Consultant Information Technology

DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS

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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:  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: Artificial Intelligence Lead
TYPE OF CONTRACT: CST Level 2
UNIT/DIVISION: TEC – Office of the CIO
DUTY STATION (City, Country): 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 our end-users 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 the initiatives related to information and technology.
Recognizing the multi-faceted impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) activities on augmenting business processes, supporting improved insights for decision-making, and evidence generation across the organization, the role of Artificial Intelligence Lead aims to operationalize and achieve the goals of contributing to a more secure, governed, and ethical approach to the adoption of AI in WFP. Candidates understand the impact that can be brought into WFP by allowing data-driven and evidence-based decisions. The incumbent will manage the establishment of a strong foundation for AI which will include development of standards, upskilling and talent acquisition, establishment of processes and implementation of selected technology.
The Artificial Intelligence Lead reports directly to the CIO & Director of the TEC Division to direct the transformation of complex technical approaches into tactical steps for establishing a practice supporting the scaling of advanced analytics and AI. Working together with other teams in TEC and with business stakeholders, the incumbent will play a pivotal role in setting the direction for AI in WFP.

ACCOUNTABILITIES/RESPONSIBILITIES:

•Framework Development
oSupport the development of position papers on AI and contribute to policies on AI Governance: Establishment of principles, standards and guidelines for teams implementing AI projects.
oDefine the end-to-end processes (in consultation with business stakeholders) required to identify opportunities, evaluate and prioritize use cases, resource and launch pilot projects, and monitor results.
oPartnership: Establish Partnerships with technology providers and coordinate with internal community of business teams to understand needs and support the development of a technical environment to support AI pilots.
oProvide technical leadership in the development of AI Pilot business cases including benchmarking criteria for pilots and support development of pipeline from model to production.

•Data Scientists and Business teams:
oStrategically guide Data Scientist team and Business teams to categorize ideas and formulate into AI Pilots.
oProvide new insights from industry experience to assist Data Scientist team and Business teams on creating appropriate indicators to measure value.

•General
oWork with stakeholders throughout the organization to identify opportunities for leveraging data and AI to drive business solutions.
oDevelop guidance on mining and analysing data from data sources to drive optimization and improvement of programme development, advocacy and business strategies.
oAssess the effectiveness and accuracy of new data sources and data gathering techniques.
oProvide guidance to teams on custom data models and algorithms to apply to data sets.
oUse predictive modelling to increase and optimize entity experiences, benefit realization and other business outcomes.
oDevelop organization A/B testing framework and test model quality.
oDevelop processes and tools to monitor and analyse AI model performance and data accuracy.
oPerforms other duties as assigned.

DELIVERABLES:
1.Draft Strategy and Governance Framework: Strategy, Policy, Guidelines, Standards documentation working with the Responsible AI Task Force
2.Developing the pipeline of AI ideas into initiating AI Pilot projects
3.Develop results framework and indicators with WFP business units.
4.Assist in setting up the AI Sandbox environment.
5.Lead the monitoring of AI pilots.
6.Act as a focal point for the evaluation of AI pilots with WFP business units.
7.Business needs identified and Partnerships established for implementation of the AI pilots and scaling efforts.
8.Working with Knowledge Management team to ensure information on AI is disseminated across the organization.

QUALIFICATIONS & EXPERIENCE REQUIRED:
Education:
Advanced university degree (Master's degree or PhD) in computer science, data science, analytics, statistics, information management, public or a related field.
Experience:

•A minimum of 5 years of progressively responsible experience in innovation development, establishing artificial intelligence practices, applied analytics, business intelligence, information management, statistics, project management, stakeholder management or related area is required.

•A minimum of 5 years of experience working with senior level stakeholders to obtain business goals, vision and direction for advanced analytics and artificial intelligence strategies.

•Hands-on experience of data Science tools such as Jupyter, Matlab, Knime, SPSS, SAS, or similar Statistical Programming Languages such as R, Python

JavaScript
and using AI platform tools in Google Cloud/AWS/Azure is desirable.
Knowledge & Skills:

•Knowledge of the data analysis life cycle from ingest and wrangling to analysis and visualization to present findings. Excellent knowledge of statistical and computational methods, such as clustering, classification, correlation, dimension reduction, forecasting, machine learning, detecting outliers, and regression

•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.

•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.

•Demonstrated capacity to handling multiple tasks/work streams in a timely manner and flexible with shifting priorities.

•Committed to excellence and customer-centric mindset.
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 committed to supporting individuals with disabilities by providing reasonable accommodations throughout the recruitment process. If you require a reasonable accommodation, please contact: 

NO FEE DISCLAIMER

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REMINDERS BEFORE YOU SUBMIT YOUR APPLICATION

• All applications must be submitted exclusively through our online recruitment system. We do not accept CVs or spontaneous applications by email.

• If you experience challenges while submitting your online application, please contact us at for technical support only.

• Please note that applications sent to this email address cannot be considered.

• 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.

• 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

• 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.