UN WOMEN: ICT SYSTEMS DEVELOPMENT SPECIALIST

The UN Women, grounded in the vision of equality enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, works for the elimination of discrimination against women and girls; the empowerment of women; and the achievement of equality between women and men as partners and beneficiaries of development, human rights, humanitarian action and peace and security. Placing women’s rights at the centre of all its efforts, the UN Women will lead and coordinate United Nations system efforts to ensure that commitments on gender equality and gender mainstreaming translate into action throughout the world. It will provide strong and coherent leadership in support of Member States’ priorities and efforts, building effective partnerships with civil society and other relevant actors. The Management and Administration Division is responsible for the planning, allocation and management of financial, human and administrative resources including information systems and telecommunications, the effective and efficient delivery of essential operations services in UN Women, continuous development and improvement in operations, policies, and methods to align with UN Women and stakeholders’ evolving business needs and advisory support to the Executive Director in the formulation and implementation of the UN Women overall mission, strategy and plans of action. The Information Systems and Telecommunication (IST) Office located in the Division of Management and Administration, is responsible for the strategic planning and development of information and telecommunication systems and services, ICT solutions, sourcing of information systems and equipment to support business needs and for the maintenance, availability, reliability and quality of performance of information and telecommunications systems and services globally in all UN Women offices. The IST office works closely and collaboratively with UNDP, its principal ICT partner to achieve synergy, avoid duplication and to take advantage of potentials for partnerships in information and telecommunications systems and services development and implementation.

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the overall guidance of Chief IST Office and direct supervision of Manager Business Applications, the incumbent is responsible for the architecture, design and implementation of activities related to systems development including integration and maintenance of the UN Women Knowledge Management Portal, Web sites and the database applications. The responsibilities includes the following: Perform analysis for application design and office workflow automation needs for UN Women information system needs: Conduct GAP analysis, process mapping, root-cause analysis and requirements elicitation; Resolve issues by using strong analytical and technical skills to address a variety of system related problems; Define business requirements and provide analysis toward operational efficiency; Identify and clarify requirements using basic conceptual and logical process and data modeling tools and techniques. Discuss proposed solutions with users in a proactive/consultative fashion; Liaise with users in business units, external IT specialists, UN Women governing bodies and provide specialized advice to users; Apply rapid development and iterative prototyping methodology to complex software problems. System development and maintenance: Develop and maintain UN Women business applications using the .NET technologies, SharePoint and SQL/ Server; Develop web pages and make configuration as needed to enhance Knowledge Management Portal and database driven web applications; Perform impact analysis, change control and manages implementation of the application changes in liaison with internal and external stakeholders; Develop and maintain interface modules between different UN Women business applications; Coordinate with outsourced vendors about the requirements to the system changes/ development, discussing technical issues and getting the solution as per agreed contracts including the system hosting; Organize and perform unit and integrated testing, designing and utilizing test bases; assists users in acceptance testing. Ensure that the systems are available and functioning efficiently, troubleshooting production problems; Develop training materials, operating and user manuals and train staff in assigned systems. Standard and Quality Assurance/ ICT Service Management: Develop, implement and monitor information system standards and guidelines; Ensure that software code adhere to the standards; Ensure data security and access controls considering both local and wide area issues; Coordinate with the ICT Infrastructure Team and external vendors on the appropriate hardware/software platform in order to improve the performance and stability of UN Women’s application systems; Research and analyze new technologies and make suggestions for their deployment; Participate in elaboration of internal procedures, mechanisms and controls to ensure stability, improved quality, security and performance of systems; Monitor responsiveness and robustness of usage and maintenance procedures; Coordinate efforts to develop and maintain the library of system documentation and internal user manuals, training materials, and guidelines and making recommendations on improvements; Maintain and update the Helpdesk knowledge base to support internal and external users; Liaise with users on information technology and systems issues by representing the IST Section in committees, task forces and steering groups and by regularly meeting with peers; Provide guidance to, and may supervises, new/junior staff, consultants, etc. Conduct ICT Change Management, Incident Management, Capacity Management, and Configuration Management. Impact of Results: The results of the functions performed directly impact the efficiency of the several key IT systems used to support the UN Women business, covering around 1500 staff in HQ and field. The effective implementation of IT systems directly impacts the organization's capacity and credibility in providing timely and quality information to achieve organizational goals and it also impacts overall knowledge building and sharing in the organization. The results of these functions indirectly impact: the ability of UN Women staff to provide timely and quality services to its key clients; the production and distribution of management information to Senior Management; and the preparation of results reports.

Competencies

Core Values / Guiding Principles: Integrity: Demonstrating consistency in upholding and promoting the values of UN Women in actions and decisions, in line with the UN Code of Conduct; Cultural Sensitivity/Valuing diversity: Demonstrating an appreciation of the multicultural nature of the organization and the diversity of its staff. Demonstrating an international outlook, appreciating differences in values and learning from cultural diversity. Core Competencies: Job Knowledge/Technical Expertise: Demonstrated proficiency to have analytical ability and thorough understanding of software development life cycle processes; Knowledge of information technology platforms for web based database systems; Actively seeks to apply current expertise and new ideas on how to optimize use of technology to streamline workloads. Client Orientation: Able to identify and analyze clients' needs and develop appropriate technology solutions to meet business requirements; desire to organize and improve processes. Planning and Organization: Ability to establish priorities and to plan, coordinate and monitor own work plan; Proven ability to work under pressure and produce output that is accurate, timely and of high quality; Ability to manage conflicting priorities Communications: Able to speak and write clearly and effectively, including to: advise and train users on the use of complex systems/applications and related matters; Prepare specifications and other written reports/documentation in a clear and concise style. Teamwork: Good interpersonal skills; ability to establish and maintain effective partnerships and working relations with people in a multi-cultural, multi-ethnic environment with sensitivity and respect for diversity.

Required Skills and Experience

Education: Advanced university degree in information technology, computer science, business administration or other related discipline. Experience: Over 5 years of progressively responsible experience in information and communication technology, with most of it in systems analysis, databases, system development, system integration and data manipulation. The Experience should include: Expert level knowledge and experience in business analysis deliverables such as business requirements, functional and technical specifications; Experience in application design and development using .NET technologies including C#, ASP.NET, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and IIS; Experience in configuring and customizing SharePoint 2010 based applications and portals; Experience with database design and data modeling - with a SQL Server environment; Experience in XML, Web Services and related technologies; Proven experience with software development projects, with proven ability to manage medium to large technical projects involving internal and external (outsourced) teams; Experience with Java and Oracle RDBMS will be a plus. Language Requirements: Fluency in English is required; Proficiency in another UN working language is an asset. Note: In July 2010, the United Nations General Assembly created UN Women, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women. The creation of UN Women came about as part of the UN reform agenda, bringing together resources and mandates for greater impact. It merges and builds on the important work of four previously distinct parts of the UN system (DAW, OSAGI, INSTRAW and UNIFEM), which focused exclusively on gender equality and women's empowerment. All applications must include (as an attachment) the completed UN Women Personal History form (P-11) which can be downloaded from http://www.unwomen.org/about-us/employment Kindly note that the system will only allow one attachment. Applications without the completed UN Women P-11 form will be treated as incomplete and will not be considered for further assessment.

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UNDP is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence.