ICT Manager – Technology Innovation (Technology Lead) at UNOPS

Background Information – Job-specific

The United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) is an operational arm of the United Nations, supporting the successful implementation of its partners’ peacebuilding, humanitarian and development projects around the world. UNOPS supports partners to build a better future by providing services that increase the efficiency, effectiveness and sustainability of peace building, humanitarian and development projects. Mandated as a central resource of the United Nations, UNOPS provides sustainable project management, procurement and infrastructure services to a wide range of governments, donors and United Nations organizations.

Thailand Multi-Country Office (THMCO)

The THMCO established in 2017, supports, develops and oversees the UNOPS portfolio of projects in South East Asia and the Pacific. With its head office in Bangkok, the Multi-Country Office comprises five main business units: THMCO Thailand, THMCO Indonesia, THMCO Pacific Operations Cluster, THMCO Papua New Guinea and, THMCO China and provides a wide range of services including Project Management, Transactional HR, Financial, and Procurement to clients that include other UN entities, INGOs and governments/government agencies donors.

The UNOPS Global Pulse project is the United Nations Secretary General’s cross-pillar lead and hub for experimentation and innovation in advancement of the UN Charter. Originally established in 2009 to harness the power of big data and artificial intelligence to protect the vulnerable during crises, Global Pulse’s mission is to accelerate the discovery, development, and large-scale adoption of innovations for sustainable development and humanitarian action. Global Pulse promotes awareness of the opportunities for innovation to advance sustainable development and humanitarian action and it develops high-impact approaches and solutions. Global Pulse operates as a globally distributed network of Pulse Labs to drive broad adoption of innovations across the UN System and beyond.

UNOPS is seeking for its Global Pulse Asia Pacific project a Technology Lead. The UNOPS Global Pulse Asia Pacific project is a Pulse Lab with the mandate to foster innovation and develop solutions in the Asia Pacific region with aspiration for broad, global adoption and impact. The Technology Lead will provide technical guidance and lead the implementation of use cases of Global Pulse’s Global Data Access Initiative (GDAI) with an initial focus of development of solutions for impact in the Asia Pacific region.

Global Pulse’s GDAI is an initiative managed by UNOPS and the Executive Office of the Secretary General (EOSG) and across Pulse Labs that brings together UN agencies and private, public, and social sector partners for the development of data and AI products as digital public goods (DPGs). GDAI aspires to catalyze the formation of a cohesive and responsibly open ecosystem of data and AI products and services that reduces inefficiencies in the development of digital solutions for sustainable development and humanitarian action—with an initial focus on natural disaster response and recovery—to accelerate attainment of the sustainable development goals.

The Technology Lead is a key role and instrumental for the success of GDAI. With experience in the development of large-scale, data-driven solutions, the Technology Lead will supervise the development of GDAI’s data access and processing platform and the implementation of pilot use cases that leverage the GDAI platform. The Technology Lead will lead the development of a roadmap of the data and AI products that will need to be created and maintained for each use case in collaboration with the GDAI team. The Technology Lead will be accountable for the quality of data and AI products and co-create and own GDAI’s best practise data and software development protocols. The Technology Lead will onboard, guide, and supervise the work of technical contributors including data engineers and scientists, full-stack and front-end engineers from within Global Pulse and across partner organizations. The Technology Lead may represent Global Pulse and GDAI and participate in panels, working groups, and other relevant forums within and beyond the UN to articulate and propose solutions to overcome technical barriers towards data and AI as digital public goods.

This is an exciting opportunity to be part of a new initiative and to shape the direction of data and AI products as digital public goods to enable the development of digital solutions for impact at scale. The incumbent of this position will be a personnel of UNOPS under its full responsibility.

Functional Responsibilities

Reporting to the GDAI Strategy Lead, the incumbent will be responsible for the following:

Technical product development
Implementation guidance
Quality assurance

Technical product development

Create the roadmap of data and AI products that will need to be created and maintained for use cases in collaboration with the GDAI team
Guide the design of the cloud-based data access and processing platform that is leveraged by and powers use cases including data processing pipelines
Discover and translate the needs for privacy protection and other relevant considerations into technical specifications (platform, use cases) in collaboration with the GDAI team
Translate user needs and product requirements into technical specifications (platform, use cases) from data ingestion to front-end design decisions
Balance the need for implementation of the platform and use cases on a timeline with the need for robust and scalable infrastructure

Implementation guidance

Onboard, guide, and supervise the work of technical contributors from within Global Pulse and across partner organizations, some of whom may join for shorter periods on rotation
Drive towards decisions regarding key technology components of the platform and in support of use cases in a timely manner
Serve as a technical advisor to the GDAI team, recognize and bring to bear the expertise of technical contributors to arrive at high quality decisions as a team
Act as player-coach contributing hands-on to development where necessary
Manage expectations and the timeline of delivery of data and AI products in coordination with the Delivery Lead and the entire GDAI team including partners

Quality assurance

Create best practice data and software development protocols and ensure consistent quality across work products with technical contributors on (short) rotations
Put in place processes to plan and deliver work on a predictable timeline, routinely identify areas of improvement, foster a high-trust, high-quality, high-throughput technical development team
Proactively seek to identify and overcome pain points, keep lines of communication with the Delivery Lead (and Strategy Lead as relevant) very open
Contribute to a positive, can-do team culture and attitude

Impact of Results

The effective and successful achievement of key results by the Technology Lead is key to the success of Global Pulse’s Global Data Access Initiative (GDAI) which, in turn, positions the UNOPS Global Pulse project as a leading player in safeguarding the access and use of data for sustainable development and humanitarian actions and key contributor of digital public goods (DPGs) in service of the sustainable development goals (SDGs). This promotes the image of UNOPS as an effective service provider and leader in innovation and enhances UNOPS’ competitive position as a partner of choice in sustainable development and project services at the global, regional, and local level.

Competencies

Develops and implements sustainable business strategies, thinks long term and externally in order to positively shape the organization. Anticipates and perceives the impact and implications of future decisions and activities on other parts of the organization.(for levels IICA-2, IICA-3, LICA Specialist- 10, LICA Specialist-11, NOC, NOD, P3, P4 and above)

Treats all individuals with respect; responds sensitively to differences and encourages others to do the same. Upholds organizational and ethical norms. Maintains high standards of trustworthiness. Role model for diversity and inclusion.

Acts as a positive role model contributing to the team spirit. Collaborates and supports the development of others. For people managers only: Acts as positive leadership role model, motivates, directs and inspires others to succeed, utilizing appropriate leadership styles.

Demonstrates understanding of the impact of own role on all partners and always puts the end beneficiary first. Builds and maintains strong external relationships and is a competent partner for others (if relevant to the role).

Efficiently establishes an appropriate course of action for self and/or others to accomplish a goal. Actions lead to total task accomplishment through concern for quality in all areas. Sees opportunities and takes the initiative to act on them. Understands that responsible use of resources maximizes our impact on our beneficiaries.

Open to change and flexible in a fast paced environment. Effectively adapts own approach to suit changing circumstances or requirements. Reflects on experiences and modifies own behavior. Performance is consistent, even under pressure. Always pursues continuous improvements.

Evaluates data and courses of action to reach logical, pragmatic decisions. Takes an unbiased, rational approach with calculated risks. Applies innovation and creativity to problem-solving.

Expresses ideas or facts in a clear, concise and open manner. Communication indicates a consideration for the feelings and needs of others. Actively listens and proactively shares knowledge. Handles conflict effectively, by overcoming differences of opinion and finding common ground.

Education/Experience/Language requirements

Education:

A master’s degree in computer science or a related field;
A first-level university degree in combination with an additional 2 years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of an advanced university degree

Experience:

A minimum of five (5) years of experience in data engineering, front-end engineering of data-intensive applications, machine learning engineering, or data science or in related fields is required;
A minimum of 3 (three) years of experience as a technology lead supervising the work and delivery of technical teams is preferred;
Proven track record translating complex user needs and other product requirements into engineering design documents is required;
Experience in designing, maintaining, and deploying mission critical, data-driven applications in the cloud including data governance, data processing (ETL), and reporting is an asset;
Deep familiarity with the product offering of Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google Cloud Platform (GCP), or Microsoft Azure is required;
Working knowledge of SQL, python, and Spark and a variety of relational and noSQL cloud database technologies (BigQuery, Redshift, etc.) is an asset;
Experience with DevOps (containerization, Docker, Kubernetes, etc.) is required and with MLOps is an asset;
Proven track record of successfully working as a part of large, collaborative, agile(ish) teams including distributed international teams is required;
Excellent communication skills are required with the ability to explain complex analytical concepts to people from other backgrounds and disciplines;
Prior experience with people management is an asset;
Experience working with the UN system is an asset.

Language Requirements:

Full working knowledge of English is required;
Knowledge of another official UNOPS language is an asset

Contract type, level and duration

Contract type: Temporary Appointment Contract level: P3 Contract duration: 12 months

For more details about United Nations staff contracts, please follow this link*:* https://www.unops.org/english/Opportunities/job-opportunities/what-we-offer/Pages/UN-Staff-Contracts.aspx

The position is based in a family duty station.

Disclaimer: If the selected candidate is a national of the duty station, a national officer contract will be issued.

Additional Considerations

Please note that the closing date is midnight Copenhagen time.
Applications received after the closing date will not be considered.
Only those candidates that are short-listed for interviews will be notified.
UNOPS embraces diversity and it is committed to the principle of equal employment opportunity for all its employees and encourages qualified candidates to apply irrespective of race, colour, national origin, ethnic or social background, genetic information, gender, gender identity and/or expression, sexual orientation, religion or belief, or disability.
UNOPS seeks to reasonably accommodate candidates with special needs, upon request.
Work life harmonization – UNOPS values its people and recognizes the importance of balancing professional and personal demands. We have a progressive policy on work-life harmonization and offer several flexible working options. This policy applies to UNOPS personnel on all contract types
For staff positions only, UNOPS reserves the right to appoint a candidate at a lower level than the advertised level of the post
For retainer contracts, you must complete a few Mandatory Courses (around 4 hours) in your own time, before providing services to UNOPS.
The incumbent is responsible to abide by security policies, administrative instructions, plans and procedures of the UN Security Management System and that of UNOPS.
All UNOPS personnel are responsible for performing their duties in accordance with the UN Charter, UN Staff Regulations and Rules, UNOPS Policies and Instructions, as well as other relevant accountability frameworks. In addition, all personnel must demonstrate an understanding of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in a manner consistent with UN core values and the UN Common Agenda.
It is the policy of UNOPS to conduct background checks on all potential recruits/interns. Recruitment/internship in UNOPS is contingent on the results of such checks.

Background Information – UNOPS

UNOPS – an operational arm of the United Nations – supports the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by successfully implementing its partners’ peacebuilding, humanitarian, and development projects around the world. Our mission is to help people build better lives and countries achieve peace and sustainable development.

UNOPS areas of expertise cover infrastructure, procurement, project management, financial management, and human resources.

Working with us

We are proud of our people. With a wealth of knowledge and skills in various disciplines – engineering, finance, human resources, ICT, leadership, project management, procurement, and more – they help tackle some of the biggest challenges of our time. Their work around the world supports progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

At UNOPS, we offer a range of short- and long-term opportunities in various environments and duty stations – from Denmark and Kenya to Mexico, Switzerland, Myanmar, Senegal, Uganda, and many more.

Diversity

With over 5,000 UNOPS personnel and approximately 7,400 personnel recruited on behalf of our partners, spread across 80 countries, our workforce represents a range of nationalities and cultures. We promote a balanced and diverse labor force — a strength that helps us better understand and address our partners’ needs. We continually strive to maintain our gender-balanced workplace. We encourage qualified underrepresented groups as per UNOPS Gender, Diversity, and Inclusion Strategy to apply for our vacancies.

Work life harmonization

UNOPS values its people and recognizes the importance of balancing professional and personal demands.