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Position Title:TECHNICAL SPECIALIST (GLOBAL PULSE LAB)
Location : Kampala, UGANDA
Type of Contract : FTA International
Post Level : P-3
Languages Required : English
Starting Date :(date when the selected candidate is expected to start) 01-May-2014
Duration of Initial Contract : One Year
Reporting: to the Lab Operations Manager,
Expected Duration of
Assignment : One Year (Renewable)
Background information:
Please note that Ugandan
Nationals are not eligible to apply to international positions in their
country.
Global Pulse is an
innovation initiative of the United Nations Secretary-General, established to
harness today's new world of digital data and real-time analytics to gain a
better understanding of changes in human well-being. Global Pulse aims to
contribute a future in which access to better information sooner makes it
possible to keep international development on track, protect the world's most
vulnerable populations, and strengthen resilience to global shocks. Global
Pulse is being implemented as a global network of Pulse Labs, bringing together
expertise from UN agencies, governments, academia, and the private sector to
research, develop, test and share tools and approaches for harnessing real-time
data for more effective and efficient policy action. For more information on
Global Pulse go to http://www.unglobalpulse.org.
Pulse Lab Kampala
Global Pulse is establishing
an innovation hub for real-time monitoring in Kampala. The Lab will function as
an open innovation space where policy experts together with UN development
practitioners and other partners experiment with new types of data and emerging
technologies to evaluate their potential to enhance both public policy
decision-making and community resilience. Following the development of useful
approaches, Pulse Lab Kampala will support institutional adoption of these
innovations into policy and practice.
Working Relationships
The Technical Specialist
will report to the Lab Operations Manager, and lead the Technical Team
comprising data engineers and research analysts. The Technical Specialist will
apply data mining techniques (anomaly detection, association learning, cluster
detection, classification, and predictive modeling) to create actionable insights
from a broad range of structured and unstructured data that is growing rapidly
in scale. The Data Scientist will be responsible for the acquisition, analysis
and visualization of data from a variety of sources in order to i) help
understand emerging human vulnerabilities to socio-economic shocks, ii) detect
and highlight patterns that could indicate how people are coping with emerging
hardship, and iii) gather evidence of changes in behavior and perception
correlated with public sector policies and programmes.
Duties and Responsibilities
Summary of key functions:
·
Define, design and implement research
projects harnessing Big Data to improve both understanding of population
behavior, needs, and vulnerabilities as well as capacity to monitor and
evaluate the impacts of development policies and programmes;
·
Perform data studies and data discovery
around new data sources or new uses for existing data sources;
·
Assist in developing new approaches to
detecting events and trends within real-time data sources such as online media,
social networks, imagery, geospatial data, communications logs, transaction
records, etc;
·
Think strategically about uses of data and
how data use interacts with data design;
·
Design and implement statistical data
quality procedures around new data sources;
·
Implement any software required for
accessing and handling data appropriately;
·
Visualize and report data findings
creatively in a variety of formats;
·
Coordinate joint data mining research
projects with diverse partners;
·
Interact with the global community through
a variety of media.
Function / Expected Results:
·
Improved understanding of population
behavior, needs, and vulnerabilities as well as capacity to monitor and
evaluate the impacts of development policies and programmes;
·
Data studies conducted for new data sources
or new uses for existing data sources;
·
New approaches identified to detect events
and trends within real-time data sources such as online media, social networks,
imagery, geospatial data, communications logs, transaction records, etc.;
·
Effective software in place for accessing
and handling data appropriately;
·
Effective coordination with partners for
data mining research.
Impact of Results:
The Technical Specialist’s work
will help understand emerging human vulnerabilities to socio-economic shocks,
ii) detect and highlight patterns that could
indicate how people are coping with emerging hardship, and
iii) gather evidence of changes in behavior
and perception correlated with public sector policies and programmes.
Competencies
Functional Competencies:
·
Understanding of big data and data
analytics;
·
Strong leadership skills;
·
Ability to effectively lead teams in
ambiguously or undefined problem spaces;
·
Ability to manage and mentor teams in
rapidly shifting environment;
·
Demonstrated sense of initiative and
problem-solving skills;
·
Knowledge of utility of data in crisis
situations;
·
Understanding of government partners’
workflows and agendas.
Corporate Competencies:
1.
Demonstrates integrity by modeling the UN’s
values and ethical standards;
2.
Promotes the vision, mission, and strategic
goals of UNDP;
3.
Displays cultural, gender, religion, race,
nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
4.
Treats all people fairly without
favoritism.
Required Skills and
Experience
Education:
Advanced degree in statistics, applied
mathematics, physics, computational finance, economics, computer science,
engineering or other related technical disciplines;
A first degree and 7 years relevant
experience may be accepted in lieu of the higher university degree.
Experience:
1.
At least five years of experience in
analysis and data visualization;
2.
Experience in a branch of computational
informatics (development, health, bio-, geo-, etc), using machine learning;
3.
Familiarity with analytical techniques such
as text mining, sentiment analysis, predictive analysis, event detection, and
modeling of complex systems;
4.
Familiarity working with quantitative and
qualitative data;
5.
Experience with scripting, coding, and web
design required for data access, analysis, and presentation;
6.
Demonstrated experience presenting work to
both technical and non-technical audiences.
Language Requirements:
Fluent in English;
Knowledge of a language widely spoken in
Uganda would be an asset.
UNDP is any Equal
Opportunity Employer. Highly Qualified women are encouraged to apply. Short
listed candidates will be required to send certified copies of academic
credentials.
Application Deadline : 04-Apr-14
How to Apply:
If you are qualified and
interested in discussing this engagement in more detail,
please submit your resume in
confidence to the website on the link below:
