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.

Digital solutions are rapidly reaching some of the most vulnerable people and places affected by crisis. As one of the main humanitarian actors, WFP has the opportunity and the obligation to leverage data and technology to better know and serve those in need by digitally transforming the way it works. Such ambition led to a plan aimed at establishing, integrating, and mainstreaming the core elements of an end-to-end digital business process.

The Technology Division (TEC) has embarked in a transformation journey to become a flexible, customer-centric, digital leader. The Service Management Branch (TECM) drives the implementation of a catalogue of services that are aligned to the business and provides a global service support model. To achieve this ambition, we are looking for a solid, experienced Head of Application Support.

The incumbent will report to the Chief, Service Management (TECM) of the Technology Division.

WFP offers an attractive compensation and benefits package, including basic salary, post adjustment, relocation entitlement, travel and shipment allowances, 30 days’ annual leave, home leave, an education grant for dependent children, pension plan and medical insurance.

Key Accountability

1. Lead the Application Hosting and Maintenance team within the Service Management Branch, to support all WFP solutions globally.
2. Participate in the development of plans, budgets and policies, and lead the design and deployment of IT/TC systems aligned with business needs, in line with WFP corporate standards.
3. Design and run hosting services, both on-premises and on cloud
4. Coordinate application support with IT Architecture and Solution Delivery.
5. Mainstream DevSecOps principles and best practices.
6. Initiate and follow-up with Problem Management team and troubleshooting concerning issues that affect WFP applications.
7. Implement cybersecurity best practices throughout on-premises and on cloud solutions.
8. Serve as member of the Architecture, Release, Demand and Project boards.
9. Review system architectures and provide input to IT Architecture and Solution Delivery.
10. Participate in 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.
11. Represent WFP at international meetings and conferences, to gather and share best practice, and propose new approaches to improve IT/TC service delivery.
12. Manage and motivate the team, providing coaching, training and guidance to ensure appropriate development and enable high performance.
13. Other duties as required.

Eligibility

Education:

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

Experience:

• Eight years or more (of which three international) of postgraduate progressively responsible professional experience in IT with an interest in international humanitarian development.
• Four years or more in Application Hosting and Maintence within international companies and organization.
• Three years of more of Application Hosting and maintenance experience within a complex environment.
• Significant experience of managing large teams of staff with somewhat varied areas of expertise.
• Has managed large projects requiring innovative recommendations and approaches.
• Has built strong relationships with internal and external partners to identify key business issues and identify new/improved IT solutions and services.
• Has aligned IT strategies with business strategies and requirements.
• Has shown to be consistent and agile during critical situations and has an understanding on how to support emergency response operations.
• Has shown to be open to challenges and to share experience and knowledge with team members and colleagues.
• Has successfully managed complex IT infrastructure, including the installation and testing of new hardware for improving systems performance at HQ and field.
• Has led the design and successful implementation of ITIL service management systems and protocols for handling customer requests and achieving service excellence.

Technical Skills & Knowledge:

• Extensive experience managing application support for corporate services in a large international organization.
• Strong leadership, ability to lead a highly effective team coupled with project and programme management skills.
• Sound experience in IT Operations, both in offices and sub-offices.
• Excellent skills in DevSecOps and hosting, including on-premises, cloud computing and hybrid environments.
• Thorough understanding of Cybersecurity principles applied to large corporate systems.
• Sound knowledge of IT Support processes. ITIL Fundamentals is required, ITIL Design, Transition and Operations, Project Management and COBIT are highly desirable.
• Solid soft skills, tact and maturity, ability to interact with other IT teams and with business counterparts.
• Very good reporting skills.
• Ability to work with a high degree of autonomy.

   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).