Consultancy: Senior Back-end Engineer and Project Manager, ICTD Digital Core (12 months, remote)

Consultant IT & Telecom

Contract

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UNICEF works in some of the world’s toughest places, to reach the world’s most disadvantaged children. To save their lives. To defend their rights. To help them fulfill their potential.

Across 190 countries and territories, we work for every child, everywhere, every day, to build a better world for everyone.

And we never give up.

For every child, a connected world

The overarching strategic goal of UNICEF’s Information and Communication Technology Division (ICTD) is to transform and build partnerships with our stakeholders to successfully implement UNICEF programmes globally through the use of innovative technology-enabled solutions.

UNICEF has built an MVP Last Mile Supply Monitoring solution that enables the collection of data by and from implementing partners, and a suite of business logic and dashboards to visualize the application data merged with internal supply chain information.

The MVP requires further improvement to include new features, scalability, and enterprise level functionality to be able to serve all country offices UNICEF works in. The MVP has been transferred to a more stable enterprise ecosystem named eTools, which is a set of modules that make UNICEF efficient in their operations. The MVP also requires to be re-architected for scale and roll-out to all UNICEF Country Offices.

Technology:

eTools utilizes Python as a programming language and Django as a framework for its admin interface. Polymer is used for front end development. More on the eTools codebase can be found here: https://github.com/unicef/etools.

How can you make a difference?

ICTD is presently in search of a Backend engineer and Project Manager. This resource will operate within the purview of the ICT Manager within the Solution Center and Support Section of the ICTD division. Their primary responsibility will be to actively contribute to the team's efforts in creating solutions for new policies, data management and organization. This role will center on tasks such as enterprise system integration, managing the Last Mile Supply Monitoring project, the development of back-end applications, improving current documentation and building sprint process communications.

Scope of Work:

Roadmap

The MVP scale-up will proceed in phases, currently in Phase 1 with plans for enhancements in Phase 2 and Phase 3. Future phase requirements need to be clarified, planned, and managed through regular releases.

Key Responsibilities:

Backend Development:

• Design, develop, and implement backend systems using Django framework.
• Collaborate with frontend developers to integrate frontend components with backend functionality.
• Write efficient, reusable, and reliable code following best practices and coding standards.
• Perform code reviews to ensure code quality, performance, and security.
• Optimize application performance and scalability.

Project Management:

• Define project scope, goals, and deliverables in collaboration with stakeholders.
• Develop detailed project plans, schedules, and timelines.
• Monitor project progress, identify and resolve issues, and mitigate risks.
• Communicate project status, updates, and milestones.
• Coordinate with cross-functional teams to ensure smooth project execution.
• Conduct post-project evaluations and identify areas for improvement.

Work Assignments Overview

Deliverables/Outputs

Delivery deadline

Month 1 Sprint

eTools – meeting with business to determine the prioritised tickets in the sprint.

LMSM – work with business to detail and finalise the requirements for the MVP

30 June 2024

Month 2 Sprint

Develop the agreed tickets in the development environment

Work with ICTD colleagues to understand development dependencies and implement needed measures

Provide Business and ICTD management report

31 July 2024

Month 3 Sprint

Perform End of sprint QA

Facilitate testing with the business units

Record and report testing progress

31 August 2024

Month 4 Sprint

Deploy the agreed tickets and communicate progress during the process.

Perform hypercare, stabilising the system and addressing post go-live issues

30 September 2024

Month 5 Sprint

Schedule a planning meeting with the relevant business groups to determine the prioritised tickets in the sprint.

Determine the roadmap for the Last Mile Tool and ensure that the next phase requirements are captured

31 October 2024

Month 6 Sprint

Work with the business to clean-up the technical backlog and address the most prioritised tickets

Clarify business requirements by updating the stories in DevOps

30 November 2024

Month 7 Sprint

Develop and deliver backend development tasks for agreed tickets

Produce a process for sprint execution.

Provide communication at the various points in the process

31 December 2024

Month 8 Sprint

Provide the Security Assessment Report for work being deloyed

Conduct post-phase evaluation and identify areas for improvement.

Provide release notes framework and process

31 January 2024

Month 9 Sprint

Perform testing with the business for the development completed and ensure that the test packs are updated and that at least 50% of automated tests are updated.

28 February 2024

Month 10 Sprint

Improve the DevOps processes and identify automation opportunities

Perform technical testing on the developed tickets and broader functionality to determine performance bottlenecks

Deploy work completed and provide communication

Provide report to ICTD and Business management teams

31 March 2024

Month 11 Sprint

Design and communicate improved processes on technical level

Add controls to monitor the technical processes

Provide usage statistics

30 April 2024

Month 12 Sprint

Hands-on implementation of development requests

Management report on development efficiencies and system usage

31 May 2024

1. Please note that in view of the nature of the work, these listed activities will have to be done throughout the period of

engagement for which progress will be reported through monthly reports.

2. Depending on program need, country readiness and project progress, deliverables may be interchanged.

3. Payment will be made on a monthly basis against a monthly activity report, including the above requirements,

highlighting key activities and achievements under this assignment

Reporting structure: The Backend Engineer and Project Manager will report to the ICT Manager SCS, ICTD.

Duration of contract: 12 months

Travel: The Backend Engineer and Project Manager may be required to attend meetings, conferences, workshops and other events, as well as onsite support for the rollout of activities with teams based in the field. Travel costs will be covered by the office as appropriate.

Financial Proposal:

Please indicate your ability, availability and your overall rate – or rate per deliverable (in US$) to undertake the terms of reference above. Applications submitted without a rate will not be considered.

To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have…

• Degree required in Business, Computer Science, Management Information Systems, or Engineering is preferred.
• 5-8 years’ experience in a Senior Software Development role with strong emphasis on Python, Django.
• Experience in working with an Agile development team to with continuous development and deployment.
• Experience scoping, user testing and training for enterprise related projects.
• Proven experience as a Project Manager in software development or IT industry.
• Excellent understanding of project management methodologies, tools, and techniques.
• Ability to manage multiple projects simultaneously and prioritize tasks effectively.
• Experience developing software as part of a distributed team using Git, especially in an open-source environment.
• Excellent leadership, communication, and interpersonal skills.
• Experience with quality assurance testing processes.
• Ability to align technical goals with UNICEF strategic goals—that always will mean prioritizing UNICEF’s mission over any particular technology.
• Dynamic self-starter, who needs minimum supervision, who is highly structured in ways of working and who can produce high quality outputs.
• Quick learner, who can quickly understand complex business problems.
• Understand the value of commitments to end-users, product, and project teams.
• Familiarity with waterfall, agile and hybrid practices especially working with external vendors.

Desirable skills:

• Experience developing and deploying web solutions for use in low-bandwidth, challenging work environments.
• Experience optimizing database models, SQL / NoSQL, Postgres.
• Familiarity with UNICEF partnership management processes including the CSO procedure, HACT and Field Monitoring Guidance.

For every Child, you demonstrate…

UNICEF's values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, Accountability, and Sustainability (CRITAS).

To view our competency framework, please visit here.

UNICEF is here to serve the world’s most disadvantaged children and our global workforce must reflect the diversity of those children. The UNICEF family is committed to include everyone, irrespective of their race/ethnicity, age, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, socio-economic background, or any other personal characteristic.

UNICEF offers reasonable accommodation for consultants/individual contractors with disabilities. This may include, for example, accessible software, travel assistance for missions or personal attendants. We encourage you to disclose your disability during your application in case you need reasonable accommodation during the selection process and afterwards in your assignment.

UNICEF has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UNICEF, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. UNICEF also adheres to strict child safeguarding principles. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles and will therefore undergo rigorous reference and background checks. Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check.

Remarks:

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process.

Individuals engaged under a consultancy or individual contract will not be considered “staff members” under the Staff Regulations and Rules of the United Nations and UNICEF’s policies and procedures, and will not be entitled to benefits provided therein (such as leave entitlements and medical insurance coverage). Their conditions of service will be governed by their contract and the General Conditions of Contracts for the Services of Consultants and Individual Contractors. Consultants and individual contractors are responsible for determining their tax liabilities and for the payment of any taxes and/or duties, in accordance with local or other applicable laws.

The selected candidate is solely responsible to ensure that the visa (applicable) and health insurance required to perform the duties of the contract are valid for the entire period of the contract. Selected candidates are subject to confirmation of fully-vaccinated status against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19) with a World Health Organization (WHO)-endorsed vaccine, which must be met prior to taking up the assignment. It does not apply to consultants who will work remotely and are not expected to work on or visit UNICEF premises, programme delivery locations or directly interact with communities UNICEF works with, nor to travel to perform functions for UNICEF for the duration of their consultancy contracts.

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Added 29 days ago - Updated 23 days ago - Source: unicef.org