Current vacancies

Open Source Software Development Consultant Advisor

Remote with travel, coordinated with Stockholm

12 months

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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 development

How can you make a difference?

UNICEF Office of Innovation's Solutions team is seeking an experienced Open Source Software Development Advisor to provide technical advisory and mentorship support to early-stage technology startups, explorations and initiatives across the Solutions team. This consultancy will contribute to the Venture Fund efforts to strengthen the technical capacity, scalability, and sustainability of innovative digital solutions in the Fund's portfolio, addressing challenges faced by children and young people. The selected consultant will bring substantial experience in software engineering, information technology, and open-source product development, particularly within startup and innovation ecosystems. The consultant will provide technical mentorship to the Solutions team on areas including software architecture, product strategy, software development lifecycle management, engineering best practices, code quality, security, scalability, and open-source development approaches. In addition, the consultant will contribute to the development and maintenance of technical guidance, tools, and resources that support startups in building high-quality, sustainable open-source digital public goods. The consultant will work directly with Venture Fund portfolio companies to assess technical needs, identify risks and capability gaps, develop tailored support roadmaps, and connect teams with relevant expertise and resources to accelerate progress toward agreed milestones and deliverables. Through regular engagement with startups and collaboration with internal UNICEF stakeholders, the consultant will help strengthen the technical execution, product maturity, and long-term sustainability of the supported solutions by Office of Innovation.

If you would like to know more about this consultancy, please review the complete Terms of Reference here:  ToRTMC0005589.pdf

To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have...

Minimum requirements:

• Education: Masters Computer science, engineering, or another relevant field

• Work Experience:      A minimum of 8 years of relevant professional experience in developing applications, preference given to full-stack software development projects

• Extensive experience with system integration, interface design, API development
• Proven capacity to work with collaborative teams across various locations and with different technical skills. 
• Experience in knowledge sharing, capacity building or training for innovation is desirable. 
• Excellent written and oral communication skills in English required. Knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish) or a local language is an asset. 
• A track record of providing technology-centered mentorship and assistance to early-stage products.  
• Experience of identifying and developing technical assistance tools for companies  
• Demonstrable understanding (and ideally experience) of how frontier technology can be applied to social impact solutions.

• Skills:

• JavaScript front-end frameworks (React, Vue, Angular, etc.) 
• Languages: Node.js, Ruby, Python, Java, Rust, Go, C++, Bash, Powershell, etc.
• Cloud services: Azure, AWS (Amazon Web Services), Google Cloud, etc. 
• Geospatial DBs, libraries and data structures 
• SQL and NoSQL database systems 
• Experience with git, pull requests, and continuous integration and deployment.
• Experience working in an Open-Source project community with an active upstream community.

• Language Requirements: Excellent written and oral communication skills in English required. Knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish) or a local language is an asset.

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 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 reasonable accommodation for persons with disabilities. 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.

Qualified candidates are invited to submit the following documents via the online recruitment portal, TMS (Talent Management System):

• An up-to-date TMS profile and curriculum vitae (CV)
• Cover letter
• A separate financial proposal (only acceptable in the format of the linked template)  Financial proposal TMC0005589.xlsx