Discovery Lead

DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS

30 March 2026-23:59-GMT+01:00 Central European Time (Rome)

WFP celebrates and embraces diversity. It is committed to the principle of equal employment opportunity for all its employees and encourages qualified candidates to apply irrespective of race, colour, national origin, ethnic or social background, genetic information, gender, gender identity and/or expression, sexual orientation, religion or belief, HIV status or disability.

ABOUT WFP
The World Food Programme is the world’s largest humanitarian organization saving lives in emergencies and using food assistance to build a pathway to peace, stability and prosperity, for people recovering from conflict, disasters and the impact of climate change.

At WFP, people are at the heart of everything we do and the vision of the future WFP workforce is one of diverse, committed, skilled, and high performing teams, selected on merit, operating in a healthy and inclusive work environment, living WFP's values (Integrity, Collaboration, Commitment, Humanity, and Inclusion) and working with partners to save and change the lives of those WFP serves.
To learn more about WFP, visit our website: https://www.wfp.org and follow us on social media to keep up with our latest news: YouTube, LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok.

WHY JOIN WFP?

• WFP is a 2020 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate.
• WFP offers a highly inclusive, diverse, and multicultural working environment.
• WFP invests in the personal & professional development of its employees through a range of training, accreditation, coaching, mentorship, and other programs as well as through internal mobility opportunities.
• A career path in WFP provides an exciting opportunity to work across the various country, regional and global offices around the world, and with passionate colleagues who work tirelessly to ensure that effective humanitarian assistance reaches millions of people across the globe.
• We offer an attractive compensation package (please refer to the Terms and Conditions section of this vacancy announcement).

JOB TITLE: Discovery Lead

TYPE OF CONTRACT: Regular Consultant, CST Level II

UNIT/DIVISION: Digital Services, Technology Division

DUTY STATION: Remote working

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE OF THE ASSIGNMENT:

Reporting to the Head of Service Design and UX, the Discovery Lead orchestrates the work of cross-functional teams in the inception phase of an initiative, with the objective of making products and services usable, viable and desirable by ensuring the user is put at the centre of the analysis and design process. The Discovery Lead manages the discovery phase, ensuring alignment across team members as well as taking ownership of the research and design portion of it.

The Discovery Lead models “as is” processes and services, analyses the existing landscape to ensure efficient workflows and streamlining of activities, and designs “to be” processes in liaison with business subject matter experts, users and other technology professionals, to make sure future services and products will result in positive customer journeys and meet the needs of the users.

In order to do so, the Discovery Lead also explores the behaviours and motivations of end-users and coordinates the engagement with key stakeholders to architect, model, prototype, and validate process improvements, requirements and functionalities.

ACCOUNTABILITIES/RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Increase the design maturity of the organization and demonstrate the business value of design;

• Manage the overall Discovery and Design Sprint processes, coordinating a cross-functional team of professionals and working with data and qualitative insights, to design new services, solutions and strategic propositions;

• Increase the maturity of the design practice in the division, contributing to shape new discovery packages and iterating on the existing ones and producing standard templates for key artifacts.

• Lead the definition of how processes, systems and data need to evolve to become more effective, using methodologies such as business process modelling (BPM) and service blueprinting;

• Coordinate the effort of cross-functional professionals during the discovery and design sprint and in investigating the feasibility of business process digitalization and automation opportunities, data acquisition and integration among systems, solution definition;

• Lead user research activities to map current needs and pain points and design future experiences of users;

• Lead on the creation of product design artifacts, such as wireframes, high-fidelity prototypes, user journeys and user story maps;

• Define key metrics and measurements for the team to evaluate its impact, supporting the use of data to iterate what has been delivered;

• Guide critical thinking during the design process, working to the highest ethical and moral standards of research and design practice, promoting inclusive design practice at all levels;

• Ensure success and advancements in the practice are properly communicated to teams and management; and

• Any other duties as required for the successful delivery of the product or service.

QUALIFICATIONS & EXPERIENCE REQUIRED:

Education:

University degree in Psychology, Anthropology, Interaction Design, Human-Computer Interaction, computer science, business administration or related fields.

Experience:

Five years or more of postgraduate progressively responsible professional experience in a service design or product design environment; or 8 years progressively responsible professional experience  in a service design or product design environment.

Knowledge & Skills:

• In-depth knowledge of Human Factors (HF), Information Architecture (IA), Human-Centred Design (HCD), Ethnographic analysis, Design Workshops, Iterative Design, Business Process Analysis (BPA), usability principles, business relationship management, service design, workshop facilitation and user research.

• Proven experience with service design and user research methodologies, including carrying out discovery activities at both strategic and tactical levels and with high technology complexity.

• Knowledge of whiteboarding and design tools (Mural, Miro, Figma, etc.)

• Proven experience in working with product design in agile development teams.

• Experience in project management and in managing design teams.

• Strong analytical skills.

Competencies:

• Excellent communication and presentation skills;

• Organized and detail oriented with strong judgement/decision-making skills;

• Able to articulate complex application concepts in non-technical language;

• Ability to plan and organize work and communicate effectively;

• Ability to handle a large volume of work and to meet strict deadlines;

• Ability to be resourceful, take initiative and use mature judgment;

• Ability to interact positively with people of different national and cultural backgrounds.

Languages:

Fluency in oral and written English with an intermediate knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian and Spanish) or Portuguese (one of WFP’s working languages) is desirable.

WFP LEADERSHIP FRAMEWORK

WFP Leadership Framework guides to the common standards of behavior that guide HOW we work together to accomplish our mission.

Click here to access WFP Leadership Framework

REASONABLE ACCOMMODATION

WFP is committed to supporting individuals with disabilities by providing reasonable accommodations throughout the recruitment process. If you require a reasonable accommodation, please contact: global.inclusion@wfp.org

NO FEE DISCLAIMER

The United Nations does not charge any application, processing, training, interviewing, testing or other fee in connection with the application or recruitment process. Should you receive a solicitation for the payment of a fee, please disregard it. Furthermore, please note that emblems, logos, names and addresses are easily copied and reproduced. Therefore, you are advised to apply particular care when submitting personal information on the web.

REMINDERS BEFORE YOU SUBMIT YOUR APPLICATION

• All applications must be submitted exclusively through our online recruiting system. We do not consider CVs or applications sent by email, LinkedIn, or any other channel.
• We strongly recommend that your Workday profile is accurate and complete, and that all sections are filled in, including your employment history, academic qualifications, language skills, and UN grade (if applicable). Once your profile is completed, please apply, and submit your application.
• If you experience technical issues while submitting your application, you may contact us at global.hrerecruitment@wfp.org. Please note that this email is only for technical issues with an application - unsolicited applications or documents sent to this inbox will not receive a reply.
• At the application stage, the only required documents are your CV and Cover Letter. Additional documents (passport, certificates, recommendation letters, etc.) may be requested later in the process.
• Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and invited to proceed to the next stage of the recruitment process.

All employment decisions are made on the basis of organizational needs, job requirements, merit, and individual qualifications. WFP is committed to providing an inclusive work environment free of sexual exploitation and abuse, all forms of discrimination, any kind of harassment, sexual harassment, and abuse of authority. Therefore, all selected candidates will undergo rigorous reference and background checks.

No appointment under any kind of contract will be offered to members of the UN Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ), International Civil Service Commission (ICSC), FAO Finance Committee, WFP External Auditor, WFP Audit Committee, Joint Inspection Unit (JIU) and other similar bodies within the United Nations system with oversight responsibilities over WFP, both during their service and within three years of ceasing that service.