Data Manager (Retainer)

The Centre for Humanitarian Data is focused on increasing the use and impact of data in the humanitarian sector. 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 services are available to humanitarian partners and OCHA staff in the field and at headquarters.

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, the development and use of the Humanitarian Exchange Language (HXL) data standard, and support to the International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI). The data responsibility worksteam focuses on the development and adoption of guidelines and different techniques for the secure management of data, both within OCHA and the broader humanitarian system. The data literacy workstream focuses on improving the data skills of technical and non-technical humanitarians through the delivery of training programmes and sharing of capacity-building material. The predictive analytics workstream focuses on model development, including threshold and trigger design for anticipatory action, and quality assurance of partner models through validation and peer review.

The Centre is looking for a Data Manager to support data-contributor organisations with sharing data on HDX. The role will primarily be responsible for ensuring the quality of data shared on the platform, offering data visualization and standardization support, and maintaining good working relationships with data contributors. We are looking for a candidate who is self-motivated, enjoys working with data and the people who produce it, and can thrive in an international, remote, and multidisciplinary team.

The Data Manager will be responsible for the following:

• Work with partner organizations to support their data sharing efforts on HDX.
• Develop data visualizations and analysis for data-sharing organizations.
• Support daily maintenance of HDX by creating new organization pages, reviewing the quality of new datasets, adding gallery items to featured datasets, and archiving out-of-date data.
• Curate the HDX Data Grids by focusing on specific countries or sub categories and helping to increase data completeness in priority humanitarian operations.
• Identify potential data contributors and work to bring new organizations into the HDX community.
• Promote the use of the Humanitarian Exchange Language (HXL) data standard to increase interoperability of data from spreadsheets and systems.
• Work with HDX data contributors and data users to explore opportunities for data integration and backend development; propose improvements to existing processes and systems.
• Provide training to partners on the HDX platform, data cleaning and data visualization tools.
• Attend meetings and workshops to represent HDX and the Centre.
• Participate in team and partner meetings as required.

Education

• Advanced university degree (Master’s degree or equivalent) preferably in statistics, mathematics, economics, computer science, or related field.
• A first-level university degree in similar fields in combination with two (2) years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.

Work Experience

Required

• A minimum of 2 years of experience using spreadsheets, statistical software and/or open source tools to analyze, evaluate and visualize data is required.
• Strong interpersonal and networking skills are required.

Desired Experience (The following experiences are optional. Candidates who do not have them are welcome to apply)

• Knowledge of geographic (GIS) data, its analytical procedures and software is desirable
• Knowledge of statistical programming languages (e.g. R, Python / NumPy) is desirable.
• Knowledge of web-development technologies is a plus (e.g. JavaScript, HTML, CSS).
• Experience with humanitarian data and indicators is desirable.

Language:

• Fluency in English (read, write, speak) is required
• Knowledge of another UN official language 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 1)
• Contract duration: 12 months 

• 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.
• UNOPS seeks to reasonably accommodate candidates with special needs, upon request.
• Work life harmonization - UNOPS values its people and recognizes the importance of balancing professional and personal demands. We have a progressive policy on work-life harmonization and offer several flexible working options. This policy applies to UNOPS personnel on all contract types
• For staff positions only, UNOPS reserves the right to appoint a candidate at a lower level than the advertised level of the post
• For retainer contracts, you must complete a few Mandatory Courses (around 4 hours) in your own time, before providing services to UNOPS.
• 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.

UNOPS is an operational arm of the United Nations, supporting the successful implementation of its partners’ peacebuilding, humanitarian and development projects around the world. Our mission is to help people build better lives and countries achieve sustainable development.

UNOPS areas of expertise cover infrastructure, procurement, project management, financial management and human resources.

Working with us

UNOPS offers short- and long-term work opportunities in diverse and challenging environments across the globe. We are looking for creative, results-focused professionals with skills in a range of disciplines.

Diversity

With over 4,000 UNOPS personnel and approximately 7,000 personnel recruited on behalf of UNOPS partners spread across 80 countries, our workforce represents a wide range of nationalities and cultures. We promote a balanced, diverse workforce — a strength that helps us better understand and address our partners’ needs, and continually strive to improve our gender balance through initiatives and policies that encourage recruitment of qualified female candidates.

Work life harmonization

UNOPS values its people and recognizes the importance of balancing professional and personal demands.