Technology for Development Specialist (P-3), ICTD New York (Temporary Appointment)

UNICEF's ICT Division seeks a qualified Technology for Development Specialist to provide technology expertise to the Field Solutions Unit, in support of the deployment of RapidPro solutions.

UNICEF works in 190 countries and territories to protect the rights of every child. UNICEF has spent 70 years working to improve the lives of children and their families. Defending children's rights throughout their lives requires a global presence, aiming to produce results and understand their effects. UNICEF believes all children have a right to survive, thrive and fulfill their potential – to the benefit of a better world.

For every child, a connected world 

The overarching strategic goal of UNICEF's ICT Division is to transform and build partnerships with our stakeholders to successfully implement UNICEF programmes globally through the use of innovative technology-enabled solutions.

How can you make a difference?

The Technology for Development (T4D) Specialist will provide technology expertise to the newly established Field Solutions Unit, a team of experienced software developers and designers. This Unit aims to establish enterprise support to innovative open-source tools used by field-based programmatic experts, planning specialists, partnership managers, and implementing partners around the world. In particular, the incumbent will coordinate ICTD commitments in the inter-divisional “RapidPro Solution Deployment” and support project implementation activities with HQ project team members, regional ICT T4D business analysts, technology vendors, and countries scaling up RapidPro solutions.

This Temporary Appointment will be for a period of 364 days. 

Key responsibilities include:

Support RapidPro Deployment and Scale-up 

• Work with Regional T4D specialists and Office of Innovation (OI) to collect, review, reorganize, and update RapidPro guidance documents, standard operating procedures (SOPs), templates and tools to be used by T4D specialists and/or vendors providing “RapidPro expert services” to country office (CO) colleagues
• Coordinate with OI and T4D specialists to identify key skills/knowledge for planned RapidPro superuser certification course
• Develop test framework for RapidPro superuser certification course
• Work with Global Shared Services Centre (GSSC) to adapt RapidPro support materials for use by GSSC Help Desk staff, assemble training materials for GSSC Help Desk staff training

Product management

• Work with regional T4D specialists to establish processes and tools for CO demand tracking, with focus on RapidPro-related demands for deployment support, platform enhancements, solution architecture, and software customization
• Provide product management support, product documentation, prioritize feature requests, and authorize software maintenance/enhancement tasks for UNICEF-hosted T4D-related web services and tools

Research, evaluation of new technologies

• Analyze and test new releases/versions of technologies relevant to field offices
• Conducts research and makes recommendations on back-end and cloud-based products and services
• Interface with vendors to keep abreast of new technologies, pricing, and customer applicability
• Participate in vendor selection and evaluation activities
• Interface with Technical Architecture team to recommend new technology opportunities that will have an impact on the organization’s collaboration platform
• Identify and provide input to new technology opportunities that will have an impact on the enterprise wide web and mobile systems. 

Expert Advice and Support

• Support regional T4D specialists to architect solutions, provide technical expertise, and to advise on configuration/customization activities
• Evaluate new and emerging tools/technologies that could be valuable for CO use-cases
• Advise on recruitment and/or vendor selection processes for T4D roles and/or deliverables.

To qualify as a champion for every child you will have…

• An advanced university degree (Master’s or higher) in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Information System Management, Business Administration, or a directly related field. 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.
• A minimum of 5 of relevant professional experience in software development, IT management, product management, technology consulting, service design, or project management.
• Software programming experience, with focus mainly on writing new code to deliver enhancements, new functionality, and defect resolution as well as proficiency with source code and continuous integration solutions such as GitHub, Circle/Travis, Jenkins etc.
• Developing country work experience and/or familiarity with emergency is considered an asset.
• 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…

Our core values of Commitment, Diversity and Integrity and core competencies in Communication, Working with People and Drive for Results.

In addition, the following functional competencies are required for this post:

• Analyzing 
• Applying Technical Expertise 
• Formulating Strategies and Concepts 
• Leading and Supervising
• Planning and Organizing.

UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages qualified candidates from all backgrounds to apply.