About the role:

This is a 10-week minimum summer internship designed for experienced professionals who want to apply their skills at the cutting edge of social impact measurement. The role sits within our Services Team and combines client management, research strategy, data analysis and insight delivery. You will work directly with some of the world’s most exciting impact-driven organizations and have real autonomy in shaping how we deliver value.

This role can be based remotely, although in-person candidates are preferred, subject to the candidate having the necessary work authorization. We have offices in New York, London, Bengaluru, and Nairobi.

Specifically, the Summer Intern (Senior Associate) will:

• A minimum of 5 years of experience in consulting, research, social enterprise, impact investing, international development, or a corporate environment.
• Oversee end-to-end project execution, keeping a close eye on quality, timeline and alignment with client needs.
• Contribute to final deliverables by shaping insights, adding context, and ensuring recommendations speak to what matters most for each client.
• Use AI tools (such as Claude, ChatGPT and other emerging platforms) confidently and creatively to accelerate research workflows, improve data analysis, and enhance the quality of deliverables.
• Contribute to the growth of 60dB by finding creative new ways to present our findings, and identifying new survey methods and business development opportunities.
• Understand client learning goals, tailoring projects to deliver on their priorities, and thinking outside the box on how 60dB can add value and grow their impact.
• Design surveys and research approaches to meet client needs, and present analysis and data in a way that helps clients take action and make better decisions.

About You:

First and foremost, you bring compassion and dedication to this work because it matters to you. You have an excellent eye for detail, thrive in an environment where you are juggling multiple things at once, and take personal accountability seriously: i.e. when you say you’re going to do something, you do it.

We also expect that most candidates will have had the following experiences / attributes. If your experience set differs, but you think you’re the right person for the role, say that in your application.

• A graduate degree, or current progress toward one, in business, international development, public policy, or a related field (for example an MBA, MPA, MPP, or MA) is strongly preferred.
• A natural affinity towards data, and a high level of proficiency with analysis.
• Fluency and confidence using AI tools (e.g. Claude, ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini) to support research, analysis, writing and workflow automation. You don’t need to be an engineer, but you should be an enthusiastic and resourceful user of AI in your daily work.
• An orientation towards, and passion for, ‘client-delight’: you are always asking yourself ‘what can we do to improve our customer/client experience?’.
• Excellent PowerPoint and Excel skills. High levels of comfort with new technology and software.
• Superb communication skills, both verbal and written.
• Great core skills of problem solving, teamwork and project management. And great soft skills, plus the understanding that they’re not really “soft” at all.
• Comfort in a fast-paced, entrepreneurial environment; awesome ability to prioritize and manage multiple workstreams; general interest in and orientation towards technology.

Interested in applying?

Deadline: Candidates are encouraged to apply early, as applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis.

Duration: Minimum 10 weeks, with the possibility to extend pending performance and business needs.

Location: This role can be based remotely, although in-person candidates are preferred, subject to the candidate having the necessary work authorization. We have offices in New York, London, Bengaluru, and Nairobi.

Compensation: A monthly stipend is provided. In addition, this opportunity may qualify for university-sponsored stipends or other forms of institutional funding. Candidates are encouraged to check eligibility with their university. 

About Sand

Sand Technologies is a global Physical AI company using data and AI to make critical industries work better. We partner with governments, cities and enterprises to improve how essential systems operate across healthcare, water, energy, telecommunications and infrastructure.

Our work delivers proven real-world impact. We have built AI systems that help manage London’s water supply, supported telecom network planning across hundreds of cities, and developed digital healthcare platforms serving tens of millions of people across Africa. From intelligent command centers to AI-powered infrastructure platforms, we help organizations sense, analyze and act in complex environments.

Our people are ambitious, curious and relentlessly practical. Our teams work alongside clients in the field, solving hard problems and deploying solutions that last. With colleagues across Africa, Europe, the UK and the US, we operate across the full stack - from research and engineering to deployment and capability building.

Our mission is simple: to harness AI to solve humanity’s most pressing challenges.

About the role

Sand is scaling rapidly across Africa, partnering with Ministries of Health to deploy the Health Operating System (HOS) — a decision-support and execution platform that transforms how health systems sense, analyze, and act on data. The HOS is already operational across multiple countries, with plans to expand to 15 countries by end of 2026, supported by 80+ Forward Deployed Engineers.

As a Forward Deployed Engineer (FDE), you are the technical spearhead of our client engagement in Kenya. Unlike our roaming FDE roles, this is a permanently embedded position. You will be based full-time within the Ministry of Health in Kenya, becoming a long-term extension of the client's operational team. Your mandate is to build deep institutional relationships, develop comprehensive understanding of the national health system, and deliver sustained value over an extended engagement — not just rapid sprints, but lasting transformation.

This is not staff augmentation. You are an amalgamation of three roles:

1. The Software Engineer — Deep technical acumen to build and deploy production-grade solutions using Sand's product suite
2. The Product Manager — Strategic foresight to understand client problems, influence business objectives, and identify expansion opportunities
3. The Consultant — Client-facing finesse to navigate complex stakeholder relationships, manage scope, and transfer knowledge

Your primary mission is to prove our value fast, delivering functional solutions rapidly using Sand's products, playbooks, and tools, and then maturing those solutions into mission-critical infrastructure that the Ministry depends on daily. Over time, you become the institutional memory of the deployment — the person who understands the data landscape, the stakeholder dynamics, and the operational realities better than anyone.

Who We're Looking For

The Forward Deployed Engineer is a highly ambitious individual. You are someone who is deeply keen on learning — someone who dives in headfirst to solve some of the hardest, most complex problems in global health. You thrive on understanding the technology, understanding the stakeholders, understanding our product suite, and weaving all three together to deliver solutions that change how health systems operate.

This role is not for someone looking for comfort or routine. It is for someone who wants to step outside of their comfort zone, build something they can be proud of, and grow faster than they thought possible. The FDE programme is a career accelerator — an intensive rotation that exposes you to technical depth, strategic thinking, and client leadership in equal measure, all while working on problems that matter for millions of people.

For this permanently embedded role, you also need the maturity and resilience to sustain deep client relationships over months and years — not just weeks. You will become the face of Sand in Malawi, and that requires patience, cultural fluency, and the ability to navigate institutional complexity while maintaining momentum.

Key Responsibilities

Serve as Sand's Permanent Technical Presence in Kenya

• Embed full-time within the Ministry of Health, becoming a trusted member of the client's extended team
• Develop deep, longitudinal understanding of the national health data landscape, institutional dynamics, and operational priorities
• Build and maintain relationships across all levels of the Ministry — from frontline data officers to senior leadership
• Act as the primary technical point of contact for all Sand activities in-country, coordinating with launchers, country directors, and visiting FDE teams

Drive On-Site Value Delivery

• Rapidly unlock, explore, and integrate client data sources (e.g., DHIS2, SCADA systems, network management platforms, operational databases)
• Understand client problems through prototyping and rapid value delivery — deploying POCs and MVPs using Sand's product components and playbooks
• Transition initial solutions into hardened, production-grade systems that the Ministry relies on daily
• Own the long-term health of deployed solutions — monitoring adoption, troubleshooting issues, and iterating based on user feedback
• Deliver and track value generated through deployment of Sand products

Enable Product-Led Growth

• Lead with Sand's existing product suite — know the products by heart and where each solution is most effective for the domain you're deployed in
• Document learnings, client challenges, and successful solutions as reusable patterns for the broader FDE community
• Drive discovery and expansion by uncovering new opportunities on the ground

Build Local Capacity and Sustainability

• Work alongside Ministry teams to co-create solutions and progressively transfer knowledge, ensuring they can operate and maintain systems independently
• Identify, recruit, and mentor local data engineers, scientists, and analysts to build sustainable in-country capacity
• Develop training materials and documentation tailored to the local context, language, and skill level
• Be the continuity that ensures handover isn't a cliff — you bridge the gap between Sand's deployment and the Ministry's long-term ownership

Feed the Platform Feedback Loop

• Channel field learnings back to improve the core product through structured mechanisms (Technical Deep Dives, Solution Swarms, pattern documentation)
• Turn "gravel roads" into "paved superhighways" — document solution patterns so the next FDE can move faster
• Contribute field feedback that influences 30% of the product roadmap

Requirements — Essential

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Systems, or related technical field
• 5+ years of experience in software engineering, data engineering, data science, system deployment, or technical leadership
• Proficiency in at least one of: Python, SQL/PostgreSQL, JavaScript — with ability to write production-grade code
• Strong problem-solving skills with a bias toward action and rapid prototyping
• Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills — comfortable presenting to senior government or corporate stakeholders and translating between technical and non-technical audiences
• Experience working with or deploying to government, public sector, or large institutional clients
• Proven ability to lead local technical teams and build capacity
• Willingness to relocate and be permanently based in Kenya for the duration of the engagement (12-24+ months)
• Language: Local language proficiency is a significant advantage

Requirements — Preferred

• Experience with data integration, ETL pipelines, and working with diverse data sources
• Experience in one or more of Sand's focus domains: health informatics/digital health, water utility operations, telecommunications network operations, or energy systems
• Familiarity with domain-specific platforms (e.g., DHIS2, OpenMRS for health; SCADA, GIS for water/energy; OSS/BSS for telecom)
• Experience with BI and dashboarding tools, particularly Apache Superset
• Experience with data transformation tools such as dbt or Airflow
• Comfort working with data dictionaries, reporting requirements, and identifying common data quality issues
• Knowledge of data security, privacy, and interoperability standards (e.g., FHIR for healthcare, GDPR, local data sovereignty requirements)
• Experience operating in resource-constrained environments (unreliable power, limited connectivity)

Work Environment

This is a permanently embedded role. You will work on-site at the Ministry of Health in Kenya 4 days per week, with 1 day for focused remote work, internal collaboration, and knowledge sharing with the broader FDE community. You should expect to be based in Kenya for a minimum of 12-24 months.

You must be self-driven, comfortable operating as Sand's primary technical representative in-country, and disciplined with online collaboration tools to stay connected with the broader Sand team across geographies. Cultural sensitivity, adaptability, and genuine interest in the local context are essential — you are not passing through, you are putting down roots.