HOT – WNA HUB Open Tech and Innovation Specialist – Remote

Overview

• Work Location: Remote/flexible, within West & Northern Africa Region
• Application Close Date: June 23, 2022
• Estimated Start date: July 30, 2022
• Department: Open Mapping Hub – West and Northern Africa
• Reports to: Regional Hub Director (line manager)
• Terms: Full time, one year initial contract
• Travel: Up to 40%, including the West & Northern hub’s priority countries in the region

About HOT

Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOT) sits at the nexus of participatory mapping, community-led development, humanitarian response, open data and tech. With a talented and diverse team spread around the globe, HOT is an NGO which supports a dynamic global community of thousands of dedicated volunteers using maps and open data for humanitarian response and the Sustainable Development Goals. Working with humanitarian and development partners like the Red Cross, Médecins Sans Frontières, UN agencies, governments and others, the HOT community maps in solidarity with those affected by or at risk of disaster, contributing the maps and data aid workers need to do their lifesaving work.

In 2020 the work of the HOT community was recognized by TED’s Audacious Project, a collaborative philanthropic initiative that serves as a springboard for social impact on a grand scale, leading to an exciting new phase of growth. HOT is expanding its activities: opening four regional hubs and scaling up its support to local mapping communities with the audacious goal of mapping an area home to one billion people in 94 countries at high risk of disasters or experiencing poverty – mapping with communities before they are in crisis.

About the Open Mapping Hub- West and Northern Africa (WNAH)

The goal of the hub is to foster social innovation and entrepreneurship within the OpenStreetMap Ecosystem in the region in order to improve the lives of communities in a real and significant way; create diverse, vibrant and sustainable Open Mapping Communities and organizations in the region; ensure human capacity development on OpenStreetMap Skills in the region and enhance collaboration between OpenStreetMap Contributors and data users across government, humanitarian and development agencies in the region. We work in 24 countries across the West & Northern Africa region.

About You

You are passionate about putting people at the center of technology. You are driven by delivering delight to a community of diverse and unique users. You are a solution hunter and believe that value is delivered when the right solution is in the right hands. You appreciate the sophistication in simplicity and strive to build experiences that build users. You are passionate about principles that drive inclusive technologies and love to translate empathy into experiences.

Priority Areas for Action

• Capacity – A key component of this role will be building and extending the capacity of groups and individuals across the region. The successful candidate will be experienced and comfortable and mentorship, coaching and facilitating people to grow and expand their innovation and open tech skills. They will also be able to augment the capacity of global and regional teams as capacity grows.
• Community – Community centered innovation and technology is at the heart of all our technologies and should be at the heart of the candidate. We strive to build technologies that reflect the most pressing and impactful needs of the communities we work with. The successful candidate will be community first in everything they do.
• Contribution – Core to open innovation and technology is a collective of contributors that are committed to the collaborative growth of both products and people. A dynamic collective of contributors ensures shared vision and direction, joint ownership and project sustainability. The successful candidate will value contributors and how to enable them.

About the Role

The Open Innovation and Tech Specialist will coordinate and collaborate with key functional leads across the Hub and with the wider global team. The candidate will be responsible for bringing together the problems, needs and requirements of communities across the region in a way that grows and evolves HOT’s technology in a way that builds equity, increases accessibility and influences the design and development of transformative open mapping innovation.

The Open Innovation and Tech Specialist will advance HOT’s mission by operationalizing the HOT_Tech core ethics:

• Human: Our Human ethic is our commitment to people as our priority. At the center of all our technology sits a human. The ultimate purpose of our technology is to improve human conditions. We use technology to enable and amplify human efforts. We support them at personal and professional levels. We invest in their well-being and their growth. We provide security and stability. When our people thrive, so do we.
• Open: Our Open ethic permeates all we do. Our actions reflect radical openness and transparency. We encourage open inputs and outputs. Our team and technology openly welcomes and engages community, collaboration and contribution.
• Truth: Our Truth ethic reflects an OpenStreetMap core principle; the ‘truth on the ground’. Our activities and decisions will be guided by this ethic, conflicts not easily resolved will defer to this ethic to determine what best reflects and prioritizes the truth on the ground.
• HOT_Tech Principles > https://github.com/hotosm/tech/blob/master/principles/README.md

This role will be prioritized for applicants from the West Africa region. To learn more about which countries HOT plans to work in West Africa, please see here.

Responsibilities

• Build the capacity of regional communities, teams and individuals in open mapping technology, design thinking, agile mindset and human centered open innovation.
• Be able to design and/or to assist to build database and geodata application base on android, smartphone etc
• Collaborate with hot_tech to provide front line technical support for open mapping technology
• Represent regional needs to inform a shared global vision for open innovation and technology
• Facilitate feedback from the humanitarian and OSM communities to improve regional implementation of open mapping technologies
• Collaborate with HOT’s global tech collective to ensure regional feedback and requests are included in product backlog prioritization
• Localize contribution channels for well-documented open technology projects to increase regional participation and contribution.
• Facilitate localized design thinking processes to increase regional representation in open mapping tech
• Consolidate community feedback to improve product inclusivity and user experience
• Conceptualize ideas that bring simplicity and user friendliness to complex design challenges
• Foster a culture of innovation through curiosity, creativity and collaboration

Qualifications

Essential

• Qualification in relevant field or a strong portfolio of relevant project experience
• 3+ years experience with human centered information technology related to geospatial information design, or similar
• Demonstrated experience designing inclusive digital products and systems
• Working knowledge of Principles for Digital Development and Human Centered Design
• Experience working with diverse, distributed teams over multiple geographies
• Commitment to intentional and equitable technology
• Demonstrated ability to facilitate design processes both in person and remotely
• Experience guiding or contributing to agile teams or projects.
• Good interpersonal skills, and ability to develop effective relationships online and in person.
• Strong written and verbal communication in French, English and one regional language
• Experience in the use of open data in West & Northern Africa to improve communities’s lives in a real and significant way
• A Self-starter able to make an impact with little guidance; this is an inaugural role within the hub

Desirable

• Experience working in international humanitarian or development agencies/NGOs
• Demonstrated history of mentoring, teaching, or guiding other designers and team members
• Some applicable technical skills (design, programming, development, open mapping, open data)
• Additional language proficiency in languages spoken in the region.

Are you missing a few of the technical skills listed? We would still like to see your application. While the skills above fit our vision of this role, we are open to those candidates with a strong knowledge foundation that are fast learners and highly motivated to close any skill gaps.

Compensation

HOT values transparency and equity. All HOT compensation globally is set according to a framework detailed on our website. HOT offers a work-from-anywhere culture, flexible working arrangements, and various other benefits that support staff wellbeing.

Equal Opportunity

We seek to recruit persons that reflect the diversity of the communities we work with and further, to support their retention and advancement within the organization. HOT does not discriminate on the basis of ability, age, gender identity and expression, national origin, race and ethnicity, religious beliefs, or sexual orientation. Our staff includes people who are parents and nonparents, the self-taught and university educated, and from a wide range of socio-economic backgrounds, lived experiences, and perspectives on the world. HOT is an equal opportunity employer. We seek to live our values and promote inclusivity in all locations. All of our staff work collectively and individually to promote a constructive and sensitive approach to others from a variety of backgrounds, where the work of all is valued and respected.

HOT is committed to diversity within our team, and recognizes our role in closing the digital divide, including identifying obstacles that certain groups face in developing skills needed for roles in the humanitarian & technology sectors. Women, nationals of developing countries, and members of other underrepresented groups are strongly encouraged to apply.