Background

UNDP is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality, and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence.

UNDP does not tolerate sexual exploitation and abuse, any kind of harassment, including sexual harassment, and discrimination. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks.

UNDP is the leading United Nations organization in fighting to end the injustice of poverty, inequality, and climate change. Working with our broad network of experts and partners in 170 countries, we help nations to build integrated, lasting solutions for people and planet.

Over the past decade or more, the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection (MLSP) has created automated systems for separate aspects of its work. As a result, it now has 14 different information systems.  These include systems to facilitate online application processes (front-office work), automate business processes (back-office work), and store data on beneficiaries and the type of support they receive.  However, these systems have been created in such a fragmented manner, and use such different software and technologies that it is impossible to link them up and make them interoperable.

This situation creates numerous inefficiencies. For example, citizens may have to submit the same documents several times in order to apply for different types of benefits or support.  Case managers cannot access documentation on all the past and present support received by any given household or individual beneficiary. Apart from not having access to data which can help improve the timeliness and type of support provided, this situation has also reduced the Ministry’s capacity to identify and eliminate fraud.  It hinders evidence-based policymaking, as data cannot be easily retrieved and merged to assess targeting efficiency. The latter is currently a source of great frustration within the Ministry, as it limits the data available to guide and inform the current reform processes. Lack of digital links to the territorial offices means that there is no way to document geographical inequalities in access to social services.

The Ministry has drawn up a Theory of Change (TOC) to underpin digitalization in the context of the Restart Reform Programme. Among them are three intermediate outcomes, namely: 

  • Most-used social and employment services are pro-activated; 
  • Majority of social and employment services are radically simplified and digitalized; 
  • A national network of single window centres for social and employment services is functional through a new Automated Informational System (eSocial).

The “Digital Transformation of Social Protection” Project, funded by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs via the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation (AICS) and implemented by UNDP, aims to achieve the above objectives by addressing the fragmented digital infrastructure of the social protection system. UNDP Moldova envisioned a digitalization-oriented workstream dedicated to the meticulous redesign and digitalization of the social protection services. It aims to significantly enhance the functionalities of provision of social services, optimizing them for improved usability by MLSP personnel, management, and the public at large. UNDP has committed its support to the Ministry in constructing a new, integrated digital system – eSocial – for social protection services. The eSocial platform is Moldova’s central digital infrastructure for managing social service programs. It is designed to consolidate multiple fragmented systems and processes under a common digital umbrella. Through secure, role-based access and integration with government platforms like MPass, MNotify, MLog, and MPay, eSocial enables standardized workflows, centralized data, and inter-institutional coordination. Additionally, the establishment of the Digital Center for Social Innovation (DCSI) within the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection in 2024, is working to ensure self-sufficiency in software development and adaptation of automated systems to future demands. DCSI experts engaged by the Project support the development of the eSocial digital platform and its adoption within MLSP and subordinated institutions: ATAS (regional agencies for social assistance), STAS (regional structures for social assistance), NEA, SLI, CNDDCM, AGSSSI (the Agency for the Management of Highly Specialized Social Services), etc.

The MLSP is currently implementing several major reforms, namely that of social services (RESTART); that of the National Employment Agency (NEA); that of the State Labour Inspectorate (SLI); and that of the National Council for Determination of Disability and Work Capacity (CNDDCM). Through the “Digital Transformation of Social Protection” Project, UNDP is supporting the digital aspects of all the reforms listed above, conferring transparency and efficiency to the comprehensive reform effort. This transformation will enable the Ministry to connect social benefits, services, employment programs, and energy subsidies into a coherent support framework. It strengthens Moldova’s capacity to build a shock-responsive, citizen-centered, and evidence-driven social protection system—aligned with the principles of human dignity, inclusion, and the Sustainable Development Goal 1.3: “Implement nationally appropriate social protection systems for all.”

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the direct supervision of the Digital Transformation Manager, the Digital Platform Coordinator will play a central role in the continued development and implementation of digital solutions within the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection, with a focus on the high level technical architecture, strategic direction of the Ministry’s digital transformation process, business process alignment and support for digital systems integration under the eSocial platform.

More specifically, the Digital Platform Coordinator will be responsible for:

Technical Architecture and Delivery Oversight 

  • Guide overall solution architecture and ensure compliance with national digital standards. 
  • Develop and validate technical requirements and system designs. 
  • Supervise development work and promote best practice Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) processes. 
  • Coordinate testing, quality review, and handover of technical deliverables. 
  • Support infrastructure provisioning, deployment, and secure system operations. 
  • Advise on data structures, integrations, and system modernization needs.

Ensure successful implementation of IT initiatives for the eSocial platform

  • Provide business analysis expertise to guide the development and enhancement of eSocial modules, ensuring alignment with MLSP institutional needs and end-user experience.
  • Develop workflow diagrams based on a comprehensive set of user stories.
  • Devise module implementation Gantt charts and monitor adherence to project milestones, development budgets, and quality assurance standards.
  • Provide continuous feedback and recommendations for improvement based on user testing and post-implementation insights.
  • Review and assess the outputs of external IT development contractors to ensure that implemented functionalities align with the documented business processes, user requirements, and quality standards established for the eSocial platform.
  • Define data security, access control, and privacy requirements.

Mapping and assessment of digitalization needs

  • Collaborate with beneficiary institutional stakeholders (MLSP, CNDDCM, NEA, SLI, etc.) to identify and document detailed business and technical requirements.
  • Review the legislative framework, background documents and relevant strategies or policies. Translate institutional processes and reform goals into system features, user stories, and functional specifications.
  • Conduct stakeholder interviews to understand current data challenges and formulate recommendations. 
  • Identify key use cases and user stories for data integration and analytics (e.g., policymaking, monitoring, planning). 
  • Ensure that proposed workflows and system functionalities reflect real user needs and enhance administrative efficiency.
  • Prioritize eSocial features based on institutional urgency, user feedback, and integration dependencies.

Stakeholder Coordination 

  • Supervise and coordinate the activity of the Development Unit engaged by the Project.
  • Serve as a liaison between IT development teams, institutional users, and MLSP IT departments to ensure coherent communication and expectation management.
  • Facilitate coordination among UNDP, the Ministry and subordinate agencies to secure input, validate processes, and foster alignment with ongoing reforms.
  • Support change management and onboarding processes by contributing to user communication strategies, training plans, and transition readiness.
  • Maintain consistent engagement with stakeholders throughout all development and deployment stages.
  • Coordinate with external state institutions and agencies involved in the digitalization process to ensure alignment, data exchange, and compliance with national standards and interoperability frameworks.

The incumbent performs other duties within their functional profile as deemed necessary for the efficient functioning of the Office and the Organization.

Institutional Arrangements

The Digital Platform Coordinator will work under the supervision of the Digital Transformation Manager, in close cooperation with the UNDP Moldova Country Office team, overall project team and the Digital Center for Social Innovation team, for an effective achievement of results, anticipating and contributing to resolving project-related issues and information delivery.

He/she also will collaborate with other UN projects, the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection and other national stakeholders. The incumbent is expected to exercise full compliance with UNDP administrative rules, regulations, policies and strategies.

Competencies

Core Competencies

Achieve results: LEVEL 1: Plans and monitors own work, pays attention to details, delivers quality work by deadline.

Think Innovatively: LEVEL 1: Open to creative ideas/known risks, is pragmatic problem solver, makes improvements.

Learn Continuously: LEVEL 1: Open minded and curious, shares knowledge, learns from mistakes, asks for feedback.

Adapt with Agility: LEVEL 1: Adapts to change, constructively handles ambiguity/uncertainty, is flexible.

Act with Determination: LEVEL 1: Shows drive and motivation, able to deliver calmly in face of adversity, confident.

Engage and Partner: LEVEL 1: Demonstrates compassion/understanding towards others, forms positive relationships.

Enable Diversity and Inclusion: LEVEL 1: Appreciate/respect differences, aware of unconscious bias, confront discrimination.

Cross-Functional and Technical Competencies

Business Direction & Strategy - Strategic Thinking:     

  • Develop effective strategies and prioritised plans in line with UNDP’s mission and objectives, based on the systemic analysis of challenges, opportunities and potential risks; link the general vision to reality on the ground to create tangible targeted solutions; learn from a variety of sources to anticipate and effectively respond to both current and future trends; demonstrate foresight.

Business Direction & Strategy - System Thinking:     

  • Ability to use objective problem analysis and judgement to understand how interrelated elements coexist within an overall process or system, and to consider how altering one element can impact on other parts of the system.

Business Development - Knowledge Facilitation:

  • Ability to animate individuals and groups, internally and externally, and to design and facilitate activities, to share and exchange knowledge, information and ideas.
  • Knowledge of tools and approaches to stimulate active participation, contribution, and exchange.

Business Development - Human-Centered Design:    

  • Ability to develop solutions to problems by involving the human perspective in all steps of the problem-solving process. 
  • Knowledge and understanding of human centred design principles and practices

Digital - Agile methodologies and practices:    

  • Ability to manage projects and processes through continuous iteration, learning and improvement. 
  • Ability to manage a self-organising cross-functional teams, foster a team culture of curiosity and learning. 
  • Being nimble and being able to improvise and quickly adjust to unforeseen events or changes in conditions or context.

Digital - Facilitation of digital innovation:    

  • Ability to facilitate groups and individuals through a digital innovation process.

Digital - Design thinking:    

  • Solving problems by putting people at the centre, visualising ideas and making them tangible in order to improve them through and iterative process of developing and testing. 
  • Strong empathy skills, being able to put yourself "in someone else's shoes", understand needs, abilities, preferences, motivations, (everyday) experiences from different perspectives as well as their cultural, social, economical and political contexts. 
  • Ability to identify and challenge assumptions, (cognitive and social) biases and dominant mental models by generating new perspectives and frames that help redefine the problem, solution and opportunity space. 
  • Being able to work with incomplete information, ambiguity and opposing views, needs and constraints and synthesise them into solutions that are viable, technically feasible and useful.

Required Skills and Experience

Minimum education requirements:

  • Advanced university degree in Social Sciences, Business Administration, Economics, Computer Science, Engineering, or related field(s); OR  
  • A first-level university degree (Bachelor’s degree) in the areas mentioned above in combination with an additional two (2) years of qualifying experience will be given due consideration in lieu of the advanced university degree. 

Minimum years of relevant work experience:

  • Minimum 2 years (with Master’s degree) or 4 years (with Bachelor’s degree) of progressively responsible relevant experience (at the national or international level) in project delivery of IT or digital transformation products. 

Required skills:

  • Proven track record of successfully managing/coordinating and delivering complex IT projects, in the public or private sector.

Desired skills:

  • Minimum experience of 2 (two) years in project management methodologies (such as Agile, Scrum,) and tools (such as JIRA, Asana etc.)
  • Practical, applied knowledge of Moldova’s e-Governance ecosystem (specifically MConnect and MSign integration).
  • Applied knowledge of modern programming languages (.NET, Java) and frameworks, as well as API management, database architecture, cloud environments, and CI/CD pipelines.
  • At least 1 prior assignment related to the thematic areas of social protection, labour or employment. 
  • Experience in working, liaising, and collaborating with UN agencies, governments, NGOs, civil society organizations, and public international organizations.

Required language(s): 

  • Fluency in Romanian and English is required. 
  • Knowledge of one or more minority languages relevant for Moldova, including Russian, Romani, Gagauzian, Bulgarian, Ukrainian and sign language, is an asset. 

Equal opportunity

As an equal opportunity employer, UNDP values diversity as an expression of the multiplicity of nations and cultures where we operate and, as such, we encourage qualified applicants from all backgrounds to apply for roles in the organization. Our employment decisions are based on merit and suitability for the role, without discrimination. 

UNDP is also committed to creating an inclusive workplace where all personnel are empowered to contribute to our mission, are valued, can thrive, and benefit from career opportunities that are open to all.

Sexual harassment, exploitation, and abuse of authority

UNDP does not tolerate harassment, sexual harassment, exploitation, discrimination and abuse of authority. All selected candidates, therefore, undergo relevant checks and are expected to adhere to the respective standards and principles. 

Right to select multiple candidates

UNDP reserves the right to select one or more candidates from this vacancy announcement.  We may also retain applications and consider candidates applying to this post for other similar positions with UNDP at the same grade level and with similar job description, experience and educational requirements.

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