Individual Contractor – Technology for Development Officer (Data Engineer), UNICEF East Asia and Pacific Regional Office (EAPRO), Bangkok, Thailand, Job No

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 fulfilling 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 better future

UNICEF works to ensure the rights of all children in the East Asia and Pacific Region. This means the rights of every child living in this country, irrespective of their nationality, gender, religion or ethnicity, to:

• survival – to basic healthcare, peace and security;
• development – to a good education, a loving home and adequate nutrition;
• protection – from abuse, neglect, trafficking, child labour and other forms of exploitation; and
• participation – to express opinions, be listened to and take part in making any decisions that affect them

How can you make a difference?

The Regional ICT and Digital Innovation Section, UNICEF East Asia and Pacific Regional Office is seeking an individual contractor to provide data engineering support to the activities of the Regional FDTN. The contractor will work in close coordination with the Data Scientist and Data Specialist in the Node, as well as T4D, data and programme teams in country offices across the East Asia and Pacific region.

Purpose:

The purpose of this assignment is to produce data engineering pipelines and data analytics products, mostly to leverage frontier data and data science models developed by the Frontier Data Tech Node. The right candidate will be an experienced data engineer, data analyst, and have an applied understanding of data visualization techniques and best practices, with extensive knowledge about user centred design, data management best practices, and development of data pipelines to support interactive dashboards; comfortable in a flat, fast-moving team; excited to collaborate; and focused on impacting the design of frontier data products to advance UNICEF’s mission. Key responsibilities include:

• Delivery, maintenance, and documentation of all the data engineering pipelines in support of the data science work of the Frontier Data Tech Node.

• Support in developing data analytics products to disseminate the developed data science models in interactive dashboards and actionable insights.

• Setup and support of the relevant SysOps and DevOps infrastructure required for the Node.

Work Assignment:

The contractor will provide specialized support in the design and development of data engineering pipelines, and data analytics products including interactive dashboards. S/he will assist with the design, implementation, and development of relevant data products, including liaising with technology vendors, partners, and end users, to ensure the highest possible quality of the data engineering supporting the work of the Frontier Data Tech Node.

The contractor’s duties will include:

• Gather data engineering requirements for the Node’s projects and programmes.
• Design of data engineering pipelines, blueprints, and relevant prototypes.
• Development of data engineering workflows and automated pipelines.
• Structure and implement ETL flows to automate extraction, cleaning, and streamlining of relevant data flows.
• Development of interactive dashboards and data storytelling products.
• Management of data flows including the relevant DevOps infrastructure required for storing and management of datasets, and automation of data flows.
• Data engineering support to UNICEF personnel, including training and production of knowledge products on data engineering best practices.

Work Schedule: The work plan and schedule will be agreed upon the start of the contract by the contractor and contract’s supervisor.

End Product(s):

The Data Engineer (Technology for Development) is expected to lead the design and development of data engineering pipelines and support the creation of data analytics products like interactive dashboards in the context of the Regional Frontier Data Tech Node. Deliverables include:

• Ongoing data engineering support to the work of the Node, participating in every phase of the Node’s work, from ideation of data projects, to scoping, design, developing, iterating and delivering of end data analytics products.
• Solid automated data engineering flows to support the data science work of the Node
• Design prototypes for data visualizations and interactive dashboards and analytics products.
• Develop interactive dashboards and data analytics products.
• Support country offices building data engineering pipelines and data analytics products.
• Any other activity/output as required.

Duration of Contract: 11.5-month full-time equivalence throughout the period of October 2022 through September 2023

Official Travel: The consultant may need to travel to Country Offices depending on pre-approved requests for technical assistance. Any required travel and logistics related to this assignment will be discussed with the supervisor in advance and agreed upon mutually.

Travel expenses and accommodation will be covered by the contractor and be reimbursed by UNICEF upon submission of travel cost invoice (given travel budget proposal approved by UNICEF prior to travel). The travel cost reimbursement shall be based on economy class travel and the costs for accommodation, meals and incidentals shall not exceed applicable DSA rate as per UNICEF rules and regulations.

Work Location: The contractor will work from his/her premises. Candidates will be preferred from a time zone location within a maximum of 4 hours of GMT +7 (Bangkok).

He/she may need to travel to Country Offices depending on pre-approved requests for technical assistance. Any required travel and logistics related to this assignment will be discussed with the supervisor in advance and agreed upon mutually.

Contractor to use own laptop and other necessary infrastructure/equipment.

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

Education:

A first-level university degree is required in Computer Science, Information Management, Data Science, Digital Development or another relevant technical field.

Experience:

• A minimum of two years of hands-on experience in software development, data engineering or data science field. Developing and deploying integrated solutions, with concrete understanding of Azure Cloud Data Services (Azure Storage, Azure ML, Azure DB services, etc.).
• Experience supporting database and application architecture for deployment in hybrid cloud environments is a plus.
• 1+ years of experience in Python programming and solution development
• 1+ years of experience with SDLC/Agile methodologies and release management
• Demonstrated data analysis skills, especially in the social, public, development, or humanitarian sector
• Demonstrated ability to convey insights and key messages from noisy datasets clearly, quickly, and effectively to drive action
• Demonstrated experience with writing end-to-end ETL pipelines using pure Python, Apache Airflow, Dagster, or similar data engineering toolkits
• Demonstrated experience in data preparation and automation of data flows from data collection tools (especially ODK, RapidPro, KoBoToolbox or ONA Data) is strongly preferred
• Demonstrated experience designing and developing compelling, and actionable data visualization products using modern data visualization tools like Superset, Kibana, Metabase or PowerBI
• Understanding of data visualization best practices and data visualization tools, ability to demonstrate their pros and cons
• Ability to automate data flows behind data visualizations using PowerQuery, SQL, Apache Drill and other ETL tools
• Experience with GitHub or Azure DevOps
• Experience writing PowerShell and Azure CLI scripts to ease up and standardize management tasks
• Working knowledge of SQL, including Geospatial SQL Libraries (PostGIS or similar)
• Familiarity with end-to-end open-source data infrastructure architecture in the Azure cloud environment including Kubernetes, Parquet, Apache Drill and Daskhub
• An online portfolio of examples is required

Other skills and attributes:

The successful candidate is expected to demonstrate the following competencies that are necessary to this consultancy:

• Effective project management skills
• Strong analytical, research and report writing skills
• Able to work well in a multi-cultural team
• Ability to communicate and engage with experts and stakeholders from different fields, including policymakers, researchers, and civil society
• Excellent communicator of concepts both verbally and in writing to a developing country's government and international audience
• Ability to work independently and do effective problem-solving

• Able to quickly understand instructions, to proactively seek clarification when needed

• Ability to work comfortably in a fast-paced environment

Language Requirements:

Fluency in English is required. Knowledge of another official UN language or local language of the duty station is considered as an asset.

Interested candidates are requested to submit CV or P-11, full contact information of minimum 3 references, availability, and proposed daily professional fee in USD by 2 October 2022.

FORM P11.doc

For every Child, you demonstrate…

UNICEF’s values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, Accountability (CRITA) and core competencies in Communication, Working with People, and Drive for Results.

To view our competency framework, please visit here.

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UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages all candidates, irrespective of gender, nationality, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including persons living with disabilities, to apply to become a part of the organization.

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.

UNICEF is committed to promote the protection and safeguarding of all children.