Senior Digital Transformation Consultant

Purpose of Assignment: Reporting to the Chef de Cabinet and working in close coordination with the Senior Adviser on Strategic Initiatives and External Relations in EOSG and relevant offices of the Secretariat, the Consultant shall provide senior strategic leadership, advice and client-side oversight during Phase 0 and Phase I of the website transformation programme, working closely with designated in-house ISA project management support. The Consultant will act as the principal bridge between organizational leadership, internal business and technical teams, external stakeholders and the appointed digital agency. The Consultant will help ensure that: • institutional priorities are translated into clear digital requirements; • agency recommendations are appropriately challenged and validated to ensure they are fit for purpose; • decisions are made at the correct level and recorded; • stakeholder engagement is representative and productive; • dependencies, risks, and scope decisions are identified early; • Phase 0 and Phase I outputs are sufficiently detailed to support design, development, procurement, budgeting, and resource mobilization; • the organization retains ownership of its strategy, data, knowledge architecture, and future digital roadmap. Detailed scope of Work: 1. Agency Selection and Mobilization Support the selection and successful mobilization of the website agency by providing independent technical and strategic advice throughout the procurement process. This includes reviewing proposals submitted under the website redesign RFP, supporting technical evaluation, clarifications, and due diligence as required, and assisting with the onboarding and mobilization of the selected agency to ensure a strong foundation for delivery. 2. Client-Side Agency Management The Consultant will act as the Secretariat’s strategic counterpart to the appointed agency, providing independent oversight to ensure the engagement remains aligned with agreed objectives, scope, quality, and timelines. This includes reviewing deliverables, monitoring progress, identifying risks and scope changes, facilitating informed decision-making, and advising on the completeness and quality of agency outputs. The Consultant will support effective collaboration between the Secretariat and the agency but will not manage the agency's internal team, delivery processes, or contractual obligations unless specifically delegated under agreed conditions. 3. Programme Coordination and Governance The Consultant will lead strategic coordination across Phase 0 and Phase I, working closely with the designated ISA project management support to ensure that agency and internal activities remain aligned with programme objectives and priorities. The Consultant will focus on key milestones, strategic dependencies, risks, decision points and phase gates, providing recommendations and escalation to management where required. Day-to-day project coordination, including maintaining detailed workplans, schedules and action tracking, will be led by the designated ISA project management support. 4. Strategic Direction and Alignment The Consultant will provide strategic leadership to ensure the website transformation is driven by the International Seabed Authority’s broader institutional objectives rather than treated as a standalone website redesign. This includes aligning the programme with institutional priorities, communications, knowledge management, legal and data requirements, defining the scope of the minimum viable website, distinguishing it from the wider digital ecosystem, and advising on a phased roadmap for future digital capabilities. The Consultant will provide strategic oversight and quality assurance throughout the discovery and definition phases by reviewing the agency's research, audits, recommendations and design outputs. This includes assessing user experience, content and knowledge architecture, technology, analytics, accessibility, and competitive analysis to ensure recommendations are evidence-based, feasible, and aligned with organizational priorities and user needs. The Consultant will support the definition of strategic objectives, audiences, functional and non-functional requirements, information architecture, taxonomy, content models, user journeys, and narrative strategy, ensuring that all Phase 0 and Phase I deliverables provide a robust, implementable foundation for design, development, procurement, and long-term digital governance. 5. Stakeholder Consultation and User Research The Consultant will provide strategic oversight of stakeholder consultation and user research undertaken by the agency and relevant ISA teams, helping ensure that priority stakeholder and user groups are appropriately represented and that research addresses key institutional and user needs. The Consultant will review key findings and recommendations and advise on their translation into the website strategy, information architecture, content model and user experience. The Consultant will support the presentation of significant findings and recommendations to senior management at key decision points. Detailed planning, coordination, execution and documentation of consultations and user research will be led by the agency and designated ISA personnel. 6. Governance and Decision-Making The Consultant will help translate institutional priorities into clear digital requirements, independently review and validate agency recommendations, and ensure that decisions are made at the appropriate level and properly documented. The Consultant will also support representative stakeholder engagement, identify risks, dependencies, and scope decisions early, and ensure that Phase 0 and Phase I outputs are sufficiently robust to guide design, development, procurement, budgeting, and resource mobilization, while safeguarding the organization’s ownership of its strategy, data, knowledge architecture, and long-term digital roadmap. 7. Content Management, Migration and Project Coordination The Consultant will provide strategic guidance and quality assurance on the approach to content management and migration, working with the agency and designated ISA communications and content teams to ensure alignment with the website strategy and organizational requirements. This will include advising on the overall migration approach, content governance, editorial workflows, metadata standards, multilingual requirements, approval processes and content ownership model, and reviewing key recommendations and deliverables at agreed milestones. Detailed content inventory, content creation and editing, coordination with content owners, migration tracking, redirects, CMS onboarding and day-to-day management of the content pipeline will be led by the agency and designated ISA personnel. The Consultant will also advise on the internal roles, capabilities and governance required to support sustainable content management following launch. 8. Technology, Architecture and Implementation Readiness The Consultant will provide strategic oversight and quality assurance of the website's technical approach and implementation readiness, working with the agency and ISA technical teams to ensure that the proposed solutions are aligned with organizational requirements, wider digital ecosystem, UN standards and future needs. This will include reviewing key recommendations related to CMS, architecture, search, APIs, cybersecurity, hosting, analytics and accessibility, with particular attention to major dependencies, risks, scalability, maintainability and avoidance of unnecessary duplication or vendor lock-in. Detailed technical architecture, engineering, infrastructure, security configuration, integration and implementation will remain the responsibility of the agency and designated ISA technical teams within their respective scopes. The Consultant will support the definition of clear responsibilities and interfaces between the agency and internal technical teams and review key technical decisions and implementation readiness at agreed programme milestones. 9. Roles, Responsibilities and Operating Model The Consultant will establish a clear governance and operating model for the website programme by defining roles, responsibilities, decision-making authority, and escalation pathways across the agency, Secretariat, business owners, technical teams, communications, procurement, legal, and external stakeholders. This includes developing a RACI (Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, Informed) matrix for key workstreams, clarifying ownership of content, technology, data, design, approvals, and ongoing operations, and ensuring responsibilities transition effectively from the agency to internal teams for subsequent phases. As a guiding delivery model, responsibilities will be structured as follows: • Communications/Product will own business and user requirements, content, information architecture, editorial workflows, product priorities, stakeholder engagement and business acceptance. • IT/Development will own the technical environment and operational sustainability, including architecture, back-end services, APIs, integrations, hosting, security, environments, deployment and ongoing technical operations. • The appointed agency will be responsible for contracted solution delivery, including design, front-end development, CMS configuration and other components defined within its agreed scope. Detailed responsibilities, interfaces, dependencies and approval points will be further defined through the programme RACI and delivery planning. 10. Roadmap, Budgeting and Resource Mobilization The Consultant will provide strategic guidance on a realistic, phased digital roadmap that clearly distinguishes immediate priorities from longer-term ambitions. Working with the agency, designated ISA project management support and relevant internal teams, the Consultant will review key priorities, dependencies, sequencing, resource requirements and indicative budget implications to help ensure that the roadmap is achievable and aligned with organizational priorities and technical capacity. The Consultant will also provide strategic input into relevant resource mobilization materials to ensure they communicate a credible and achievable vision for future digital development without overstating approved scope or delivery commitments. 11. Handover and Institutional Capacity The Consultant will support an effective transition by ensuring that key strategic decisions, risks, dependencies and outstanding issues are clearly documented and handed over to designated ISA teams. The Consultant will review the agency’s handover approach and provide high-level recommendations on any priority governance, capability or resource gaps affecting the website’s ongoing management and development. 12. Future Readiness and Digital Continuity The Consultant will provide strategic guidance to ensure that key decisions made during Phase 0 and Phase I support the organization’s longer-term digital direction and avoid unnecessary rework, duplication or technical constraints in future phases. Role boundaries and independence: The selected web agency will remain responsible for the contracted research, design and development, in coordination with the in-house IT team, as well as migration, testing, deployment, documentation, training and technical support. The Consultant will provide senior leadership, strategic oversight and quality assurance across the web development programme and will not duplicate the agency’s delivery. The Consultant must be independent of all bidders and the selected agency and must disclose any actual, potential or perceived conflict of interest.

Hybrid, with one to two missions to Kingston, Jamaica, when deemed necessary

11 months

ORGANIZATIONAL CONTEXT The International Seabed Authority (ISA) is an international organization established under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and the Agreement relating to the Implementation of Part XI of UNCLOS (1994 Agreement). The ISA is the organization through which States Parties organize and control activities in the seabed and ocean floor beyond national jurisdiction, particularly with a view to administering the resources of the Area for the benefit of humankind as a whole. The ISA website is the Authority’s principal digital interface with Member States, contractors, observers, the scientific community, civil society, the media and the general public. The ISA is undertaking a major website redesign and digital transformation programme to improve access to governance, regulatory, scientific and capacity-development information and to establish a more coherent digital ecosystem connecting the main website with DeepData, the Seabed Mining Register, the Capacity Development Dashboard, meeting documentation and the ISA’s institutional publications repository and digital library. The ISA has issued a Request for Proposals to engage a specialized web agency to undertake the discovery, design, development, migration, testing and deployment of the new website. The ISA therefore requires a senior consultant to lead ISA’s strategic and technical oversight of the selection and mobilization of the agency, coordinate the Secretariat’s technical needs, oversee delivery at a strategic level, and ensure that the new platform is aligned with institutional priorities, user needs and the ISA Data Management Strategy 2023-2027. Consultant will complement, and not replace, the selected web agency and will serve as ISA’s senior web lead and principal strategic focal point for the web revamp, ensuring that the work of the selected agency is coherent, technically sound, user-centered, sustainable and fully transferable to ISA. OBJECTIVE The organization requires an independent Senior Digital Transformation Consultant to provide senior leadership in directing the engagement, managing institutional inputs, reviewing agency recommendations, facilitating timely decisions, and ensuring that the resulting website strategy, definition and delivery for Phase 0 and Phase I are aligned with the organization’s mandate, governance obligations, operational realities, user needs, technical environment and long-term digital ambitions. The assignment will support timely delivery of the new website, subject to programme dependencies, help ensure that it reflects stakeholder needs, and support sustainable systems for content governance, interoperability and future digital development. MONITORING The Consultant will report to the Chef de Cabinet and receive practical and strategic guidance from the Senior Adviser on Strategic Initiatives and External Relations in the Executive Office of the Secretary-General (EOSG), who will review and approve the deliverables in consultation with relevant offices and technical focal points. The Consultant will act as the Secretariat’s principal strategic counterpart to the selected web agency and senior coordination focal point, and will support management decision-making throughout the assignment.

QUALIFICATIONS Mandatory: • An advanced university degree in information systems, digital transformation, information or data management, communications, business or public administration, engineering, or a related field. A first-level degree combined with additional qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced degree. • A minimum of ten (10) years of progressively responsible experience in digital transformation, enterprise website programmes, information management or related fields, including senior responsibility for complex web or digital-platform projects. • Demonstrated experience evaluating and overseeing web agencies, systems integrators or technology vendors, including review and acceptance of technical deliverables. • Strong working knowledge of modern web architecture, content management systems, APIs, cloud hosting, cybersecurity, accessibility, search, analytics and technical handover. • Demonstrated experience in content strategy, information architecture, metadata, content migration, user-centered design and content governance. • Experience coordinating diverse technical and non-technical stakeholders and translating technical issues into clear recommendations for senior decision-makers. • Excellent analytical, facilitation, drafting, presentation and project-management skills. Desirable: • Experience with a United Nations entity, intergovernmental organization, international regulatory body or scientific institution. • Experience with institutional repositories, geospatial platforms, organizational data, multilingual websites, FAIR data principles or scientific and regulatory information systems. • Knowledge of ISA’s mandate, stakeholder groups, digital platforms and strategic priorities. • An advanced university degree in information systems, digital transformation, information or data management, communications, business or public administration, engineering, or a related field. A first-level degree combined with additional qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced degree. • A minimum of ten (10) years of progressively responsible experience in digital transformation, enterprise website programmes, information management or related fields, including senior responsibility for complex web or digital-platform projects. • Demonstrated experience evaluating and overseeing web agencies, systems integrators or technology vendors, including review and acceptance of technical deliverables. • Strong working knowledge of modern web architecture, content management systems, APIs, cloud hosting, cybersecurity, accessibility, search, analytics and technical handover. • Demonstrated experience in content strategy, information architecture, metadata, content migration, user-centered design and content governance. • Experience coordinating diverse technical and non-technical stakeholders and translating technical issues into clear recommendations for senior decision-makers. • Excellent analytical, facilitation, drafting, presentation and project-management skills. • Experience with a United Nations entity, intergovernmental organization, international regulatory body or scientific institution. • Experience with institutional repositories, geospatial platforms, organizational data, multilingual websites, FAIR data principles or scientific and regulatory information systems. • Knowledge of ISA’s mandate, stakeholder groups, digital platforms and strategic priorities.

Language English and French are the working languages of the Authority. Fluency in English, both oral and written, is required. Knowledge of another official United Nations language is an advantage.

Work Location The assignment will be performed virtually, with one to two missions to ISA Headquarters in Kingston, Jamaica, if and when deemed necessary by the supervising officer and subject to available resources. Expected duration The assignment is expected to be for up to eleven (11) months on a part-time/deliverables basis. The first month is intended to support agency evaluation, selection and mobilization before the agency’s ten-month delivery period begins. The Consultant and reporting officer will review progress and level of effort around months six (6) and ten (10), with any material adjustment to duration or scope subject to organizational needs, satisfactory performance and available resources. PAYMENT The agreed fees between the Secretariat and the selected consultant will be reflected in a contract signed by both parties at a rate of US$4,545 per month. Payments shall be made in installments upon presentation of an invoice in USD, based on the agreed rates and deliverables, and subject to any agreed modifications made in accordance with this contract.

THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CHARGE A FEE AT ANY STAGE OF THE RECRUITMENT PROCESS (APPLICATION, INTERVIEW MEETING, PROCESSING, OR TRAINING). THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CONCERN ITSELF WITH INFORMATION ON APPLICANTS’ BANK ACCOUNTS.