Geographic Information System Consultant

DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS

29 November 2024-23:59-GMT+01:00 Central European Time (Rome)

WFP celebrates and embraces diversity. It is committed to the principle of equal employment opportunity for all its employees and encourages qualified candidates to apply irrespective of race, colour, national origin, ethnic or social background, genetic information, gender, gender identity and/or expression, sexual orientation, religion or belief, HIV status or disability.

ABOUT WFP

The World Food Programme is the world’s largest humanitarian organization saving lives in emergencies and using food assistance to build a pathway to peace, stability and prosperity, for people recovering from conflict, disasters and the impact of climate change.

At WFP, people are at the heart of everything we do and the vision of the future WFP workforce is one of diverse, committed, skilled, and high performing teams, selected on merit, operating in a healthy and inclusive work environment, living WFP’s values (Integrity, Collaboration, Commitment, Humanity, and Inclusion) and working with partners to save and change the lives of those WFP serves.

To learn more about WFP, visit our website: https://www.wfp.org and follow us on social media to keep up with our latest news: YouTube, LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok.

WHY JOIN WFP? 

• WFP is a 2020 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate.

• WFP offers a highly inclusive, diverse, and multicultural working environment.

• WFP invests in the personal & professional development of its employees through a range of training, accreditation, coaching, mentorship, and other programs as well as through internal mobility opportunities.

• A career path in WFP provides an exciting opportunity to work across the various country, regional and global offices around the world, and with passionate colleagues who work tirelessly to ensure that effective humanitarian assistance reaches millions of people across the globe.

• We offer an attractive compensation package (please refer to the Terms and Conditions section of this vacancy announcement).

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE OF THE ASSIGNMENT:
The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is the world’s largest humanitarian agency, fighting hunger worldwide.
The WFP TEC Division has been collaborating with the WFP GIS team to develop new IT capabilities and a comprehensive set of information that form a foundational element of the WFP ecosystem. This effort enables the organization to geographically triangulate various data collected. During the years, this collaboration delivered a robust set of capabilities that constitute the Location Resolution Tool (LRT) and the Geographical Enterprise Foundational Services (GEFS) that serve all the other services in the organization. These enterprise grade corporate tools which enable the organization to resolve locations among different systems (LRT) and expose data in a enterprise grade set of foundational REST APIs.
Thanks to the adoption of the GEFS APIs and the LRT application TEC allowed the organization, for the first time, to geographically align information from multiple non-integrated systems with an exceptional level of precision, extending to Food Distribution Points, schools, warehouses, and other critical Points of Interest.
This position is essential to support the significant volume of activities and anticipated workload related to the Global Assurance project rollout, as well as to further the development of the GEFS and LRT tools within TEC and to retain internal know how and capacity on the GIS practice.
The EFS aims to:
• standardize the way location information are shared among the different corporate systems.
• work together with the WFP GIS team on the evolution of the services and related activities related to GIS environments.
• work closely with the Platform Services API specialists to define robust and reliable GIS APIs to be consumed by corporate systems.
• work together with the data programme team on the ontology of Location data assets and related data related activities (transformation, data triangulation etc);
• be the custodian of the API and Data assets catalogue being part of the EFS which represent a critical asset for the organization.
• support and provide guidance for the evolution of the existing corporate systems to elevate the level of maturity in the organization for the consumption of GIS related resources.
• Work together with the rest of the platform services team in the definition, the implementation and the evolution of the WFP developer experience by maintaining solid and reliable documentation, APIs and Data assets which are easy to be consumed and predictable in their consumption.
The incumbent will be working in the WFP IT Division (TEC), in the Digital Architecture branch as part of the Platform Architecture team.

ACCOUNTABILITIES/RESPONSIBILITIES:
• Maintain the ownership of the WFP Location Resolution Tool on the DOTS platform and evolve it to the required level of flexibility and effectiveness required.
• Work on the architecture to elevate the corporate GIS platform to a corporate product in the WFP ecosystem.
• Coordinate the required activities for the resolution of the Location information currently stored in the different systems integrated into the DOTS platform to enable consistent location management across different IT systems.
• Work in the TEC Integration Services team to coordinate the implementation of the GIS Enterprise Foundational Services. A set of critical APIs and Data assets for GIS services.
• Maintain the catalogue of the GIS capabilities in the WFP’s Digital Core.
• Coordinate with various teams in TEC for development activities required for harmonization in use of geographic references in WFP’s corporate systems.
• Forster in the organization (TEC and non-TEC) the importance of a proper/good usage of location information and related GIS services.
• Support the evolution of the GIS services to leverage on cloud solutions.
• Support the corporate authentication framework for non enterprise users based on WSO2 Identity server.
• Maintain updated the different authentication patterns and methodologies based on OpenID and OAUTH2.
• Master the different aspects of users enrolment, users registration and users lifecycle management in the B2C space to enable partners to access WFP services being them GIS or non GIS related.
• Produce documentation, presentations, and projects proposals.
• When needed, provide support and advice in other Integration services tasks such as API design, Data transformations, and other accessory activities.
• Support the implementation of the WFP Data Mesh/Data Fabric on GIS/Locations related datasets.
• Support other projects in need to implement Identity Providers/Service providers relationships.
• Support the implementation of proper data governance on GIS/Locations information.
• Be the focal point in TEC for GIS and B2C Identity services-related activities.
• Work on the evolution of the Location Resolution tool on DOTs and other data platforms to guarantee consistency with the API EFS.
• Maintain the DOTS data pipelines to power the GEFS and consumer production services.

QUALIFICATIONS & EXPERIENCE REQUIRED:
Education:
University Degree, preferably in Geographic Information Systems, computer science or other relevant fields;
Experience:
From 3 to 5 years of experience in the implementation of composable solutions leveraging on GIS applications and systems. Strong expertise in modern authentication mechanisms based on OpenID and OAUTH2. Strong expertise of REST APIs development and modern deployment pipelines. Management of geospatial data and working in a humanitarian or development context; Experience Service Based Design and knowledge of MicroServices architectures;
Knowledge & Skills:
• Knowledge of modern IT architectures such as Microservices architectures and Service Oriented Architectures
• Experience with Spatial Data Infrastructures based on PostgreSQL/PostGIS/ESRI Enterprise GeoDatabases and GIS data management;
• Knowledge of the ESRI suite, especially ArcGIS Server, ArcGIS Online applications and Portal for ArcGIS;
• Strong knowledge of python and GIS related libraries;
• Proficiency in data integration and manipulation;
• Strong knowledge of OpenID and OAUTH2;
• Courtesy, tact and ability to work with people of different national and cultural backgrounds;
• Ability to communicate clearly and concisely both orally and in writing;

DUTY STATION (City, Country): Remote

WFP LEADERSHIP FRAMEWORK

 

WFP Leadership Framework guides to the common standards of behavior that guide HOW we work together to accomplish our mission.

Click here to access WFP Leadership Framework

 

REASONABLE ACCOMMODATION

 

WFP is dedicated to fostering diversity, equity, and inclusion. Our recruitment process is inclusively crafted to welcome candidates of all backgrounds, celebrating diversity and ensuring a respectful environment for all. We aim for an accessible and fair recruitment journey. Should you need any reasonable accommodations or have accessibility concerns, please reach out to us confidentially at global.inclusion@wfp.org. Our DEI team is here to ensure your full participation in our recruitment process.

NO FEE DISCLAIMER

 

The United Nations does not charge any application, processing, training, interviewing, testing or other fee in connection with the application or recruitment process. Should you receive a solicitation for the payment of a fee, please disregard it. Furthermore, please note that emblems, logos, names and addresses are easily copied and reproduced. Therefore, you are advised to apply particular care when submitting personal information on the web.

 

REMINDERS BEFORE YOU SUBMIT YOUR APPLICATION

• We strongly recommend that your profile is accurate, complete, and includes your employment records, academic qualifications, language skills and UN Grade (if applicable).

• Once your profile is completed, please apply, and submit your application.

• Please make sure you upload your professional CV in the English language

• Kindly note the only documents you will need to submit at this time are your CV and Cover Letter

• Additional documents such as passport, recommendation letters, academic certificates, etc. may potentially be requested at a future time

• Please contact us at global.hrerecruitment@wfp.org in case you face any challenges with submitting your application

• Only shortlisted candidates will be notified

All employment decisions are made on the basis of organizational needs, job requirements, merit, and individual qualifications. WFP is committed to providing an inclusive work environment free of sexual exploitation and abuse, all forms of discrimination, any kind of harassment, sexual harassment, and abuse of authority. Therefore, all selected candidates will undergo rigorous reference and background checks.

No appointment under any kind of contract will be offered to members of the UN Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ), International Civil Service Commission (ICSC), FAO Finance Committee, WFP External Auditor, WFP Audit Committee, Joint Inspection Unit (JIU) and other similar bodies within the United Nations system with oversight responsibilities over WFP, both during their service and within three years of ceasing that service.