HEAD OF APPLICATIONS (BASED IN ANY MSF OCBA HUB) At Médecins Sans Frontières

In line with the values that guide the actions of our organization around the world, MSF OCBA is committed to promoting diversity, equity and inclusion and understands the importance of affirmative actions aimed at promoting equal opportunities. For this reason and in seeking to provide opportunities to under-represented groups, we will strongly prioritize applications from socially underrepresented groups who meet the requirements (i.e. women, BIPOC, people with disabilities, LGBTQIA+).

GENERAL CONTEXT

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is an international independent medical humanitarian action-driven organization, which offers assistance to populations in distress, to victims of natural or man-made disasters and to victims of armed conflict, without discrimination and irrespective of race, religion, creed or political affiliation. The MSF movement is built around six operational directorates supported by MSF’s 21 sections, 24 associations and other offices together worldwide.

The Spanish section of MSF was founded in 1986 in Barcelona. During the years it evolved in an Operational Centre with various Offices in Spain, Dakar, Nairobi and Amman, as well with a Branch Office in Portugal based in Lisbon.

The operations are implemented by field teams and the mission coordination teams, guided and supported by 5 Operational cells in different locations (Barcelona, Nairobi, Dakar, Amman and soon in Bogota), and an Emergency Unit based in Barcelona, as well as by different departments, including the Projects & IT Department.

GENERAL OBJECTIVE AND PLACE IN THE ORGANIZATION

Among other responsibilities, the Projects & IT team in MSF OCBA is responsible for the life cycle planning of business applications through the phases of strategize, architect, select, deploy, operate, evolve, and retire. As a key actor in the department, the Head of Applications manages the Applications Unit teams, that have specific responsibility for managing an important part of that lifecycle, including building or configuring, maintaining, bug fixing, enhancing, administrating and eventually decommissioning applications. Some of our application delivery work might need to be managed as products, regardless of the main customer being internal.

The Head of Applications will directly supervise the team leaders of the different applications teams in the unit, including eHealth/Apps4Ops, ERPs, CRMs and websites. The Head of Applications will work within the Projects & IT team, and s/he will be accountable to the Projects & IT Department Leader.

MAIN FUNCTIONS AND RESPONSIBILITIES

• Provide leadership, innovative thinking and vision to the Applications teams, to ensure they contribute to MSF OCBA achieving its social mission goals.
• Work with the Projects & IT Leader and other IT heads to develop overall IT strategy in the context of the overall MSF OCBA strategic orientations.
• Develop productive and strong relationships with leadership and key stakeholders across the organization to influence how applications can enable value for MSF social mission and field needs.
• Develops and controls the annual applications budget to ensure that it’s consistent with the overall strategic objectives of Projects & IT and MSF OCBA and is within plan. Creates a culture of continuous cost optimization.
• Manage talent in the Applications unit, developing their skills and capabilities to meet the needs of the organization, as well as building on existing recruiting criteria to address new needs and skills gaps and aiming to improve diversity in the teams.
• Jointly with the application team managers and administrative support staff, ensure the appropriate day-to-day management of the Applications Unit, including staffing, administration and other relevant functions.
• Drive the development and adoption of technology standards, policies, procedures, governance processes and performance metrics for the application lifecycle management.
• In close collaboration with the IT Service Management area and key stakeholders, oversee the implementation and management application life cycle management status reporting, metrics and benchmarks.
• Manage the development of application sourcing strategies and provide oversight for key vendor and partner relationship management.
• Oversee the conduction of regular feedback processes on stakeholder satisfaction with applications, ensuring a transparent communication of results and the implementation of action plans to improve satisfaction.
• Work with the Head of PMO & IT Governance to ensure an appropriate management and delivery of application-related projects, as well as to establish appropriate coordination between project managers and applications teams and activity prioritization mechanisms, including handover of new services or products to regular IT operations.
• In close collaboration with key users and stakeholders, as well as the Architecture team and the Projects & IT Leader, oversee the assessment of the functional and technical fitness of the applications portfolio and their associated costs and risks, with a focus on portfolio optimization.
• Closely work with stakeholders to facilitate the application governance process, to define sets of measurable outcomes that applications must support, and the work to accomplish those outcomes within the limitations of the applications budget. This includes a continuous evaluation of the added value of applications, including the use of metrics such as Key Performance Indicators (KPI), and Objectives and Key Results (OKR).
• Oversee the application unit’s successful delivery of the previous outcomes in partnership with the key users and stakeholders in other departments, with a focus on benefits realization.
• Oversee support activities in conjunction with the Head of Infrastructure & Service Desk and the Head of Field ICT, to ensure the applications perform well in production and from the perspective of the users.
• In close collaboration with the Head of Architecture, key users and stakeholders, ensure the adoption of OCBA-level data and information strategies, policies and practices in the applications portfolio, and their alignment with standardized practices at global level, to facilitate digital interoperability and integration between OCBA applications, as well as at the MSF intersectional level.
• Establish the necessary coordination mechanisms with the Head of Information Security to ensure that MSF OCBA’s applications are effectively secured and that risks are mitigated.
• Lead the applications teams in their effort to contribute to the overall digital capacity and skills building across the organization, collaborating with peer Projects & IT leaders to ensure knowledge and insight can be freely shared.
• Participate in MSF international working groups, platforms, collaboration networks or steering groups as necessary, particularly those related to the applications delivery discipline.

SELECTION CRITERIA

• University degree in a relevant field (Computer Science, Electrical/Telecom Engineering, IT/IS Management, etc.), or equivalent work experience.
• Minimum experience of 7 years working in IT or technology, with 4 or more working in management.
• Relevant experience managing big and/or complex teams.
• Relevant knowledge of IT applications, operations, service and support organizations.
• Experience on financial management and reporting for IT, including budget development and cost allocation.
• Experience in Service Level Agreement and Services Portfolio Management.
• Experience in managing technology providers including development of strategic partnerships, negotiation of technology contracts, monitoring service delivery, and addressing vendor performance issues.
• Knowledge of ITIL or similar service management practices.
• User-level knowledge of Microsoft technologies.
• Relevant knowledge on ERPs, CRMs, web technologies, Health Information Systems, Business Intelligence.
• Enterprise Architecture Knowledge is an asset.
• Experience in Service Management definition.
• Desirable knowledge of some best practices frameworks and standard methodologies for service management and project management: ITIL, COBIT, SCRUM, Agile, PMI, PRINCE2, LeanIT…
• Previous experience working with MSF or other humanitarian organizations is an asset.
• Experience working with a diverse, non-technical, geographically dispersed organization is a strong asset.
• Fluency in English is required. Spanish will be highly valued as well. French is an asset.

CONDITIONS

• Position based in any MSF-OCBA Hub (Barcelona, MSF-Spain office delegations, Amman, Dakar or Nairobi). Final location will be subject to the employability of the preselected candidate (residency, work permit, etc.).
• Full time job.
• Minimum commitment with the position of 3 years.
• Annual gross salary: HQ-4C (divided into twelve monthly payments) + secondary benefits based on MSF OCBA Reward Policy. Subjected to local conditions.
• Starting date: ASAP.