Snr Platform & Cloud Specialis - Solution Engineering

Before submitting an application, UNHCR staff members intending to apply to this Job Opening are requested to consult the Recruitment and Assignments Policy (RAP, UNHCR/HCP/2017/2 and the Recruitment and Assignments Administrative Instruction (RAAI), UNHCR/AI/2017/7 OF 15 August 2017.

Senior Platform & Cloud Specialist

Organizational Setting and Work Relationships
The incumbent is UNHCR¿s expert on IT Platform & Cloud who will design the related technical solutions that which meet UNHCR¿s requirements, are cost effective, well-maintained, and align with the technical direction of the organization.
The post is in the Solution Engineering Section of DIST, reporting directly to the Chief of Solution Engineering, who reports to the CIO. Currently, there are no direct supervisory responsibilities for this post.
The incumbent is expected to interact laterally with the team¿s technical experts to ensure that the platform & cloud solutions s/he designs, and implements are in alignment and adherence to the relevant technical standards. As a key member of the DIST team, constant engagement with the other DIST Services, including Business Relationship Management, IT Operations, and Customer Support will be part of the daily role. Close collaboration with the Chief Information Security Officer and the Security Operations Centre is implied. Oversight of platform & cloud related solution development, implementation, and support as carried out by Managed Service Providers is key to the role. Similarly, engagement with stakeholders on the Business side [non-DIST] will be critical to ensure a clear understanding of requirements. Finally, the incumbent will also need to maintain close working relationships with technology vendors who provide and support the organization¿s platform & cloud infrastructure.


All UNHCR staff members are accountable to perform their duties as reflected in their job description. They do so within their delegated authorities, in line with the regulatory framework of UNHCR which includes the UN Charter, UN Staff Regulations and Rules, UNHCR Policies and Administrative Instructions as well as relevant accountability frameworks. In addition, staff members are required to discharge their responsibilities in a manner consistent with the core, functional, cross-functional and managerial competencies and UNHCR¿s core values of professionalism, integrity and respect for diversity.


Duties
- Act as the organization¿s expert advisor on platform and cloud services, designing the related solutions that meet the dynamic needs of the organization in simple, secure, cost-effective ways.
- Develop and maintain platform and cloud hosting related policies, procedures, guidelines, and standards that are relevant to UNHCR¿s technical landscape, educating and enabling both technical and business colleagues on their importance and implementation.
- Promote security-centric approaches to platform & cloud solution development and the adoption of relevant DevSecOps best-practices by developers and administrators.
- Ensure that solution development and changes to existing solutions include security analysis and plans for data-protection.
- Develop and maintain cloud hosting frameworks that are specific to the major cloud vendors and observe well-architected cloud environment best practices in the areas of security, reliability, performance, operations and cost-optimization.
- Develop technical roadmaps that are aligned with both business requirements and the strategic technical direction of UNHCR; promote secure cloud adoption through standardization on key components and practices.
- Work with technical and business colleagues to understand and document explicit and implicit requirements related to platform and cloud hosting.
- Validate requirements with development partners and technology vendors to ensure completeness and technical feasibility.
- Ensure requirements for initial solution development and subsequent changes are clearly documented and maintained over time.
- Prepare or assist in the preparation of comprehensive estimates for the development, licensing and ongoing support of all solutions.
- Work with development partners to enforce adherence to development frameworks and secure code repositories and other development standards.
- Develop or oversee the development of test plans to comprehensively test all required features of the solution; ensure test plans are successfully completed before releasing new solutions to production.
- Plan for and facilitate periodic penetration testing of infrastructure components and applications.
- Plan for and carry-out periodic reviews of cloud environments for technical-relevance and cost-optimization.
- Ensure that adequate measures/solutions are in place for intrusion prevention and detection, denial of service mitigation, firewalling and encryption.
- Include maintenance and support aspects in the design of all related solution; work with Service Delivery Managers to ensure support requirements are well understood and correctly implemented.
- Assist technical support groups in return-to-green efforts during major incidents.
- Support the SOC (Security Operations Centre) in establishing monitoring capabilities, baselines, responses, vulnerability scans, intelligence and coordination appropriate for each new solution.
- Review all submissions to the Architecture Review Board (ARB) for adherence to sound cybersecurity and cloud-hosting principles; assist the ARB in understanding potential shortcomings and suggest remediation measures.
- Ensure that UNHCR¿s Project-Management Life Cycle (PMLC) is understood by our technical partners and followed for all cybersecurity and cloud related projects.
- Maintain up-to-date expertise, technical and procedural, in the fields of platform and cloud-hosting.
- Perform other related duties as required.


Minimum Qualifications

Education & Professional Work Experience

Years of Experience / Degree Level

For P4 - 9 years relevant experience with Undergraduate degree; or 8 years relevant experience with Graduate degree; or 7 years relevant experience with Doctorate degree


Field(s) of Education
Computer Engineering; Computer Science; Data Science;
Electric Engineering; Engineering; Information and Communication Technology;  
Information Systems; Information Technology; Telecommunication;
or other relevant field.

(Field(s) of Education marked with an asterisk* are essential)


Certificates and/or Licenses
ITIL V3 Foundation Level; Microsoft Tech Specialist; Windows Server;
Information Technology; MS Certified Technology Spec; MS Certified Solutions Expert;
Six Sigma; Computer Science.

(Certificates and Licenses marked with an asterisk* are essential)


Relevant Job Experience

Essential
- At least 9 years (7 years with advanced university degree) of experience in information technology, of which 7 should be in designing and implementing cybersecurity-related solutions or hosting solutions.
- Demonstrated experience driving technology solutions from design to implementation, leveraging cross-functional teams comprised of staff, vendors, system integrators, outsourced partners, and contractors across multiple locations.
- Proven success in designing and maintaining platform & cloud architecture blueprints for large organizations.
- Strong familiarity with IDS/IPS solutions, DDoS mitigation measures, firewall and WAF technologies, proxying systems and malware management solutions.
- Strong familiarity with public cloud technologies, especially AWS and Azure, including cost-optimizations measures on both clouds.
- Proven ability to design large, enterprise-grade platform infrastructure in a 24/7, "real-time" environment.
- Broad knowledge of Microsoft Enterprise products, technologies and services.
- Deep knowledge of claims-based identity, Active Directory, Open ID Connect, OAuth 2.0 protocol, Windows Server, and Linux OS.
- Experience with large Wide Area Networks composed of high-latency, low-bandwidth connections, such as VSAT solutions.
- Experience with complex application and data integrations between SaaS applications and on-premise. applications, and cloud-to-cloud integration.
- Strong familiarity with the IT Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) including Agile, Kanban, and knowledge of ITIL processes.
- Experience with automated testing tools and techniques, including oversight of test plans and test matrices, project plans and scope and design documents.
- Proven ability to document business and functional requirements using industry standard and generally accepted modelling methods using standard tools.
- Experience working with outsourced providers in delivering services based on service level agreements.
- Experience resolving problems, responding to and completing audit recommendations and actions.
- Strong verbal communications and executive-level presentation skills.

Desirable
- Knowledge of systems and processes within UNHCR, especially WAN and Refugee Systems technologies.
- Experience with Microsoft CRM Dynamics and Biometrics applications.
- Familiarity with UNHCR¿s Data Protection Policy and related GDPR concepts.
- Security Certifications, such as (ISC)2, ISACA, AWS or Azure.
- ITIL v3 certifications.
- Relevant AWS and Microsoft Architect Certifications.


Functional Skills
IT-IT Cloud Hosting Services*;
IT-Computer Literacy*;
IT-IT Surveillance Monitoring Systems*;
IT-IT Systems and Standards*;
IT-IT Solution Engineering*;
IT-Microsoft Server Technology*;
IT-Web Server Technology*;
IT-IT Directory Services*;
IT-Wide Area Networks (WAN)*;
IT-IT Security Management*;
IT-IT Unix/Linux Server Technology*;
IT-IT Workstation Operating Systems (OS)*;
IT-IT Support*.

(Functional Skills marked with an asterisk* are essential)


Language Requirements
For International Professional and Field Service jobs: Knowledge of English and UN working language of the duty station if not English.
For National Professional jobs: Knowledge of English and UN working language of the duty station if not English and local language.
For General Service jobs: Knowledge of English and/or UN working language of the duty station if not English. C001L4 - Accountability Level 4
C002L4 - Teamwork & Collaboration Level 4
C003L4 - Communication Level 4
C004L4 - Commitment to Continuous Learning Level 4
C005L4 - Client & Result Orientation Level 4
C006L4 - Organizational Awareness Level 4
M001L4 - Empowering and Building Trust Level 4
M003L4 - Judgement and Decision Making Level 4
M004L4 - Strategic Planning and Vision Level 4
X002L4 - Innovation and Creativity Level 4
X003L4 - Technological Awareness Level 4
X009L4 - Change Capability and Adaptability Level 4

The UNHCR workforce consists of many diverse nationalities, cultures, languages and opinions. UNHCR seeks to sustain and strengthen this diversity to ensure equal opportunities as well as an inclusive working environment for its entire workforce. Applications are encouraged from all qualified candidates without distinction on grounds of race, colour, sex, national origin, age, religion, disability, sexual orientation and gender identity.

Please note that UNHCR does not charge a fee at any stage of its recruitment process (application, interview, meeting, travelling, processing, training or any other fees).

Please note that the closing date for vacancies in this addendum is Thursday 29 October 2020 (midnight Geneva time).