UNICEF works in over 190 countries and territories to save children’s lives, defend their rights, and help them fulfill their potential, from early childhood through adolescence.

At UNICEF, we are committed, passionate, and proud of what we do. Promoting the rights of every child is not just a job – it is a calling.

UNICEF is a place where careers are built, we offer our staff diverse opportunities for personal and professional development that will help them develop a fulfilling career while delivering on a rewarding mission. We pride ourselves on a culture that helps staff thrive, coupled with an attractive compensation and benefits package.

Visit our website to learn more about what we do at UNICEF.

For every child, success…

The Office of Innovation (OoI) works to catalyze UNICEF’s and all its partners’ expertise and resources against key children-outcomes bottlenecks, with a view to continuously ideate and scale the most effective solutions with transformational potential at scale to achieve the child-related SDGs.

The office is doing this by continuously exploring new ways of accelerating results for children, investing across a range of early stage solutions, and harnessing internal and external expertise towards continuously iterating and finetuning the most promising solutions for children through a systematic portfolio management approach, and leveraging all stakeholders’ innovation energy, knowhow and resources from intergovernmental, multilateral, private sector and non-governmental organizations. This takes place across 160 country offices.

The Innovation Manager supports implementation of UNICEF Ventures’ engagement in digital public goods, including through global platforms such as the Digital Public Goods Alliance.

UNICEF played an instrumental role in developing the concept of digital public goods and in securing support for it in global policies and discussions around digital cooperation. This has been complemented by an extensive programme of work bringing together support for the development of digital public goods that can accelerate results for children, ecosystem development and capacity building at the national level and engagement of private and public stakeholders to shape technology practices and policy development The Ventures Team’s overall approach embeds the concept of digital public goods, their role in achieving equity, transparency and local ownership across all work areas and has aligned team vision and targets accordingly. The Government of Norway has been UNICEF Ventures’ main partner in taking forward this work, complemented by the supporters of the Venture Fund.

How can you make a difference?

Overall, this position is responsible for:

1. Lead overall strategy development and implementation of UNICEF’s workplan on Digital Public Goods
2. Design and implement strategy to increase commitment and engagement from private investors and technology companies to equity, transparency and local ownership in technology innovation, including through DPGs
3. Lead Ventures’ advocacy efforts on DPGs and related principles, working in collaboration with relevant 001and DPGA Secretariat teams
4. Provide oversight and management support to various workstreams implemented by the team, including development of innovative open-source prototypes, technical standard setting and implementation of support, and country engagement strategy
5. Develop and implement strategy for country level engagement and capacity building in consultation and based on Country Office needs
6. Support UNICEF’s Board members in their engagement with the DPGA Board.

   Key functions, accountabilities and related duties/tasks:

1. Lead overall strategy development and implementation of UNICEF’s workplan on Digital Public Goods

2. Design and implement strategy to increase commitment and engagement from private investors and technology companies to equity, transparency and local ownership in technology innovation, including through DPGs.
3. Lead Ventures’ advocacy efforts on DPGs and related principles, working in collaboration with relevant 001 and DPGA Secretariat teams
4. Provide oversight and management support to various workstreams implemented by the team, including development of innovative open-source prototypes, technical standard setting and implementation of support, and country engagement strategy.
5. Develop and implement strategy for country level engagement and capacity building in consultation and based on Country Office needs
6. Support UNICEF’s Board members in their engagement with the DPGA Board

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

Education:

• An advanced university degree (master’s or higher) in engineering, technology, computer science, or other relevant field.

Experience:

• A minimum of eight (8) years of relevant professional experience in open-source project management, development or strategy development. First level university degree (bachelor’s degree or equivalent) with 10 years of relevant work experience can be accepted in lieu of an advanced university degree.
• Demonstrated expertise in some of the required technical areas, including software quality assurance, Open-Source license strategies or community management, developing and piloting Open-Source technology products, relevant advocacy strategy and engagement.
• Experience in delivering guidance, technical support and mentorship to individuals, teams, start-ups or other groups on complex challenges.
• Experience engaging, ideally through advocacy, with stakeholders from different backgrounds and coordinating multi stakeholder activities.
• Knowledge of the open-source software and open data eco-systems.
• Demonstrated strategy development and project management skills, including coordination of resources and consultants.
• Piloting and scaling of technology solutions in UNICEF programme countries desired; developing country work experience and/or familiarity with emergency is considered an asset.
• Familiarity with international development.

Language Requirements:

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

Core Values: Care
Respect
Integrity
Trust
Accountability
Sustainability

Core Competencies:

1. Nurtures, Leads and Manages People (2)
2. Demonstrates self-awareness and ethical awareness (2)
3. Works collaboratively with others (2)
4. Builds and maintains partnership (2)
5. Innovates and embraces change (2)
6. Thinks and acts strategically (2)
7. Drive to achieve results for impact (2)
8. Manages ambiguity and complexity (2)

If you would like to know more about this position, please review the complete Job Description here: JD_Innovation Manager_DPG_P4.pdf

For every Child, you demonstrate…

UNICEF’s Core Values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust and Accountability and Sustainability (CRITAS) underpin everything we do and how we do it. Get acquainted with Our Values Charter: UNICEF Values

Familiarize yourself with our competency framework and its different levels.

UNICEF is here to serve the world’s most disadvantaged children and our global workforce must reflect the diversity of those children. The UNICEF family is committed to include everyone, irrespective of their race/ethnicity, age, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, socio-economic background, or any other personal characteristic.

We offer a wide range of measures to include a more diverse workforce, such as paid parental leave, time off for breastfeeding purposes, and reasonable accommodation for persons with disabilities. UNICEF strongly encourages the use of flexible working arrangements.

UNICEF does not hire candidates who are married to children (persons under 18). 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 is committed to promoting the protection and safeguarding of all children. All selected candidates will undergo rigorous reference and background checks and will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles. Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check.

UNICEF appointments are subject to medical clearance. Issuance of a visa by the host country of the duty station is required for IP positions and will be facilitated by UNICEF. Appointments may also be subject to inoculation (vaccination) requirements, including against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid). Should you be selected for a position with UNICEF, you either must be inoculated as required or receive a medical exemption from the relevant department of the UN. Otherwise, the selection will be canceled.

Remarks:

As per Article 101, paragraph 3, of the Charter of the United Nations, the paramount consideration in the employment of the staff is the necessity of securing the highest standards of efficiency, competence, and integrity.

UNICEF’s active commitment to diversity and inclusion is critical to deliver the best results for children.

Government employees who are considered for employment with UNICEF are normally required to resign from their government positions 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 does not charge a processing fee at any stage of its recruitment, selection, and hiring processes (i.e., application stage, interview stage, validation stage, or appointment and training). UNICEF will not ask for applicants’ bank account information.

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

All UNICEF positions are advertised, and only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process. An internal candidate performing at the level of the post in the relevant functional area, or an internal/external candidate in the corresponding Talent Group, may be selected, if suitable for the post, without assessment of other candidates.

Additional information about working for UNICEF can be found here.

Contact: For any queries, please contact: swe-ooi-recruitments@unicef.org