Data Engineer – Junior Consultant

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.

Are you interested in further developing your professional experience while contributing to ending global hunger? Are you passionate about helping those in need? Would you like to join a global organization investing in its people? If so, an exciting & fulfilling career awaits you! Join our diverse and passionate team that works on varied and international projects directly contributing to saving & changing millions of lives around the globe.

DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS

The deadline to apply for this position is December 8th, 2023.

WHO WE ARE

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), a highly prestigious, reputable & world’s largest humanitarian organization, operating in more than 120 countries and territories, bringing life-saving assistance in emergencies, building pathways to peace, stability and prosperity for people recovering from conflict,disasters and the impact of climate change and supporting sustainable and resilient livelihoods for a world with zero hunger.

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: UN World Food Programme (WFP) and follow us on social media to keep up with our latest news: YouTube, LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter.

WHY YOU SHOULD JOIN US?

• 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).

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE OF THE ASSIGNMENT

The Research, Assessment and Monitoring (RAM) team in WFP’s Regional Bureau in Panama is collaborating with the Interamerican Development Bank (IDB) to develop real-time food security crisis triggers for the Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) Region. Harnessing the power of WFP’s global hunger monitoring system, HungerMap LIVE, the RAM team is Panama is working to define what constitutes a food security crisis and develop quantitative alerts and triggers which detail when, where and why food security crises are emerging, and develop systems to automate this analysis and disseminate these alerts triggers in real time as well as to monitoring responses to these crises in real time as assistance is being provided.

JOB PURPOSE

To support this effort, the RAM unit in the Regional Bureau Panama seeks a Data Engineer (junior consultant) to support the continued development of the aforementioned activities and systems and ensure their maintenance moving forward.

ACCOUNTABILITIES/RESPONSIBILITIES

The Consultant will be responsible for the following activities:
• Manage, maintain and improve WFP’s regional alerting and triggering systems for food security crises
• Manage real-time monitoring pipelines in LAC, in collaboration with the engineering team in WFP’s Hunger Monitoring Unit
• Manage SQL databases and associated cloud environments
• Develop front end visuals for partners, using advanced software development languages and tools
• Oversee regional data science projects
• In all activities, ensure adherence to WFP policies regarding data, including data privacy, security, management, and code documentation
• Serve as principal trainer to ensure capacity-building of other technical staff in Panama and the various country offices throughout LAC as required
• Participate in field missions as required
• Perform other tasks as required

STANDARD MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE REQUIRED:

Education: Master’s degree in statistics, mathematics, engineering, computer science, quantitative economics or a similar quantitative field.Experience in a data science-related field

Experience: At least 1-3 years of post-graduate experience in data science and/ or data engineering.

• Strong Python programming skills and experience with data science libraries (pandas, numpy, scikit-learn, keras/tensorflow/pytorch, etc.) is required
• Experience in designing, querying and maintaining SQL databases (NoSQL an asset)
• Experience with developer tools (git, aws, docker, etc.)
• Data Visualization coding skills (JavaScript libraries, react) and Business Intelligence software (Tableau)
• Experience working with the humanitarian sector or in a social science field
• Experience with Remote Sensing data and GIS skills (QGIS, GDAL) is highly valued

Knowledge & Skills:

• Strong Python programming skills and experience with data science libraries (pandas, numpy, scikit-learn, keras/tensorflow/pytorch, etc.) is required
• Experience in designing, querying and maintaining SQL databases (NoSQL an asset)
• Experience with developer tools (git, aws, docker, etc.)
• Data Visualization coding skills (JavaScript libraries, react) and Business Intelligence software (Tableau)
• Experience working with the humanitarian sector or in a social science field.
• Experience with Remote Sensing data and GIS skills (QGIS, GDAL) is highly valued.

Languages: Spoken and written English required; spoken and written Spanish highly desired.

DELIVERABLES AT THE END OF THE CONTRACT

Consultant will be responsible for the following deliverables:

• Maintenance and improvements of real time food security crisis alerting and triggering system
• Integrated post crisis monitoring system
• Effective management and maintenance of systems and databases
• Presentations and trainings on SQL, python and approaches to front end visualizations
• Documentation and guidelines on systems management and functioning

TERMS AND CONDITIONS

Number of openings: 1
Based in: Panama City, Panama
Type of Contract: Junior Consultant
Level: 1
Duration: 11 months.