Data Scientist

Do you want to use your data science expertise to help towards the safer use of medicines? Do you thrive in multidisciplinary teams and enjoy solving concrete problems? Would you like to contribute to an efficient development culture for transforming research discovery into valuable products? Then this position could be the right fit for you!

Uppsala Monitoring Centre (UMC) is a dynamic non-profit foundation with an internationally recognised role within the field of pharmacovigilance, whose ambition is to improve the safety of medicinal products throughout the world. We manage and analyse VigiBase, the WHO global database with more than 33 million reports of suspected side effects reported by patients and healthcare professionals in more than 150 countries. This puts UMC is in a unique position to detect safety concerns associated with medicines.

Within the Research department, our passionate and savvy data scientists are committed to:

- creating and advancing methods for data-driven discovery of previously unknown safety issues with medicines
- developing computational methods to support and enhance human decision-making in pharmacovigilance

We are now looking for a skilled and creative data scientist to support our work and contribute to the team’s development. The data scientist will have a unique opportunity to help Research outputs bring value to internal and external stakeholders, reflecting UMC’s core values of excellence, equity, benevolence and solidarity, in a fun and dynamic multidisciplinary department.

What you will do

- Work in agile multidisciplinary teams composed of data scientists, research pharmacists and medical doctors
- Create, implement and evaluate novel methods to advance the science of pharmacovigilance with statistical modelling and machine learning
- Communicate results with internal and external stakeholders, adapting to the diversity of their backgrounds, and disseminate the research via scientific publications and participation in research conferences
- Participate in competence development, by staying up to date with advances in machine learning and Natural Language Processing (NLP) research, and apply it to our settings
- Acquire a deep understanding of our unique database of side effects, in order to support research pharmacists and medical doctors in their decision-making or research questions

About you

- You have an MSc or PhD degree in computer science, engineering, or other quantitative discipline
- At least three years of professional data science experience
- Advanced coursework in machine learning and programming, experience in cloud computing is a plus
- Experience with data querying languages and working with databases
- Proficient in programming with Python; knowledge of R is a plus
- Experience in mentoring junior data scientists and overseeing data-centred projects
- Strong interpersonal skills, and are comfortable working with multiple stakeholders with diverse backgrounds and nationalities
- Innovative, independent, driven, and can quickly devise fit-for-purpose deployment solutions

About us

UMC advances the science of pharmacovigilance and inspires patient safety initiatives all over the world. As an independent, non-profit foundation, we engage stakeholders who share our vision of a world where patients and health providers make wise therapeutic decisions in their use of medicines. As a leader in the research and development of new scientific methods, we explore the benefits and harms of medicines for patients, and offer products and services used by health authorities and the pharmaceutical industry worldwide. For more than 40 years, we have provided scientific leadership and operational support to the WHO Programme for International Drug Monitoring.

Located in the heart of Uppsala, three minutes away from the central station, we are currently around 150 employees and consultants and have generous employee-benefit policies. In addition, UMC allows hybrid working. For more information about our activities and products, visit http://www.who-umc.org.

Uppsala Monitoring Centre (UMC) is a centre for international service and scientific research in the field of pharmacovigilance. We are the WHO Collaborating Centre for International Drug Monitoring, and manage the technical and operational aspects of the WHO Programme for International Drug Monitoring since 1978.

As an independent, non-profit foundation, we support the World Health Organization, regulatory authorities, and other stakeholders who share our vision of advancing medicines safety. Through research and development of new scientific methods, we explore the benefits and harms of medicines for patients, and offer products and services used by health authorities and the pharmaceutical industry worldwide.

UMC follows the collective agreements between the Swedish Agency for Government Employers and Saco-S and ST. Union representatives are Malin Zaar (Saco-S) and Jessica Avasol (ST), +46 (0)18-65 60 60.