful. Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.

 

Institute for Justice and Reconciliation

www.ijr.org.za