Intelligence Systems Lead

Intelligence Systems Lead

Contract: Full-time; two years fixed term, renewable

Remuneration: Competitive, based on experience and competence

Location: London, Uk

About the role:

As the Intelligence Systems Lead, you will create an intelligence platform that integrates our HUMINT network as a critical source of primary insights, complementing our existing data and open-source intelligence (OSINT) capabilities. You will play a pivotal role in shaping our understanding of complex stakeholder relationships, political dynamics, and emerging trends, providing our clients with a unique competitive advantage. This position requires a unique blend of strategic thinking, operational expertise, strong interpersonal skills, and a deep understanding of the African context. You will be responsible for integrating our HUMINT network insights with our existing and expanding OSINT system, creating a unified and powerful intelligence platform that is optimised for executive decision-making. This will include developing our internal capability and overseeing the delivery of the highest quality insights and analysis to clients.

Key responsibilities:

• Platform design & development:
  • Design and implement a robust intelligence platform across key African countries combining our growing HUMINT, OSINT and data capabilities.
  • Establish clear protocols for source and knowledge management in the intelligence platform, ensuring ethical and legal compliance.
  • Manage and empower the existing insights team to contribute to these activities proactively and in a coordinated and accountable manner.
• Risk management & compliance:
  • Ensure compliance with all relevant legal and ethical standards, including data privacy regulations and human rights principles.
  • Develop and deliver training programs for team members on knowledge management, integrity, security protocols, and ethical considerations.
• HUMINT/OSINT integration:
  • Develop and implement strategies for integrating HUMINT and OSINT data to create a holistic intelligence picture.
  • Identify opportunities to leverage OSINT to validate and enrich HUMINT, and vice versa.
  • Work with the engineering team to ensure seamless data flow and analysis across both HUMINT and OSINT sources.

• Data quality management:
  • Hold accountability for the quality of all data created, used, or managed by the consulting team.
  • Identify and investigate data quality issues, working to resolve them promptly and effectively.
  • Develop and implement data cleansing and correction procedures, as needed.
  • Proactively identify potential data quality risks and develop mitigation strategies.
  • Document data quality issues, resolutions, and processes.
• Data documentation & metadata management:
  • Maintain accurate and up-to-date documentation of data sources, definitions, and processes relevant to your team.
  • Ensure that metadata is properly captured and maintained for all key data assets.
  • Contribute to the development and maintenance of the firm's data catalogue.

What we are looking for

Experience:

• Minimum 10 years of professional experience in corporate intelligence, forensics, or strategic analysis, with a deep understanding of African political, economic, and stakeholder dynamics.
• Proven track record acting as a "bridge" or Product Owner between intelligence analysts and technical teams (Data Engineers / Data Scientists) to build, refine, or optimise internal analytical platforms.
• Experience designing information workflows, specifically turning unstructured text (e.g., HUMINT field reports, OSINT articles, transcripts) into structured, queryable data models.
• Demonstrated experience leading data-quality initiatives, including designing protocols for manual data cleaning, data annotation, and establishing "ground truth" benchmarks for analytical systems.

Technical skills:

• Deep conceptual understanding of how to build data taxonomies, ontologies, and entity-relationship maps so that messy human data can be systematically ingested by a pipeline.
• Strong theoretical grasp of Natural Language Processing (NLP) and Text Mining. While programming (Python/SQL) is not required, you must speak the language of Data Scientists fluently enough to guide pipeline logic and define extraction rules.
• Ability to direct and train an intelligence team on how to clean, tag, and format data manually before it feeds into the ingestion pipeline, ensuring data integrity at the source.
• Experience defining user requirements, mapping analyst workflows, and conducting User Acceptance Testing (UAT) to ensure that the data team’s outputs are presented in an intuitive, actionable interface for executive decision-making.

Other experience:

• Deep familiarity with the political and business cultures of at least two major African sub-regions (e.g., West Africa, East Africa, Southern Africa).
• Native or professional fluency in English is required; French, Portuguese, Arabic, or major languages local to key geographies (e.g., Swahili, Hausa) are highly desirable.
• A flawless track record of operating within ethical and legal boundaries in challenging environments.
  
  

What we offer

We offer the successful candidate an opportunity to develop a rewarding career within a dynamic pan-African consultancy advising a prestigious portfolio of clients and shaping how leaders perceive and react to the world around them. This position offers:

• Competitive remuneration
• Immediate opportunities for growth
• Collaboration with a diverse and experienced team of colleagues

Don’t meet every single requirement? Studies have shown that women and people of colour are much less likely to apply for a position unless they meet every single qualification. So this notwithstanding, if you are excited about this role, we would love to hear from you. At Africa Practice, we are dedicated to building an inclusive, diverse and authentic workplace. You might just be the new team member we are looking for – for this or other roles.

Do you want to contribute to an influential and prosperous Africa, inspiring the world? We’re looking for Africa’s changemakers – smart people with strong analytical, advocacy, digital and problem-solving skills who can reconcile diverse perspectives to deliver sustainable change.

Please send in your application to talent@africapractice.com

Do include a cover letter explaining why you think you are suited to this position and indicating your availability. Your documents must be entitled with “*your name* Intelligence Systems Lead”.

The vacancy is immediately open for suitable applications and will be closed as soon as a suitable candidate is identified. Early applications are advised.