ICT Advisor - Technology Innovation (Platform Lead)

Contract

This is a IICA-3 contract. This kind of contract is known as International Individual Contractor Agreements. It is normally internationally recruited only. It's an external contract. It usually requires 7 years of experience, depending on education. More about IICA-3 contracts.

Background Information - UNOPS

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.

Background Information - Job-specific

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 - Job Specific UN Global Pulse 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.

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 Platform Lead is a key senior level role and instrumental for the success of GDAI. With experience in the development of cloud-based data platforms from data ingestion to insights, the Platform Lead will be accountable for the development of vision and technical direction to GDAI’s data access and processing platform. Under the supervision of the Strategy Lead, the Platform Lead will put together the roadmap for platform development balancing the need for quick delivery with robustness and scalability. The Platform Lead will translate needs for privacy protection and other relevant considerations into technical specifications and will work in collaboration with other team members to ensure the right expertise are utilized. The platform lead will manage and integrate multiple different data streams from different providers and will put in place identity and access management and other solutions to ensure appropriate access to data and technology resources. Working with a variety of contributors, from product managers to data scientists and front-end developers, the Platform Lead takes a proactive approach in addressing their needs and enabling their work on the GDAI data access and processing platform.

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:

1. Vision and strategy for platform development
2. Implementation guidance
3. Reliability Engineering

4. Team coordination

   1. Vision and Strategy for Platform development

• Create and maintain the roadmap for the development of the GDAI data access and processing platform in collaboration with the Technology Lead and in coordination with the GDAI team
• Oversee and coordinate between technical teams to balance the need for quick delivery on a tight timeline to support the development of use cases with the need for a flexible, yet robust, secure, and scalable infrastructure as use cases are scaled to new users and geographies and new use cases are added
• Consider needs for and (future) transitions to hybrid or multi-cloud solutions, seek to minimize dependencies on a single cloud provider offering
• In collaboration with the Policy lead; discover and translate the needs for privacy protection and other relevant considerations for responsible use of data and AI into technical specifications (platform, use cases), research and take advantage of, for example, privacy-by-design approaches and privacy-preserving computation where appropriate
• Set up and maintain identity and access management (IAM) to ensure appropriate access to data and technology resources, while potentially being involved in and/or support the development of workflows to ensure transparent and responsible access to data and AI assets developed within GDAI
• Set up and maintain cloud storage and data warehouses. Manage environments (e.g., to deploy containerized applications based on MLOps best practices) and virtual machines as required for the implementation of use cases
• Set up monitoring, logging, and general technical performance management for applications and systems – including, potentially, audit functionalities
• Integrate and manage multiple different data streams from ingestion to serving front-end applications

• Design and maintain change and release management including CI/CD as appropriate

  2. Implementation guidance

• Onboard technical contributors onto the GDAI platform, some of whom on short-term rotations from GDAI partners, and provide ad hoc support in service of their work and the development of use cases

• Proactively seek to address developer needs in platform design choices
• Track and control costs of running applications and services
• Seek to identify and utilize expertise from technical contributors, in particular, from those on rotation from GDAI partners, for platform design, development and future improvements

• Provide hands on support for the technical development, maintenance and support needs of GDAI’s use cases and data products from an infrastructure / technological standpoint

  3. Reliability engineering

• Assume accountability for the reliability of the data access and processing platform and proactively seek to reduce inefficiencies and downtime

• Seek to increase observability of the system to diagnose inefficiencies and other factors that may decrease platform reliability

• Design incident management processes

  4. Team Coordination

• Proactively seek to identify and overcome pain points, keep lines of communication with the Technology Lead and Delivery Lead (Strategy Lead as relevant) very open

• Contribute to a positive, can-do team culture and attitude among team members
• Supports team members with technical backstopping and feedback as needed.

Impact of Results

The effective and successful achievement of key results by the Platform Lead is key to the success of Global Pulse’s Global Data Access Initiative (GDAI) which, in turn, positions the UN Global Pulse 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: - Advanced university degree (Master’s degree or equivalent) in computer science or a related field; - A first-level university degree in combination with an additional two (2) years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of an advanced university degree;

Experience: - A minimum of seven (7) years of experience in platform engineering configuring, deploying, and operating critical data-driven applications and pipelines on public cloud services (e.g., Azure, AWS, GCP) including IAM is required; - Exposure to machine learning, data science, computer vision, etc. and a track record of successful collaboration with machine learning engineers and/or data scientists is required; - Exposure to the development of frontend and backend applications is an asset; - Proven track record of successfully working as a part of large, collaborative, agile(ish) teams including distributed international teams is an asset; - Experience with translating user needs and product requirements into engineering design documents is an asset; - Demonstrated ability to create environments for rapid prototyping and piloting with a mindset towards enablement of data/machine learning engineers and data scientists is is an asset; - Proven track record in DevOps and MLOps for reliable and efficient deployment to production is an asset; - Expertise in infrastructure as code (e.g., cloud formation, Terraform, Chef, Puppet) is an asset; - Experience and knowledge around deployment of ML pipelines, models, and workflows or ML workloads is an asset; - Experience and knowledge around deployment of ML pipelines, models, and workflows or ML workloads is an asset; - Experience with DevSecOps is an asset; - Experience with privacy-preserving computation 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: IICA
• Contract level: ICS 11 / IICA-3
• Contract duration: 12 months with possibility of extension subject to satisfactory performance and funding availability

https://www.unops.org/english/Opportunities/job-opportunities/what-we-offer/Pages/Individual-Contractor-Agreements.aspx

Disclaimer: If the selected candidate is a national of the duty station, a Local Individual contractor Agreement will be issued.

The position is based in a family duty station.

Additional Information

• Please note that UNOPS does not accept unsolicited resumes.
• Applications received after the closing date will not be considered.
• Please note that only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process, which involves various assessments.
• UNOPS embraces diversity and is committed to equal employment opportunity. Our workforce consists of many diverse nationalities, cultures, languages, races, gender identities, sexual orientations, and abilities. UNOPS seeks to sustain and strengthen this diversity to ensure equal opportunities as well as an inclusive working environment for its entire workforce.
• Qualified women and candidates from groups which are underrepresented in the UNOPS workforce are encouraged to apply. These include in particular candidates from racialized and/or indigenous groups, members of minority gender identities and sexual orientations, and people with disabilities.
• We would like to ensure all candidates perform at their best during the assessment process. If you are shortlisted and require additional assistance to complete any assessment, including reasonable accommodation, please inform our human resources team when you receive an invitation.

Terms and Conditions

• 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 (they take around 4 hours to complete) in your own time, before providing services to UNOPS. For more information on a retainer contract here.
• All UNOPS personnel are responsible for performing their duties in accordance with the UN Charter and 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 personnel. Recruitment in UNOPS is contingent on the results of such checks.