Senior System Engineer

Position Title:Senior Systems EngineerClient:Agency of the United NationsDuty station:Rome/offsiteDate of entry on duty:07 January ********* June ****Period of assignment: Duration115 days with possible extension subject to business needs, budget availability and consultant performanceRate based on Experience and budget availability.Organizational contextThe United Nations Agency is a specialized agency of the United Nations. It was established in **** as an international financial institution to finance agricultural development projects primarily for food production in developing countries. The Agency's mission is to enable poor rural people to overcome poverty and it is dedicated to eradicating rural poverty in developing countries. Working with rural poor people, governments, donors, non-governmental organizations and many other partners, the Agency focuses on country-specific solutions aimed at increasing rural poor people's access to financial services, markets, technology, land and other natural resources. It is a not-for-profit institution funded by its Member States.The Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Division is responsible for delivering IT solutions and services to support the Agency's operations and for ensuring the most effective use of information and communications technology tools and services.We are seeking top-tier technologists who want to make a real impact — in this case, a Senior Systems Engineer with deep experience in both software engineering and systems administration, able to work as a generalist and keep the Agency's applications running smoothly and efficiently.This is a senior technology leadership role responsible for leading a specialized team, translating business strategies into technical solutions while balancing risks and costs. It is a hands-on position requiring extensive experience in administering complex systems and infrastructure, as well as strong capabilities in managing technical resources, external vendors, and other ICT specialists.Duties and responsibilitiesThe consultant reports to the ICP Project Manager. The Senior Systems Engineer will be responsible for:Software, Systems Maintenance and AdministrationActive monitoring: daily review of system telemetry and logs using existing monitoring systems, log analyzers, and active/passive health checkers. Receive, process, and respond to notifications (email, SMS, phone) from monitoring systems and escalation procedures.Proactive monitoring: identify risks in advance by analyzing trends, anomaly detection data, software releases, and relevant security feeds.Plan and coordinate software deployments, configuration changes, and infrastructure updates across environments together with the Agency's technical team and vendors, using both automation frameworks and legacy manual procedures.Plan and lead Disaster Recovery environment testing in collaboration with the technical team.Support, analyze, troubleshoot, and resolve issues in the Agency's applications and underlying infrastructure.Patch/Vulnerability ManagementMonitor, manage, and remediate vulnerabilities and cyber security issues in operating systems and enterprise products according to published security bulletins. Enterprise products must always be kept at the latest available patch level of the current major version. The Agency uses CVSSv3 environmental scores to assess vulnerability severity.Support to Auditing and DocumentationAssist in collecting evidence from running systems and infrastructure and liaise with external and internal auditors during periodic control validation exercises.Maintain operational manuals, infrastructure and architecture documentation, application code, infrastructure-as-code repositories, and deployment procedures. Oversee and update the "infrastructure as code" mechanisms in use.Lead the Technical TeamLead, plan, and control the work of internal and external technical resources, ensuring effective management, proper sourcing, and efficient use of time and budget.Manage relationships between ICT and business users across major functional areas to anticipate needs, set clear service expectations, and deliver innovative, cost-effective solutions.Manage contracts and relationships with UNICC, external contractors, and vendors for support, implementation, and service delivery.Identify and assess technology risks, mitigating controls, and improvement opportunities. Conduct periodic security risk assessments of the infrastructure, prioritizing business continuity and disaster recovery.Professional requirementsStrong consultancy background with United Nations organizations, international financial institutions, or large corporations, including engagement at Senior Management and Director/CIO levelProven project management skills to lead teams in resolving complex technical and functional issuesExcellent presentation, influencing, and negotiation skillsStrong analytical thinking, problem-solving, and ability to manage multiple assignments simultaneouslyDemonstrated management and leadership abilities, including remote teamsExcellent communication skills with diverse stakeholdersProficiency in Microsoft Project and PowerPointQualification and experienceSystems Administration(minimum 7 years)Deep UNIX troubleshooting and administration expertise (core platform across the environment)VM and container management/deployment on Linux and WindowsHands-on experience with major cloud providers (IaaS, PaaS, SaaS)Strong infrastructure automation and CI/CD pipeline experienceMinimum 5 years with: UNIX (CentOS, OpenSuSE), IBM ISAM/WAS/BAW/IGI/ISDS/QRadar, HCL Portal & Content Manager, Oracle Database, Jenkins, Elastic Stack (ELK), OneSpan Authentication ServerDevelopment(minimum 5 years)Test-Driven Development and strong unit/functional/integration testing skillsAdvanced debugging using system-level tools (not just print-based)Secure coding practices (OWASP, ESAPI)DevOps tooling: Jenkins, GitHub Actions, Ansible, Terraform, Packer, Maven, Gradle, Nexus/Artifactory, JIRAAgile frameworksProficiency in: recent Java EE, VAADIN, WebSphere, IBM BAW, HCL Portal, Oracle SQL/PLSQL, Jasper Reports, Ruby on RailsCyber Security and NetworkingSecure system and infrastructure design principlesMinimum 3 years in security testing and hardening of web applications and infrastructureOWASP, penetration testing tools (Kali, Burp, Metasploit, nmap, Wireshark, etc.)SIEM and advanced monitoring experience2-Factor Authentication system integration and supportStrong networking knowledge (IP networking, VPNs, DNS, load balancing, firewalling)LanguagesExcellent written and verbal communication skills in English are essential.