[Hiring] Foundry Technical Engineering Lead @World Food Programme

Role Description

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is the world's largest humanitarian agency, fighting hunger worldwide. WFP Technology Division is the digital business engine of the World Food Programme, providing multi-pronged and resilient technical capabilities able to respond with the agility required in humanitarian operations.

WFP has launched its digital transformation program with a strong focus on utilizing data for better informed decision-making. We have implemented Palantir Foundry, a leading data integration platform to enable solving optimization problems with data at scale, alongside platforms for deep field data collection, visual analytics, and corporate reporting.

Under the supervision of the Chief Data Officer, the incumbent will be a key team member in leading the design, implementation, operation and optimization of engineering services to support WFP HQ and field offices worldwide. In addition, this role will function as the anchor for the team of developers that are currently implementing projects. In this capacity, this role will be responsible for setting the bar and ambition for the rest of the team, ensuring the long-term success of the technical solutions as well as individual growth for members of the team.

Accountabilities/Responsibilities

• Programming & Technical
  • Review and design overall WFP Foundry pipeline structure and architecture.
  • Review all workflow designs and approve budget (relevant to developer and maintenance resources).
  • Monitor health checks and performance, and assess pipeline changes on a larger scale, including upstream and downstream implications and communicate findings to engineering team.
  • Optimize Resource Management of DOTS (computing and storage).
  • Own development/coding best practices and standards in the Platform.
  • Manage and run the technical part of the release process (i.e. merge to master), follow up on required code changes with developers prior to release.
  • Work closely with the release manager to bridge the gap between business needs and tasks and technical implementation.
  • Identify gaps and develop engineering testing processes.
  • Ensure that the platform is developed with a holistic and long-term approach in mind.
  • Liaise with non-technical stakeholders such as UI designers, business POCs and surface needs to Foundry program management.
  • Own the definition of Ready and ensure processes and documentation are optimized for handing over DOTS workflow to maintenance.
  • Define the hub and spoke engineering to implementation teams and user groups.
• Leadership & Management
  • Overall supervision of the Maintenance Team working with the Maintenance Lead to ensure alignment across the activities for active projects and maintenance and ensure correct level of knowledge transfer.
  • Manage the developers as they work on projects. Monitor cadence, ensure peer reviews are conducted, run retrospectives, and mentor developers. Provide regular performance assessments.
  • Promote transparency and accountability across all developer streams by building and improving standard operating models for engineering team(s).
  • Develop methodology and practice to assess engineering team skills meet best practices.
  • Assigning tasks with the Release Managers in weekly/biweekly sprints and ensuring that team’s workload is feasible.
  • Resource allocation across multiple work streams.
  • Onboarding/offboarding processes for new developers defined and adjusted (running technical interviews, etc.).
  • Provide feedback to individual team members on how they can improve their work.
  • Quarterly feedback to LTA Vendors on performance of contractors.
  • Bridge between Platform Governance team(s) and implementation teams.

Qualifications

• Advanced University Degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Information Systems, Information Management, Data Management, or other relevant disciplines.

Requirements

• At least 6 years of experience working with software development (of which 4 years working with Palantir Foundry and 2 years with AIP in a senior role).
• At least 4 years of experience working on data and analytics projects. (Desirable)
• At least 4 years of with Python, PySpark, Java, or C# (Mandatory).
• At least 4 years of leading and mentoring technical team members (Desirable).
• Experience with data integration or analytics solutions such as Alteryx, Talend, SAP Hana (and/or Datasphere), Tableau, etc.
• Experience working with database technologies such as Postgres, Hadoop, Amazon S3, Oracle, SQL Server, etc.
• Experience with agile/scrum methodologies.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Excellent problem solving and analytical skills.
• Solid technical understanding of data management & ETL.
• Strong Project or Product Management skills.

Languages

• Fluency (level C) in English language.
• Intermediate knowledge (level B) of a second official UN language: Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian, Spanish, and/or WFP’s working language, Portuguese.

Benefits

• 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).