Technical Lead for Microsoft 365, SharePoint and .Net

Introduction

The position is located in the Application Management Services Branch (AMS) within the Information and Technology Management Department (INFOTEC) .  INFOTEC is responsible for information management and utilization of technology for the ILO.  It provides modern, secure, and reliable IT infrastructure, technologies, applications and services to enable the ILO to effectively manage information and use technology to perform its mission. AMS provides a range of application related development, implementation and support services covering solutions like: enterprise resource planning, document/content /records management, collaboration/ communication, business intelligence/ analytics and custom point solutions.  
    
A Technical Lead provides a single point of contact for development activities including new initiatives, bug fixing, maintenance, enhancements and phased releases of existing software components for assigned technology areas.  A Technical Lead requires broad experience in software implementation and development methodologies, standards, tools and technologies along with a high degree of proficiency in managing development activities.  A critical success factor of this job is the ability to provide innovative technical solutions to identified gaps in the technology based on ILO requirements.

The position reports to the Head of the Analytics and Application Solutions Unit.

Specific Duties

1.    Technical Team coordination:
•    Coordinates and manages allocation of on/near/offshore vendor application development capacity to ensure delivery of fit for purpose solutions within assigned technical and solution areas. Engages application/solution functional leads to fit capacity to prioritization, timelines and urgency.

•    Implements, monitors and reports on vendor service level agreements (SLA) and key performance indicators (KPI).  Monitors work estimates vs. delivery and ensures scope changes and divergence from estimates are specifically reviewed and documented to ensure activities are on schedule and within budget.

•    Reviews deliverable quality and adherence to design, integration, master data and development standards and processes.  Monitors individual developer performance and engages vendor management to ensure quality delivery. Manages resource capacity including scaling up/down of resource levels, interviewing and selecting suggested candidates, recommending replacement due to non-performance and providing guidance on individual development plans.  

2.    Technical Solution Design and Development:
•    Evaluates Functional Design documents (FD) and engages functional analysts within an FD review process to formulate applicable technical solution designs.  Directly works with technical analysts to develop Technical Design documents (TD) and validate with functional analysts the TD meets the business requirements.

•    Coordinates activities with other technical teams to assess cross-project dependencies and integration.  Backs up other technical leads when needed.
•    Performs quality reviews, certifies proper version and change control mechanisms are being followed and ensures unit testing is appropriately performed for each work package prior to releasing for system testing.

•    Technically troubleshoots challenging and complex issues in accordance with priority and criticality and identifies short and long term workarounds and root cause solutions. Engages and communicates with all interested parties to ensure issue understanding and resolution.

3.    Release Management:
•    Coordinates and oversees release management activities by liaising with functional analysts, project leads, software developers, service desk staff, database analysts and system administrators to migrate technical solutions into ILO production environments according to standards. Ensures migration instructions are documented and perform pre and post activities as required. Verifies successful implementation of technical solutions and prepares contingency plans to handle post production issues if needed.

4.    Reporting:
•    Provides periodic status updates to functional analysts, project managers and INFOTEC management on the status of development activities.

•    Participates in work planning meetings and provides technical insight for project-related tasks such as change control, system support, instance strategy, data security and system implementation.

5.    Perform other relevant duties as assigned.

These specific duties are aligned with the relevant ILO generic job description, which includes the following generic duties:

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Generic Duties

1.    Work within project teams and adhere to project management standards including preparation of status reports, project plans, work estimations, etc. Prepare briefing materials and presentations as needed for management review to adhere to the IT governance framework. Coordinate and manage projects/initiatives.  Review and select consultants as needed and ensure their delivery meets ILO quality expectations and standards.

2.    Work to develop relationships by listening, understanding and anticipating needs, while suggesting appropriate solutions to ensure client satisfaction and continuous alignment with the organizational business needs.

3.    Work to ensure stability of application functions and supported business processes by utilizing AMS standards and processes/procedures when performing daily functions. Identify opportunities for changes to processes, systems and structures and makes recommendations on how to best utilize the existing software applications to increase efficiency and effectiveness for the ILO.

4.    Perform impact analysis of new business requirements.  Engage consultant partners and software vendors to understand and document issues and required actions/decisions.  Document analysis and alternative solution suggestions within appropriate documentation. Provide design suggestions, estimate work effort and develop wireframes/mock ups of potential solutions. Establish and manage all relevant documentation according to published standards and procedures as business requirements evolve.

5.    Perform troubleshooting of a wide range of functional issues including on complex and challenging issues; determine if functional requirements are met by existing software and develops action plans to correct deficiencies; support the Office during cutover and transition to new software releases.

6.    Investigate reported application problems and work with Functional Analysts to test, diagnose and isolate the root cause of problems. Prepare incident reports for further investigation by technical operations and development experts. Coordinate further diagnosis and tests as necessary to assist with and recommend workarounds where appropriate

Required qualifications

Education

Advanced university degree in IT, Business, Accounting, Social Sciences or other related field. Knowledge and certification in project management methodologies and ITIL is an advantage.

Experience

At least seven years of professional experience in performing custom development and technical enhancement of off the shelf business applications with a minimum of five years related to implementing Sharepoint applications. A minimum of three years of relevant experience should be at the international level.  Specific experience working with offshore development centers and coordinating/managing other developers is preferred. 

Languages

Excellent command of one official language (English, French, Spanish) of the Organization and a working knowledge of a  second official language.   One of these languages must be English. 

Competencies

In addition to the ILO core competencies, this position requires:

Technical

Sound understanding of administrative application implementation methodologies and best practices. Sufficient understanding of relevant business processes, operating strategies, policies, and procedures within the UN environment; capability to gather, document and analyze information; ability to draw conclusions including impacts and resolution options, discernment to prioritize issues or when to seek guidance are critical to overall organization drivers and which are not; ability to solve complex functional issues which cross-organizational boundaries; ability to liaise and negotiate. Ability to operate within the software development lifecycle and to engage team members and partners through the various activities in this cycle.  This will include negotiation, briefings and developing, reviewing and discussing Functional & Technical Designs, Test Scripts/Scenarios, etc. Advanced application software skills including Microsoft Office tools to prepare presentations, spreadsheets, word processing, and project management. A Knowledge of:

•    Microsoft SharePoint Server (full trust code, custom master page, page layouts, web parts, user controls, SharePoint taxonomy, metadata, content types, search, feature stapling, SharePoint App development, timer job, Client Side Object Model)
•    migrating from SharePoint Server (on-premise) to SharePoint Online
•    relational database concepts, structured query language (SQL), and stored procedures (SP) in MS SQL Server.
•    Microsoft 365, Azure, MS Graph
•    ASP.Net, C#
•    SPFx, TypeScript, npm, gulp, yeoman (* note: these are the languages and tools relevant for developing on SharePoint Online)
•    JavaScript, Jquery, AngularJs, Node.js, React
•    JSON, web API, WebService, REST
•    HTML 5, CSS,XML, AJAX, UML
•    SQL Server, ADO .Net
•    PowerShell
•    Visual Studio, Team Foundation Server, Git, Azure DevOps
•    Static code Analyzer tools for the different languages used on the project, e.g. for .Net (FxCop, StyleCop), Javascript (JsHint), Css (CssLint), Angular (TSLint, SonarQube)
•    Documentation generator tools (NDOC, GhostDoc, JSDoc, Sandcastle, compodoc)
•    Debugging and performance analysis tools (fiddler)
•    Unit testing tools (NUnit, xUnit)
•    Test automation tools (Selenium, Puppeteer, Jest, etc.)
•    Web Accessibility testing tools (ChromeVox, Wave, Jaws, NVDA)
•    Automation and Orchestration tools (Jenkins, Azure DevOps pipelines)
•    Current third-party tools (Nintex) and recommended future third-party tools (Sharegate)

Behavioural
Effective personal management skills including time and task management, development of project related briefs, status reports, etc. and capable of working independently and within a team environment in order to meet deadlines.  Capability to guide and coordinate the work of external collaborators, general service staff, young professionals and consultants.  Excellent verbal and written communication skills.  Ability to work in a multicultural environment and to demonstrate gender sensitive and non-discriminatory behavior and attitudes.

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