Senior Data Analyst

The UNOPS Global Portfolios Office (GPO) unites the New York Portfolios, including the Peace and Security team (PSC); the Geneva Office; and the Vienna-based Water, Environment and Climate (WEC) teams, to maximize global impact, foster efficiencies and streamline global programmes. Leveraging our collective expertise and networks, GPO supports UNOPS' strategic priorities and the SDGs across over 130 countries. We deliver project management, fund management, advisory services, project implementation, and HR services, working closely with major global partners. Our thematic focus includes sustainable development, climate action, health, peace & security, and humanitarian action.

As part of the Global Portfolios Office, UNOPS Geneva provides comprehensive solutions in secretariat hosting, operational support, and fund management. We manage global programmes, including the Water, Environment and Climate (WEC) Portfolio, offering project management, procurement, HR, and financial services. Geneva hosts the secretariats of eight global partnerships focused on health (RBM, Stop TB, ATscale), nutrition (SUN), water/sanitation (SHF), humanitarian leadership (GELI), urban development (Cities Alliance), and disaster displacement (PDD). We also provide fund management for EIF and UN Water, and operational support to Geneva-based partners like the Global Fund and UNHCR. 

Launched in 2019, Giga is a joint initiative by UNICEF and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) that aims to connect every school in the world to the Internet and every young person to information, opportunity, and choice.

Half of the world’s population still lacks regular Internet access. Millions of children complete school without digital skills, widening the digital divide between the connected and the unconnected—a divide made even starker during the COVID-19 pandemic. Giga seeks to address this inequality by mapping schools, measuring connectivity, and supporting governments and partners to deliver affordable and sustainable Internet access.

To date, Giga has mapped over 2.1 million schools across 140 countries, supported 40+ national governments, and contributed to connecting more than 20,000 schools globally.

The role will be based in Barcelona, Spain, as part of the Giga Barcelona Tech Centre. The consultant’s on-site presence facilitates collaboration, engagement with local partners, and participation in key events.

Under the supervision of the Data & Product Lead, Senior Data Analyst will lead Giga’s data analytics, governance, and open-source data workstreams. The Senior Data Analyst will develop data strategies, manage data pipelines and quality frameworks, coordinate with technical partners, and provide strategic insights to guide Giga’s mission to connect every school to the Internet.

Key Responsibilities:

• Data Strategy: Develop and implement Giga’s comprehensive data strategy, defining the vision for data-driven decision-making and analytics innovation.

• Open-Source Data Management: Design and execute a plan to open-source Giga’s school geo-location and connectivity datasets, ensuring compliance with data quality and licensing standards.

• Data Governance & Quality: Establish and oversee data governance best practices, including data documentation, metadata management, and quality assurance processes using tools such as Datahub, Deltalake, and Great Expectations.

• Data Integration & Pipelines: Collaborate with engineers to design, maintain, and optimize robust, scalable, and automated data pipelines ensuring the integrity and timeliness of analytics outputs.

• Product Analytics: Build and manage analytics frameworks and dashboards (e.g., in Superset, Grafana, Mixpanel) for Giga’s digital products (such as Giga Maps and Giga Meter) to monitor adoption, performance, and impact.

• Network Data Partnerships: Act as a technical lead for data partnerships with Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and network partners, defining requirements and overseeing data integration with Giga’s monitoring systems.

• Advanced Analytics & Insights: Develop automated reports, visualizations, and analytical stories to provide actionable insights for internal teams, partners, and the public.

• Stakeholder Engagement: Represent Giga’s data initiatives to governments, private sector partners, and open-source communities, organizing data workshops and capacity-building sessions.

• Open Data Community Building: Work alongside the open-source community manager to engage contributors, manage data repositories, and drive community participation.

• Knowledge Sharing: Contribute to analytical blog posts, internal documentation, and communication materials to disseminate insights and best practices.

3. Monitoring and Progress Controls      

Required

• Advanced university degree (Master’s or higher) in Statistics, Data Analytics, Computer Science, or a related field is required. 

• A first University Degree (Bachelor`s degree or equivalent) in a relevant field combined with 2 additional years of professional experience may be accepted in lieu of an Advanced University Degree.

Required

• Minimum of 5 years of professional experience in data analytics, data engineering, or related field is required.

• Experience managing geo-spatial and/or internet network datasets and conducting product analytics is required. 

• Hand-on experience with open-source analytical stacks such as Superset, Trino, QGIS, Kepler, Mapbox, Carto, PostgreSQL, and Dagster is required.     

• Experience with Python and SQL for data analysis and automation is required     

• Experience implementing data governance and data quality frameworks using tools such as Datahub, Deltalake, or Great Expectations is required.  

Desired

• Experience with product analytics tools (e.g., Matomo, Grafana, Mixpanel)

• Experience working in agile environments using collaboration tools such as Slack, Jira, and Zoom.

• Knowledge of computer networks and understanding of Internet Service Provider (ISP) systems is an asset.

• Demonstrated commitment to data quality, reproducibility, and actionable insights.

• Experience in developing countries or familiarity with humanitarian/emergency contexts is an asset.

• Please note that UNOPS does not accept unsolicited resumes. 
• Please note that UNOPS will at no stage of the recruitment process request candidates to make payments of any kind.
• Applications to vacancies must be received before midnight Copenhagen time (CET) on the closing date of the announcement. 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.

• 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. Refreshers or new mandatory courses may be required during your contract. Please note that you will not receive any compensation for taking courses and refreshers. For more information on a retainer contract here. 
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