IT Operations Officer NOC – 12 months renewable contract, Johannesburg

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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.

ABOUT WFP

The United Nations World Food Programme is the world's largest humanitarian agency fighting hunger worldwide. The mission of WFP is to end global hunger. 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.

In emergencies, WFP gets food to where it is needed, saving the lives of victims of war, civil conflict and natural disasters. After an emergency, WFP uses food to help communities rebuild their shattered lives. Present in nearly 80 countries, the organization has the global footprint, deep field presence and local knowledge and relationships necessary to provide access to nutritious food and contribute to the lasting solutions, especially in many of the world’s most remote and fragile areas. We manage an operating budget of approximately $5.9 billion each year, distributing 12.6 billion rations to those most in need. We reach an average of 80 million people with food assistance in around 80 countries each year. The World Food Programme office in Johannesburg is a Regional Office coordinating and supporting the delivery of humanitarian assistance to 11 Southern Africa countries including, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Namibia, Lesotho, Eswatini, Botswana, Malawi, Madagascar, Democratic Republic of Congo, Congo Brazaville.

For more on WFP and what we do, please go to http://www.wfp.org/videos/zero-hunger

ORGANIZATIONAL CONTEXT

These jobs are found in Country Offices (COs), Regional Bureaux (RBs), and Headquarters (HQ). Job holders report to the Division/Regional/Country Director or the designate, and work under the functional supervision of the Director, Information Technology (IT).
Job holders manage a small team of staff to ensure plans are implemented across an assigned area. They work independently, using technical knowledge and expertise to provide recommendations on design and development of systems, and implement projects. They conduct more complex analysis, develop and propose creative solutions to problems, and identify opportunities for improvements. May be involved in strategic planning and policy development.

JOB PURPOSE

To lead the delivery of efficient and effective IT and Telecommunications (TC) services, providing sound, innovative solutions that enable staff to deliver food assistance to beneficiaries, in line with WFP’s strategy.

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES (not all-inclusive)

1. Participate in the development of plans, budgets and policies, and lead the deployment of IT/TC systems aligned with business needs, in accordance with WFP corporate standards.
2. Develop and maintain IT/TC systems and networks, ensuring appropriate data security and access controls considering both local and wide area network issues; and enabling users to get maximum benefits from them.
3. Implement and test new hardware for improving and upgrading system performance; install any technology upgrades as required.
4. Develop technical specifications and tender documents, and manage contracts with service providers, to facilitate procurement of IT/TC equipment and services at minimum cost, in line with WFP rules and regulations.
5. Coordinate and prepare reports on IT/TC activities, investments and costs, identifying trends/issues and proposing solutions to increase cost-efficiency.
6. Maintain technical expertise and knowledge of industry developments, and develop skills within specific areas of competence.
7. Provide advice to managers and users to resolve complex issues, understanding their needs and ensuring IT policies, procedures, systems and tools are correctly applied to support them.
8. Lead and motivate a small team, monitoring performance, providing coaching, training and guidance to ensure appropriate development and enable high performance.
9. Build capability of staff, collaborating with colleagues in the IT division to design and deliver corporate training policies and programmes aimed at developing skills/knowledge in IT and TC.
10. Ensure effective coordination with other UN agencies in order to align activities and maximise possibilities of inter-agency collaboration in the field of IT/TC.
11. Maintain effective partnerships with colleagues and external partners, to foster information exchange and support to meet service requirements.
12. Contribute to emergency preparedness and contingency planning, providing technical recommendations and monitoring the management of risks, so that WFP can maintain basic IT services and/or quickly respond and deploy resources to affected areas at the onset of a crisis.
13. Prepare operational plans and manage resource requirements at the onset of an emergency.
14. Other as required.

4Ps CORE ORGANISATIONAL CAPABILITIES

Purpose

• Understand and communicate the Strategic Objectives: Utilizes understanding of WFP’s Strategic Objectives to communicate linkages to team objectives and work.
• Be a force for positive change: Proactively identifies and develops new methods or improvements for self and immediate team to address work challenges within own work area.
• Make the mission inspiring to our team: Identifies opportunities to further align individual contributions with WFP’s mission of making an impact on local communities.
• Make our mission visible in everyday actions: Helps colleagues to see the link between their individual tasks and the contributions of their unit’s goals to the broader context of WFP’s mission.

People

• Look for ways to strengthen people's skills: Is able to identify, support and encourage focused on-the-job learning opportunities to address gaps between current skillsets and needed future skillsets for WFP.
• Create an inclusive culture: Recognizes the contributions of teammates, and encourages contributions from culturally different team mates to recognise the value of diversity above and beyond just including it in programming for beneficiaries.
• Be a coach & provide constructive feedback: Provides and solicits ongoing constructive feedback on strengths and development opportunities to help develop individual skills, whilst also helping others identify areas for improvement.
• Create an “I will”/”We will” spirit: Sets clear targets for self and others to focus team efforts in ambiguous situations (e.g., unprecedented issues and/or scenarios).

Performance

• Encourage innovation & creative solutions: Thinks beyond team’s conventional approaches to formulate creative methods for delivering food aid and assistance to beneficiaries.
• Focus on getting results: Maintains focus on achieving individual results in the face of obstacles such as volatile or fragile environments and/or organizational roadblocks.
• Make commitments and make good on commitments: Takes personal accountability for upholding and delivering upon team’s commitments and provides assurance to stakeholders.
• Be Decisive: Demonstrates ability to adjust to team’s plans and priorities to optimize outcomes in light of evolving directives, while also responding quickly in high-pressure environments, such as in emergency settings.

Partnership

• Connect and share across WFP units: Demonstrates an understanding of when and how to tactfully engage other units in conversations on impact, timing, or planning.
• Build strong external partnerships: Networks regularly with key external partners using formal and informal opportunities to understand each partner’s unique value proposition, and to build and strengthen relationships.
• Be politically agile & adaptable: Demonstrates ability to adapt engagement approach in the context of evolving partner circumstances and expectations.
• Be clear about the value WFP brings to partnerships: Demonstrates ability to articulate to internal and external audiences the value that individual contributions and immediate teams bring to partnerships.

FUNCTIONAL CAPABILITIES

DESIRED EXPERIENCES FOR ENTRY INTO THE ROLE

• Has assisted in the development of IT governance strategies, policies and system architecture at a HQ and field.
• Has acted in IT advisory capacity to Country/Sub Office leadership.
• Has participated in the negotiation, evaluation and management of IT contracts with service providers at HQ and field office.
• Has developed business cases that capture project life-cycle costs, benefits, and risks for the purchase of IT service or equipment.
• Has keen ground-level experience leading the implementation of IT and telecoms systems in emergencies.

STANDARD MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

Education:

• Advanced university degree in Computer Science or other relevant field, or First University degree with additional years of related work experience or trainings/courses.

Language:

• International Professional: 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.
• National Professional: Fluency (level C) in English language and the duty station’s language, if different.

DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS

The Vacancy Announcement will close on 1 September 2022, 11:59 South African time

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Qualified female applicants 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.

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