Under the supervision of the Chief PFP-ICT (P5) with a dotted line to Operations Manager (P4), the incumbent will act as the crucial bridge between operational ICT support staff and the business, including management, and coordinate the overall ICT services in Rome. It is responsible for directing, supporting, quality assuring, and managing the day-to-day performance of ICT services. It ensures systems and services are available, stable, secure, and aligned with business needs while mentoring ICT staff and managing technical projects.
UNICEF works in over 190 countries and territories to save children’s lives, defend their rights, and help them fulfill their potential, from early childhood through adolescence.
At UNICEF, we are committed, passionate, and proud of what we do for as long as we are needed. Promoting the rights of every child is not just a job – it is a calling.
UNICEF is a place where careers are built: we offer our staff diverse opportunities for professional and personal development that will help them reinforce a sense of purpose while serving children and communities across the world. We welcome everyone who wants to belong and grow in a diverse and passionate culture, coupled with an attractive compensation and benefits package.
Visit our website to learn more about what we do at UNICEF.
For every child, a Champion
The Rome Common Services Center (CSC) will be newly established following the relocation of several UNICEF HQ Divisions to Rome, where they will be co-located with WFP HQ. The Rome CSC will play a critical role in delivering operational support to all UNICEF Divisions based in Rome as well as coordinating closely with WFP on the services provided to UNICEF.
The divisions based in Rome provide global support to country offices and national committees worldwide as well as constituent partners. These divisions have embarked on digital transformation journeys and as such, the organizational context is shaped by the high dependency of these entities on digital environment where technology is integral part of business efficiency and growth. In their respective key areas, such as digital fundraising, digital marketing, digital media, digital collaboration etc.; these entities integrate digital technologies into their business operations, use data as strategic assets, remotely provide global support, and entail robust digital infrastructure with high speed and stable connectivity, require secure digital environment, and expect customer experience focus.
The office in Rome is hosted by WFP and while the physical network infrastructure is provided by the host (WFP), the whole ICT services and support are entirely provided by the UNICEF ICT unit (tier 2), while WFP handles only issues beyond UNICEF control (tier 3). In this context, the UNICEF ICT unit is in charge of managing and monitoring the availability and performance of the technology infrastructure, ensuring security enforcement of the digital environment, managing customer services, providing user support, supporting business operations, and planning future business needs.
Under the supervision of the Chief PFP-ICT (P5) with a dotted line to Operations Manager (P4), the incumbent will act as the crucial bridge between operational ICT support staff and the business, including management, and coordinate the overall ICT services in Rome. It is responsible for directing, supporting, quality assuring, and managing the day-to-day performance of ICT services. It ensures systems and services are available, stable, secure, and aligned with business needs while mentoring ICT staff and managing technical projects.
How can you make a difference?
1. Operational ICT leadership
- Leading the ICT team and coordinating the overall ICT services.
- Acting as the primary escalation point for complex technical issues, bridging front-line support with specialist teams.
- Acting as focal point for Inter-agency activities.
- Coordinating with other CSC services.
2. Strategic and Technical Advice
- Surfacing business demands and user requirements for digital solutions.
- Advising the management on ICT needs, acquisitions, and infrastructure improvements.
- Managing changes as a result of incident resolution, opportunity to add business values, security improvement etc.
3. Team Support and Performance Management
- Managing workplan, projects, and team capacity.
- Supporting and mentoring ICT staff to improve and maintain performance.
- Organizing workload, and fostering a collaborative and efficient team environment.
4. Risk management and disaster recovery
- Ensuring robust data security, regular backups, and compliance with IT policies.
- Maintaining risks register with mitigation measures as per the standard and best practices.
- Owning the ICT Disaster Recovery Plan as part of the office Business Continuity Plan.
5. Project Delivery & Resource Allocation
- Overseeing the implementation of new systems, hardware/software upgrades, and managing resource allocation.
To qualify as a Champion for every child you will have…
Education:
- An advanced university degree in one of the following fields is required: system information, information technology management, computer science or another relevant technical field.
- Alternatively, a first level university degree in a relevant field combined with (2) additional years of qualifying professional experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.
- Professional and/or university courses related to the area of Project Management, Business Analysis, Data Modeling is an asset.
- ITIL Foundation Certificate or equivalent customer support certification is required.
Experience:
- A minimum of five (5) years of professional experience, at the national and international level, managing ICT service delivery support team across multiple office or divisional structures is required.
- Extensive experience with ITIL processes and ITIL v4 Fundamental certification is required.
- Extensive experience in managing and maintaining cloud services such as Infrastructure, Platform, etc. as a Service, is required.
- Demonstrated ability to communicate complex technical issues clearly in verbal and written formats to a range of audiences, including non-technical stakeholders, is required.
- Extensive experience in managing data and systems integration using major cloud services such as Azure Integration Services, etc, is an asset.
- Experience in data analysis and visualization tools (e.g. Power BI) to monitor solution performance and support decision-making, is an asset.
- Knowledge of project and product management methods (e.g. Prince2, Agile etc.) is an asset.
- Prior experience in the development sector or UNICEF-UN system/ INGOs and emergency operations is an asset.
- Relevant experience at country level, particularly in development, fragile settings and humanitarian context is an asset.
Language Requirements
- Fluency in English is required.
- Knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish) or a local language 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
The UNICEF competencies required for this post are...
- Nurtures, Leads and Manages People (1)
- Demonstrates Self Awareness and Ethical Awareness (2)
- Works Collaboratively with others (2)
- Builds and Maintains Partnerships (2)
- Innovates and Embraces Change (2)
- Thinks and Acts Strategically (2)
- Drives to achieve impactful results (2)
- Manages ambiguity and complexity (2) are required.
Familiarize yourself with our competency framework and its different levels.
UNICEF promotes and advocates for the protection of the rights of every child, everywhere, in everything it does and is mandated to support the realization of the rights of every child, including those most disadvantaged, and our global workforce must reflect the diversity of those children. The UNICEF family is committed to include everyone, irrespective of their race/ethnicity, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, socio-economic background, minority, or any other status.
UNICEF encourages applications from all qualified candidates, regardless of gender, nationality, religious or ethnic backgrounds, and from people with disabilities, including neurodivergence. We offer a wide range of benefits to our staff, including paid parental leave, breastfeeding breaks and reasonable accommodation for persons with disabilities. UNICEF provides reasonable accommodation throughout the recruitment process. If you require any accommodation, please submit your request through the accessibility email button on the UNICEF Careers webpage Accessibility | UNICEF. Should you be shortlisted, please get in touch with the recruiter directly to share further details, enabling us to make the necessary arrangements in advance.
UNICEF does not hire candidates who are married to children (persons under 18). 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 based on gender, nationality, age, race, sexual orientation, religious or ethnic background or disabilities. 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, and selected candidates with disabilities may be requested to submit supporting documentation in relation to their disability confidentially.
UNICEF appointments are subject to medical clearance. Issuance of a visa by the host country of the duty station is required for IP positions and will be facilitated by UNICEF. Appointments may also be subject to inoculation (vaccination) requirements, including against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid). Should you be selected for a position with UNICEF, you either must be inoculated as required or receive a medical exemption from the relevant department of the UN. Otherwise, the selection will be canceled.
Remarks:
As per Article 101, paragraph 3, of the Charter of the United Nations, the paramount consideration in the employment of the staff is the necessity of securing the highest standards of efficiency, competence, and integrity.
UNICEF is committed to fostering an inclusive, representative, and welcoming workforce.
Government employees who are considered for employment with UNICEF are normally required to resign from their government positions 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.
UNICEF does not charge a processing fee at any stage of its recruitment, selection, and hiring processes (i.e., application stage, interview stage, validation stage, or appointment and training). UNICEF will not ask for applicants’ bank account information.
Mobility is a condition of international professional employment with UNICEF and an underlying premise of the international civil service.
Humanitarian action is a cross-cutting priority within UNICEF's Strategic Plan. UNICEF is committed to stay and deliver in humanitarian contexts. Therefore, all staff, at all levels across all functional areas, can be called upon to be deployed to support humanitarian response, contributing to both strengthening resilience of communities and capacity of national authorities.
All UNICEF positions are advertised, and only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process. An internal candidate performing at the level of the post in the relevant functional area, or an internal/external candidate in the corresponding Talent Group, may be selected, if suitable for the post, without assessment of other candidates.
Additional information about working for UNICEF can be found here.