Senior Cloud Platform Operations Specialist
WFP seeks candidates of the highest integrity and professionalism who share our humanitarian principles
Selection of staff is made on a competitive basis, and we are committed to promoting diversity and gender balance
Job Title: Senior Cloud Platform Operations Specialist
Type of Contract: Consultant Level II
Division: TECM Foundational Technology Services, Technology Division
Duty Station: Remote work (Rome-based hours)
Duration: 11 months
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: https://www.wfp.org and follow us on social media to keep up with our latest news: YouTube, LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter.
The United Nations World Food Programme is the world's largest humanitarian agency fighting hunger worldwide. The mission of WFP is to help the world achieve Zero Hunger in our lifetimes. Every day, WFP works worldwide to ensure that no child goes to bed hungry and that the poorest and most vulnerable, particularly women and children, can access the nutritious food they need.
ORGANIZATIONAL CONTEXT:
Digital technology and data are rapidly reaching some of the most vulnerable people and places affected by crisis, while also expanding operational approach to those same crises. As one of the main humanitarian actors, WFP has the opportunity and obligation to leverage data and technology to better know and serve those in need by digitally transforming the way it works. Such ambition has led to the developing a new WFP IT Strategy whose core elements inform the end-to-end business processes of the organization.
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE OF THE ASSIGNMENT:
Reporting directly to the Platform Operations Lead of the Infrastructure Services Unit in TECM Foundational Technology Services branch, the Senior Cloud Platform Operations Specialist will operate complex and modern application hosting platforms in the Cloud and hybrid (on-premises).
The position will implement and manage application hosting solutions that are fully compliant with WFP standards and IT Security Principles, providing direction and guideline to IT Solutions Architects, Application Developers and Project Managers throughout the entire lifecycle of an application.
ACCOUNTABILITIES/RESPONSIBILITIES:
- Design, Analyze, capture, and document the Amazon Web Services (AWS) infrastructure to fit the needs of the IT solutions, including security, performance, availability, scalability, resiliency, data redundancy, data latency and such.
- Lead the design, implementation, operation, and maintenance of modern hosting platforms for corporate applications and services, both in the Cloud and Hybrid.
- Provide advice and present IT solutions to the Architectural Board for endorsement as corporate solutions.
- Elaborate principles, guidance, guidelines, and best practices for Cloud infrastructure of IT solutions, Infrastructure as Code, and Azure Pipelines.
- Coordinate WFP and UN initiatives to modernize applications and foster the adoption of cloud-native applications.
- Provide high level of expertise to Security, Networking and Development teams, maintaining an open collaboration attitude.
- Implement, maintain, support and operate hybrid and Cloud security components used to provide visibility to the security team.
- Respond and closure of support tickets for the solutions supported by the team.
- Lead the Cloud adoption across WFP and stay updated about cloud technology and best practices.
- Manage hosting costs and provide expert advice to optimize IT total cost of ownership, both for Cloud and Hybrid.
- Support quality assurance metrics for Cloud and Hybrid infrastructure.
- Ensure documentation about installation, implementation, architecture, procedures, policies, and related matters are up to date and available to use by stakeholders and users.
- Other duties as required.
DELIVERABLES:
- The incumbent will be the focal point for cloud-based hosting, leading the Cloud adoption.
- Architecture design, management, and support of Cloud and Hybrid hosting solutions.
- Well-architected infrastructure/hosting environments (reliability, security, costs, operations, etc).
- Ensure guidelines, policies, and best-practices are endorsed by the Architectural Board.
- Related solution materials (architecture diagrams, policies, etc) and applicable documentation.
- Provide 2nd and 3rd level application and hosting maintenance and support.
QUALIFICATIONS & EXPERIENCE REQUIRED:
Education:
University Degree in Computer Science, Information Systems or related disciplines.
Experience:
At least 5 years of hands-on experience in 24×7 mission critical environments supporting production applications and/or administration of Enterprise IT Services (Cloud and Hybrid), preferably in large international organizations
Technical Skills & Knowledge:
- Experience administrating architectures in the Cloud or Hybrid (on-premises).
- Experience with Cloud Services and technologies such as Virtual machines, Containers, Databases, Storage (Object, File, Block), Load Balancers, CDN, Queues, Networking and Security.
- Knowledge of Cloud-native architectures and migration of applications from on-premises to the Cloud.
- Experience developing maintenance scripts (shell script, python, or similar).
- Monitoring infrastructure and proactively detecting potential issues before they become performance problems.
- Experience with Cybersecurity matters such as network design, vulnerability assessment, firewalls and application security in general.
- Good interpersonal skills, customer service oriented and collaborative with people of different nationalities and cultural backgrounds.
- Self-motivated and directed, able to work effectively with little or no guidance.
- Keen attention to detail, problem-solving and task prioritization abilities.
- Ability to produce architectural documentation and operational procedures.
- Certification as AWS Certified Solutions Architect Professional is required.
- Certification on Agile/Scrum or ITIL v4 are desirable.
- Experience with Azure DevOps for CI/CD pipelines management is desirable.
Language:
Fluency in oral and written English with an intermediate knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian and Spanish) or Portuguese (one of WFP’s working languages) is desirable.
TERMS AND CONDITIONS
WFP offers a competitive compensation package, which will be determined by the contract type and selected candidate’s qualifications and experience.
Please visit the following websites for detailed information on working with WFP.
http://www.wfp.org Click on: "Our Work" and "Countries" to learn more about WFP's operations.
REMINDERS BEFORE YOU SUBMIT YOUR APPLICATION
- We strongly recommend that your profile is accurate, and complete, and includes your employment records, academic qualifications, language skills and UN Grade (if applicable).
- Once your profile is completed, please submit your application.
- Please make sure you upload your professional CV in the English language
- Kindly note the only documents you will need to submit at this time are your CV and Cover Letter
- Additional documents such as passports, recommendation letters, academic certificates, etc. may potentially be requested at a future time
- Please contact us at wfprecruitment@wfp.org in case you face any challenges with submitting your application
- Only shortlisted candidates will be notified
Deadline for applications: 12 April 2023 at 11:59pm Rome time (CET/CEST)
All employment decisions are made on the basis of organizational needs, job requirements, and individual qualifications. WFP is committed to providing an inclusive work environment free of sexual exploitation and abuse, all forms of discrimination, any kind of harassment, sexual harassment, and abuse of authority.
Qualified female applicants and qualified applicants from developing countries are especially encouraged to apply.
WFP has zero tolerance for discrimination and does not discriminate on the basis of HIV/AIDS status.
No appointment under any kind of contract will be offered to members of the UN Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ), International Civil Service Commission (ICSC), FAO Finance Committee, WFP External Auditor, WFP Audit Committee, Joint Inspection Unit (JIU) and other similar bodies within the United Nations system with oversight responsibilities over WFP, both during their service and within three years of ceasing that service.
Saving lives, changing lives
