Readvertising - Innovation Manager (Tech Lead), P4, TA, Office of Innovation, Stockholm, Sweden (Post # 119840) (revised ToRs)

Contract

This is a P-4 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 7 years of experience, depending on education.

Salary

The salary for this job should be between 90,970 USD and 117,287 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.

This is a re-advertisement in order to expand the candidate pool. Previous applicants need not reapply as their original application will be duly considered.

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, inspiration…

UNICEF has a history of innovating for children. We believe that new approaches, partnerships, and technologies are critical for achieve improved outcomes for children. The Office of Innovation is a creative, interactive and agile team in UNICEF that sits at the unique intersection of working on material global issues, startup thinking, technology and partnerships that can scale solutions. We look to form partnerships around frontier technologies (including AI, drones and UAVs, blockchain, new banking tools, wearables and sensors, and 3D-printing) that exist at the intersection of $100 billion markets and 1 billion person needs.

The Office of Innovation currently co-hosts the Secretariat for the Digital Public Goods Alliance, established in follow-up to the High-level Panel on Digital Cooperation. In its report, the Panel recommends as 1B “that a broad, multi-stakeholder alliance, involving the UN, create a platform for sharing digital public goods, engaging talent and pooling data sets, in a manner that respects privacy, in areas related to attaining the SDGs”. Norway, Sierra Leone, UNICEF and iSPIRT, the four initial champions are working to implement this recommendation.

The Office of Innovation’s Venture Fund is a pooled funding vehicle specially designed to finance early stage, open-source technology that can benefit children. The core motivation of the Innovation Fund is to identify clusters or portfolios of initiatives around emerging technology – so that UNICEF can both shape markets and also learn about and guide these technologies to benefit children. We invest in solutions that can impact the lives of the most vulnerable children.

How can you make a difference?

The UNICEF Office of Innovation (OOI) is looking for a Technology Lead to support implementation of UNICEF Ventures’ engagement in the Digital Public Goods Alliance.

The Manager will lead the conceptualization and executing of prototypes that leverage frontier technology to improve resource allocation, community engagement, decentralization and access to digital public goods. You will conceptualize and lead the development of a top level domain and related explorations that aim to challenge and redefine major aspects of the digital ecosystem and how digital public goods are designed, accessed and interacted with. The Tech Lead will lead technical support to DPGs in UNICEF’s pathfinder countries, from the Venture Fund portfolio and build global partnerships to leverage resources from across sectors to this end. The Tech Lead will work closely with the Ventures team and the DPG Alliance Secretariat to engage in relevant technical fora (e.g. on the Digital Public Goods Standard Working Group) to set and promote standards for digital public goods development by UNICEF and its partners.

Overall, this position is responsible for:

Lead the conceptualization and execution of innovative open source prototypes that leverage frontier technology to improve resource allocation, community engagement, decentralization and access to digital public goods

• Identify and document ideas for prototypes through consultation with DPGA members and the UNICEF Ventures team
• Develop concepts and roadmaps and project manage execution, including for the top level domain for DPGs
• Oversee technical resources, including developers, external service vendors etc, in execution phase
• Document learnings and make prototypes available as digital public goods
• Identify opportunities for integration and application at scale through digitalpublicgoods.net and other platforms

Provide and coordinate technical support to nominated and vetted DPGs in line with UNICEF’s priorities, including to Venture Fund portfolio companies and CO-led projects.

• Provide ongoing support to individual early stage projects and pilots to ensure alignment with best practices, relevant standards
• Lead technical review at key moments of Venture Fund portfolio projects’ investment journey to identify and address gaps in the quality of software development and open-source best practices.
• Develop and oversee execution of relevant technical standards to guide development, piloting and acceleration of frontier tech solutions and DPGs, developed and supported by the Ventures team
• Provide direct development support and oversight to products led by various tech area-specific leads (blockchain, UAVs, AI)
• Providing guidance to UNICEF-led innovation projects on the DPG vetting process and meeting the DPG standard

Develop and deliver tools for technical support

• Capture challenges and gaps observed in solutions under development, nominated and vetted as DPGs
• Identify technical platforms and other avenues to develop and deliver tools for technical support
• Support oversight of relevant technical consultants, vendors and other resources

Support the development of technical collaborations and partnerships for DPG development, deployment and adaptation

• Support the DPGA Secretariat in engagements with current and prospective members on application of technical standards and, where relevant, integrations
• Identify and input into engagement with potential technical collaborators and networks that can provide technical support to DPGs, with a focus on those aligned with UNICEF’s mission

Provide technical input for the DPG Standard Working Group and relevant Communities of Practice, when required

• Represent UNICEF in relevant DPGA-led technical working groups and communities of practice, with a focus on technical standards and practices, to support application of consistent approaches

In collaboration with the DPGA Secretariat and other members of the UNICEF Ventures team support the promotion of the DPG-related technical standards and approaches

• Support development of relevant materials and technical collaboration opportunities and platforms
• Provide technical input to materials and engagement strategies

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

Education: An advanced university degree (Master’s or higher) in engineering, technology, computer science, or other relevant field.

*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.

Experience: A minimum of eight years of relevant professional experience in technology product development, project, and partnership management.

• Demonstrated management and strategic experience for development of technical platforms.
• A track record of architecting and prototyping systems rapidly within large open conceptual spaces and across different technology platforms and areas.
• Demonstrated ability to lay out technical vision for product and engineering work end-to-end
• Superior project management skills for managing tasks and dependencies.
• Experience in providing technical assistance, guidance and mentorship to product owners and team and developers focused on development and deployment of solutions.
• Must be able to write and review code as an individual contributor and provide track record of own open source development is an asset
• Piloting and scaling of technology solutions in UNICEF programme countries desired; developing country work experience and/or familiarity with emergency is considered an asset.

Language Requirements: Fluency in English is required. Knowledge of another official UN language is an asset.

For every Child, you demonstrate...

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

The UNICEF competencies required for this post are...

• Works Collaboratively with others
• Innovates and Embraces Change
• Thinks and Acts Strategically
• Drive to achieve impactful results
• Applying technical expertise

Functional competencies:

• Relating and Networking
• Planning and organizing
• Deciding and initiating action

To view our competency framework, please visit here.

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.