UNICEF The Office of Innovation is seeking a consultant to lead the development of a Digital and AI Strategy to strengthen the acceleration to scale of UPSHIFT for 12 months with travel.

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.

How can you make a difference?  

Across over 50 countries, UPSHIFT serves as UNICEF’s flagship 21st-century skills-building program, empowering young people through experiential learning and entrepreneurial challenges to develop growth mindsets. As the program increasingly scales through formal education systems—currently operational in over 120,000 schools across 17 countries—there is a critical need to leverage digital transformation to sustain and accelerate this growth.
The Office of Innovation (OoI) is prioritizing pathways for blended delivery models and the integration of AI to support teachers, strengthen systems, and reduce delivery costs while enhancing learning outcomes. This strategic shift requires a specialized focus on lowering the financial and human burdens for country offices transitioning to digital blended deliveries. To consolidate these efforts and evaluate approaches for strategic scaling, UNICEF is engaging a consultant to lead the development of a comprehensive Digital and AI Strategy. This consultant will be instrumental in identifying scalable digital tools, designing AI-enabled project evaluation and facilitation aids, and ensuring systematic knowledge management across the UPSHIFT community of practice to accelerate results for children and young people globally.
The purpose of this consultancy is to lead the development of a Digital and AI Strategy to strengthen the acceleration to scale of UPSHIFT. The consultant will identify approaches to integrate AI within the UPSHIFT learning journey, focusing on lowering the financial and human costs in transitioning to digital blended deliveries at the country level. Knowledge management will be a core component of the work to ensure easy access to existing expertise and lessons learned. 

If you would like to know more about this consultancy, please review the complete Terms of Reference here: Download File ToRTMC0002683.pdf

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

Minimum requirements:

  • Education: Master’s degree in Education, Information Technology 
  • 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.
  • Work Experience:
  • A minimum of 12 years of proven professional experience in information systems development.
  • A minimum of 8 years in learning management systems development and deployment.
  • At least 5 year’s experience in working in Education systems and deploying digital solutions on global south.
  • Knowledge of Government education systems environment and digitation education deployments at scale in different countries / contexts.
  • Proven track record in design and/or implementation of skills building programme at scale.
  • Experience in developing AI systems or workflows for different learning environments.
  • 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.
  • Desirables:
  • Knowledge of UPSHIFT methodology or Human Centered Design
  • Knowledge of United Nations Agency, Fund or Programme programming environment.
  • Knowledge of UNICEF ICTD infrastructure.  

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 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 reasonable accommodation for persons with disabilities. 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.

Qualified candidates are invited to submit the following documents via the online recruitment portal, TMS (Talent Management System):

Remarks:  If the TOR or financial proposal documents are not visible on certain recruitment platforms, please visit our official page Vacancies | UNICEF Careers.

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.

All UNICEF positions are advertised, and only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process.

Additional information about working for UNICEF can be found here.

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Before applying, please make sure that you have read the requirements for the position and that you qualify. Applications from non-qualifying applicants will most likely be discarded by the recruiting manager.