Auditor-General Vacancies

In brief

**Overview** The Auditor-General (AGSA) is recruiting for a permanent Data Scientist position located in Pretoria, South Africa. This role is classified under IT-Quality Assurance and Inspection within the Financial Services industry and is designated as an Employment Equity (EE) position. Reporting to the Data Scientist Lead, the primary purpose of this role is to lead and support the design and delivery of data analytics, engineering, and data science solutions. This involves utilizing statistical analysis, machine learning, and data modelling to provide insights and recommendations that drive business value. The incumbent will collaborate closely with the digital transformation unit to align processes and will be responsible for investigating data patterns and relationships to enhance business productivity and efficiency. **What you will do** The Data Scientist will be responsible for a range of functions, including: * **Strategic Function:** Contributing to the strategy, vision, and governance of business intelligence capabilities, supporting long-term strategic decisions using customer science techniques, and assisting with the implementation of Balance Score Card (BSC) projects and initiatives. * **Product Management:** Collaborating with cross-functional teams to leverage successful initiatives, findings, and analytics techniques for stakeholder decision-making, using machine learning algorithms and techniques to build predictive models, and working with senior and lead data scientists to build data pipelines using workflow orchestration tools. This includes scheduling extracts and drawing data from APIs for analysis, as well as implementing and training machine learning (ML), predictive analytics, data mining, and artificial intelligence (AI) models for predictions and forecasting. The role involves undertaking the processing of structured and unstructured data for data science activities, supporting data analysis of large information to discover trends and patterns, highlighting potential value in data science, and articulating recommendations for business goals. Further responsibilities include providing support in implementing configurable analytical models and supporting business functions through feasibility analysis and modelling, root cause analysis, decision support modelling, and supply chain design modelling and analysis. The incumbent will develop processes and tools to monitor and analyse model performance and data accuracy, provide support to senior and lead data scientists for optimised technical processes, use statistical software for data attribute analysis, and consolidate various data formats across business areas to propose efficiency mechanisms. This also includes processing, cleansing, and assessing new data sources and gathering techniques, supporting the timely delivery of data science projects, researching, benchmarking, designing, implementing, and validating algorithms/models for data analysis and recommendations. Identifying, reviewing, and promoting creative ideas for continuous improvement, ensuring optimal utilisation of technology solutions, conducting continued research in developing best-in-class statistical and machine learning models, monitoring, measuring, supporting, and reporting on analytical results for business recommendations, and preparing statistics, dashboards, and information for management decisions are also key. * **Stakeholder Management:** Establishing, building, and maintaining collaborative working relationships with relevant internal and external stakeholders, scanning the environment to understand stakeholder needs, and proactively interacting with stakeholders to determine and deliver on their needs. This includes engaging with stakeholders to identify and evaluate performance barriers, working in collaboration with senior and lead data scientists, business intelligence, and data governance for timeous delivery, establishing and maintaining relations with recognised professional bodies, and managing service level agreements (SLAs). * **People Management:** Managing personal and team performance to drive productivity, motivating, coaching, and mentoring staff, participating in and/or leading business unit transformation and culture plans, reviewing the work of peers, creating development plans with staff, and providing support to the management team with regard to centre management and other people-related tasks. * **Financial Management and Operational Management:** Contributing to the compilation of the centre budget, managing project expenditure related to the functional area, ensuring compliance with AGSA policies and procedures, ensuring compliance with internal processes and procedures, and managing supply chain processes within the scope of work. * **Other responsibilities:** Performing and/or managing other projects, tasks, and assignments not stipulated on the Job Description as and when required. **Requirements (from the original advert)** * **Formal Education:** * Minimum Bachelor’s degree in quantitative management (decision sciences) or Computer Science / Statistics / Applied Statistics / Applied Mathematics. * Honours degree will be advantageous. * Preferable certifications: Data science, Power BI, SQL Server (MCTS, MCITP), Microsoft Certification. * **Experience/Requirements:** * Minimum 8 years of related experience working on data exploration and visualization tools. * Strong programming skills: SQL (essential), Python and/or R (highly desirable), Spark, Java, MDX, DMX. * Experience with common data science toolkits such as R, Hadoop, SAS, Excel, and PowerBI. * Machine learning / Artificial Intelligence and Statistical algorithm development experience. * Experience and exposure to cloud solutions. * Experience working with large volumes of structured and unstructured data and leveraging them to build Artificial Intelligence (AI) / Machine Learning (ML) and Predictive Modelling (PM) solutions through end-to-end automated data pipelines. * Experience in developing data mining techniques and models across various algorithm types, with an understanding of use case applicability. * Experience with Machine Learning Operations (MLOps) for AI/ML model deployment and monitoring/enhancements for standalone solutions or as part of a larger product. **Who should apply** This role is suited for an experienced Data Scientist who is eager to lead and support advanced data analytics and science solutions within the Auditor-General's digital transformation unit. The ideal candidate will possess a strong background in statistical analysis, machine learning, and data modelling, with a proven ability to derive business value through data-driven insights and recommendations. They should be a collaborative professional capable of working effectively with cross-functional teams and senior scientific leads, adept at building predictive models, managing data pipelines, and implementing various AI/ML solutions. Furthermore, the candidate should be skilled in stakeholder engagement, contributing to strategic initiatives, and capable of managing their own and potentially team performance, demonstrating a commitment to continuous improvement and technological innovation in data science. **Deadline** 12 October 2026 **Reference** Original posting: https://www.govpage.co.za/vacancies/auditor-general-vacancies-7 Source: govpage

Summary drafted with AI assistance from the original advert. The advert itself is the authority — how we use AI.

At a glance

• Python
• Java
• SQL
• Power BI
• Microsoft Excel

Extracted automatically from the advert; confirm requirements on the original listing.

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