This consultancy will strengthen and integrate a real-time predictive model prototype to assess child vulnerability during Caribbean climate emergencies, building upon the "Ahead of the Storm" initiative. The expert will consolidate data pipelines, geospatial workflows, and impact-translation methods into a sustainable, modular system that delivers actionable decision-support tools, such as maps and alerts, for rapid regional response. Addressing the critical need for timely, child-specific data across sectors, this time-bound assignment leverages specialized expertise in geospatial data engineering and systems integration to operationalize multi-hazard analysis. The goal is to provide sustainable, actionable insights for emergency preparedness, supporting better outcomes for children and families across the Caribbean Basin.

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 Health 

How can you make a difference? 

Purpose of Activity/Assignment: The purpose of this consultancy is to provide specialized technical support to strengthen and integrate the existing prototype of the real-time predictive model for assessing the situation of children in emergencies in the Caribbean Basin. Building on progress already made through Ahead of the Storm (AoS) and the Latin America and the Caribbean Regional Office (LACRO), the assignment will consolidate reusable technical components, including data pipelines, geospatial processing workflows, APIs, impact-translation methods, and technical documentation, so that the model can generate decision-support products such as maps, dashboards, automated reports, briefs, and alerts for national and regional use.

The assignment is intended to strengthen Data and Technology use through a sustainable, interoperable, and modular solution that can be integrated into the institutional architecture once defined and remain useful beyond the initial funding period. Rather than developing a standalone product, the consultancy will focus on consolidating and operationalizing technical components that translate hazard, exposure, and vulnerability data into actionable analytical outputs for emergency preparedness and response.
Scope of Work: UNICEF Nicaragua seeks to recruit one individual consultant for a defined contract period to strengthen and integrate the existing prototype with relevant components and approaches already advanced by UNICEF Nicaragua, Ahead of the Storm, and LACRO. The scope of work includes reviewing the current prototype and related assets, identifying technical gaps and integration needs, and leading the consolidation of reusable components into modular, interoperable, and sustainable architecture. The consultant will be responsible for translating agreed technical requirements into an operational solution that remains useful beyond the contract period and is aligned, to the extent possible, with the institutional architecture to be defined.
Throughout the assignment, the consultant will work under the supervision of the requesting section and in coordination with the designated technical team, UNICEF Nicaragua’s technical team, and LACRO as applicable. The consultant will be responsible for preparing and presenting progress updates, participating in periodic follow-up meetings, incorporating technical feedback, documenting changes, and adjusting implementation plans as needed to meet agreed milestones. The consultant will also ensure that all outputs, including figures, reports, maps, dashboards, briefs, or other technical inputs, respond to the operational needs identified by national and regional teams and are submitted in a form suitable for review, validation, and approval by UNICEF and the corresponding counterpart.

If you would like to know more about this consultancy, please review the complete TOR here: Download File TOR TMC0003113.1.pdf

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

Minimum requirements:

  • Education: Master's degree from a recognized university in systems/software engineering, computer science, data engineering, artificial intelligence, geospatial analytics, data science, or another relevant technical field.
  • Work Experience:
    • Minimum experience required: three years with a master’s degree in data engineering, computer/data science, artificial intelligence, and/or analytical solution development.
    • Experience as a data engineer, including ETL/data pipelines, cloud data infrastructure, near real-time processing, and data exposure through APIs or structured outputs.
    • Experience as a full-stack or geospatial software engineer, including connecting pipelines to usable products such as web maps, dashboards, APIs, automated reports, alerts, and user-oriented outputs.
    • Experience developing workflows that translate hazard, exposure, vulnerability, and contextual data into decision-support outputs for preparedness, anticipatory action, emergency response, and post-event analysis.
    • Experience developing interactive graphs, visualizations, and geospatial decision-support products for both technical and non-technical teams.
    • Experience developing LLM or applied AI workflows.
    • Applied research and prototyping experience.
    • Experience working with humanitarian, climate risk, disaster risk, child-focused, or public-sector data use cases.
  • Language Requirements:
    • English: Proficient.
    • Spanish: Fluent.
    Knowledge/Expertise/Skills:
    • Proven experience in data engineering, computer/data science, artificial intelligence, and/or the development of analytical solutions, including model design, data cleaning, integration, and quality assurance.
    • Strong Python skills are required, including experience with libraries such as Pandas, NumPy, and GeoPandas.
    • Knowledge of geospatial data and GIS processes, including rasters, shapefiles, common geospatial data formats, projections, coordinate reference systems, spatial joins, and zonal statistics. Knowledge of giga-spatial is a plus.
    • Ability to improve and integrate exposure and hazard workflows beyond a single hazard, such as incorporating winds, floods, and landslides according to agreed priorities, using geospatial data standards and best practices.
    • Ability to document methods and technical decisions, including data dictionaries, code repositories, guides, and diagrams, and ensure transparency, auditability, and reuse by UNICEF teams and partners.
    • Knowledge and application of visual design, accessibility, usability, performance optimization, publishing/deployment, and data governance principles for analytics and geospatial decision-support products.
    • Knowledge of tools and technologies such as Snowflake, Azure, Databricks, Dash, Plotly, Streamlit, Leaflet, Mapbox, JavaScript, and other frontend/open-source technologies is an asset.
    • Knowledge of LLMs and applied AI workflows, including prompt design, information retrieval, generation of summaries or briefs, guardrails, evaluation, benchmarking, and source traceability.

Desirables: Previous experience with UNICEF or other United Nations entities is a strong plus.

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):

  • An up-to-date TMS profile and curriculum vitae (CV)
  • Cover letter
  • A separate financial proposal (only acceptable in the format of the linked template) (Download File Financial proposal template.docx)
  • A detailed technical proposal of no more than 3 pages 

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.