Data Manager

The Humanitarian Data Exchange (HDX) is an open platform for sharing data across crises and organisations. Launched in July 2014, the goal of HDX is to make humanitarian data easy to find and use for analysis. Our growing collection of datasets has been accessed by users in over 200 countries and territories.

HDX is managed by OCHA's Centre for Humanitarian Data, which is located in The Hague. OCHA is part of the United Nations Secretariat and is responsible for bringing together humanitarian actors to ensure a coherent response to emergencies. The HDX team includes OCHA staff and a number of consultants who are based in North America, Europe and Africa.

The HDX platform includes: a dataset repository for sharing data from across the community; visualization functionality to compare data across countries and crises; and standards for the exchange of humanitarian operational data using the Humanitarian Exchange Language (HXL). 

The Centre requires a Data Manager in Nairobi to work with new and existing partners on data activities. The consultant will be part of the global HDX Data Partnerships Team. The Data Manager will work closely with staff from the OCHA Regional Office in Nairobi, and with a geographically distributed Centre and HDX team.

Reporting Relationships

The consultant will report to the head of the HDX Data Partnerships Team who is based in Geneva.

The consultant will be responsible for the following:

●        Support global and regional partner organizations to share data on HDX.

●        Ensure that current and new datasets uploaded into HDX meet with the minimum established standards of quality and have sufficient elements of metadata.

●        Conduct daily quality assurance checks on the HDX platform.

●        Create new organisation pages and support organisation focal points with using the platform.

●        Develop interactive visualization for clients using the datasets shared through HDX.

●        Support partners with data services including data hunting, data cleaning and data visualization.

●        Automate dataset extractions from partners; develop scripts for data transferring when appropriate.

●        Promote the use of the Humanitarian Exchange Language (HXL) data standard to increase interoperability of data from partner spreadsheets and systems.

●        Train partners on the use of the HDX platform, data visualization tools including Quick Charts and Data Check.

●        Take part in Centre and HDX team meetings as required.

Deliverables

-Increased use of HDX and HXL by partners.

-improved maintenance of the HDX platform through more consistency in names, tags, sources, and up to date datasets.

-Three data visualizations per quarter.

-New organisations sharing datasets in HDX in a programmatic way.

Education

First level university degree in computer science, information management, information technology, or related field is required. An advanced university degree in relevant field may be accepted and substitute two years of the required experience. A relevant technical diploma with additional two years of experience may be accepted in lieu of the first level university degree. A High school or secondary school diploma with additional four years may be accepted in lieu of the first level university degree.

Work Experience

• At least two years of experience in at least one programming/scripting language.
• Demonstrated experience in technical communication. 
• Experience with the following a plus: Python programming languages and the CKAN open-data portal. Demonstrated proficiency with Excel and/or Google Suite, knowledge of Tableau, R, qGIS, ODK, and relational databases. 
• Knowledge of health systems data, databases and processes is a plus.

Language

Fluency or working-level in English is required (both oral and written). Knowledge of another UN official language is an advantage. 

Contract type: International ICA
Contract level: IICA-1/LICA-8/ICSC-8
Contract duration: initially 6 months with the possibility of extension

• Please note that the closing date is midnight Copenhagen time
• Applications received after the closing date will not be considered.
• Only those candidates that are short-listed for interviews will be notified.
• Qualified female candidates are strongly encouraged to apply.
• The incumbent is responsible to abide by security policies, administrative instructions, plans and procedures of the UN Security Management System and that of UNOPS.  

It is the policy of UNOPS to conduct background checks on all potential recruits/interns.
Recruitment/internship in UNOPS is contingent on the results of such checks.