AI Fellow - Africa Regional OfficesNew!

Description (Public)

The Gates Foundation is hiring AI Fellows for its Africa regional offices, a 12-month cohort fellowship accelerating responsible and impactful use of AI in global health, development and education. Each Fellow is embedded in the Africa team and assigned to high-priority projects, scoping, prototyping and delivering AI solutions with project sponsors across Global Health, Gender Equality, Global Development and Global Growth and Opportunity.

Duties, Roles and Responsibilities

Scope potential AI solutions with the Africa team and project sponsors so that solutions are grounded in user needs and local realities.
Identify the data, software, analytical and operational components needed for proposed solutions.
Prototype rapidly with modern large language models and AI tools to test feasibility and build lightweight demos.
Document prototype findings and turn them into actionable recommendations for scale or next steps.
Design and prototype AI and machine learning models for challenges in global health and development.
Integrate models into decision-support tools and workflows, and build modular solutions that can be reused across projects.
Conduct rigorous model evaluation and validation for accuracy, fairness and real-world applicability.
Prepare, curate and manage datasets and data pipelines with data integrity, provenance, security and ethical use.
Write high-quality reliable software applying clean code, version control and strong engineering practice.
Work across foundation divisions and communicate technical concepts to technical and non-technical audiences.

Qualifications, Education and Competencies

Qualifications & Experience:

Bachelor's or master's degree in Computer Science, Data Science, Engineering, Applied Math or a relevant field.
At least 2 years of experience applying AI solutions, preferably in health or agricultural systems.
Strong foundation in modern AI/ML including modelling, model evaluation and hands-on experience with LLMs.
Software engineering and data skills to build end-to-end applied solutions.
Demonstrated interest in applying AI to health systems, public financial management, supply chain or logistics.
Experience working cross-functionally in complex environments.
Hands-on experience building prototypes with LLMs and modern AI tools.
Deep motivation to apply AI responsibly for public good.

Skills & Competencies:

Comfort learning across adjacent technical areas such as data engineering, time-series analysis, optimisation and information retrieval.
Clear communication of technical concepts to non-technical audiences.
Collaborative and adaptable approach as project needs evolve.
Builder and teacher mindset, sharing knowledge with colleagues.