ICT Manager (Digital Applications) P-4, FT # 15461, Copenhagen, Denmark

ICT Manager (Digital Applications)

UNICEF works in some of the world’s toughest places, to reach the world’s 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.

For every child, an Education

The fundamental mission of UNICEF is to promote the rights of every child, everywhere, in everything the organization does — in programs, in advocacy and in operations. The equity strategy, emphasizing the most disadvantaged and excluded children and families, translates this commitment to children’s rights into action. For UNICEF, equity means that all children have an opportunity to survive, develop and reach their full potential, without discrimination, bias or favoritism. To the degree that any child has an unequal chance in life — in its social, political, economic, civic and cultural dimensions — her or his rights are violated. There is growing evidence that investing in the health, education and protection of a society’s most disadvantaged citizens — addressing inequity — not only will give all children the opportunity to fulfill their potential but also will lead to sustained growth and stability of countries. This is why the focus on equity is so vital. It accelerates progress towards realizing the human rights of all children, which is the universal mandate of UNICEF, as outlined by the Convention on the Rights of the Child, while also supporting the equitable development of nations.

Strategic office context:

Under the general guidance of the Chief, Operational Analysis and Technology Centre (OATC), the ICT Manager (Digital applications) Manager is responsible for the technical implementation of the Digital Supply Chain strategic plan that requires the intensive use of robust, modern, and well supported business applications. This post is based in Copenhagen, a Headquarter duty station, and is part of Supply Division (SD), OATC. The Centre manages and supports the analysis of business requirements for applications, the identification or development, the implementation as well as the operations of business application solutions.

How can you make a difference?

Based on the business strategies and workplans, established policies, guidelines and service level agreements, the incumbent is responsible for managing, coordinating, and supporting the integration of large scale and complex web-based systems that support SD’s digital business processes, collaboration, and management information objectives.

You will be accountable for: 

The incumbent’s key functions, accountabilities and related duties or tasks include:

1. Responsible for the management and support of SD’s digital business applications lifecycle and their integration points

• Provide support to the large-scale and complex UNICEF business applications and information systems pillars used by Supply Division (SD) outside of core transaction systems such as SAP. This includes being accountable for business application analysis and establishing integration requirements with other SD and non-SD systems as appropriate, paying particular attention to system redundancies and compatibility with the global Enterprise Architecture standards.
• Lead the provision of insights on the analysis of business needs and elaboration of functional requirements and quality attributes of the digital solutions.
• Direct the team in charge of the technical implementation of web tools, enabling collaboration and knowledge management through Enterprise Content Management, Team sites, Office365 and custom web applications.
• Be accountable for project governance on digital applications development lifecycle and work with vendors to implement the solutions.
• Coordinate the development and validation of integration requirements and integration plans.
• Manage the planning, quality assurance and implementation, as well as documentation of the integration plans and specifications.
• Ensure that organization standards as well as industry best practices are considered in the vendor and tool selection, information structure, information security, metadata, and system architecture.
• Plan and direct maintenance activities for digital business applications to ensure ongoing ‘fit for purpose’ compatibility while reviewing technical debt and operational risks.
• Monitor and produce reports and insights on the web application performance and perform usage statistics analysis.
• Manage and maintain the integration technology components, monitor system capacity and performance, and ensure flow of information across applications.
• Coordinate the management of changes and upgrades, and the communication plan to support these changes.
• Manage compliance and escalate exceptions (proactive) and deviations (reactive) on project management and change management.
• Develop and maintain a change management culture with business owners and adopt change request processes for planned enhancements.
• Undertake continuous improvement efforts to maintain business applications performance, business process, knowledge base, and training materials.
• Maintain and share knowledge and awareness of best practices and development trends in cloud services and web technologies and standards and apply these to recommend options for continuous improvement.

2. Foster the collaboration with Supply Division’s (SD) business owners and strategic partners

• Lead and direct ‘DevOps’ concepts internally within OATC, evangelizing and influencing peers in the team by defining digital deployment plans and adoption strategies, and building support baselines.
• Manage digital communication materials and applications documentation internally, including liaison with key resources and SMEs (Subject Matter Experts) in the global ICT division;
• Establish and maintain business channels with key resources across SD and more widely in UNICEF’s ICT community, including field-based digital professionals.

3. Lead the promotion and fostering of innovation through digital technology

• Lead by example by providing creativity and innovative thinking to re-engineer work processes and make the best use of digital technology within SD;
• Working with SD colleagues, engage with SD partners and stakeholders to define and develop innovative solutions to meet broader supply chain objectives beyond the boundaries of UNICEF’s system landscape; this shall include donors and country representatives.
• Undertake productivity gap analysis with SD colleagues to identify potential opportunities and risks to improve efficiency and effectiveness and advocate for appropriate digital change solutions with business owners, senior management and ICTD.
• Coordinate with the Chief of OATC for the formal review and assessment of local innovation initiatives to the Digital Strategy Board (DSB).
• Ensure existing strategies are incorporated in all innovation initiatives prior to approval.
• Support counterparts and implementing partners to implement approved innovation initiatives.

4. Lead the Platform and Application Development Unit (PADU)

• Lead a cross-functional applications support team (PADU), and develop and maintain skills, capacity, and performance of the team.
• Develop and maintain capability and service delivery maturity of the support team.
• PADU is a small team of expert project resources that rely on off-shore web development resources which  will change in accordance with project demands and the progress of the Digital Supply Chain portfolio.
• Management responsibilities includes short-term hiring of contractors as part of project resourcing and ongoing contract management of the offshore development team, including escalations, renewals, performance management and commercial engagement across the contract lifecycle.

To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have…

Education

• Advanced university degree in computer science, information systems, or other relevant disciplines, with specialized training or appropriate experience in the fields broadly applicable to the job.

A first University degree or equivalent background in the above fields may be accepted in lieu of an Advanced university degree in conjunction with two years of relevant work experience.

It is desirable the candidate has undertaken studies in Information Management with practical applications of:

• Business Analysis
• Database Management
• System and Technology Integration
• Applications Development
• Cloud Computing
• Information Systems Design
• Project Management
• Digital Innovation

Work Experience

• A minimum of eight years of professional experience in information technology management and business operations in a large international organization and/or corporation is required, including in as many of the following domains as possible:
  • Experience in systems integration techniques and tools, as well as experience in information architecture development is required.
  • Experience with business analysis techniques and tools, as well as experience in managing ICT projects and with vendors is required.
  • Experience in supply chain management, warehousing, distribution activities and SRM processes in the non-profit sector is an asset.
  • Experience in documenting digital software requirements specifications and design description is an asset.
  • Experience in a UN Common System organization is an asset including knowledge of UN/UNICEF’s rules, regulations, and procedures.

Languages

• Fluency in English is required. Knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish) is an asset.

For every Child, you demonstrate…

UNICEF's values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, and Accountability (CRITA).

The core competencies required for this post are;

• Nurtures, Leads and Manages People (1)
• Demonstrates Self Awareness and Ethical Awareness (2)
• Works Collaboratively with others (2)
• Builds and Maintains Partnerships (2)
• Innovates and Embraces Change (2)
• Thinks and Acts Strategically (2)
• Drives to achieve impactful results (2)
• Manages ambiguity and complexity (2)

The core competencies / technical skills required for this post are;

• Knowledge of office computer and information systems specific to:
  • Digital technologies
  • Supply Chain technologies
  • Business process analysis
  • Software development lifecycle
• Certification and/or proven experience in one or more of these several ICT technical competencies: ICT Project Management, Business Analysis, Information Security, ICT Audit and Risk Management, Software development methodology, tools and lifecycle.
• In-depth experience in Microsoft technologies related to application development (DevOps, MS Azure PaaS).
• Advanced knowledge of MS SharePoint, MS SQL, MS Azure Cloud, .Net Framework, other related cloud services.
• ITIL Certificate or equivalent Customer Support Certification

To view our competency framework, please visit 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.

Remarks:

Mobility is a condition of international professional employment with UNICEF and an underlying premise of the international civil service.

UNICEF appointments are subject to medical clearance.  Issuance of a visa by the host country of the duty station, which will be facilitated by UNICEF, is required for IP positions. Appointments may also be subject to inoculation (vaccination) requirements, including against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid). Government employees that are considered for employment with UNICEF are normally required to resign from their government before taking up an assignment with UNICEF. UNICEF reserves the right to withdraw an offer of appointment, without compensation, if a visa or medical clearance is not obtained, or necessary inoculation requirements are not met, within a reasonable period for any reason.

UNICEF only considers higher educational qualifications obtained from an institution accredited/recognized in the World Higher Education Database (WHED), a list updated by the International Association of Universities (IAU) / United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The list can be accessed at: http://www.whed.net/

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