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 Analytics and Cognitive Head

TYPE OF CONTRACT: CST Level 3

UNIT/DIVISION: Global Data Office, TECX

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 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. The Technology Division (TEC) continues to increase its activities to meet the constantly growing demand from the organization and implement initiatives related to information technology.

WFP’s Global Data Strategy, in alignment with the Information & Technology Strategy, expresses the vision to harness the power of analytics, automation, and Artificial Intelligence (AI) to generate improved insights and support evidence generation across WFP. The role of the Head of Analytics and Cognitive is to turn the Data Strategy vision into action and lead the direction of WFP’s enterprise analytics and AI initiatives in driving improved decision-making across the organization. The role will use dynamic data squads to engage and leverage WFP’s data champions to accelerate the cohesive development of data and science to produce modern solutions for WFP operations and activities.

Reporting to the Chief Data Officer, the Head of Analytics and Cognitive will be responsible for transforming complex technical approaches into practical steps which can support Country Offices, Regional Bureaux, and HQ units as they transform their current state practices into modern data and analytics approaches. In addition, working with a broad spectrum of teams across WFP and TEC Division, the incumbent is required to ensure alignment with strategies, governance, security, operationalizing best practices and protection relating to data and AI.

ACCOUNTABILITIES/RESPONSIBILITIES:

• WFP Senior Management Team engagement on Analytics and AI providing thought leadership and guidance on key concerns and opportunities.
• Consensus-building with teams across WFP to ensure the agreed upon standards and guidance for analytics and AI are in alignment with tactical practices.
• Design, implement and roll-out the next generation analytics enterprise framework for WFP seamlessly incorporating AI and ML and fully utilizes data platforms and data products.
• Coaching and mentorship of team members.
• Create and implement the roadmap for enterprise data and AI platforms.
• Ensure data platforms are available for end-users and supported by maintenance activities.
• Advisory and support for Country Office teams.
• Oversight of data and analytics project implementation towards alignment with enterprise analytics framework.
• Recruitment and management of TEC data analysts and data scientists.
• Ensure creation and monitoring of key performance metrics for data and AI initiatives.

DELIVERABLES:

• Senior Management advocacy and knowledge path development.
• Provide oversight on implementation and alignment of Data and AI Strategy in the team activities.
• Design and build next generation enterprise analytics framework and capabilities including data modelling, and semantic layers ensuring access especially at CO level.
• Maintain data platform and business intelligence platform operationally. Review and provide approvals on use cases for analytics, AI and ML.
• Technology landscape review inputs to Enterprise Architecture team to ensure complementary technology selection.
• Manage team activities and deliverables and provide coaching and mentoring to team members.

QUALIFICATIONS & EXPERIENCE REQUIRED:

Education:

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

Experience:

• 10-12 years of progressively responsible experience in developing advanced analytics practices and teams and implementing applied analytics, business intelligence, information management, statistics, is required.
• A minimum of 5 years of experience in leading Artificial Intelligence projects from initiation to full roll-out.
• Demonstrated experience working with senior level stakeholders to obtain business goals, vision and direction for advanced analytics and artificial intelligence strategies.
• Demonstrated experience working with indicators, visualization layers and reporting infrastructure.

Knowledge & Skills:

• Excellent analytical skills with the ability to collect, organize, manage, and disseminate significant amounts of information with attention to detail and accuracy. The ability to analyse, model and interpret data in support of decision-making, and convey information succinctly to management. Adept at queries, report writing and presenting findings. Ability to quality-check work completed by other team members.
• Hands-on experience in delivering analytics and AI projects and initiatives.
• Ability to link Enterprise and Data architecture and governance with data modelling and analytics/business intelligence requirements.
• Speaks and writes clearly and effectively; listens to others, correctly interprets messages from others and responds appropriately; asks questions to clarify and exhibits interest in having two-way communication; tailors’ language, tone, style, and format to match audience; demonstrates openness in sharing information and keeping people informed.
• Proven skills in working towards a common goal in a team of diverse skills, experience, and cultural backgrounds, with heavy emphasis towards business and non-technical team members. Particularly important is the ability to work remotely and continue to ensure alignment on activities and goals.
• Excellent organization and project management skills.
• Collaborative hands-on team member and relationship-builder with a facilitative nature and strong business partnering skills towards colleagues and stakeholders.
• Excellent interpersonal skills.
• Demonstrated capacity to handling multiple tasks/work streams in a timely manner and flexible with shifting priorities.
• Committed to excellence and customer-centric mindset.
• Tools – Highly desirable:
  • Minimum of 5 years of experience in AWS data and AI infrastructure tools: Glue, Athena, S3 storage, Redshift, Sagemaker, Bedrock, Quicksight etc.
  • Minimum of 5 years of experience in Tableau or Power BI
  • Minimum of 5 years of experience in SQL
  • Minimum of 2 years of experience in Snowflake or
  • Minimum of 2 years of experience in Databricks.
  • Minimum of 2 years of experience in R/Python

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, may be needed.

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