Senior Data Engineering Assistant

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is the leading global environmental authority that sets the global environmental agenda, promotes the coherent implementation of the environmental dimension of sustainable development within the United Nations system and serves as an authoritative advocate for the global environment. The Chief Digital Office (CDO) leads UNEP’s digital transformation, providing vision, standards and governance for digital products, enterprise platforms, data and AI, and working across divisions, regional offices and Multilateral Environmental Agreement (MEA) secretariats to embed digital-by-design approaches. This position is located in the Infrastructure and DevOps Group of the Chief Digital Office at the Nairobi duty station. The Data Engineering Assistant reports to the Head of Infrastructure and DevOps, under the overall guidance of the Chief Digital Officer. Within delegated authority, the Data Engineering Assistant will be responsible for the following duties:

• Responds to requests for extract, transform and load (ETL/ELT) work and prepares design notes and decision support material for the creation, optimization and monitoring of data pipelines that feed UNEP’s enterprise data platforms and the World Environment Situation Room. • Assembles and curates data sets from multiple internal and external sources (environmental, geospatial, administrative, partner-provided), and supports the integration of more complex, high-volume or streaming data sets needed by data engineers, data scientists and application teams. • Provides input to the design, configuration and documentation of data infrastructure components (data lakes, warehouses, integration services, workflow/orchestration tools, containerized services) operated by the Infrastructure and DevOps Group, ensuring that naming, metadata and security conventions are applied consistently. • Maintains specific information products, dashboards and data catalog entries in the assigned area, and assists more senior staff in making these products available to other UNEP divisions, regional offices and MEA secretariats through secure APIs and approved sharing mechanisms. • Applies and helps enforce data governance, protection and security policies in the assigned area, including access control, encryption, role-based permissions and audit requirements, in line with UNEP and UN Secretariat ICT policies. • Supports the operation and upkeep of data management tools in the assigned area (version control, metadata/catalogue services, ETL/ELT tools, monitoring/observability dashboards) and escalates technical issues to senior infrastructure or data engineering staff as needed. • Guides, trains and supervises other General Service staff in the function, including on the use of standard data engineering workflows, code repositories, issue-tracking tools and documentation standards. • Participates in unit meetings, agile ceremonies and UNEP digital communities of practice to share lessons learned on data ingestion, data quality and secure deployment. • Implement security measures throughout the development lifecycle (DevSecOps). • Set up and use monitoring tools like Prometheus and the ELK Stack (Elasticsearch, Logstash, Kibana). • Provides support for computer information systems, databases, and applications in assigned area; performs complex troubleshooting for various applications • Assist in the management of the organization’s cloud hosting subscription and the respective cloud resources

PROFESSIONALISM: Thorough understanding of the data engineering lifecycle from data ingest and transformation to loading and delivery for analytics and applications. Experience supporting always-on, high-availability data services and applying good practices from IT operations (monitoring, logging, change management). Familiarity with agile delivery methods and with working in code-based, version-controlled environments. Ability to work with structured and unstructured datasets and with modern data management tools. Ability to document work clearly for re-use by other team members. Shows pride in work and in achievements; demonstrates professional competence and mastery of subject matter; is conscientious and efficient in meeting commitments, observing deadlines and achieving results; shows persistence when faced with difficult problems or challenges; remains calm in stressful situations. Commitment to implementing the goal of gender equality by ensuring the equal participation and full involvement of women and men in all aspects of work. TEAMWORK: Works collaboratively with colleagues to achieve organizational goals. Solicits input by genuinely valuing others’ ideas and expertise; is willing to learn from others. Places team agenda before personal agenda. Supports and acts in accordance with final group decision, even when such decisions may not entirely reflect own position. Shares credit for team accomplishments and accepts joint responsibility for team shortcomings. PLANNING AND ORGANIZING: Develops clear goals that are consistent with agreed strategies. Identifies priority activities and assignments; adjusts priorities as required. Allocates appropriate amount of time and resources for completing work. Foresees risks and allows for contingencies when planning. Monitors and adjusts plans and actions as necessary. Uses time efficiently. TECHNOLOGICAL AWARENESS: Keeps abreast of available technology; understands the applicability and limitations of technology to the work of the office; actively seeks to apply technology to appropriate tasks; shows willingness to learn new technology.

High school diploma or equivalent is required.

Not available.

A minimum of 10 years of experience in data engineering, data integration, data management, software development, database systems, information management or a related area is required. The minimum years of relevant experience is reduced to eight (8) years for candidates who possess a first-level university degree or higher. Experience with cloud platforms and cloud resource management on Azure or Amazon Web Services (AWS), as well as a strong foundation in Linux, is required. Experience supporting data ingestion, transformation, or integration work in a cloud or hybrid environment is required. Experience with technologies such as Docker for containerization and Kubernetes for orchestration, as well as scripting languages like Python and Bash for automating tasks, is desirable. Experience in an international or multi-location organization is desirable. Experience is developing languages such as PHP, Drupal, C#, ASP.NET, and others is desirable.

English and French are the working languages of the United Nations Secretariat. For this job opening, English is required. There are no additional desirable languages specified. The table below shows the minimum required level for each skill in these languages, according to the UN Language Framework (please consult

https://languages.un.org

for details).

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Required Languages

Language

Reading

Writing

Listening

Speaking

English

UN Level II

UN Level II

UN Level II

UN Level II

Evaluation of qualified candidates may include an assessment exercise which may be followed by competency-based interview.

Appointment against this post is for an initial period of one (1) year and may be subject to extension. External candidate selected for this position will be granted a fixed-term appointment limited ("FTA-limited") in accordance with section 2.2 (b) of administrative instruction ST/AI/2013/1 on Administration of fixed-term appointments. Renewal of appointment is contingent upon continued existence of mandate and availability of funding. If this position is discontinued, the incumbent will be separated from service. United Nations Secretariat staff members who meet the definition of "internal candidate" in staff rule 4.10 who are selected for this position subject to limitation will retain their current appointment status and will be reassigned or transferred to the position, without a lien to their parent position. This position is subject to local recruitment pursuant to staff rule 4.4 of the United Nations Staff Rules. Applicants for positions in the General Service and related categories must be authorized to work for the United Nations in the duty station where the position is located. Staff members subject to local recruitment are not eligible for allowances or benefits exclusively applicable to international recruitment. When completing the Candidate Profile form, ensure ALL fields, ALL professional experience and contact information are completed and up to date. This information is the basis for the hiring manager to assess your eligibility and suitability for the position and to contact you. The United Nations Secretariat is committed to achieving 50/50 gender balance and geographical diversity in its staff. Female candidates are strongly encouraged to apply for this position. At the United Nations, the paramount consideration in the recruitment and employment of staff is the necessity of securing the highest standards of efficiency, competence and integrity, with due regard to geographic diversity. All employment decisions are made on the basis of qualifications and organizational needs. The United Nations is committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment of mutual respect. The United Nations recruits and employs staff regardless of gender identity, sexual orientation, race, religious, cultural and ethnic backgrounds or disabilities. Reasonable accommodation for applicants with disabilities may be provided to support participation in the recruitment process when requested and indicated in the application. All applicants are strongly encouraged to apply on-line as soon as possible after the job opening has been posted and well before the deadline stated in the job opening. On-line applications will be acknowledged where an email address has been provided. If you do not receive an e-mail acknowledgement within 24 hours of submission, your application may not have been received. If the problem persists, please seek technical assistance through the Inspira "Contact Us" link.

According to article 101, paragraph 3, of the Charter of the United Nations, the paramount consideration in the employment of the staff is the necessity of securing the highest standards of efficiency, competence, and integrity. Candidates will not be considered for employment with the United Nations if they have committed violations of international human rights law, violations of international humanitarian law, sexual exploitation, sexual abuse, or sexual harassment, or if there are reasonable grounds to believe that they have been involved in the commission of any of these acts. The term “sexual exploitation” means any actual or attempted abuse of a position of vulnerability, differential power, or trust, for sexual purposes, including, but not limited to, profiting monetarily, socially or politically from the sexual exploitation of another. The term “sexual abuse” means the actual or threatened physical intrusion of a sexual nature, whether by force or under unequal or coercive conditions. The term “sexual harassment” means any unwelcome conduct of a sexual nature that might reasonably be expected or be perceived to cause offence or humiliation, when such conduct interferes with work, is made a condition of employment or creates an intimidating, hostile or offensive work environment, and when the gravity of the conduct warrants the termination of the perpetrator’s working relationship. Candidates who have committed crimes other than minor traffic offences may not be considered for employment. Due regard will be paid to the importance of recruiting the staff on as wide a geographical basis as possible. The United Nations places no restrictions on the eligibility of men and women to participate in any capacity and under conditions of equality in its principal and subsidiary organs. The United Nations Secretariat is a non-smoking environment. Reasonable accommodation may be provided to applicants with disabilities upon request, to support their participation in the recruitment process. By accepting a letter of appointment, staff members are subject to the authority of the Secretary-General, who may assign them to any of the activities or offices of the United Nations in accordance with staff regulation 1.2 (c). Further, staff members in the Professional and higher category up to and including the D-2 level and the Field Service category are normally required to move periodically to discharge functions in different duty stations under conditions established in ST/AI/2023/3 on Mobility, as may be amended or revised. This condition of service applies to all position specific job openings and does not apply to temporary positions. Applicants are urged to carefully follow all instructions available in the online recruitment platform, inspira, and to refer to the Applicant Guide by clicking on “Manuals” in the “Help” tile of the inspira account-holder homepage. The evaluation of applicants will be conducted on the basis of the information submitted in the application according to the evaluation criteria of the job opening and the applicable internal legislations of the United Nations including the Charter of the United Nations, resolutions of the General Assembly, the Staff Regulations and Rules, administrative issuances and guidelines. Applicants must provide complete and accurate information pertaining to their personal profile and qualifications according to the instructions provided in inspira to be considered for the current job opening. No amendment, addition, deletion, revision or modification shall be made to applications that have been submitted. Candidates under serious consideration for selection will be subject to reference checks to verify the information provided in the application. All external candidates recruited in accordance with section ‎2.2 (a) of ST/AI/2025/3 for a fixed term appointment without limitation and all external candidates recruited in accordance with section 2.2. (c) of ST/AI/2025/3 for a fixed term appointment limited to the entity are subject to an initial probationary period of one year under a fixed-term appointment. Job openings advertised on the Careers Portal will be removed at 11:59 p.m. (New York time) on the deadline date.

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.