UNICEF’s Office of Innovation (OOI) is looking for an experienced DS/ML Advisor to provide technical support and guidance to the DS/ML related work at the Office of Innovation as well as across UNICEF through engagements at HQ, Regional and Country level.
Sitting in the Ventures’ Emerging Tech team, this consultant will have a belief that DS/ML can be a powerful tool to help UNICEF rapidly accelerate positive results for children. The successful consultant will have a strong desire to guide and inform early-stage DS/ML projects developed for, and implemented in, UNICEF program countries. Understanding the complexities between theory and practice and what it takes to make future ideas work in different contexts will be a characteristic of the consultant, as well as a conviction for pioneering and promoting responsible and ethical DS/ML practices.
Your main responsibilities will be:
Providing DS/ML technical guidance, support and mentorship to:
Venture Fund supported team seed and growth cohort projects and companies.
UNICEF’s Office of Innovation and other UNICEF teams, divisions, and offices
Supporting the technical exploration, development and rollout of early-stage DS/ML initiatives, models and prototypes, within UNICEF with an aim to accelerate results for children.
Working with internal and external stakeholders to support the understanding, adoption and scale of DS/ML initiatives across UNICEF.
To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have…
An advanced university degree (master’s or higher) in Computer Science, Data Science/Machine Learning, or another relevant field.
*A first University Degree in a relevant field combined with 2 additional years of professional experience may be accepted in lieu of an Advanced University Degree.
A minimum of five years of relevant professional, practical experience.
Experience and exposure to relevant software development technologies, including:
Strong coding capabilities in Python or R and with Data Science related libraries.
Experience with analytics & visualization tools (open viz libraries e.g. Shiny, flex dashboard or equivalent for R or Dash, Panel or equivalent for Python)
Git and other open-source software development tools
Experience with cloud computing platforms such as GCP, AWS, Azure or others.
Practical experience with rapid prototyping and evaluation of user feedback
Demonstrated experience in development and deployment of ethical and responsible DS/ML practices, with examples in UNICEF program countries considered an asset.
Demonstrated understanding of open source and open data principles and practices.
Demonstrated experience working with non-technical teams in formulating their use cases, gathering business requirements, and involving non-technical stakeholders in the project delivery.
Fluency in English is required. Knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish) or a local language is an asset.
