DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS

14 January 2025-23:59-GMT+01:00 Central European Time (Rome)

WFP celebrates and embraces diversity. It is committed to the principle of equal employment opportunity for all its employees and encourages qualified candidates to apply irrespective of race, colour, national origin, ethnic or social background, genetic information, gender, gender identity and/or expression, sexual orientation, religion or belief, HIV status or disability.

ABOUT WFP

The World Food Programme is the world’s largest humanitarian organization saving lives in emergencies and using food assistance to build a pathway to peace, stability and prosperity, for people recovering from conflict, disasters and the impact of climate change.

At WFP, people are at the heart of everything we do and the vision of the future WFP workforce is one of diverse, committed, skilled, and high performing teams, selected on merit, operating in a healthy and inclusive work environment, living WFP’s values (Integrity, Collaboration, Commitment, Humanity, and Inclusion) and working with partners to save and change the lives of those WFP serves.

To learn more about WFP, visit our website: https://www.wfp.org and follow us on social media to keep up with our latest news: YouTube, LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok.

WHY JOIN WFP?

• WFP is a 2020 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate.
• WFP offers a highly inclusive, diverse, and multicultural working environment.
• WFP invests in the personal & professional development of its employees through a range of training, accreditation, coaching, mentorship, and other programs as well as through internal mobility opportunities.
• A career path in WFP provides an exciting opportunity to work across the various country, regional and global offices around the world, and with passionate colleagues who work tirelessly to ensure that effective humanitarian assistance reaches millions of people across the globe.
• We offer an attractive compensation package (please refer to the Terms and Conditions section of this vacancy announcement).

JOB TITLE: Data Engineer

TYPE OF CONTRACT: CST Level 2

UNIT/DIVISION: TECX (Global Data Office)

DUTY STATION (City, Country): WFP HQ, Rome, Italy

DURATION: 11 months

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE OF THE ASSIGNMENT:

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is the world’s largest humanitarian agency, fighting hunger worldwide. WFP Technology Division (TEC, formerly known as IT) is the digital business engine of the World Food Programme, providing the business with multi-pronged and resilient technical capabilities able to respond with the agility required in humanitarian operations, be they manmade or in a natural disaster setting. TEC Division continues to increase its activities to meet the constantly growing demand from the organization and implement the initiatives related to digital transformation.

Under the WFP Global Data Strategy, a key pillar for implementation is effective data management. WFP is seeking a Data Engineer to lead the building, management and optimization of data architectures and services to support the production of analytics, use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) tools and algorithms in compliance with data governance, protection, privacy, and security requirements. The Data Engineer will closely work with data analysts, data scientists, and architects (enterprise, data, integration and application architects) to ensure the platforms and tools are fit for purpose.

Under the supervision of the Data Engineering Head, the Data Engineer will be a key team member in leading the design, implementation, operation and optimization of engineering services to support initiatives.

ACCOUNTABILITIES/RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Manage individual projects regarding the optimal extraction, transformation, and loading of data from a wide variety of sources into data pipelines, as well as the inputs to support the creation and maintenance of data catalogues.
• Manage the identification, design, and implementation of internal process improvements: automating manual processes, optimizing data delivery, re-designing architecture for greater scalability.
• Deploy resources to extract data features from complex datasets for data scientists and data analysts
• Manage the implementation of changes to data systems to ensure compliance with data governance, protection, privacy, and security requirements
• Collaborate with stakeholders including the business analysts, Analytics and Design teams to during design and implementation to ensure alignment to requirements.
• Develop and monitor performance metrics for projects related to data engineering.
• Test and use new infrastructure as code technologies such as agentic AI to generate time and cost savings.

DELIVERABLES AT THE END OF THE CONTRACT:

• Building, managing and optimizing data pipelines and architectures to support the production of analytics and Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning, in compliance with data governance, protection, privacy and security requirements.
• As part of a data squad/team, deliver the required tasks and artefacts to meet project requirements. Lead testing and validation to ensure data engineering artefacts are fit for purpose.
• Contribute to knowledge management by ensuring documentation is complete for the data engineering artefacts.
• Review infrastructure as code generated by agentic AI to ensure quality controls are met.

QUALIFICATIONS & EXPERIENCE REQUIRED:

Education:

• Advanced university degree (Master’s degree or equivalent) in computer science, statistics, applied mathematics, data management, information systems, information science or a related quantitative field. A first-level university degree in combination with qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.

Experience, Knowledge & Skills:

• A minimum of (7) seven years of progressively responsible experience in data management, integration, modeling, optimization and other relevant areas.
• A minimum of five years of experience working with AWS data components and data engineering capabilities.
• Experience working in cross-functional teams and collaborating with stakeholders in support of analytics initiatives is required.
• Experience in programming languages such as Python or R is required.
• Experience with database programming languages (SQL, etc.) is required.
• Experience in designing data integration and pipeline architectures which must include ingesting data through different methods such as message queues, database connections, flat files, REST, or specific API’s, is required.
• Experience in DevOps tool chains consisting of tools like Git, Jenkins – or equivalent tools – and experience with the deployment of data pipelines is required.
• Experience in delivering big data use cases is desirable, including projects using technology such as Apache Spark, Hadoop or others.
• Experience in Artificial Intelligence, particularly Machine Learning techniques for data mining and extraction of large amounts of data is desirable. In this context, familiarity with concepts of bias and fairness (i.e., how to identify, assess, and minimize harmful biases, discrimination, and unfair outcomes in algorithmic systems and data) is particularly desirable.
• Experience working with self-service analytics applications like Microsoft PowerBI, Tableau, Qlik, AWS Quicksight and others for data discovery is desirable.
• Knowledge of data analysis life cycle from ingest and wrangling to analysis and visualization to present findings.
• Strong analytic skills related to working with unstructured datasets.
• Experience managing teams is desirable.

Languages:

Fluency (level C) in English language. Intermediate knowledge (level B) of a second official UN language: Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian, Spanish, and/or WFP’s working language, Portuguese.

WFP LEADERSHIP FRAMEWORK

WFP Leadership Framework guides to the common standards of behavior that guide HOW we work together to accomplish our mission.

Click here to access WFP Leadership Framework

REASONABLE ACCOMMODATION

WFP is dedicated to fostering diversity, equity, and inclusion. Our recruitment process is inclusively crafted to welcome candidates of all backgrounds, celebrating diversity and ensuring a respectful environment for all. We aim for an accessible and fair recruitment journey. Should you need any reasonable accommodations or have accessibility concerns, please reach out to us confidentially at global.inclusion@wfp.org. Our DEI team is here to ensure your full participation in our recruitment process.

NO FEE DISCLAIMER

The United Nations does not charge any application, processing, training, interviewing, testing or other fee in connection with the application or recruitment process. Should you receive a solicitation for the payment of a fee, please disregard it. Furthermore, please note that emblems, logos, names and addresses are easily copied and reproduced. Therefore, you are advised to apply particular care when submitting personal information on the web.

REMINDERS BEFORE YOU SUBMIT YOUR APPLICATION

• We strongly recommend that your profile is accurate, complete, and includes your employment records, academic qualifications, language skills and UN Grade (if applicable).
• Once your profile is completed, please apply, and submit your application.
• Please make sure you upload your professional CV in the English language
• Kindly note the only documents you will need to submit at this time are your CV and Cover Letter
• Additional documents such as passport, recommendation letters, academic certificates, etc. may potentially be requested at a future time
• Please contact us at global.hrerecruitment@wfp.org in case you face any challenges with submitting your application
• Only shortlisted candidates will be notified

All employment decisions are made on the basis of organizational needs, job requirements, merit, and individual qualifications. WFP is committed to providing an inclusive work environment free of sexual exploitation and abuse, all forms of discrimination, any kind of harassment, sexual harassment, and abuse of authority. Therefore, all selected candidates will undergo rigorous reference and background checks.

No appointment under any kind of contract will be offered to members of the UN Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ), International Civil Service Commission (ICSC), FAO Finance Committee, WFP External Auditor, WFP Audit Committee, Joint Inspection Unit (JIU) and other similar bodies within the United Nations system with oversight responsibilities over WFP, both during their service and within three years of ceasing that service.

Level of Education: Bachelor Degree

Work Hours: 8

Experience in Months: No requirements