Individual Contractor: Digital Solutions Specialist

Result of Service

Payment terms: Milestone 1: Delivery of an operational-ready rule-based Emergency Forecaster tool with data visualization Milestone 2: An improved Initial Assessment Note Matrix that fits into the decision framework of the Emergency Protocol.

Work Location

New York

Expected duration

4.5 months

Duties and Responsibilities

The Department of Safety and Security (UNDSS) provides leadership, operational support and oversight of the United Nations Security Management System (UNSMS) globally. As a leader in security risk management, UNDSS enables the safe and effective delivery of UN programmes and activities in the most complex and challenging environments, while maximizing the efficient use of resources. The Department is undertaking a series of strategic reforms aimed at enhancing evidence-based planning, crisis foresight and operational agility across field operations. Within UNDSS, the Emergency Response Team (ERT) provides rapid, specialized on-the-ground and remote support during sudden-onset and protracted emergencies to ensure continuity of critical UN operations. As part of its mandate to strengthen preparedness and surge capacity, ERT is implementing a major initiative for the Emergency Forecast Project and Initial Assessment Note digitalisation, which enhances analysis and early decision-making. To advance these priorities, ERT seeks to recruit an Individual Contractor (IC) with strong technical, analytical, and digital transformation expertise to support the design, integration and operationalization of this system. Under the supervision of the Head of ERT, the Individual Contractor will undertake the following tasks: Strengthen ERT's emergency foresight capacity by refining the crisis scoring methodology of the Emergency Forecaster tool, including iterative improvements to the current rule-based architecture to enhance analytical consistency, operational relevance, and decision-support value. Design and develop a user-oriented interface for the Emergency Forecaster that translates open-source security information into visualized, operationally ready outputs for senior emergency decision-making. Collaborate with the Security Information Analyst to enhance the Initial Assessment process, supporting the production of standardized, operationally relevant, and decision-ready information for senior-level emergency response deliberations. Contribute to UNDSS knowledge transfer, innovation uptake, and cross-team collaboration through internal talent-sharing exchanges and practical demonstrations of digital solutions.

Qualifications/special skills

Education: A first-level university degree in public administration, management, social sciences, or related fields. More than one year of experience in working in UN or similar organizations on strategy improvement or system improvement and research projects is required. Experience with systems dealing with crises management response within the UN or similar organization is required Experience with analytics, data visualization or business intelligence tools (Eg: Excel, Power Query, Power BI or similar) is required. Experience with O365 Sharepoint and cloud technologies in the context of data analytics or information management is required. Training in personal security and safety (eg. SSAFE and HEAT) is desirable.

Languages

Language: English and French are the working languages of the United Nations Secretariat. For the post advertised, fluency in oral and written English is required. Fluency in another official UN Language is desirable.

Additional Information

Not available.

No Fee

THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CHARGE A FEE AT ANY STAGE OF THE RECRUITMENT PROCESS (APPLICATION, INTERVIEW MEETING, PROCESSING, OR TRAINING). THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CONCERN ITSELF WITH INFORMATION ON APPLICANTS' BANK ACCOUNTS.