Job Opportunity - Senior Data Analyst, Indigenous Health, Office of the Provincial Health Officer

CONTEXT

The Office of the Provincial Health Officer is committed to reconciliation. The OPHO works in meaningful partnership with Indigenous peoples to disrupt colonial structures and advance Indigenous health equity. The OPHO has partnerships with the First Nations Health Authority, Métis Nation BC and other Indigenous partners to pursue collaborative projects and develop reports on Indigenous health, wellness and determinants of health. The OPHO’s relationships are grounded in principles of self-determination, respect, reciprocal accountability, cultural safety, cultural humility and two-eyed seeing.

The position is located in the Office of the Provincial Health Officer (OPHO) which is an independent office within the Ministry of Health. The mandate for the OPHO is outlined in the Public Health Act. The Provincial Health Officer is the senior public health official for BC and is responsible for monitoring the health of the population of BC and providing independent advice to the ministers and public officials on public health issues.

JOB OVERVIEW

As a member of the Population Health Surveillance & Epidemiology (PHSE) team within the Office of the Provincial Health Officer, the Senior Data Analyst will be the primary analyst supporting completion of Indigenous reporting initiatives and evidence-based reports by undertaking statistical analyses to support the development of population health surveillance initiatives.

The PHSE team is responsible for applying advanced statistical and epidemiological methods to monitor the trends in population health and health inequalities in the province. The Senior Data Analyst works in collaboration with their supervisor (the Data and Analytics Lead) and with the PHSE team to conduct data analysis projects, represent the branch at partner or stakeholder meetings, and support developments of PHSE methodology and reports. The Senior Data Analyst will uphold and champion Indigenous data governance best practices. To achieve these goals, the Senior Data Analyst will work with Indigenous and nonIndigenous data from the Ministry data warehouse as well as collaborating with Indigenous and nonIndigenous partner organizations.

The PHSE Team supports all of its members in developing the on-the-job training required to fulfill the job accountabilities. We are looking for team members who can meet the job requirements and can develop the knowledge, skills and abilities needed to fulfill the job’s roles. In addition to mentorship from their supervisor and teammates, the Senior Data Analyst is encouraged to join communities of practice for data science in the Ministry of Health, across BC Government and/or in other external organizations.

ACCOUNTABILITIES

Accountabilities are not experience requirements. They describe tasks that may be required of this position, in order from most frequent to least. The Senior Data Analyst will receive on-the-job training, support and mentorship to successfully complete these tasks.

Required:

• Upholds Indigenous data governance principles in all aspects of their work that relates to Indigenous data.

• Demonstrates cultural humility and cultural safety on across all aspects of their work. Conducts data analysis and/or data science projects, contributing expertise towards defining project scope, objectives, data requirements and methodologies; works with partners and stakeholders to achieve project objectives, including influencing strategic and operational decisions.

• Provides leadership in using data as a vital business resource by setting priorities for generating insights from data that will inform the ministry’s programs and policies.

• Contributes to the ministry’s approach to modeling complex business problems, conducting large scale experimentation, discovering business insights and identifying opportunities using statistical, algorithmic, mining and visualization techniques, including automated reproducible and scalable data workflows.

• Participates and guides project teams staff and/or students in the completion of quantitative research projects and/or analysis components including providing feedback on performance.

• Provides expert advice, including recommendations to senior management and other government officials based on data science findings, to influence strategic and operational decisions.

• Uses interdisciplinary focus to apply techniques and knowledge from across the scientific spectrum to explore, analyze, and visualize data to depict the data in a meaningful way to a range of both technical and non-technical audiences.

• Prepares highly technical and mainstream science-based reports and documents (i.e. ministry submissions, standards of practice, briefing notes, feasibility reports, evaluation reports, presentations) and other project management documents.

• Researches and evaluates current mainstream data science practices, including techniques and tools in machine learning, deep learning and artificial intelligence.

• Participates in stakeholder consultations for defining program policies or priorities, and reconciling conflicts.

• Promotes working relationships with internal and external partners, stakeholders, and government agencies to achieve program or project objectives.

• Applies mainstream scientific techniques and tools, and interpretation of findings which result in significant and long-term impacts to work unit objectives and operations of programs and policies for the organization.

• Contributes to mainstream data science ethics frameworks and best practices based on standards from across the government, industry and related academia.

• Designs and delivers briefings to senior executives and stakeholders; contributes to Treasury Board and/or Cabinet Briefings. 

• Promotes and propagates data science skills in other teams across the ministry, understanding the variety of functional roles relating to data science and how they can be most effectively applied to solve business problems.

• Represents the ministry at intra and inter-ministry, intergovernmental, industry committees, conferences or working groups

• Supervises staff including assignment of work, development and evaluation of performance plans and approval of leave.

JOB REQUIREMENTS

Education and experience: The following requirements are minimum requirements to be successful in the job competition. We will ask about these experiences in the questionnaire and/or a screening dialogue (phone or videoconference). We are explicitly placing equal value in formal education as well as lived experience in Indigenous ways of knowing and working with quantitative and qualitative data. Experiences listed as “preferred” are only considered if the minimum requirements are met.

In recognition of the critical importance to this role of a lived understanding of Indigenous communities, history, values and ways of knowing, this position is restricted to self-identified Indigenous applicants.

• Bachelor’s degree in data science, computer science, statistics, mathematics, health information science, public health, health studies, or other physical, life or social sciences or in a related field and a minimum of 2 years of *related experience; OR

• Diploma in data science, computer science, statistics, mathematics, health information science, public health, health studies, or other physical, life or social sciences in the related field and a minimum of 3 years of *related experience; OR

•Certification in data science, computer science, statistics, mathematics, health information science, public health, health studies, or other physical, life or social sciences in in the related field and a minimum of 4 years of *related experience; OR

• Any combination of education lived experience, and a minimum of 5 years of *related experience.

*Related experience must include the following:

• Recent direct experience conducting quantitative analysis with multiple datasets using a modern programming language, such as, but not limited to, R, Python, MATLAB, SAS, or STATA.

Preference may be given to applicants with one or more of the following:

• Experience in upholding Indigenous data governance principles.

• Experience working with Indigenous data, in health or other domains.

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, AND ABILITIES

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities (KSAs) are not requirements for an application. They describe what is needed to perform the job duties and some of them can be learned on the job. We will assess applicants on some of these KSAs through written assessments, oral interviews, and reference checks.

Data and Analytics

• Knowledge of Indigenous data governance models. 

• Programming ability in R or Python.

• Knowledge of statistics and their applications.

• Ability to identify complex problems and reviewing related information to develop and evaluate options and implement solutions.

• Ability to maintain awareness of emerging trends, technologies, and techniques in data science and statistical modelling.

Working in a team

• Knowledge of version control software such as Git or Subversion.

• Ability to develop, review, and communicate code and analysis in collaboration with other team members.

• Ability to design, implement, and optimize reproducible data science workflows.

Communication with others outside of the team

• Ability to translate user needs into analytical products.

• Ability to communicate technical information to a broad audience, including those with and without technical backgrounds.

INDIGENOUS RELATIONS BEHAVIOURIAL COMPETENCIES

Please see interpretative guides here: https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/careers-myhr/job-seekers/aboutcompetencies/indigenous-relations/ir-competencies-interpretive-guides

• Cultural agility is the ability to work respectfully, knowledgeably, and effectively with Indigenous people. It is noticing and readily adapting to cultural uniqueness in order to create a sense of safety for all. It is openness to unfamiliar experiences, transforming feelings of nervousness or anxiety into curiosity and appreciation.

• Sustained learning and development means continually increasing your ability to build and maintain respectful and effective relationships with Indigenous peoples. Central to this competency is appreciating that there are many other cultural understandings of knowledge and ways of working that have legitimacy and deserve respect—and therefore require our continual learning and development, including direct exposure to cultural and community ways. It includes an eagerness to continually reflect upon and assess your own level of cultural agility and competence, self-awareness and expertise.

BEHAVIOURAL COMPETENCIES

Please see more information on these competencies here: https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/careersmyhr/job-seekers/about-competencies/behavioural-competencies

• Analytical Thinking is the ability to comprehend a situation by breaking it down into its components and identifying key or underlying complex issues. It implies the ability to systematically organize and compare the various aspects of a problem or situation, and determine cause-and-effect relationships ("if...then…") to resolve problems in a sound, decisive manner. Checks to ensure the validity or accuracy of all information. 

• Partners with Stakeholders is the desire to work co-operatively with all stakeholders to meet mutual goals. It involves an awareness that a relationship based on trust is the foundation for success in delivering results.

• Teamwork and Co-operation is the ability to work co-operatively within diverse teams, work groups and across the organization to achieve group and organizational goals. It includes the desire and ability to understand and respond effectively to other people from diverse backgrounds with diverse views.

• Improving Operations is the ability and motivation to apply one's knowledge and past experience for improving upon current modes of operation within the Ministry. This behaviour ranges from adapting widely used approaches to developing entirely new value-added solutions.

• Information Seeking is driven by a desire to know more about things, people or issues. It implies going beyond the questions that are routine or required in the job. It may include "digging" or pressing for exact information; resolution of discrepancies by asking a series of questions; or less-focused environmental "scanning" for potential opportunities or miscellaneous information that may be of future use

Please find the job posting and start your application online at:  https://bcpublicservice.hua.hrsmart.com/hr/ats/Posting/view/82246