Lead Public Health Officer (Modelling)

[What the role is]

As an officer in the Advanced Methods and Analytics Division, you will be part of a team that conducts infectious disease modelling to inform national policy development, surveillance and preparedness. This role requires not only relevant technical expertise but preferably a broad scientific knowledge of infectious diseases as well. You will be working in a fast-paced and dynamic environment that would require the ability to manage multiple priorities and stakeholders at the same time.

[What you will be working on]

You will develop and deploy cutting-edge mathematical models on infectious disease related projects. Your work will transform complex data into clear, actionable insights that support evidence-based public health decision making and interventions. The core areas of work will include, but are not limited to:

• Nowcasting and forecasting: Predicting infectious disease dynamics in real-time.
• Scenario modelling: Simulating potential outcomes of different disease scenarios, public health strategies and interventions.
• Program/Intervention evaluations: Performing impact and economic evaluations of public health programs and interventions.
• Long-term projections: Deriving long-term disease burden and making future-looking predictions.

Key Job Responsibilities:

• Develop and deploy infectious disease transmission-dynamic models to address key national communicable disease concerns.
• Partner with stakeholders to design, develop and address project-related questions, identify knowledge gaps, and address key gaps through appropriate analysis.  
• Adapt and extend existing state-of-the-art models, or design and build new models where appropriate.
• Parameterise models by analysis of appropriate data and literature review.
• Synthesise evidence from literature, surveillance and other data sources to understand the natural history and epidemiology of infection, and the effectiveness of control measures.
• Lead project from inception to completion, defining scope, timelines and deliverables, managing risks and ensuring outputs meet required standards of rigour and relevance.
• Serve as the primary point of contact for project-related communications, fostering clear and consistent engagement with internal and external stakeholders.
• Provide mentorship and develop junior team members

[What we are looking for]

• Post-graduate qualification in a quantitative discipline (e.g. mathematics, statistics, physics, computational biology or economics). A Ph.D. in infectious disease modelling is preferred.
• Minimum 5 years of relevant experience in modelling infectious disease dynamics.
• Strong skills in programming in PYTHON and/or R, or any other directly transferrable language e.g. C++.
• Strong record of relevant, peer-reviewed publications is preferred.
• Demonstrated ability to identify, frame, formulate and solve problems, make judgments based on analysis and interpretation of complex data or situations, as well as assess and devise appropriate responses.
• Demonstrated ability to work with initiative and independence and as a team member in a multidisciplinary team.
• Demonstrated ability to communicate highly complex ideas, methods, and disseminate results clearly and succinctly to a wide audience of varying technical levels, including non-technical audience.  

Attributes and aptitude:

• Analytical thinking.
• Strong communication and interpersonal skills.
• Problem-solving and decision-making capabilities.
• Strategic thinking and planning abilities.
• Collaborative mindset.
• Accountability and ownership