ICT Specialist at United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS)

Background Information - Job-specific

The Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL) of the US Department of State is actively engaged in Kenya’s efforts to professionalize its national police service. INL supports three Kenyan entities (henceforth, the Entities) whose mandate is to bolster police accountability, through operational and technical assistance to the Internal Affairs Unit (IAU) of the National Police Service, the Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA), and the National Police Service Commission (NPSC). The latter two bodies are civilian-staffed and provide external oversight of the police.

INL requires technical advisory and project management advisory services to strengthen and develop ICT systems for several ongoing and upcoming components in their program. The specific project objective for UNOPS is to provide INL/Kenya with ICT project management and advisory services, technical assistance and performance monitoring/evaluation against contracted deliverables.

The ICT Specialist, reporting to the Project Manager, is responsible for providing detailed technical analysis of the existing systems in place, guidance on the requirements for the ongoing development of new systems, and quality assurance for their implementation. They are the key liaison between the Project Manager and the other project stakeholders when ensuring that all software development activities are performed to a high standard and that the project’s outcomes are achieved with good quality products.

Functional Responsibilities

Specifically, the functional responsibilities of the ICT Specialist will include:

• Prepare clear and concise specifications and documentation that communicates requirements to service providers using industry standard approaches;
• Collaborating with teams to find optimal architecture approaches for each project, including software transition plans and sustainable solutions for existing tools;
• Consolidate and report key performance indicators obtained from local service groups;
• Advise system developers on design, tools, licensing, implementation and support of ICT software infrastructure;
• Contribute to an initial technology assessment of the project environment, including gap analysis and recommendations for the approach to the implementation phase;
• Establish and maintain coding standards, best practices, code reviews and adherence to laid down standard operating procedures;
• Act as mentor for technical team members, leading by example and providing guidance in improving skills;
• Review technical plans prepared by partners and advise on feasibility and soundness of proposed approach;
• Assist in technical evaluation of procurement activities where requested by partners;
• Provide quality reports during and after delivery of software solutions by project partners;
• Monitor and measure project progress and prepare project reports as required;
• Plan and execute change management activities to ensure efficient transition into operations and utilization of project deliverables by the projects;
• Facilitate customer workshops/interviews to collect, analyze, validate and document business requirements, processes, business rules and workflows;
• Plan, design and execute application testing, user testing and release management;
• Maintain records of project files and other supporting documents;
• Contribute to the dissemination and sharing of best practices and lessons learned for planning and knowledge building

Candidates with no UN experience are encouraged to apply.

Female candidates are strongly encouraged to apply.