Principal Software Architect

Grade: IS-5
Deadline: 7 December 2022 (11:59 PM KST)
Job Category: International
Salary: 128,600 USD (plus attractive benefits, that include the following allowances (as appliable): Relocation, dependency, education assistance and home country travel.)

Introduction
The mission of the Green Climate Fund is to assist developing countries to respond to climate change while bringing prosperity to their people. Established in 2010, the GCF invests in transformational climate projects in the developing world. The Fund makes an ambitious contribution to global climate action and channels significant financial resources into developing countries to help build low-emission and climate-resilient societies. It is country-driven and undertakes actions that reflect the circumstances of each country concerned and its national aspirations. The GCF is a key enabler of the 2015 Paris Agreement on Climate Change. Since its establishment, the GCF has approved 190 projects in 123 countries and has committed USD 10 billion in climate finance. In addition, it has built up an extensive program to support developing countries to identify their needs, in particular, those who are most vulnerable to climate change impacts. The GCF’s diverse workforce is advancing its mission from its headquarters in South Korea. Our talented staff makes unique contributions to the Fund, enriching the institution through their combined expertise and professional commitment.
 

Position Objective
The Principal Software Architect, reporting to the Head of ICT, provides technical leadership for innovative, reliable, scalable, and maintainable cloud-native solutions (both built and bought). As manager of the software development function, you will get to immerse yourself in cutting edge technology with your team and play a significant part in the global fight against climate change.

Duties and responsibilities

Purpose

• Predict the Fund’s nature of software needs in two, three years out and their architectural implications for today; undertake industry trend scouting for identifying and pursuing up and coming catalytic solutions that can further the Fund’s fulfilment of mandate; craft respective concepts and programmes.
• Develop new cloud-based web applications and alter existing code to accommodate scale and integration with new technologies and APIs, while implementing applications in accordance with demands for information security and data protection/privacy best practices.
• Identify, define, analyse, and solve complex performance problems and architectural challenges to make GCF ICT systems adapt to ever-changing business requirements.
• Show creativity when orchestrating an agile and adaptable SaaS based landscape of programmatic and complementary administrative system components; act strategic when deciding about to build versus buy, configure/customise, and integrate. 

Engagement

• Articulate, present, and explain the value and the vision of proposed technology innovations and solutions for addressing business needs to a wide range of audiences, including external engagements during conferences and meetings, with an in-depth understanding of GCF’s business processes and practises, industry’s technical directions, and emerging technology trends.
• Communicate the business value of GCF ICT systems and support users by organising business requirements discussions, building demos, and conducting proof of concept scenario workshops, and by developing documentation and assisting tools. 
• Delivery
• Identify and specify needs and opportunities of business automation to deliver efficiency/cost containment, effectiveness, quality enhancements, reliability, security, agility, decision support or transparency/accountability improvements for the wide audience of internal and external stakeholders.
• Define the technical specifications, create solution approaches, and build technical roadmaps in achieving the solutions goals, and devise sourcing strategies; planning for, acquiring, and organising a wide range of onsite, offsite, turnkey and times & means nature engagements with parties across several continents, with one key focal area of all work relating to the overarching objective of GCF and partners reaching excellence as learning organisations.

Required experience and qualifications

• Master’s Degree ideally in software engineering, computer science, management information systems and related subjects. A Bachelor’s Degree with an additional 2 years of relevant experience may be accepted in lieu of the Master’s Degree requirement. 
• Minimum 11 years of extensive application development experience, covering frond-end and back-end areas, for creating database-driven, responsive web applications. 
• At least 2 years of experience in leading software development and integrations teams, with responsibility for internal and external personnel for respective work undertakings.
• Communicating at ease with and working at the same time with business audiences as well as technical experts; proactively bridging potential communication gaps when required.
• Working experience and knowledge in relation to cloud architecture in Microsoft Azure.
• Familiarity with a product-oriented way of handling the portfolio of solutions provided by the own team and the wider overall IT organisation.
• General understandings and experience regarding the architecture of modern web-based solutions, including cloud-native backend database configuration, along with a good command of tools associated with development, maintenance, and administration of such systems.
• Working experience with the core Microsoft software stack (Active Directory, Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, and other Office365 products) with exposed responsibilities of integrating them to 3rd party SaaS solutions.
• Experience in integrating Single-Sign-On solutions is desirable.
• Knowledge of formal project management methodologies: Project Management Institute PMBOK or PRINCE2 and a related certification is desirable.
• Ability to handle multiple tasks concurrently and coping with parallel initiatives in different phases, typically under pressure with firmly committed to timelines for internal and external customer audiences and partners.
• Familiarity with formalized procurement processes and their principles.
• Work experience with international organizations as staff, consultant or contractor is a distinct advantage; and
• Excellent written and oral communication skills in English are essential for this position, knowledge of another UN language is an advantage.
   

The closing date for application is 7 December 2022. Applications submitted after the deadline may not be considered.

*The person assessed by the Selection Panel as most suitable for the position will be proposed for appointment. Selection among short-listed candidates will also take into account performance at interview, appropriate testing, and references. 

Applications from women and nationals of developing countries are strongly encouraged.