Consultant GIS

DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS

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 worlds 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 WFPs 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: 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: Data Scientist
TYPE OF CONTRACT: CST-I REG
UNIT/DIVISION: APP-FG/APP
DUTY STATION (City Country): Remote work from home station with travel expected when feasible
DURATION: 6 months

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE OF THE ASSIGNMENT:

The GIS and Remote Sensing Unit (APP-FG) part of the Analysis Planning and Performance (APP) Division draws insights from satellite data streams and geospatial dataset to provide a range of crucial information products in support of WFP food security and emergency operations.
The Units diverse work ranges from monitoring of drought or extreme rainfall conditions to detection of changes in infrastructure assets as well as high granularity assessments of natural hazard impacts and mapping of cropland and crop types.
The Teams work draws on a wide variety of Earth Observation data from low resolution long record high frequency variables (rainfall vegetation indices land surface temperature) to very high (sub-meter) resolution data as well as high-frequency field scale resolution multi- spectral and SAR data from Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2 platforms. Due to the often extremely large data volumes these are processed at scale on the Teams cloud-based computing infrastructure.
A Data Scientist is sought to join the Data Science function in the Unit and contribute to the development of advanced analytical solutions to serve the above operations as well as make significant contributions to their operational implementation in APP-FGs cloud computing infrastructure.

ACCOUNTABILITIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

The consultant will join the APP-FG Unit of the Analysis Planning and Performance Division at WFP HQ and work under the supervision of the Lead Data Scientist being responsible for:

Science: The consultant will take primary ownership of analytical work leveraging statistical geo-statistical and machine learning techniques using complex climate environmental and socio-economic data in support of the Units products and services. These could involve for example:

• EO time series processing such as filtering decomposition lag-correlation analysis and forecasting.
• for multi-resolution data fusion (e.g. Landsat / MODIS) and the blending of ground-truth data with remote-sensed signals.
• for historical forecasted and projected climate data processing and modelling.
• of dynamic land cover change patterns relevant for hazard mapping and environmental resource analysis using either classic or machine learning algorithms.
• with other team members to transition their work from development to production on cloud-based infrastructure where/if relevant.

: The Consultant will be a committed and collaborative team member and will contribute to:

• knowledge sharing and common practices within the Data Science function.
• cross-functional relationships with stakeholders in the rest of the Unit to co-design impactful analytical solutions
• by strategic guidance from the lead data scientist the consultant will be self-driven and able to carry out their work autonomously.

and dissemination:

• Consultant will be responsible for quality code and documentation of their work and will present their results to stakeholders as needed.
• the opportunity arises the consultant will be expected to:
• in scientific and humanitarian conferences workshops and meetings including to present their work;
• contribute to writing technical papers and reports to be submitted to peer-reviewed international journals;

DELIVERABLES AT THE END OF THE CONTRACT:

By the end of the consultancy period the Data Scientist is expected to have delivered the following:
analytical workflows applying statistical geo-statistical and machine learning techniques to climate environmental and socio-economic datasets.

-quality code and comprehensive documentation for developed models and analyses.
of cross-functional collaboration in co-designing analytical solutions with stakeholders across the Unit.
of support in transitioning analytical solutions from development to production within the Units cloud-based infrastructure in coordination with other team members.
the need and/or opportunity arises presentation of key findings and methodologies within WFP and where possible at relevant scientific or humanitarian conferences workshops or meetings; and contributions to the preparation of technical papers or reports for submission to peer-reviewed journals.

QUALIFICATIONS & EXPERIENCE REQUIRED:

Education:
University degree in data science statistics mathematics earth sciences or other quantitative degree

Experience
At least 3 years in data science related fields.

Knowledge and Skills:
Essential
At least 3 years in data science related fields.
Demonstrated experience and ability to apply predictive modelling machine learning and applied statistics to real world problems and applications.
Demonstrated experience with climate earth observation remote sensing agricultural and/or large geospatial data.
Excellent Python programming skills including experience with data science and raster analysis libraries (eg (geo-)pandas numpy xarray etc.). for use in research data analysis and/or modeling.
Experience with machine learning algorithms and tools ( TensorFlow scikit-learn) artificial intelligence deep learning and/or predictive analytics.
Advanced experience in usage of Jupyter Notebooks

Preferred
Experience using software engineering best practices (e.g. CI/CD testing git) and agile

Experience working with cloud technologies or distributed computing platforms such as AWS Azure Google Cloud etc. particularly for machine learning applications.
GIS skills and/or experience (QGIS GDAL ArcGIS Pro Google Earth Engine)

Languages:
Fluent English with excellent technical reporting ability; good spoken and written knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic Chinese French Russian and Spanish) and/or Portuguese (one of WFPs working languages) is an advantage

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:

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

• We strongly recommend that your profile is accurate complete and includes your employment records academic qualifications language skills and UN Grade (if applicable).

• Once your profile is completed please apply and submit your application.

• Please make sure you upload your professional CV in the English language

• Kindly note the only documents you will need to submit at this time are your CV and Cover Letter

• Additional documents such as passport recommendation letters academic certificates etc. may potentially be requested at a future time

• Please contact us at in case you face any challenges with submitting your application

• Only shortlisted candidates will be notified

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.