Data Scientist at UN-Habitat

Scope of Work
Under the overall supervision of the Programme Management Officer, the consultant will be responsible for designing, implementing and deploying highly relevant and targeted digital tools and platforms that are:

• Using and strengthening existing data and processes 
• Built in compliance with local data governance and potential technical requirements (e.g. standards)  
• Ready to be transferred to a local owner, who will assume responsibility for operations, maintenance and continued enhancement / adjustment of the tools. 
• Capable of sharing data between relevant and potentially interested parties 
• Designed in such a way that they are commensurate of the local context with regards to scaling, operations, security and resilience. informing the development of digital platforms that enable open and restricted sharing of information related to informal settlements, as well the capacity building, skills and training requirements of local towns and stakeholders.

Duties and Responsibilities include:

• Provide appropriate technical support to implement activities related to  digital government, open government, transparency, innovation, open data, social mobilization and participation, public policies, and effective advocacy.
• Identify datasets and map data sources within the data ecosystem of this project.

Collaborate with the UNITAC team, other consultants, contractors and relevant key stakeholders to identify the digital and data opportunities and needs of the following key stakeholders:

• Ministry of Urban and Rural Development
• Partner towns: Rundu, Rehboth, Opuwo, Helao Nafidi and the City of Windhoek
• Shackdwellers Federation of Namibia (SDFN) / Namibian Housing Action Group (NHAG)
• GIZ
• Namibian Statistics Agency (NSA)
• Namibian University of Science and Technology
• Collaborate with the UNITAC team, other consultants, contractors and relevant key stakeholders to ideate, shape and co-create digital and data solutions within the scope of the project. 
• Collaborate with the UNITAC team and other consultants / contractors to develop and deploy working tools.
• Conduct user testing and track user feedback, analytics and performance metrics. 
• Draft user manuals.
• Contribute to the development and implementation of a technically appropriate Capacity Building Plan.
• Identify datasets and map data sources within the data ecosystem of this project.
• Maintain, organize an accessible information file.
• Develop technical publications, project briefs, concept notes and more.
• Prepare reports to partners, internal reports, etc. at various stages of the project.
• Participate and produce mission/workshop reports if requested.

Qualifications/special skills

• A minimum of  Bachelor's degree in computer science or related is required. Educational background in project management or experience with Scrum methodologies is an added advantage.
• A minimum of seven (7) years’ experience in software development and engineering (with proven experience of previous successful work on software development projects) for public and private institutions is required.
• Demonstrated experience in the development of a minimum of 3 – 5 digital solutions currently in production.is required.
• Experience with developing, testing and operationalizing digital applications and software is desirable.
• Demonstrated expertise in Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) with a proven track record of designing and implementing user interfaces, conducting user research, and applying user-centered design principles is desirable.
• Experience and knowledge of innovation processes and methodology, including challenge-driven innovation, design thinking, user research, product design and systems thinking is desirable.

Languages

• English and French are the working languages of the United Nations Secretariat. For the post  advertised, fluency in written and oral English is required. Working knowledge of another UN language and/or one or more national languages of the region would be an asset