The Data & Analytics Section at the Office of Strategy and Evidence - Innocenti (OSE) is looking for a GIS Lead to consolidate UNICEF’s enterprise geospatial strategy by maturing ArcGIS, GeoSight and GeoRepo, strengthening administrative boundary governance and map clearance, embedding reusable geospatial workflows into programme and emergency work, and defining a sustainable service model across OSE, Digital Impact Division (DID), Programme Effectiveness, Emergency Operations and thematic analytics teams.
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, the right to a Future
How can you make a difference?
The Office of Strategy and Evidence (OSE)–Innocenti is central to UNICEF’s ambition to deliver results for children in a rapidly changing and uncertain world. It was created to strengthen coherence between evidence, strategy and programme quality, ensuring that decisions across the organization are anchored in high quality data, research and foresight.
OSE-Innocenti holds dual global accountabilities:
1. Leadership and oversight of UNICEF’s evidence ecosystem.
2. Leadership and direction of strategy, planning, monitoring, reporting, organizational performance and risk management.
Together, these responsibilities strengthen the organization’s role and performance in the humanitarian and development continuum, reinforce results-based management and enable UNICEF to act as a future aware, evidence driven organization.
UNICEF’s evidence function spans six core areas: Evaluation, Foresight, Statistics for Children, Research, Monitoring and Knowledge Management. OSE oversees five of these (all except Evaluation).
These areas – underpinned by Data & Analytics – collectively generate statistical, analytical, qualitative, anticipatory, strategic and performance evidence that feed into decision‑making across the policy–programme cycle. OSE ensures coherence, quality standards, ethical safeguards and strong data and digital foundations support this ecosystem.
This Temporary Appointment is required to complete and consolidate the current phase of UNICEF’s enterprise geospatial strategy. The assignment is time-bound and deliverable-focused, with emphasis on maturing core geospatial platforms, institutionalizing administrative boundary governance, strengthening integration with corporate data and programme systems, and transferring reusable workflows, guidance, and service models to relevant business owners and technical teams.
The assignment will also help UNICEF assess where GeoAI can responsibly accelerate priority geospatial workflows, particularly in relation to spatial data governance, emergency preparedness, programme analytics, and frontier data use cases, while ensuring that any AI-enabled approaches are documented, reproducible, and aligned with UNICEF standards for data quality, ethics, and responsible technology use.
- Mature UNICEF’s enterprise geospatial platform ecosystem
- Operationalize authoritative spatial reference data governance
- Embed geospatial capabilities into programme planning and monitoring systems
- Transition emergency geospatial support toward reusable preparedness and response models
- Advance frontier geospatial analytics into reusable institutional capabilities
- Establish a sustainable geospatial service, support, and capacity model
If you would like to know more about this position, please review the complete Job Description here: 
GIS Information Communication Technology (ICT) Specialist Level 4 TA EXT.pdf
To qualify as a champion for every child you will have…
Minimum requirements
- Education: Master or equivalent (Advanced University Degree) in Computer Science, Engineering, Geography, Geographical Measurements Engineering, Information Systems, Mathematics, Statistics, Data Science, Geographic Information Systems, Geospatial Science, Software Engineering and any other related fields.
- Work Experience: At least 8 years of progressively responsible experience in geospatial data, GIS platforms, spatial analytics, geospatial data engineering, geospatial product management or related fields is required. Experience managing enterprise GIS platforms, geospatial governance and reference data, geospatial data integration, data pipelines and APIs, stakeholder engagement, capacity building, and delivery of geospatial products and services is required.
- Skills: Experience with enterprise GIS and/or open-source geospatial ecosystems, including ArcGIS Online, ArcGIS Enterprise, QGIS, PostGIS, GeoServer, GeoNode, Leaflet, OpenLayers, MapLibre or comparable technologies. Familiarity with GIS and statistical data concepts and standards, including SDMX and OGC.
- Language Requirements: Proficiency in English is required.
Desirables
- Knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish) or a local language is an asset.
- Experience in the United Nations system, international development, humanitarian response, public-sector data systems, or national statistical systems is desirable
- Relevant experience at country level, particularly in development, fragile settings and humanitarian contexts.
- Experience with modern geospatial data formats and architectures, such as Cloud Optimized GeoTIFFs, GeoParquet, GeoJSON, H3, STAC, or cloud-native geospatial workflows, 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
UNICEF competencies required for this post are…
(1) Builds and maintains partnerships
(2) Demonstrates self-awareness and ethical awareness
(3) Drive to achieve results for impact
(4) Innovates and embraces change
(5) Manages ambiguity and complexity
(6) Thinks and acts strategically
(7) Works collaboratively with others
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.