Digital Impact Specialist (Data Engineer), P-3, Temporary Position, Information and Communication Technology, 364 days, Digital Core - CIO Office, #00137299 Valencia, Spain

UNICEF works in over 190 countries and territories to save children’s lives, defend their rights, and help them fulfill their potential, from early childhood through adolescence.

At UNICEF, we are committed, passionate, and proud of what we do for as long as we are needed. Promoting the rights of every child is not just a job – it is a calling.

UNICEF is a place where careers are built: we offer our staff diverse opportunities for professional and personal development that will help them reinforce a sense of purpose while serving children and communities across the world. We welcome everyone who wants to belong and grow in a diverse and passionate culture, coupled with an attractive compensation and benefits package.

Visit our website to learn more about what we do at UNICEF.

For every child, the right to Digital opportunities

How can you make a difference?

The fundamental mission of UNICEF is to promote the rights of every child, everywhere, in everything the organization does — in programs, in advocacy, and in operations. The equity strategy, emphasizing the most disadvantaged and excluded children and families, translates this commitment to children’s rights into action. For UNICEF, equity means that all children have an opportunity to survive, develop, and reach their full potential, without discrimination, bias or favoritism. To the degree that any child has an unequal chance in life — in its social, political, economic, civic and cultural dimensions — her or his rights are violated. There is growing evidence that investing in the health, education and protection of a society’s most disadvantaged citizens — addressing inequity — not only will give all children the opportunity to fulfill their potential but also will lead to sustained growth and stability of countries. This is why the focus on equity is so vital. It accelerates progress towards realizing the human rights of all children, which is the universal mandate of UNICEF, as outlined by the Convention on the Rights of the Child, while also supporting the equitable development of nations.

Strategic office context:

UNICEF’s Digital Impact Division builds and operates UNICEF’s digital foundations, including modern enterprise platforms, digital products, infrastructure and AI capabilities, and sets the digital guardrails that keep them secure and resilient through cybersecurity and risk-informed security, while partnering with programme teams, country offices and governments to responsibly scale digital solutions, including digital inclusion initiatives such as Giga and the adoption of AI, digital public infrastructure and digital public goods, to strengthen national systems and accelerate results for children, including in emergencies.

Digital Foundations (DF) creates and sustains transformative, data- and AI-ready digital solutions grounded in human-centered design. Leveraging resilient, scalable cloud technologies provides a secure and adaptable technology backbone to deliver results for children with greater efficiency and agility. Through forward-looking technology roadmaps and continuous improvement, the Digital Foundations function modernizes core systems, strengthens cybersecurity, and fosters innovation to ensure future-resilient systems. As a key enabler of UNICEF’s digital transformation, it enhances data-driven decision-making and enables operational excellence to achieve sustainable results for children.

Data Transformation (DT)

To efficiently deliver on its mission, UNICEF must become data enabled and AI ready. The Data Transformation – Enabling Global AI Initiative (DT&AI) is a foundational project to make that a reality, leveraging technology to deliver in an increasing resource constrained environment, improving how we make decisions, measure results, address risks, and serve children more effectively across the world. DT&AI will establish the foundations needed to transform UNICEF into a more efficient, data-informed organization and to fully leverage AI. Key actions include building robust data and AI governance, improving data quality and insights, enabling innovation through new technologies, developing foundational infrastructure for immediate 'quick wins' and scalability and gathering evidence to reduce future investment risks. Some of the quick wins are enhancing corporate dashboards to support AI adoption.

Purpose of the job:

Under the supervision of the ICT Manager/Data & Analytics lead, the incumbent will contribute to the design, implementation, and delivery of UNICEF’s Data Warehouse migration project, supporting the transition from legacy analytical platforms to a modern lakehouse and analytics architecture. This includes supporting migration planning and execution activities, design and validation of target architectures, parallel runs and business testing, data products, and consumption layers. The role ensures that migrated solutions preserve data integrity, performance, and reporting continuity while enabling modern analytics and scalable data consumption across the organization.

Key functions include:

• Migrate Oracle data warehouse to Databricks
• Prepare extraction and validate mappings
• Support architecture design workshops
• Assist testing and issue resolution
• Migrate downstream analytics assets
• Develop Bronze Silver Gold transformations
• Implement Unity Catalog governance

If you would like to know more about this position, please review the complete Job Description here: JD_Digital Impact Specialist (Data Engineer) P3 TA_00137299.pdf

To qualify an advocate for every child you will have…

Minimum requirements

1. Education: Master or equivalent (Advanced University Degree) in Information Systems, Computer Science, Business Administration, Information technology management, data science, and any other related fields. Alternatively, a first level university degree in a relevant field combined with two (2) additional years of qualifying professional experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.
2. Work Experience: 5 years of relevant work experience in Information Communication Technology, Databricks, Lakehouse, Analytics, Data, Modeling, ETL and any other related fields.
3. Skills: Communication, Troubleshooting, Multitasking Learning, Results, Attention to detail
4. Language Requirements: Proficiency in English is required.

Desirables

1. Language: Knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish) is an asset.
2. Experience with Microsoft Fabric, Oracle, DevOps, Agile, Scrum or Git is considered an advantage.
3. Databricks certifications (data engineer associate or data analyst associate course).
4. Relevant experience at country level, particularly in development, fragile settings and humanitarian contexts.

For every Child, you demonstrate...

UNICEF's Core Values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust and Accountability and Sustainability (CRITAS) underpin everything we do and how we do it. Get acquainted with Our Values Charter: UNICEF Values

UNICEF competencies required for this post are…

(1) Builds and maintains partnerships
(2) Demonstrates self-awareness and ethical awareness
(3) Drive to achieve results for impact
(4) Innovates and embraces change
(5) Manages ambiguity and complexity
(6) Thinks and acts strategically
(7) Works collaboratively with others

Familiarize yourself with our competency framework and its different levels.

UNICEF promotes and advocates for the protection of the rights of every child, everywhere, in everything it does and is mandated to support the realization of the rights of every child, including those most disadvantaged, and our global workforce must reflect the diversity of those children. The UNICEF family is committed to include everyone, irrespective of their race/ethnicity, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, socio-economic background, minority, or any other status.

UNICEF encourages applications from all qualified candidates, regardless of gender, nationality, religious or ethnic backgrounds, and from people with disabilities, including neurodivergence. We offer a wide range of benefits to our staff, including paid parental leave, breastfeeding breaks and reasonable accommodation for persons with disabilities. UNICEF provides reasonable accommodation throughout the recruitment process. If you require any accommodation, please submit your request through the accessibility email button on the UNICEF Careers webpage Accessibility | UNICEF. Should you be shortlisted, please get in touch with the recruiter directly to share further details, enabling us to make the necessary arrangements in advance.

UNICEF does not hire candidates who are married to children (persons under 18). UNICEF has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UNICEF, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination based on gender, nationality, age, race, sexual orientation, religious or ethnic background or disabilities. UNICEF is committed to promote the protection and safeguarding of all children. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks, and will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles. Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check, and selected candidates with disabilities may be requested to submit supporting documentation in relation to their disability confidentially.

UNICEF appointments are subject to medical clearance.  Issuance of a visa by the host country of the duty station is required for IP positions and will be facilitated by UNICEF. Appointments may also be subject to inoculation (vaccination) requirements, including against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid). Should you be selected for a position with UNICEF, you either must be inoculated as required or receive a medical exemption from the relevant department of the UN. Otherwise, the selection will be canceled.

Remarks:

As per 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.

UNICEF is committed to fostering an inclusive, representative, and welcoming workforce. For this position, eligible and suitable female candidates are encouraged to apply.

Government employees who are considered for employment with UNICEF are normally required to resign from their government positions before taking up an assignment with UNICEF. UNICEF reserves the right to withdraw an offer of appointment, without compensation, if a visa or medical clearance is not obtained, or necessary inoculation requirements are not met, within a reasonable period for any reason.

UNICEF does not charge a processing fee at any stage of its recruitment, selection, and hiring processes (i.e., application stage, interview stage, validation stage, or appointment and training). UNICEF will not ask for applicants' bank account information.

Mobility is a condition of international professional employment with UNICEF and an underlying premise of the international civil service.

Humanitarian action is a cross-cutting priority within UNICEF's Strategic Plan. UNICEF is committed to stay and deliver in humanitarian contexts. Therefore, all staff, at all levels across all functional areas, can be called upon to be deployed to support humanitarian response, contributing to both strengthening resilience of communities and capacity of national authorities.

All UNICEF positions are advertised, and only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process. An internal candidate performing at the level of the post in the relevant functional area, or an internal/external candidate in the corresponding Talent Group, may be selected, if suitable for the post, without assessment of other candidates.

Additional information about working for UNICEF can be found here.