South East Asia Multi-Country Office (EAPMCO)

The South East Asia and Pacific Multi Country Office (EAPMCO) supports, develops and oversees the UNOPS portfolio of projects in South East Asia and the Pacific. EAPMCO was established in January 2023 following the merger of the Thailand Multi-Country Office, which covered 20 countries across North East Asia, South East Asia and the Pacific, and the Cambodia Multi-Country Office, which covered 4 countries South East Asia – 3 countries in the Mekong Sub-region (Cambodia, Lao PDR and Vietnam) and the Philippines. EAPMCO currently covers 24 countries across North East Asia, South East Asia and the Pacific. With its head office in Bangkok, the Multi-Country Office comprises nine business units: SEMCO Thailand, EAPMCO Indonesia, EAPMCO Pacific Operations Cluster, EAPMCO Papua New Guinea, EAPMCO China, EAPMCO Vietnam, EAPMCO Lao PDR, EAPMCO Philippines and EAPMCO Cambodia.

In 2022, the UNOPS EAPMCO implemented projects worth more than USD 95.7 million, in the areas of Energy Transition, Digital Transformations, Sustainable Environmental Management, Climate Change, Waste Management, Rule of Law and Access to Justice, Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH), Post Conflict Reintegration, Emergency Relief, Post COVID19 Economic Transformations, and Health, through HR, procurement, construction, contract management, fund and program management services.

The Multi Country Office head office in Bangkok provides strategic direction, operational support, delivery oversight and assurance of the excellence of business processes and quality standards across all of the entire Multi Country Office locations. It is also responsible for developing, delivering and managing the portfolio of engagements in the country of the MCO location itself.

Background Information – Project

UN Global Pulse (UNGP) is an initiative of the Executive Office of Secretary-General (EOSG) founded in 2009. We work in support of the Secretary-General’s priorities, in advancement of the UN Charter. UNGP serves as a cross-pillar lead and hub for experimentation and digital innovation. We have a globally distributed team in the Americas, Europe, Africa and Asia. The teams work with digital innovation, strategic foresight, real-time data and artificial intelligence to further sustainable development, humanitarian and peace outcomes. Our vision is ‘A world in which responsible and inclusive digital innovation serves to empower people and protect the planet’. Our mission is to work at the intersection of digital innovation and science to inform, inspire and support the entire UN and those it serves, to anticipate and respond to the challenges of today and tomorrow.

The goals of the UNGP Network are: i) to generate knowledge, capabilities and approaches that support the transformation of the United Nations into a more agile and resilient ‘next-generation’ institution; ii) to create and accelerate the development of globally accessible approaches that help communities and partners anticipate and address emerging global challenges; and iii) to advocate for the global transformation of policies, practices and culture required to maximize the impact of digital innovation, minimize its risk of harm, and ensure pathways to scale and sustainability.

The incumbent of this position will be personnel of UNOPS under its full responsibility.

UNOPS is seeking a Product Lead (Data Insights & AI) for UN Global Pulse’s Data Insights for Social & Humanitarian Action (Disha) project.

Disha (https://disha.unglobalpulse.org/) aims to accelerate ethical and responsible access to data and artificial intelligence (AI) solutions to unlock social impact at scale. By facilitating the availability of reusable data through reliable models, standardised approaches and frameworks, Disha enables the creation and expansion of actionable insights. These insights are designed to support more effective and inclusive efforts in humanitarian work, peacebuilding and development.

The Product Lead is responsible for bringing the voice of the users to the development teams whether internal to UNGP or external pro bono partners, or a mix of both. The Product Lead works with the Head of Disha to evolve the vision and objectives for user needs and alongside the Tech Lead(s) to implement the vision within budget and other constraints.

They foster goal-oriented collaboration and excel at bringing people together whether for open discussion of challenges or focused decision making.

Ultimately, they ensure that the project outputs are delivered to and for the benefit of users within the constraints of time and cost, whilst managing scope, risk, and benefits and ensuring a high quality and ethically safe outcome. Throughout, they actively contribute to a supportive and psychologically safe team culture. Building the right thing, building it right.

The Product Lead onboards, coordinates and may delegate work to pro bono partners for the delivery of outcomes. They shape the team structure and create a foundation for good communication with dependencies which: builds capacity for UNGP; shares understanding both between pro bono partners and UN GP; as well as ensuring Conway’s Law doesn’t disrupt the intended outcome – “the communication structure of the organization predetermines the structure of the code / systems built” (paraphrased).

The day to day management and supervision of this position is under the responsibility of the Head of Disha. The Product Lead is expected to meet the organization’s overall performance and delivery goals across projects as set out by the UNGP Leadership Team.

This position will need to work across time zones from East Asia (Jakarta) to East US (New York) in a balanced working pattern across the week.

Functional Responsibilities

Functions/Key Results Expected

Summary of functions:

Understands user needs in social and humanitarian action
Identifies, owns and drives use cases/products supported by partners inclusively from conception to operation
Coordination of pro bono partners
Project Delivery and Performance
Capacity Building and Innovation Scaling

1. Understands user needs in social and humanitarian action

Coordinates research and when possible co-design with key user groups to understand and capture the evolving user needs for the strategic focus within the area of data insights for social and humanitarian action
Coordinates (or delegates) regular dialogue with key user groups to test the success or failure of meeting prioritized needs during the development of products through user testing, qualitative and quantitative monitoring following continuous delivery principles.
Maintains and develops relationships with social and humanitarian partner agencies to monitor whether the overall objectives of Disha products and ecosystem stay mutually beneficial with partners’ objectives.
Collaborates with Disha Policy Lead and partner agencies on reviewing and implementing humanitarian protection requirements supported by the Ethical frameworks of the UN

2. Identifies, owns and drives products supported by partners inclusively from conception to operation

Identifies, owns and drives products supported by partners inclusively from conception through development and deployment to operation. Specifically owning the vision, objectives, benefits.
Draws together user needs in a cohesive, evolving, sustainable and implementable product designs in collaboration with the other Disha Leads and with support of pro bono partners.
Works with Tech Lead and Engineers to break down work into implementable pieces.
The Product Lead takes ownership of (or delegates) regular prioritization of pieces of work in negotiation with Tech Lead(s) to ensure delivery of the most desirable, viable and feasible technology as fast as possible for users’ needs, i.e. following a lean /agile approach. Including bringing user testing feedback into the loop of developing the software and AI.
Coordinates deployments and/or handover of products from the point of view of supporting user onboarding, access and feedback. Works with partner agencies to ensure they have knowledge and ability to use the product, if not enough time to make it self-explanatory.
Product Lead supports the Head of Disha to in designing a cohesive ecosystem of use case products and platforms in collaboration with Product Managers, Tech Leads, Platform Lead and Policy Lead

3. Coordination of pro bono partners

Supports the Head of Disha in initial engagement and set up of partnership working with pro bono partners from the technology industry and academia.
Within the scope of their work, the Product Lead develops, and where necessary defines, the respective roles and responsibilities of the partners/stakeholders for effective collaboration and project success.
Coordinates ongoing dialogue and day to day work including asynchronous chat, regular touch points and coordination meetings, utilizing available remote working technology to work across time zones and between individual’s availability.

4. Project Delivery and Performance

In alignment with the Head of Disha and other Disha Leads, work to establish a productive and coordinated environment within and across the teams.
Support the Head of Disha in the definition of project objectives, resource plans, and timelines in collaboration with project partners.
Collaborate with Workstream/Use Case Lead(s) for project planning including resource allocation, impact trajectory, progress monitoring, and risk profile review.
Draft, align, and deliver on project work plans including raising any delivery roadblocks and significant delivery risks to Head of Disha in time.
Manage the production of the required outputs, taking responsibility for overall progress and use of resources and initiating corrective action where necessary.
Ensure clear next steps at any point during the project lifecycle and clear ownership of next steps for streamlined execution.
Plan resource requirements for use cases in consultation with Head of Disha (and Capability Leads where required) .
Manage project priorities and prepare materials to report on project progress to inform decisions.
Ensure maintenance of the project files and lessons learned are recorded.
Coordinate stakeholder engagement and communication, ensuring effective timing and interdependency management of communications. Ensure stakeholders are aware of project activities, progress, exceptions and are in a position to accept handover outputs.
Ensure direct involvement of partners in project teams (co-development of solutions) as needed including ensuring continuous relevance of output for the partner.

5. Capacity Building and Innovation Scaling

Build capacity of UN GP colleagues in AI Product Management, user research, data science design and other modern technology practices to support the long-term and sustainable capacity of staff.
Encourage pro bono technology partners to share their expertise and methods to support capacity building.
Establish a supportive environment for learning and constructive discussion
Actively interact with others across the UN system working on Scaling Innovation to share case studies, lessons learned and best practices.

Impact of Results

The effective and successful achievement of Disha objectives could accelerate the ability of social and humanitarian actors to utilize the benefits of AI and big data at a faster pace in these unprecedented times of fragility and uncertainty of climate-fuelled natural disasters and intense conflicts.

In addition, successful delivery of Disha’s vision would position UN Global Pulse project and its regional hub in Asia Pacific as a capable, trusted, and trustworthy voice in digital equity and as an advocate for a fair digital common. In turn, promoting the image of UN Global Pulse as an effective convener and leader in digital innovation and enhancing UNGP’s 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:

An advanced University Degree (Master’s or equivalent) or higher degree in computer science, social sciences, business management, economics, or other relevant disciplines;
First-level university degree (Bachelor’s or equivalent) in the above-mentioned fields with an additional two (2) years of relevant experience can be accepted in lieu of an advanced degree.

Certification:

Any internationally recognised Product Manager or Project Manager certification is desirable but not essential.

Experience:

A minimum of 5 (five) years experience in product management of software technology.
Experience coordinating, gathering and analyzing user needs, user testing and feedback and synthesizing them into prioritized objectives and a coherent design in collaboration with engineers is preferable.
Experience in designing, coding and deploying data-driven applications is preferable.
Experience in working with cloud service provider(s) such as AWS, GCP, Azure, etc., and understanding their benefits and trade-offs is preferable.
Experience in employing, designing, coding and deploying open source software is an asset.
Experience in employing, designing, coding and deploying in Linux-based operating system distributions is an asset.
Experience of successfully working as a part of a collaborative team is required; experience with distributed, international teams is desirable.
An understanding from end-to-end of the software delivery cycle including at least one experience of deployment or go-live is preferable.
Experience in satellite image analysis or remote sensing is an asset.
Experience in data analysis, data science or AI is preferable.
Experience of implementing innovation or technology in social or humanitarian sectors is an asset.
Experience supporting software teams and management in adopting mindset shifts towards modern technology practice e.g. agile, continuous delivery, DevOps is an asset.
Prior experience in coordinating international, multi-partner supported projects including stakeholder management is desirable.

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: Individual Contractor Agreement
Contract level: ICS 10 / IICA 2 / LICA10
Contract duration: On-going subject to organizational requirements, availability of funds and satisfactory performance

For more details about the ICA contractual modality, please follow this link:
https://www.unops.org/english/Opportunities/job-opportunities/what-we-offer/Pages/Individual-Contractor-Agreements.aspx

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Disclaimer:

In duty stations where the NPO category has been established by the International Civil Service Commission (ICSC), a Local Individual Contractor Agreement (LICA) must be issued for a home-based contract.