Consultant - Project Manager - Data Innovation Partnerships, Data & Analytics, DAPM, NYHQ - remote 11.5 months

At UNICEF, we believe that smart demand, supply and use of data helps us drive better results for children. By asking the right questions, collecting and analyzing data can help us understand the experience of every child. And when the right data are in the right hands at the right time, decisions can be better informed, more equitable, and more likely to protect children’s rights.

Vacancy Announcement:

Consultancy Title: Project Manager – Data Innovation Partnerships

Section/Division/Duty Station: D&A/DAPM/HQ or remote

Duration: 11.5 months

About UNICEF

UNICEF works in some of the world’s toughest places to reach the most disadvantaged children. To save their lives. To defend their rights. To help them fulfill their potential. 

Across 190 countries and territories, we work for every child, everywhere, every day, to build a better world for everyone. And we never give up.

BACKGROUND

At UNICEF, we believe that smart demand, supply and use of data helps us drive better results for children. By asking the right questions, collecting and analyzing data can help us understand the experience of every child. And when the right data are in the right hands at the right time, decisions can be better informed, more equitable, and more likely to protect children’s rights.  

UNICEF’s data team is working to generate a profound cultural shift toward this vision - from connecting teams and individuals around the world to the right people, resources and answers to help them do their data work, to supporting countries build and strengthen processes to collect quality data to better deliver services for children and to report on their progress. Our work is in line with the Data for Children Strategic Framework, UNICEF’s commitment to identify and act upon the most strategic data investments for children in the coming decade. 

UNICEF has, therefore, entered into several partnerships on data for children and one specific data collaborative with the Scottish Government and the University of Edinburgh’s Data Driven Innovation Programme, to improve outcomes for children locally, nationally and globally. Our goal is to bring insight and solve problems through collaborations between academics, private sector and public sector that use data science to improve outcomes for children. The partnerships will deliver projects of varying size and complexity that will reveal actionable insights for children’s outcomes. More information about the Data for Children Collaborative and priority projects identified so far can be found here.

Given the Data for Children Collaborative and the need to ramp-up our data innovation portfolio in light of COVID-19, as a matter of urgency, we now seek to hire a project manager as one of the front‐facing members of the team to help prioritize, budget, and manage resources so that our network of data scientists, engineers, and hardware experts can do their work better, faster, and with fewer distractions and interruptions! In many ways this is a support role for the data / science crew, and an agile take on a “product manager” role. For example, you will help the data team come up with the evaluation and judging criteria for projects ‐ how do we know what works well, and what doesn’t?  What provides the best return on time? Where can we leverage other open‐ source resources / teams to accelerate our work?

This role involves talking to different UNICEF business units, managing discussions with major corporate partners at the points where they intersect with the UNICEF data team, and framing many different possibilities into a few specific pieces of work to advance both in-house and with our research partners. You need deep knowledge of data and technology to be able to have technical discussions with partners without having to bring in the core data innovation team. You love working in a fast-paced environment and are ready to manage a wide range of people (Data Scientists, Statisticians, Subject / Sector / Domain experts, Research Scientists, Academics, …) and tasks at the same time. You won’t build products but you need to be able to describe, evaluate, and manage options in these spheres with credibility and gravitas. You also need to eat and breathe open‐source philosophy and approaches (i.e. you’re comfortable managing open source communities) and be obsessional about data responsibility.

Terms of Reference / Deliverables

In close collaboration with the Chief Research Scientist and Chief of Data Use, the incumbent is responsible for:

• Developing and supporting the implementation of the Programme Delivery Plan for the data innovation programme.
• Working with the UNICEF team to undertake the identification of relevant data providers that can contribute towards furthering the objectives of projects and leading the corresponding engagement strategies.
• Developing content for engagement with identified partners.
• Negotiating, developing and implementing data access agreements with core data providers in line with and adhering to all terms of data access, usage and sharing applied by the data owner.
• Working with relevant teams at UNICEF to ensure that the output from the data innovation work and Data Collaborative meet the core UNICEF priorities to deliver better outcomes for children and to identify opportunities to further develop the pipeline of future Data Collaboratives.
• Completing other fun tasks as required.

Qualifications

1) Education

• Advanced degree in relevant field, or equivalent work experience and interdisciplinary skills involving data science, statistics or computational social sciences 

2) Work experience

REQUIRED

• Approaching 10 years of experience in relevant fields and specifically in developing and applying data-driven innovative solutions in responding to social development challenges and contexts.
• Familiarity with “new” types of data and modelling approaches.
• Experience and/or familiarity with private sector data providers with specialized assets and expertise
• Proven skills in management and strategic thinking
• Experience writing technical contracts and documentation
• Proven capability of working on a project from the concept to the final research/product package.
• Proven ability to distil large amounts of information to create simplified and clear products with useful and relevant applicability for decision-making.

DESIRABLE

• Previous experience with data work and projects in countries and markets where there aren’t fixed and established infrastructures.

3) Competencies

• Demonstrated ability to work with users to define user requirements and express them using agile methodology such as User Stories
• Good written and verbal communication in English.
• Experience working effectively in a multicultural environment.

Requirements:

• Completed profile in UNICEF's e-Recruitment system and provide Personal History Form (P11) Upload copy of academic credentials
• Financial proposal that will include:
  • Your daily/monthly rate (in US$) to undertake the terms of reference (can be downloaded here: https://www.unicef.org/about/employ/index_consultancy_assignments.html 
• • travel costs and daily subsistence allowance, if internationally recruited or travel is required as per TOR.
  • Any other estimated costs: visa, health insurance, and living costs as applicable.
  • Indicate your availability
• Any emergent / unforeseen duty travel and related expenses will be covered by UNICEF.
• At the time the contract is awarded, the selected candidate must have in place current health insurance coverage.
• Payment of professional fees will be based on submission of agreed satisfactory deliverables. UNICEF reserves the right to withhold payment in case the deliverables submitted are not up to the required standard or in case of delays in submitting the deliverables on the part of the consultant.

U.S. Visa information:

With the exception of the US Citizens, G4 Visa and Green Card holders, should the selected candidate and his/her household members reside in the United States under a different visa, the consultant and his/her household members are required to change their visa status to G4, and the consultant’s household members (spouse) will require an Employment Authorization Card (EAD) to be able to work, even if he/she was authorized to work under the visa held prior to switching to G4.  

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process.

For every Child, you demonstrate…

UNICEF’s core values of Commitment, Diversity and Integrity and core competencies in Communication, Working with People and Drive for Results. View our competency framework at: Here

UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages all candidates, irrespective of gender, nationality, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including persons living with disabilities, to apply to become a part of the organization.

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. UNICEF also adheres to strict child safeguarding principles. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks, and will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles.