The mission of WHO's Health Emergencies Programme (The Programme) is to build the capacity of Member States to manage health emergency risks and, when national capacities are overwhelmed, to lead and coordinate the international health response to contain outbreaks and to provide effective relief and recovery to affected populations. The Health Emergency Intelligence and Surveillance Systems division (WSE) is responsible for building a system of collaborative intelligence enabling better decisions to avert and manage public health threats and risks. Its goal is to enable, strengthen and support countries, regional and global actors in averting and managing public health threats and risks through collaborative problem solving and decision-making for short-term action and long-term policies, informed by better data and analytics.The WHO Hub for Pandemic and Epidemic Intelligence is a new office of WHO, located in Berlin. It works with partners to enable the generation of public health relevant information to provide timely actionable insights and improve decision making to prepare for, avert and respond to public health threats. It also aims to reduce fragmentation and inefficiency by creating an ecosystem that promotes collaboration across multiple professional disciplines, sectors, and initiatives; and empower decision makers, public health professionals, and civil society to make informed public health decisions. Duties: Within the framework of the delegated authority, the incumbent is assigned all or part of the following duties which are performed according to the needs of the unit and department: Define, document and implement the strategy for operating and maintaining technology solutions and their environments, including required capabilities. This includes identifying and working with department staff and industry experts as required to:
Define required outcomes and related service properties
Define required technology infrastructure in alignment with strategic objectives and helps the department focus on a set of core technologies.
Define metrics and mechanisms for routine monitoring of system health and troubleshooting approaches
Define performance optimization, redundancy and failover mechanisms
Outline the implementation approach oCoordinate, establish and manage contracts with vendors / third parties as required to implement the strategy.
Review, approve and coordinate the execution of service design documents:
Ensure service operation, maintenance, performance and continuity, including the development and implementation of related documentation, guidance and standard operating procedures.
Liaise as needed with the WHO cybersecurity and platform team and others to ensure appropriate security measures against vulnerabilities and cyber threats. This may include implementing encryption, access controls, and authentication mechanisms.
Maintain logs and metrics stemming from routine monitoring of service infrastructure and usage, produce related reports and issue and implement recommendations for quality and delivery improvement.
Implement mechanisms for reporting, logging and management of incidents by stakeholders and ensure timely troubleshooting, resolution and related communication (includes establishing clear and effective communication mechanisms with stakeholders).
Manage changes to technology solutions, including updates, patches and enhancements, ensuing changes are properly tested, document and deployed without affecting continuity of services.
Analyse resource usage trends and plans for capacity expansion and optimization to accommodate growth and demand.
Collaborate across the department to align O&M activities with strategic goals and objectives, providing technical advice, guidance and input on technology roadmaps and future enhancements.
Keep up-to-date with new technologies and trends and recommend improvements for optimizing service delivery and ensuring performant continuity and scalability.
Perform other related responsibilities as assigned, including replacing and backstopping for others as required.
Required Qualifications: Education
Essential:
Advanced university degree (Masters or higher) in Information Technology, Computer Science or related field.
Experience
Essential:
A minimum of 7 years of recent (within the last 10 years) relevant and hands-on professional experience working with cross-functional teams to oversee and manage the optimization, maintenance and continuity of large, complex technology solutions. Demonstrated experience in deploying, managing and maintaining applications and cloud technologies, including security measures and disaster and business continuity plans. Demonstrated experience in incident response and problem resolution, including the ability to diagnose and resolve complex technical issues efficiently while overseeing and managing changes, updates, patches and system enhancements without causing disruption to service. Experience in managing relationships with technology vendors, including negotiating contracts, ensuring service-level agreements are met, and evaluating vendor performance. Demonstrated experience in complex international contexts involving technical, cultural and political elements.
Skills:
Deep understanding of and proficiency in implementing, evaluating and managing IT Service Management processes and best practices, including the establishment and coordination of the activities of managed service providers.
Strong skills with cloud platforms, such as Azure, AWS or Google Cloud, including resource management and cost optimization.
Deep understanding of DevOps principles to streamline development and deployment.
Strong knowledge of operating systems, server configuration, and network infrastructure, including virtualization technologies.
Knowledgeable in database administration, tuning, backup, and recovery.
Proficiency in implementing and managing monitoring tools, automated alerting, and scripting for efficiency (e.g., ARM templates, PowerShell, bash), timely response to and mitigation and resolution of issues, and capacity scaling.
Strong understanding of security principles and best practices, including access controls, encryption, authentication, and vulnerability management.
Strong skills in and awareness of regulatory compliance (e.g., GDPR, HIPAA), change management processes, version control, and capacity planning.
Strong documentation skills for maintaining records of configurations, procedures, and incident reports, ensuring that knowledge is shared across the department.
Project management skills to plan and execute O&M projects, including management, forecasting and optimization of operational and maintenance budgets for tech solutions.
Strong communication and collaboration skills, with the ability to work effectively with both technical and non-technical stakeholders and communicate technical information to non-technical audiences.
Excellent problem-solving, analytical, and critical thinking skills.
Ability to work independently and in a team environment.
