Technical Project Coordinator, Office of Innovation, New York, USA

Technical project coordinator

Duration: 6 monthsDuty Station: Office of Innovation, NYHQLevel: Individual contract (equivalent to P2)

BACKGROUND

UNICEF Office of Innovation is hiring a technical project coordinator to join our technology and data science team. We are looking for a motivated technical project coordinator to lead the implementation of a mobile application that uses crowdsourcing to collect ground truth data from the field, in particular for the refugee context.

UNICEF Office of Innovation functions like a collection of startups in early-stage in which promising new technologies (e.g. data science, SMS technologies, UAVs, blockchain) are identified that have potential to impact UNICEF core operations (e.g. education, health, disaster response). Through our network of technology partners, UNICEF country offices and academic institutions, we construct pilots to quickly determine potential impact.

Here are some of the assets we have, that you might not have known about:

•Did you know UNICEF has set up a system in Nigeria that reports on every birth, in real time, via text message (42 million over the last five years)?•Or that we have over 2.6 million young people worldwide who we can reach with a single text-message, and use their responses to our questions to create action and change?•Or that we created the UN's first-ever VC-style investment vehicle to help bring promising technology solutions that can improve children's lives to market faster?•Or that we are working with private sector companies to create a platform that can collect, combine, analyze, and display realtime information to obtain insights that helps inform our work, especially in emergencies.The technology and data science team is an interdisciplinary team of 9 people that do research and product development with non-traditional data (aka Big Data), combining several disciplines such as network science, natural language processing, data mining, machine learning, remote sensing or artificial intelligence. The main problems that we look at are epidemiology, urbanization, migration and human dynamics

PURPOSE OF THE APPOINTMENT

We are looking for a motivated technical project coordinator to lead the implementation of a mobile application that uses crowdsourcing to collect ground truth data from the field, in particular for the refugee context.

The candidate is expected to manage the project 'Empasee', with the objective to conceptualize and build an open source tool for crowdsourced infrastructure mapping.

There are several applications that successfully use human mobilization for different purposes, such as MalariaSpot (http://malariaspot.org/en/) that uses people's feedback via an app to diagnose malaria, CrisisNet http://crisis.net/projects/syria-tracker/ that uses crowdsourcing information to report on Syrian crisis, or initiatives such as CrisisMappers (http://crisismappers.net/).

The users of this application will have access to satellite images related to humanitarian or development challenges. They will need to visually inspect the images to produce data related to a certain problem (for example, to find damaged infrastructure in conflict areas, or to select the best paths to deliver aid to a certain population). This approach is similar to an initiative of MSF. The information produced will then be used as ground-truth to train machine learning algorithms, similar to StreetScore http://streetscore.media.mit.edu/about.html and Place Pulse.

The candidate will therefore analyse and study the solutions available in the open source domain, and manage the development of the necessary adaptations or customizations that meet the requirements.

MAIN ACTIVITIES

•Create a project plan including objectives and phased deliverables. •Lead the technical implementation of the product: •Technical assessment: Analyse existing open source products and applications in this space •Define minimum viable product requirements•Plan resources required•Work with users (UNICEF programme and emergency staff) and different stakeholders to design product. •Manage the implementation of the different versions: Work with an external software development resource to develop missing modules or to adapt existing modules •Create project documentation and handover to UNICEF and the open source community

DESCRIPTION OF ASSIGNMENT

PAYMENT PLAN

•Monthly payment, based on monthly tasks and progress reports, approved upon monthly review with supervisor.•Consultant is responsible for his/her own health insurance•Consultant is eligible for standard DSA for all work-related travel.

QUALIFICATIONS AND EDUCATION

Master degree in computer science, information technology or software engineering.

Specialized experience and knowledge required for the assignment•2-3 year experience working on Software development products, ideally around mobile applications and using agile and rapid prototyping methodologies•Project management skills•communication, coordination and organisation•mediation and negotiation skills•Able to conceptualize ideas into product requirements and user stories, define manageable work packages, to identify dependencies between them and prioritize.Communication skills•Proven ability to communicate efficiently with different audiences (users, developers, internal stakeholders, potential partners with similar applications)•Ability to explain technical concepts for non-technical people.•Social abilities and a good sense of humor.

LanguagesFluency in English. Competence in another UN language preferred.

HOW TO APPLYInterested and suitable candidates are requested to send their applications with Subject "Technical project coordinator" to: oirecruitment@unicef.org on or before 29 December 2016.Applications must include the following:•Cover letter•P11 (http://www.unicef.org/about/employ/files/P11.doc)•CV•expected monthly rate in USD (total / all-inclusive rate)

Incomplete applications will be disqualified. Applicants must clearly indicate the position applied for and use this order to name file attachments: Firstname_Lastname followed by document e.g. Gold_Mukasa_CV or Gold_Mukasa_CoverLetter. Only short listed candidates will be contacted.

Visit us at www.unicefstories.organd www.unicef.org/innovation

HOW TO APPLY:

UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages qualified female and male candidates from all national, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including persons living with disabilities, to apply to become a part of our organization. To apply, click on the following link http://www.unicef.org/about/employ/?job=501960