Data Liaison Hub Consultant - South Africa

About the role

The Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime (GI-TOC) is looking for a Data Liaison Hub Consultant to support its ECO-SOLVE project, which aims to disrupt illicit environmental commodity flows. GI-TOC runs a global monitoring system of Data Liaison hubs that use OSINT and machine learning to monitor online illicit wildlife markets, and the hub in South Africa will focus on South Africa and possibly surrounding countries.

Key responsibilities

• Assist in implementing and improving machine-learning scraping tools for monitoring online wildlife trade, with attention to language and cultural nuances for non-English detections.
• Monitor wildlife trading on e-commerce and social media platforms, compile and send regular detections to the global coordination team, process intelligence at set intervals and follow established criteria.
• Ensure legal compliance of monitoring activities in operational countries, in line with national laws, regulations and data protection legislation.
• Build trusted relationships with local and regional law enforcement, government counterparts and civil society organisations, identify capacity-building opportunities and stay up to date with regional environmental crime work.

Required profile

• University degree in a relevant field such as criminology, sociology, journalism, intelligence, security or biology.
• At least 3 years of work experience in a related role, e.g. civil society or law enforcement, dealing with a diverse range of stakeholders.
• Strong networking and communication skills, cultural sensitivity and proficiency in English and at least one local language.
• Strong commitment to confidentiality regarding sensitive data.

Required skills

• Analytical skills, desk research and report writing.
• Handling quantitative data, including data input, analysis and visualisation.
• Interest in technology and openness to learning new skills.
• Ability to work independently under limited guidance.
• Desired: knowledge of CITES and wildlife trade regulations, field research and interview experience, and online/offline intelligence gathering.

The contract runs from November 2026 to May 2027, with an application deadline of 30 October at 17:00 CET. Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.