Business Analyst

Business Analyst (Systems Specialist – CPX), (P-3), Temporary Appointment (364 days), Programme Effectiveness, DAPM, New York HQ, #125110

Job no: 563176
Contract type: Temporary Appointment
Duty Station: New York
Level: P-3
Location: United States
Categories: Programme Management
UNICEF works in some of the world’s toughest places, to reach the world’s most disadvantaged children. To save their lives. To defend their rights. To help them fulfill their potential.

Across 190 countries and territories, we work for every child, everywhere, every day, to build a better world for everyone.

And we never give up.

For every child, Hope

The Division of Data, Analytics, Planning and Monitoring (DAPM) was established in 2019 to drive decision making and organizational learning, improve effectiveness and achievement of results of UNICEF and its partners to realize the rights and improve the life of every child. DAPM promotes the use of data and monitoring to achieve transformative impact on the lives of children.

The Division is responsible for driving, shaping and guiding UNICEF’s evidence-informed analysis, strategic planning, programme monitoring and organizational performance management. As such, DAPM enables the organization to deliver on results in a more coherent manner, based on agile and contextualized programming process, and on data, evidence, and analysis, as well as the application of human-rights based and results-based management approaches.

Within DAPM, the Programme Effectiveness Team (PET) leads, regulates and coordinates the development and issuance of organization-wide procedures, policies, standards, guidance, and tools to strengthen programme effectiveness across all contexts, including programme planning, implementation, monitoring, organizational performance management, knowledge management and organizational learning, at all levels. It liaises with UN agencies, funds and programmes, specialized agencies, other technical organizations and the UN Development Coordination Office in the development and application of programme planning, monitoring, and reporting policies and procedures; and coordinates with the Office of Emergency Programmes (EMOPS), Programme Group and regional offices on provision of direct planning, monitoring and programme implementation support to countries responding to humanitarian contexts.

The country programme is UNICEF’s primary means of achieving its mandate to advance child rights and promote the development and well-being of children at scale, in support of national and global development priorities as well as humanitarian imperatives.

The new guidance on Country Programme Planning and Design (CPP) released in October 2022, is currently being transformed into a digitalized system (CPX) to facilitate country offices to design more strategic, evidence-based country programmes, that can easily adapt to context changes, and are coherently contributing to national, UN and global priorities for development as well as to the implementation of UNICEF Strategic Plan.

In close collaboration with the ICT Division (ICTD), Programme Guidance Unit (PGU) has contracted an external company to develop the CPX. Two out of the five modules are fully designed and ready for testing, while the other three are being developed.

PGU is looking for a brilliant, dynamic and innovative Systems Specialist who will manage the external company and will be the main interface between the programme and technical colleagues involved, to complete the development, testing, roll-out of the CPX and to manage end-users’ requests and maintenance contracts.

DAPM-led initiatives are developed and managed by different units/sections in DAPM but highly interconnected to each other. Currently each initiative is supported by relevant technical staff within DAPM, ICTD and other divisions/offices formally and informally, with substantial overlap amongst them. The goal of these systems is to achieve end-to-end digitalization journey. One of the key solutions in this journey is the CPX.

The Systems Specialist will also coordinate the relationships with all the actors involved, both in HQ and in the regional offices of UNICEF.

How can you make a difference?

DAPM seeks a Systems Specialist to complete the development, testing,roll-out of the CPX and to manage end-users’ requests and maintenance contracts. The day-to-day activities will include coordinating with the business owner and the technical teams on the full software development lifecycle. The Systems Specialist will also have to deeply understand the complex interactions of the CPX solution with other UNICEF systems and propose viable solutions.

Main responsibilities of this role include:

• Work directly with the external company to complete the CPX development, testing and roll out
• Support the management and execution of sprints in collaboration with the technical team and the vendor to develop CPX remaining modules
• Lead the collaboration during the full software development phase, acting as the bridge between the business owners, technical teams, and key stakeholders
• Support the technical team in addressing integration needs between CPX and other UNICEF systems including Vision, eTools, RAM etc.
• Lead the quality assurance activities including functional and user acceptance testing
• Triage and resolve issues surfaced through testing by escalating to technical team
• Support the launch and roll-out of CPX (this may include travel to country offices for direct support)
• Support in the development of end user training materials and user support documentation
• Support monitoring project activities and timeline; and ensure any risks and issues are flagged and addressed timely
• Organize the system piloting and ensure timely bug-fixing and system enhancement based on the feedback from the pilot
• Serve as support desk for end-users in country and regional offices in the utilization of CPX
• Supervise the maintenance contract with the external company
• Any other relevant work assigned by the supervisor

To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have…

• An advanced university degree (Master’s or higher) in Computer Science, Business Administration, Engineering, or similar areas.
  *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 (5) years of relevant professional experience in business analysis or digital product/project management
• Experience in software development lifecycle specifically on web based technical solutions
• Proficiency in iterative methodologies and their application in software project delivery
• Proficiency in quality assurance and software testing approaches
• Experience in working on an agile project including executing sprints using a Kanban Board or similar tool
• Proven organizational skills including task and time management being conscious of dependencies
• Ability to prioritize tasks and show clear progression of deliverables and highlighting any risks
• Ability to work under tight deadlines to meet user and project expectations
• Strong Microsoft Office Skills preferred (SharePoint, Teams, Excel, Word, PowerPoint, Visio)
• Ability to do potential limited travel (specifically to interact with staff in UNICEF Country Offices)
• Knowledge of UNICEF country planning processes is an advantage but not required
• Developing country work experience and/or familiarity with emergency is considered an asset.
• Fluency in English is required. Knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish) or a local language is an asset.

For every Child, you demonstrate…

UNICEF’s Core Values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust and Accountability and Sustainability (CRITAS) underpin everything we do and how we do it. Get acquainted with Our Values Charter: UNICEF Values

UNICEF competencies required for this post are…

(1) Builds and maintains partnerships (2) Demonstrates self-awareness and ethical awareness (3) Drive to achieve results for impact (4) Innovates and embraces change (5) Manages ambiguity and complexity (6) Thinks and acts strategically (7) Works collaboratively with others.

During the recruitment process, we test candidates following the competency framework. Familiarize yourself with our competency framework and its different levels: competency framework here.

UNICEF is here to serve the world’s most disadvantaged children and our global workforce must reflect the diversity of those children. The UNICEF family is committed to include everyone, irrespective of their race/ethnicity, age, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, socio-economic background, or any other personal characteristic.
We offer a wide range of benefits to our staff, including paid parental leave, breastfeeding breaks and reasonable accommodation for persons with disabilities. UNICEF strongly encourages the use of flexible working arrangements.
UNICEF has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UNICEF, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. UNICEF is committed to promote the protection and safeguarding of all children. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks, and will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles. Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check.

Remarks:

UNICEF appointments are subject to medical clearance.  Issuance of a visa by the host country of the duty station, which will be facilitated by UNICEF, is required for IP positions. Appointments are also subject to inoculation (vaccination) requirements, including against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid). Government employees that are considered for employment with UNICEF are normally required to resign from their government before taking up an assignment with UNICEF. UNICEF reserves the right to withdraw an offer of appointment, without compensation, if a visa or medical clearance is not obtained, or necessary inoculation requirements are not met, within a reasonable period for any reason.

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process.

Advertised: 16 Jun 2023 Eastern Daylight Time
Deadline: 02 Jul 2023 Eastern Daylight Time