icddr,b is a Bangladesh-based international health research institute that strives to solve key public health problems through high-quality scientific research and innovation. icddr,b as a values-based organization encourages women and people with disabilities.
Climate change poses a profound global challenge, and Bangladesh ranks among the countries most vulnerable to its multifaceted impacts. To address the intersection of climate stressors and human health, icddr,b—together with the Wellcome Sanger Institute (WSI)—has established the icddr,b Centre for Climate Change and Health (iCCH) at its Chakaria campus. A flagship project, iCCH will investigate how prolonged exposure to climate-driven environmental changes—particularly salinity intrusion—modulates the gut microbiome (the diverse community of bacteria, viruses, fungi and archaea inhabiting the gastrointestinal tract) and contributes to the rising incidence of gastrointestinal diseases, miscarriage and preterm birth in coastal populations. By integrating longitudinal surveys with systematic collection of stool and environmental samples through the Chakaria Health and Demographic Surveillance System (HDSS), the study aims to characterize microbial shifts, identify pathogenic taxa, and elucidate mechanistic links between altered microbial ecosystems and adverse health outcomes.
This position will support iCCH’s activities under the Wellcome Trust–funded project, “Measuring the Global Impact of Climate Change on Human Health from a Local Sentinel Site.” A state-of-the-art microbiology laboratory at the Chakaria campus is fully equipped to process and analyse both biological (stool) and environmental (e.g., water and soil) specimens. In collaboration with WSI, researchers will employ high-throughput sequencing and bioinformatics pipelines to map microbial community structure and function, assess correlations with clinical endpoints, and test hypotheses on how salinity and other climate stressors drive dysbiosis. Beyond its immediate research objectives, iCCH will foster multidisciplinary partnerships and invest in intensive capacity-building workshops for laboratory and field staff, thereby laying the groundwork for future climate-health investigations and enabling Bangladesh to contribute robust, locally grounded evidence to global adaptation strategies. The iCCH platform will create scope for exciting future research collaborations.
Key responsibilities:
The Data Architect will hold a key position within the iCCH, responsible for coordinating the management, integration, and analysis of microbiome genomics, health, climate, demographic, and environmental data. Reporting directly to the Principal Investigator (PI), This role is central to building and maintaining the iCCH data platform, requiring close coordination across technical and scientific teams to ensure the platform enables the generation of robust, evidence-based insights. The successful candidate will be expected to apply both engineering rigor and advanced statistical literacy to ensure the development of analytical workflows that are reproducible and actionable. Key responsibilities include:
- Data Curation and Cataloguing: Lead the production and maintenance of a detailed catalog of diverse climate and geopolitical data sources, including the development of quantitative and qualitative criteria to assess their suitability for integration into the data platform.
- Data Governance and Policy: Uphold and refine data governance protocols for the project, encompassing data versioning, metadata standards, data lineage, and reproducibility to ensure long-term scientific value and integrity.
- Data Quality Assurance: Implement rigorous quality control and assurance (QC/QA) practices across all data streams to ensure the accuracy of data and the validity of all analytical outputs.
- Statistical Analysis and Modelling: Collaborate with data scientists to conduct exploratory and inferential statistical analyses, applying appropriate techniques such as regression, time-series analysis, and spatial statistics to support interdisciplinary research questions.
- Data Pipeline Architecture: Work in close partnership with Data Engineers to design and oversee the implementation of robust, automated pipelines for the ingestion, cleaning, and processing of large-scale datasets.
- Spatiotemporal Data Integration: Collaborate with technical teams to normalise and integrate complex spatial and temporal data dimensions, a critical step to enabling joint analysis across diverse data types.
- Interdisciplinary Team Coordination: Serve as a key liaison among Data Engineers, Data Scientists, Bioinformaticians, and other project scientists to ensure cohesive progress, foster collaboration, and facilitate synergy across teams.
- Technical Planning and Strategy: Lead technical planning sessions with scientific and engineering teams to define and refine data integration strategies and establish clear analytical requirements for the project.
- Stakeholder and Partner Engagement: Coordinate with external data providers, institutional collaborators, and domain experts to align on data utilisation, reporting, and shared project objectives.
Required qualifications and experience:
- Master’s degree in Computer Science/Data Science/Bioinformatics/Statistics or a related quantitative field. Outstanding academic results (at least 3.8 out of 4-point scales both in Bachelor and Master) from reputed universities.
- Significant post-educational experience in data engineering, applied statistics, or interdisciplinary data analysis.
- Proficiency in Python and/or R for complex data analysis, statistical modeling, and visualisation (e.g., pandas, scikit-learn, statsmodels).
- A solid understanding of methodologies for handling geospatial and temporal data.
- Demonstrated experience working with complex scientific datasets in at least two of the following domains is required: genomics, climate science, or geopolitical/socio-economic data.
- Strong communication and coordination skills, with the ability to effectively engage with both technical and non-technical audiences.
- Experience with genomic data formats and analysis tools (e.g., VCF, GFF, BioPython) is highly desirable.
- Familiarity with climate data formats (e.g., ERA5), geostatistical analysis, and geopolitical data sources (e.g., ACLED, World Bank, GDELT) would be a distinct advantage.
- Experience developing reproducible research pipelines using tools like Jupyter, R Markdown, or GitHub Actions is advantageous.
- Knowledge of ethical data practices, open science standards, and interdisciplinary data publishing is desired.
Location: icddr,b Centre for Climate-Change and Health (iCCH) in Chakaria, Cox’s Bazar.
Contract Type and Duration:
- Fixed Term Agreement; duration will be 01 year with a possibility of extension subject to availability of funds and performance.
Salary & benefits:
- Annual Tk. 19,82,790/- inclusive of house rent, conveyance, and other admissible benefits;
- 14.8% provident fund contribution, income tax paid by icddr,b, children allowance @Tk.2,492/- per child per month, festival bonus, contributory healthcare support including dependent spouse and children, group life insurance, and subsidized canteen. Transport and daycare facilities are subject to space availability.
Notes of attention:
- Only short-listed candidates shall be invited for written test /interview
- icddr,b does not charge any fee at any stage of the recruitment process.
Interested candidates who fulfil the requirements should submit online applications using the icddr,b website: career.icddrb.org by January 20, 2026.
