ICT Specialist (Application Solutions Engineer), P-3, Fixed-Term, Post no. 120550, ICTD Digital Core, Valencia, Spain

Contract

This is a P-3 contract. This kind of contract is known as Professional and Director staff. It is normally internationally recruited only. It's a staff contract. It usually requires 5 years of experience, depending on education.

Salary

The salary for this job should be between 74,649 USD and 97,747 USD.

Please keep in mind that the salary displayed here is an estimation by UN Talent based on the location and the type of contract. It may vary depending on the organization. The recruiter should be able to inform you about the exact salary range. In case the job description contains another salary information, please refer to this one.

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

How can you make a difference?

UNICEF is going through an exciting digital transformation that will influence the work of the entire organization. UNICEF is looking for dynamic, innovative professionals to drive the transformation and play a key role in shaping the way forward.

This position is situated within the Digital Tools and Platforms Unit of the Solutions Centre and Support (SCS) section in ICTD. The incumbent will be part of a multidisciplinary team that is responsible for developing and maintaining both UNICEF’s applications and its main communication and collaboration platform, based on Microsoft SharePoint and records management tools.

The unit’s goal is to provide user friendly and innovative solutions to UNICEF’s stakeholders while maintaining the integrity of UNICEF’s data, systems architecture and security landscapes. The unit provides guidance, governance, and procedures to enable digital tools and platforms throughout the organization.

Working under the general direction of the ICT Manager (User Applications), the ICT Specialist (Application Solutions Engineer) will contribute to significant portions of the evaluation, design, development, testing, delivery and maintenance of full stack solutions and products to support UNICEF requirements.

The ideal candidate will have strong technical expertise that enables them to do hands on work as a software developer, data engineer and solution architect, but is also comfortable and capable to drive engagement and interact with business stakeholders, product managers and senior management. The candidate should also have a demonstrated ability to think strategically and analytically about business, product, and technical challenges, with the ability to build and convey compelling value propositions and work cross-organizationally to build consensus. A keen sense of ownership, drive, and interpersonal skills is a must.

Key responsibilities:

Applications Lifecycle and Solution Delivery.

• Engage with stakeholders, including business teams in Headquarters, Field and Regional offices, Business Relationship Managers, platform teams, vendor partners and other service providers to effectively advise, recommend and implement best in class solutions to meet stakeholder needs. • Applications and solutions lifecycle management

o Meet with users to define and write detailed specifications. o Develop prototypes, review with users and incorporate required changes. o Incorporate security measures. o Conduct user tests and adjust solution for requested changes. o Coordinate and actively participate in the implementation and stabilization of applications and solutions in production. o Continually improve the DevOps processes

• Deliver solutions in adherence to UNICEF branding guidelines, security and data privacy standards, testing standards and other relevant UNICEF standards. Update existing applications to reflect changing guidelines and policies.

Support and Maintenance

• Provide support to new and legacy applications. Support includes enhancements, customizations and other periodic updates to implemented solutions. It can also include major changes to overall design, technologies and architecture. • Ensure that the ongoing administrative tasks such as sites provision and management, user administration, security and access management activities are maintained according to standard procedures. • Automate the tracking and monitoring of issues and respond to alerts. Ensure delivery of solutions in a timely manner. • Automate, run and analyze Quality Assurance and User Acceptance Tests (e.g. unit tests, acceptance tests, regression tests). • Maintain an evergreen platform in terms of platform and software versioning, patches, upgrades and security protocols. • Maintain and enforce an effective DevOps environment.

Create and Implement Standards. Maintain Technical Application and Software Documentation.

• Prepare application and software technical documentation. • Update procedures and processes during implementation as well as during ongoing maintenance of applications. • Document best practices for source and version control, issue tracking, project management, and software interoperability. • Oversee adherence of the established design and development standards. • Measure and periodically report on key performance indicators identified for the function. • Monitor and analyze key indicators and statistics, such as performance, health, etc., of the relevant sites and applications. Keep statistics, and periodically produce a report on findings.

Research and Evaluate New Technologies

• Conduct research and make recommendations on solutions for UNICEF’s digital journey. • Assist in tools and software selection and vendor evaluations. • Interface with other offices in the organization to recommend new technology opportunities that will have an impact on UNICEF solutions and architecture. • In coordination with ICTD teams, participate in the development of technical standards, research and testing of new tools and techniques, third party software or other innovations to support collaboration as well as to inform and lift the general technical awareness and knowledge in UNICEF.

To qualify as a champion for every child you will have…

Academic Degrees: • An advanced university degree (Master’s or higher) in in Computer Science, Information Systems Management, Business Administration, Technology Management or other related fields is required. A first university degree in a relevant field combined with 2 additional years of professional experience may be accepted in lieu of an advanced university degree.

Required Experience: • A minimum of 5 years of practical professional work experience, both in agile and waterfall environments, at the national or international levels in enterprise level application architecture and development, database administration, data analysis, software security, application monitoring, maintenance and support is required. • Practical experience with programming languages and technologies, specifically: Python, .NET, Entity Framework, React, Scripting, Postgres and MS SQL databases, PowerBI, data visualization libraries and data pipelines is required. • Practical experience designing and implementing cloud-based solutions on main providers such as AWS or Azure is required.

Desirable Experience: • PCI DSS overall knowledge and experience in the organizational journey to become PCI compliant is desirable. •Knowledge of container technologies such as Docker and Kubernetes is desirable. •Business Intelligence and Big Data working experience and usage of domain specific tools such as python data libraries, Pandas, visualizations and interactive web maps (ArcGIS) is desirable. •Experience with SharePoint Framework or TypeScript and PowerShell scripting is desirable. •Working experience within a fundraising environment/team, familiarity with its operations and challenges is desirable. •CRM solutions management and support (Salesforce and DPO preferred) is desirable. •Experience working in an international organization is desirable.

Language Requirements: • Fluency in English is required. • Working knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish) is an asset.

For every Child, you demonstrate...

UNICEF’s Core Values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust and Accountability and Sustainability (CRITAS) underpin everything we do and how we do it. Get acquainted with Our Values Charter: UNICEF Values

UNICEF competencies required for this post are…

(1) Builds and maintains partnerships (2) Demonstrates self-awareness and ethical awareness (3) Drive to achieve results for impact (4) Innovates and embraces change (5) Manages ambiguity and complexity (6) Thinks and acts strategically (7) Works collaboratively with others (8) Nurtures, leads and manages people.

During the recruitment process, we test candidates following the competency framework. Familiarize yourself with our competency framework and its different levels: competency framework here.

As an advocate for every child you will receive:

UNICEF offers a competitive salary that is tax-exempted for most nationalities. You can access here a salary calculator for simulation. (Medical insurance and pension premiums will be deducted from net salary).

We offer a wide range of benefits to our staff, including paid parental leave, breastfeeding breaks and reasonable accommodation for persons with disabilities. UNICEF strongly encourages the use of flexible working arrangements.

Additional benefits for eligible international professional staff members include:

• Paid holidays and leave, including 2.5 days of annual leave accrual per month and 10 official holidays per year
• Paid parental leave (maternity, paternity and adoption)
• Dependency allowance
• Rental subsidy
• Relocation support and lump sum
• Home leave travel (air tickets or lump sum)
• Education grant for children in school
• United Nations-sponsored medical and dental insurance plan, pension plan, and optional life insurance plan
• Access to professional development and learning programs, online learning, and learning path
• Access to staff well-being and career development support

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 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 is committed to promote the protection and safeguarding of all children. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks, and will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles. 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:

UNICEF’s active commitment towards diversity and inclusion is critical to deliver the best results for children. For this position, eligible females are strongly encouraged to apply.

International mobility is a condition of international professional employment with UNICEF and an underlying premise of the international civil service.

UNICEF appointments are subject to medical clearance. Issuance of a visa by the host country of the duty station, which will be facilitated by UNICEF, is required for International Professional positions. Appointments are also subject to inoculation (vaccination) requirements, including against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid). Government employees that are considered for employment with UNICEF are normally required to resign from their government before taking up an assignment with UNICEF. UNICEF reserves the right to withdraw an offer of appointment, without compensation, if a visa or medical clearance is not obtained, or necessary inoculation requirements are not met, within a reasonable period for any reason.

This is a re-advertisement to expand the pool. Applicants who previously applied will be included for consideration and do not need to re-apply.