Org. Setting and Reporting
The Office of Information and Communications Technology (OICT) is leading the digital transformation of the Organization to enable a better, safer, more sustainable future through secure, reliable, and innovative technology solutions. The United Nations Office of Information and Communication Technology's Enterprise Solutions Service (OICT/ESS) develops and supports a wide range of enterprise solutions and provides products and services that support the work of the UN. This position is located in the Enterprise Solutions Service, Office of Information and Communications Technology (OICT/ESS), hosted by UNLB and located in Brindisi, Italy. The incumbent reports to a Senior Information Systems Officer. OICT is committed to achieving a 50/50 gender balance and geographical diversity in its staff, and female candidates are strongly encouraged to apply for this position. OICT supports the principles of work-life balance and flexible work arrangements.
Responsibilities
Under the direct supervision of a Senior Information Systems Officer and overall guidance of the Chief, Enterprise Solutions Service, the Senior Information Systems Assistant will be responsible for the following duties: Server Operations and Administration • Provides full range of technical assistance and team supervision in the area of server operations and administration. • Plans, schedules, and coordinates the work of the team. • Distributes work assignments to members of the team and monitors progress. • Provides guidance and training to new/junior staff. • Oversees the installation, configuration, testing and deployment on premises or in the cloud of server hardware and software • Oversees the administration, operation, technical support, and monitoring of server systems. • Undertakes complex troubleshooting of server systems • Liaises with other groups of OICT and the user Departments for maintaining the efficient and reliable operations of server systems. • Ensures 24x7 operations and monitoring of assigned systems. • Identifies the need for new systems or re-engineering of the existing systems. • Responds to requests from user offices and assists in deploying/configuring systems so as to conform to infrastructure standards • Implements backups of servers following standard backup procedures. • Collects various statistics on the performance and reliability of server systems, and produces pertinent reports. • Designs and establishes internal databases and files. • Writes and maintains the documentation of server systems, pertinent to operations and system administration. • Performs other related duties as required. Custom Software Solution Deployment and Support • Supervises a team of installation or support staff. • Ensures that calls or service requests are logged and tracked in the automated tracking system with minimum delay. • Acts as problem escalation point for staff at lower levels. • Diagnoses and resolves more complex hardware, software, or connectivity problems with minimum delay. • Escalates problems/tasks to the appropriate parties in accordance with established procedure. • Designs and implements solutions for simple problems. • Assists in research and resolution of more complex problems. • Keeps abreast of developments in technology both in the UN and in the industry in general. • Provides orientation and training to technical staff. • Draft end-user and/or technical documentation. • Generates workload and performance reports on a regular basis. • Assists in the design and continuous improvement of the automated tracking system. • Performs other related duties as required. Physical Requirements • May be required to lift, move, mount, or store equipment weighing up to 50 lbs, or up to 80 pieces of equipment on a daily basis. • May be required to work on shift assignments on weekdays to maintain the service coverage from 08:00 to 18:00. Occasionally, on average once a month, the incumbent may be required to work ad-hoc assignments during evenings or early mornings of working days as well as holidays and weekends. • May be required to visit user’s premises to resolve problems on their servers or desktop PCs. • May require the ability to cope with the working conditions of the Data Centre where the level of noise and electro-magnetic fields may be slightly higher than the normal office environment while the temperature may be lower. Other • Assists with the collection and analysis of data as well as preparation of data presentations and reports for information sharing, responding to queries, knowledge management, planning and decision making. • Assists with visualizations and updating information material such as web pages or brochures.
Competencies
• PROFESSIONALISM: Knowledge of information technology and applications, including computer system networks. Good technical skills, ability to conduct network maintenance, provide server services and user support. Shows pride in work and in achievements; demonstrates professional competence and mastery of subject matter; is conscientious and efficient in meeting commitments, observing deadlines and achieving results; is motivated by professional rather than personal concerns; shows persistence when faced with difficult problems or challenges; remains calm in stressful situations. Commitment to implementing the goal of gender equality by ensuring the equal participation and full involvement of women and men in all aspects of work. • ACCOUNTABILITY: Takes ownership of all responsibilities and honours commitments; delivers outputs for which one has responsibility within prescribed time, cost and quality standards; operates in compliance with organizational regulations and rules; supports subordinates, provides oversight and takes responsibility for delegated assignments; takes personal responsibility for his/her own shortcomings and those of the work unit, where applicable. • TECHNOLOGICAL AWARENESS: Keeps abreast of available technology; understands applicability and limitation of technology to the work of the office; actively seeks to apply technology to appropriate tasks; shows willingness to learn new technology.
Education
High school diploma or equivalent is required. A first-level university degree may be accepted in lieu of two years of required experience.
Job - Specific Qualification
Not available.
Work Experience
A minimum of 10 years (or 8 years if graduated with a first-level university degree) of progressively responsible experience in information technology or related area is required. A minimum of 7 years supporting hosting of custom applications serving an international audience like UN peacekeeping operations, special political missions, humanitarian operations, or other complex field-based international organizations, is required A minimum of 7 years managing servers and Virtual machines on-premises and on Azure, using infrastructure as code and CI/CD is required. A minimum of 6 years of experience writing CI/CD pipelines for Azure DevOps is required. At least 2 years of experience in developing, implementing, testing, and maintaining Disaster Recovery Plans is required. At least 2 years of experience writing web applications using C# is required Experience with cost management and optimisation on Azure Cloud is desirable Experience of information security (Authentication, Identity management, compliance) is desirable. Experience with machine learning is desirable. 1 year or more of experience in data analytics or related area is desirable.
Languages
English and French are the working languages of the United Nations Secretariat. For this job opening, English is required. French is desirable. The table below shows the minimum required level for each skill in these languages, according to the UN Language Framework (please consult
https://languages.un.org for details).
Required Languages
| Language | Reading | Writing | Listening | Speaking |
|---|
| English | UN Level II | UN Level II | UN Level II | UN Level II |
Desirable Languages
| Language | Reading | Writing | Listening | Speaking |
|---|
| French | UN Level I | UN Level I | UN Level I | UN Level I |
Assessment
Qualified applicants may be evaluated through a competency-based interview and/or other assessment methods.
Special Notice
The appointment against this position is limited to the Office of Information and Communications Technology. This position is subject to local recruitment pursuant to staff rule 4.4 of the United Nations Staff Rules. Applicants for positions in the General Service and related categories must be authorized to work for the United Nations in the duty station where the position is located. Eligible applicants selected from outside the duty station are responsible for any expenses in connection with their relocation to the duty station. Staff members subject to local recruitment are not eligible for allowances or benefits exclusively applicable to international recruitment. Applicants for GS and related positions may apply and be considered for locally recruited positions no matter where they are currently located (including the current serving staff members at other duty stations), provided they are locally available upon appointment. They must be authorized to work in the country regardless of where they live at the time of applying for the job opening. This post is funded from extra budgetary resources. The initial appointment is for a period of one year. Extension of appointment will be subject to annual renewal based on performance, funding availability, and continuation of function. The selected candidate will be granted a fixed-term appointment limited (“FTA-limited”) in accordance with section 2.2 (c) of administrative instruction ST/AI/2025/3 on the Administration of appointments. United Nations Secretariat staff members who meet the definition of "internal candidate" in staff rule 4.10, who are selected for a position subject to FTA-limited will be reassigned to the position without a lien to their parent position. At the United Nations, the paramount consideration in the recruitment and employment of staff is the necessity of securing the highest standards of efficiency, competence, and integrity, with due regard to geographic diversity. All employment decisions are made on the basis of qualifications and organizational needs. The United Nations is committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment of mutual respect. The United Nations recruits and employs staff regardless of gender identity, sexual orientation, race, religious, cultural, and ethnic backgrounds, or disabilities. Reasonable accommodation for applicants with disabilities may be provided to support participation in the recruitment process when requested and indicated in the application.
United Nations Considerations
According to article 101, paragraph 3, of the Charter of the United Nations, the paramount consideration in the employment of the staff is the necessity of securing the highest standards of efficiency, competence, and integrity. Candidates will not be considered for employment with the United Nations if they have committed violations of international human rights law, violations of international humanitarian law, sexual exploitation, sexual abuse, or sexual harassment, or if there are reasonable grounds to believe that they have been involved in the commission of any of these acts. The term “sexual exploitation” means any actual or attempted abuse of a position of vulnerability, differential power, or trust, for sexual purposes, including, but not limited to, profiting monetarily, socially or politically from the sexual exploitation of another. The term “sexual abuse” means the actual or threatened physical intrusion of a sexual nature, whether by force or under unequal or coercive conditions. The term “sexual harassment” means any unwelcome conduct of a sexual nature that might reasonably be expected or be perceived to cause offence or humiliation, when such conduct interferes with work, is made a condition of employment or creates an intimidating, hostile or offensive work environment, and when the gravity of the conduct warrants the termination of the perpetrator’s working relationship. Candidates who have committed crimes other than minor traffic offences may not be considered for employment. Due regard will be paid to the importance of recruiting the staff on as wide a geographical basis as possible. The United Nations places no restrictions on the eligibility of men and women to participate in any capacity and under conditions of equality in its principal and subsidiary organs. The United Nations Secretariat is a non-smoking environment. Reasonable accommodation may be provided to applicants with disabilities upon request, to support their participation in the recruitment process. By accepting a letter of appointment, staff members are subject to the authority of the Secretary-General, who may assign them to any of the activities or offices of the United Nations in accordance with staff regulation 1.2 (c). Further, staff members in the Professional and higher category up to and including the D-2 level and the Field Service category are normally required to move periodically to discharge functions in different duty stations under conditions established in ST/AI/2023/3 on Mobility, as may be amended or revised. This condition of service applies to all position specific job openings and does not apply to temporary positions. Applicants are urged to carefully follow all instructions available in the online recruitment platform, inspira, and to refer to the Applicant Guide by clicking on “Manuals” in the “Help” tile of the inspira account-holder homepage. The evaluation of applicants will be conducted on the basis of the information submitted in the application according to the evaluation criteria of the job opening and the applicable internal legislations of the United Nations including the Charter of the United Nations, resolutions of the General Assembly, the Staff Regulations and Rules, administrative issuances and guidelines. Applicants must provide complete and accurate information pertaining to their personal profile and qualifications according to the instructions provided in inspira to be considered for the current job opening. No amendment, addition, deletion, revision or modification shall be made to applications that have been submitted. Candidates under serious consideration for selection will be subject to reference checks to verify the information provided in the application. All external candidates recruited in accordance with section 2.2 (a) of ST/AI/2025/3 for a fixed term appointment without limitation and all external candidates recruited in accordance with section 2.2. (c) of ST/AI/2025/3 for a fixed term appointment limited to the entity are subject to an initial probationary period of one year under a fixed-term appointment. Job openings advertised on the Careers Portal will be removed at 11:59 p.m. (New York time) on the deadline date.
No Fee
THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CHARGE A FEE AT ANY STAGE OF THE RECRUITMENT PROCESS (APPLICATION, INTERVIEW MEETING, PROCESSING, OR TRAINING). THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CONCERN ITSELF WITH INFORMATION ON APPLICANTS’ BANK ACCOUNTS.