Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Na: Senior Geospatial Developer, Home Based

Senior Geospatial Developer, Home Based

Organization: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)

Closing date: Tuesday, 7 March 2023

CALL FOR EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST - VACANCY ANNOUNCEMENT : 2300504

Senior Geospatial Developer

Job Posting: 21/Feb/2023

Closure Date: 07/Mar/2023, 10:59:00 PM

Organizational Unit : FNYAR

Job Type: Non-staff opportunities

Type of Requisition : Consultant / PSA (Personal Services Agreement)

Grade Level : N/A

Primary Location: Home-Based

Duration : 8 months

Post Number : N/A

IMPORTANT NOTICE: Please note that Closure Date and Time displayed above are based on date and time settings of your personal device

FAO is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality, background and culture.

Qualified female applicants, qualified nationals of non-and under-represented Members and person with disabilities are encouraged to apply;
Everyone who works for FAO is required to adhere to the highest standards of integrity and professional conduct, and to uphold FAO’s values

FAO, as a Specialized Agency of the United Nations, has a zero-tolerance policy for conduct that is incompatible with its status, objectives and mandate, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination

All selected candidates will undergo rigorous reference and background checks

All applications will be treated with the strictest confidentiality

Organizational Setting

FAO’s office for Yemen is responsible for developing, promoting, overseeing, and implementing strategies for addressing countrywide food, agriculture and rural development, and effectively increasing resilience of livelihoods to respond to food and agricultural threats and crises. Through the World Bank funded Food Security Response and Resilience Project (FSRRP) and the EU funded Food Security and Nutrition Information Systems (FSNIS), FAO Yemen will conduct livelihoods analysis and profiling to improve the understanding of livelihood assets, strategies and vulnerabilities. As an initial step, substantial complex spatial analysis will be conducted top produce high resolution detailed maps delineating livelihoods and providing information that will support livelihood mapping and profiling. The analysis will also provide information on climate related or human induced hazards to agricultural production. Additionally, FAO will support the establishment of an Earth Observation (EO) tool for crop monitoring and early warning system for monitoring climate-change-induced hazards to agricultural production, detect and quantify the spatial extent of cultivated cropland and pasture area, assessing crop and pasture productivity (yield), identify potential crop and pasture failure within the growing season, provide early warning information to farmers, line ministries, etc. and overall monitoring of agricultural production.

In doing so, FAO will support in defining medium to longer term interventions aimed at improving household resilience. The information will also strengthen Yemen’s national capacity in evidence-based decision making by providing location-specific evidence on areas with crop and pasture stresses, strengthen agricultural extension and research capabilities, and planning related to food availability that may inform imports decisions as well value chain planning and risk management. Acting early, before a disaster has actually happened, or reached its peak is critical. It can save lives and protect livelihoods from the immediate shocks while increasing the resilience of local communities over time.

Reporting Lines

Under the overall supervision of the FAO representative- Strengthening Evidence-Based Decision Making in Yemen through Improved Food Security, Nutrition and Livelihoods Information and Analysis, the Senior Geospatial Developer will work under the direct supervision of the CTA in close collaboration with the Data Systems & Information Senior Specialist and the Early Warning Unit Team Lead (Spatial Data Specialist).

Technical Focus

Development and implementation of Earth Observation tools for crop monitoring, and early warning system for monitoring climate-change-induced hazards to agricultural production.

Tasks and responsibilities

Lead the development and coding of the EO tool, including data integration from multiple sources to deliver analysis ready datasets for Earth Observation-based products

Integrate and lead the development of a disaster preparedness early warning public communication system/application

Integrate the development of a national agrometeorological data sharing platform

Ingest datasets from multiple sources via APIs

Contribute to studies that seek to support improved data collection and knowledge management

Perform any other related duties as assigned by the supervisor.

Performs other duties as required

CANDIDATES WILL BE ASSESSED AGAINST THE FOLLOWING

Minimum Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Earth Observation, Geoinformation Management, Data Science, Geosciences, or related fields.

Technical understanding of the implications of climate change on agriculture is crucial

Overall 10 years‘ of experience in building GeoSpatial tools and apps, implementation experience in Python and NumPy, experience in using GDAL and building user interfaces with ReactJS

For Consultants working knowledge of English and limited knowledge of another FAO official language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Spanish or Russian)

For PSAs only one language of working knowledge is requested.

FAO Core Competencies

Results Focus

Teamwork

Communication

Building Effective Relationships

Knowledge Sharing and Continuous Improvement.

Technical/Functional Skills

Technical experience in translating earth observations data into actionable food, nutrition, and livelihood security early warning information to inform evidence-based programming is an asset

Experience in implementing communication gateways to send and received alerts via SMS, WhatsApp, email or other.

Experience in developing spatial calculation engine to automatically recalculate indices and thresholds

Reliable familiarity with cloud-based spatial data libraries such as those used in AWS, Google Earth Engine, etc.

Depth of knowledge of climatic hazards to agriculture

Ability to operate effectively in a team, contributing positively to team operations and working relationships

Demonstrated experience in the implementation of activities in collaboration with public and private sectors

Quality of oral and written communication skills.

Extensive knowledge of geospatial and EO data formats (GRIB2, NetCDF, HDF5, etc.)

Knowledge new formats to serve large vector datasets over the web (e.g., vector tiling).

SELECTION CRITERIA:

Evaluation of qualified applicants may include an assessment exercise and a technical / competency-based interview.

Please note that all candidates should adhere to FAO Values of Commitment to FAO, Respect for All and Integrity and Transparency

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

FAO does not charge any fee at any stage of the recruitment process (application, interview, processing)

Please note that FAO will only consider academic credentials or degrees obtained from an educational institution recognized in the IAU/UNESCO list

Please note that FAO only considers higher educational qualifications obtained from an institution accredited/recognized in the World Higher Education Database (WHED), a list updated by the International Association of Universities (IAU) / United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The list can be accessed at http://www.whed.net/

For more information, visit the FAO employment website

Appointment will be subject to certification that the candidate is medically fit for appointment, accreditation, any residency or visa requirements, and security clearances.

HOW TO APPLY

To apply, visit the recruitment website at Jobs at FAO and complete your online profile. We strongly recommend that your profile is accurate, complete and includes your employment records, academic qualifications, and language skills

Candidates are requested to attach a letter of motivation to the online profile

Once your profile is completed, please apply, and submit your application

Candidates may be requested to provide performance assessments and authorization to conduct verification checks of past and present work, character, education, military and police records to ascertain any and all information which may be pertinent to the employment qualifications

Incomplete applications will not be considered

Personal information provided on your application may be shared within FAO and with other companies acting on FAO’s behalf to provide employment support services such as pre-screening of applications, assessment tests, background checks and other related services. You will be asked to provide your consent before submitting your application. You may withdraw consent at any time, by withdrawing your application, in such case FAO will no longer be able to consider your application

Only applications received through the FAO recruitment portal will be considered

Your application will be screened based on the information provided in your online profile

We encourage applicants to submit the application well before the deadline date.

If you need help, or have queries, please contact: Careers@fao.org

Link to the organization’s job posting: https://unjobs.org/vacancies/1677007692949