Open Tech and Innovation Specialist – Asia-Pacific Regional Hub – REMOTE

Overview

Work Location: Remote, within Asia-Pacific region
Application Close Date: October 22, 2021
Estimated Start date: December 1, 2021
Department: Asia-Pacific Regional Hub
Reports to: Asia-Pacific Regional Director (line manager) & HOT Tech Director (functional support)
Terms: Full time, one year initial contract (subject to renewal)
Travel: Up to 40%, including the AP hub’s priority countries in the region

About the Open Mapping Hub – Asia-Pacific (AP Hub)

The AP Hub is one of four regional open mapping hubs supported by the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team. The purpose of the AP Hub is to serve the OpenStreetMap movement in the Asia-Pacific region; provide decentralized support and services to the OpenStreetMap local communities; power the evolution and growth of OpenStreetMap data; and play a significant role in creating sustainable OSM ecosystems in the region in order to maximize the impact both for improved humanitarian and social impact. We work in 25 priority countries in the Asia-Pacific region. Our vision is: create a sustainable OSM ecosystem in the Asia-Pacific region and its aspirations are:

Government, humanitarian and development agencies commonly use OSM data in their planning and decision-makings;
Underrepresented people from the region actively participate in the OSM movement;
OSM data is used as the most preferred choice in entrepreneurial and economic activities;
OSM is the most popular map service among citizens.

About HOT

Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOT) sits at the nexus of participatory mapping, community-led development, humanitarian response, open data and tech. With a talented and diverse team spread around the globe, HOT is an NGO which supports a dynamic global community of thousands of dedicated volunteers using maps and open data for humanitarian response and the Sustainable Development Goals. Working with humanitarian and development partners like the Red Cross, Médecins Sans Frontières, UN agencies, governments and others, the HOT community maps in solidarity with those affected by or at risk of disaster, contributing the maps and data aid workers need to do their lifesaving work.

In 2020 the work of the HOT community was recognized by TED’s Audacious Project, a collaborative philanthropic initiative that serves as a springboard for social impact on a grand scale, leading to an exciting new phase of growth. HOT is expanding its activities: opening four regional hubs and scaling up its support to local mapping communities with the audacious goal of mapping an area home to one billion people in 94 countries at high risk of disasters or experiencing poverty – mapping with communities before they are in crisis.

Role Profile

The Open Innovation and Tech Specialist will coordinate and collaborate with key functional leads across the Hub and with the wider HOT global team. The candidate will be responsible for identifying problems, understanding needs and capturing requirements of local communities and everyday citizens across the region in a way that informs the transformative design and development of HOT’s technology to ensure equity, increase accessibility and create lasting impact to people’s lives.

Human: Our Human ethic is our commitment to people as our priority. At the centre of all our technology sits a human. The ultimate purpose of our technology is to improve human conditions. We use technology to enable and amplify human efforts. We support them at personal and professional levels. We invest in their well-being and their growth. We provide security and stability. When our people thrive, so do we.
Open: Our Open ethic permeates all we do. Our actions reflect radical openness and transparency. We **encourage open inputs and outputs. Our team and technology openly welcomes and engages community, collaboration and contribution.
Truth: Our Truth ethic reflects an OpenStreetMap core principle; the ‘truth on the ground’. Our activities and decisions will be guided by this ethic, conflicts not easily resolved will defer to this ethic to determine what best reflects and prioritizes the truth on the ground.
HOT_Tech Principles > https://github.com/hotosm/tech/blob/master/principles/README.md

About You

You are passionate about putting people at the centre of technology. You are driven by delivering delight to a community of diverse and unique users. You are a solution hunter and believe that value is delivered when the right solution is in the right hands. You appreciate the sophistication in simplicity and strive to build experiences that build users. You are passionate about principles that drive inclusive technologies and love to translate empathy into experiences.

Priority Areas for Action

Capacity – A key component of this role will be building and extending the capacity of groups and individuals across the region. The successful candidate will be experienced and comfortable in providing mentorship, coaching and facilitation to help people grow and expand their innovation and open tech skills. They will also be able to augment the capacity of global and regional teams as capacity grows.
Community – Community centred innovation and technology is at the heart of all our technologies and hence should be at the heart of the candidate. We strive to build technologies that reflect the most pressing and impactful needs of the communities we work with. The successful candidate will be community first in everything they do.
Contribution – Core to open innovation and technology is a collective of contributors that are committed to the collaborative growth of both products and people. A dynamic collective of contributors ensures shared vision and direction, joint ownership and project sustainability. The successful candidate will value contributors and how to enable them.

Key Responsibilities

Engage developers’ communities across the region in an open mapping ecosystem.
Build the capacity of regional communities, teams and individuals in open mapping technology, design thinking, agile mindset and human centred open innovation.
Develop strategy to advance Hub’s 3rd and 4th aspirations: OSM data is used as the most preferred choice in entrepreneurial and economic activities; OSM is the most popular map service among citizens.
Work as the main technology person to provide front line technical support to local communities.
Represent regional needs to inform a shared global vision for open innovation and technology.
Facilitate feedback from the humanitarian and OSM communities to improve regional implementation of open mapping technologies.
Collaborate with HOT’s global tech collective to ensure regional feedback and requests are included in product backlog prioritisation.
Localise contribution channels for well-documented open technology projects to increase regional participation and contribution.
Facilitate localised design thinking processes to increase regional representation in open mapping tech.
Consolidate community feedback to improve product inclusivity and user experience.
Conceptualise ideas that bring simplicity and user friendliness to complex design challenges.
Foster a culture of innovation through curiosity, creativity and collaboration.

Qualifications

Essential

Qualification in a relevant field or a strong portfolio of relevant project experience.
3+ years experience with a similar role with emphasis on human centred design, user experience design, or similar.
Demonstrated passion, experience and expertise of OSM data and tech ecosystem.
Demonstrated experience designing inclusive digital products and systems.
Working knowledge of Principles for Digital Development and Human Centred Design.
Experience working with diverse, distributed teams over multiple geographies.
Commitment to intentional and equitable technology.
Demonstrated ability to facilitate design processes both in person and remotely.
Experience guiding or contributing to agile teams or projects.
Good interpersonal skills, and ability to develop effective relationships online and in person.
Willingness to travel and work in challenging environments with limited amenities and be in the field for extended periods of time.
Demonstrated cultural competency and experience working in the Asia-Pacific region.
Enthusiastic in working in a startup like environmental.
Fluent in written and spoken English and in one or more languages within the Asia-Pacific region.

Preferred

Experience working in humanitarian or development agencies/NGOs.
Demonstrated history of mentoring, teaching, or guiding other designers and team members.
Some applicable technical skills (design, programming, development, open mapping, open data).
Additional language proficiency in languages spoken in the region.

Compensation

HOT values transparency and equity. All HOT compensation globally is set according to a framework detailed on our website. HOT offers a work-from-anywhere culture, flexible working arrangements, health care options, and paid time off for those on an employment contract.

Equal Opportunity

We seek to recruit persons that reflect the diversity of the communities we work with and further, to support their retention and advancement within the organization. HOT does not discriminate on the basis of ability, age, gender identity and expression, national origin, race and ethnicity, religious beliefs, or sexual orientation. Our staff includes people who are parents and nonparents, the self-taught and university educated, and from a wide range of socio-economic backgrounds, lived experiences, and perspectives on the world. HOT is an equal opportunity employer. We seek to live our values and promote inclusivity in all locations. All of our staff work collectively and individually to promote a constructive and sensitive approach to others from a variety of backgrounds, where the work of all is valued and respected.

HOT is committed to diversity within our team, and recognizes our role in closing the digital divide, including identifying obstacles that certain groups face in developing skills needed for roles in the humanitarian & technology sectors. Women, nationals of developing countries, and members of other underrepresented groups are strongly encouraged to apply.