Documentation Specialist (Retainer)

The Centre for Humanitarian Data is focused on increasing the use and impact of data in humanitarian response. It is managed by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and is based in The Hague, the Netherlands. The Centre’s vision is to create a future where everyone involved in a humanitarian emergency has access to the data they need, when and how they need it, to make responsible and informed decisions. 

The Centre focuses on four areas: data services, data responsibility, data literacy, and predictive analytics. The data services workstream focuses on the management of the Humanitarian Data Exchange (HDX) platform, automated data ingestion, data standards, and general technical assistance for other Centre teams.

Purpose and Scope of Assignment 

The Centre has produced a large volume of technical documentation over the past decade, including (among other types) policies and procedures, FAQs, API and library developer documentation, and web-site user documentation. This documentation currently exists in many different locations and formats, with no central index or structure.  We seek to engage a Documentation Specialist who has the skills and experience to analyse and restructure the Centre’s technical documentation, propose new tooling (if needed), and organise the documentation to make it more easily discoverable, maintainable, and usable, both for internal and (when appropriate) external stakeholders. 

We are looking for a candidate who is self-motivated and can thrive in an international, multidisciplinary team. The right candidate has the skills and abilities to understand existing systems and update them to meet new requirements, and to think strategically about improvements to the Centre’s documentation and knowledge-management processes. This is a limited 3-month contract without the intention to renew.

The Document Specialist will be responsible for the following duties:

1. Create standards and guidelines for the Centre’s technical documentation, including a team-specific style guide and business processes, in consultation with other Centre team members (there is an existing organisation-level style guide for OCHA).

2. Establish which hosting platform(s) should be used, and how they should be used, depending on the documentation type.

3. Apply the standards and processes to the Centre’s existing documentation to make it more consistent and easily-discoverable.

4. Lead the migration of existing documents and other information sources to any new environments. There is no expectation that the candidate will write software or scripts; however they may need to specify detailed requirements for the Centre’s technical team to implement, and provide feedback during development.

5. Create guidance materials and present tutorials to Centre team members about creating and using the Centre’s documentation.
   
   

Education 

• Advanced University Degree (Master's degree) in relevant discipline is required.

• A first University Degree (bachelor’s degree / first level) with a combination of 2 additional years of relevant professional experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.

• A professional certification in Library Science or Knowledge Management would be highly desirable.

Work Experience 

• Minimum five (5) years of experience in archives management, document management services (including editorial positions) or implementation of document information systems.

• At least two (2) years of experience collaborating in a technology environment (web site, software company, IT department, information-management team, etc).

• Experience with spreadsheets is required.

• Experience in the library-science/knowledge-management field is highly desirable.

• Experience in the humanitarian or development aid sectors is desirable.

Language

• Fluency in English is required (Both oral and written). 

• Knowledge of any of the other UN official languages is an advantage.

Contract type: Individual Contractor Agreement (ICA) Retainer - A retainer contract is issued for a period of time during which the services of the individual contractor are required intermittently. The individual contractor agreement on retainer basis will specify a “unit price” per day worked. For budgetary purposes, a monetary cap will be determined when the contract is awarded and issued. Please note that the retainer contract will not provide for a minimum, and payment will be made only after completion of work.


Contract level: International Individual Contractor Agreement (I-ICA 2) / ICS10
Contract duration: Three (3) months.


For more details about the ICA contractual modality, please follow this link:
https://www.unops.org/english/Opportunities/job-opportunities/what-we-offer/Pages/Individual-Contractor-Agreements.aspx 


This is not a position in UNOPS. UNOPS is solely providing operational support to its partner UNOCHA for this recruitment process. The selected candidate will be a personnel member of UNOCHA under its full responsibility and salaries and benefits will be decided by UNOCHA.

• 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.
• 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.