Organizational Setting and Work Relationships
Reporting directly to the CIO and Director of the Division of Information Systems and Telecommunications (DIST), the incumbent joins the Senior Management team to lead the IT Operations Section (IT OPS). The Deputy Director holds overall accountability for ensuring that operational IT services meet agreed service levels. In line with the High Commissioner¿s Strategic Priorities, the Deputy Director will play a key leadership role in UNHCR to continuously adapt and improve the organization¿s IT services & systems to ensure maximum efficiency and to embrace new technologies wherever they support the organizations goals.
The size and scope of this role includes the identification of new and enhanced IT services to be provided to the organization and the development of those new IT services in the most effective way possible; contributing to new ways of working; and facilitating the development of DIST's strategic priorities and developing means for their implementation. Furthermore, the incumbent oversees IT projects to ensure objectives and deliverables result in anticipated benefits. S/he delivers new services while maintaining and enhancing existing ones and supervises production support and maintenance of IT infrastructure globally.
The Deputy Director of the IT Operations Service directly supervises: Platform / Network / End-user Devices (responsible for the run and maintain of the organization¿s global IT infrastructure); Security Operations & Identity and Access Management (responsible for all operational aspects of IT Security and end-user access management); Global Service Desk (providing the single point of contact for all IT incidents and service requests); and Managed Service Providers for infrastructure and global connectivity services.
The incumbent is responsible for partnering with Senior Management and key IT project sponsors to identify how new technologies can help meet their business needs. S/he will work closely with the DIST Deputy Directors (Business Relationship Management Service and IT Customer Support Service) to ensure capacity and skills are available to effectively manage and support IT services; Senior IT Service Delivery Management Officers in the Regional Bureau and the Chief of IT Field Operations Support Section to ensure that service delivery is effective at the Bureau and country-level; Chief, Solution Engineering to design and build fit-for-purpose solutions that are aligned with corporate standards and compatible with UNHCR IT Infrastructure and IT Operations capacity and service delivery model; Portfolio Management Office, to provide project management resources and deliver projects according to the corporate Project Management Life-Cycle process; Chief, Information Security Officer to ensure that services meet security standards, to ensure that security policies are applicable to UNHCRs IT Operating environment, and to identify and manage constraints and resources needs required to comply with the security policies; software and hardware suppliers to understand their technology roadmaps and build relationships to ensure support is provided when necessary; and managed service providers, particularly those providing infrastructure, cloud hosting, and security services to ensure services are delivered consistently and reliably.
All UNHCR staff members are accountable to perform their duties as reflected in their job description. They do so within their delegated authorities, in line with the regulatory framework of UNHCR which includes the UN Charter, UN Staff Regulations and Rules, UNHCR Policies and Administrative Instructions as well as relevant accountability frameworks. In addition, staff members are required to discharge their responsibilities in a manner consistent with the core, functional, cross-functional and managerial competencies and UNHCR¿s core values of professionalism, integrity and respect for diversity.
Duties
- Deliver IT operational services according to Service Level Agreements (SLAs) agreed upon with the business partners and ensure the effective and efficient operation of both internal and outsourced IT infrastructure driven by continuous service improvement.
- Lead the IT Operations Service by managing the capacity, performance, and availability of all the components used in organization's global IT Infrastructure, as well as looking after all the aspects of the private and public cloud services, computing, storage, networking and connectivity elements, and end-user devices that are used in the day-to-day operations of the organization; oversee the delivery of the Global Service Desk function; and, ensure that IT operations have an effective set of policies, procedures and standards that are followed.
- Lead an effective security operations function by ensuring that adequate people, processes, and technologies are in place to provide detection, containment, and remediation of IT threats; monitor systems to identify possible cyber security incidents; and, ensure that they are properly identified, analysed, communicated, investigated and reported.
- Oversee the identity access management (IAM) function, ensuring it consist of all the necessary controls and tools to capture and record user login and access information, manage the enterprise repository of user identities and their related focal points for identity and access management, and orchestrate the assignment and removal of access privileges in line with the access control policy.
- Provide leadership and guidance to IT Ops staff and partners, develop and train staff particularly with respect to IT operations and information security skills, manage priorities and conflicts between teams as required, and approve budget expenditures within the scope of responsibility.
- Build an effective relationship with and ensure the good performance of infrastructure and security Managed Service Providers against agreed upon service levels, including, the Global Service Desk, the Security Operations Centre, Identity and Access Management, global connectivity, and infrastructure management services both on premise and in the cloud. Conduct regular performance reviews with MSPs addressing any actual or perceived deficiencies in service.
- Ensure that all IT operations staff comply with the established Service Management processes policies, Service Level Agreements, and standards and that they enforce compliance in others, as well as work with owners of change control and configuration management processes to ensure changes are made in compliance with UNHCR cross-functional processes and standards
- Undertake long term planning (3-5 years) to ensure that IT OPS can support the most effective use of IT for the business, and that the funding is in place to deliver IT services, and develop annual operational plans linked to the long-term strategy; and, approve managed service providers plans and strategies as part of the vendor management process.
- In cooperation with the Chief, Solution Engineering, contribute to the design and build of fit-for-purpose solutions that are aligned with corporate standards and compatible with UNHCR IT Infrastructure and IT Operations capacity and service delivery model.
- Partner with the Programme Management Officer (PMO) to ensure compliance with the Project Development Life-Cycle; help maintain a portfolio of current and proposed projects to ensure technology currency; determine the optimal mix of proposed projects to best achieve organizational goals; and, provide IT Operations project resources to deliver projects.
- Work with the CIO, the Deputy Director ICT Business Relationship Management, the Deputy Director IT Customer Support, and the Chief, Planning and Support to ensure that the DIST and IT strategies are achievable, developed, and executed effectively.
- Build effective relationships with Regional Bureaux and Divisions, to understand the IT Operations and Security needs of the organisation, and influence their plans, and for them to make most effective use of ICT Operations services.
- Work closely with UN sister agencies and NGO partners on joint initiatives that will bring shared value and leverage existing systems and services, as well as represent the UNHCR to member states, the private sector, managed service suppliers, and implementing partners.
- Undertake other tasks or assignments within area of competence as directed by CIO and Director of DIST.
Minimum Qualifications
Education & Professional Work Experience
Years of Experience / Degree Level
For D1 - 17 years relevant experience with Undergraduate degree; or 16 years relevant experience with Graduate degree; or 15 years relevant experience with Doctorate degree
Field(s) of Education
*Information & Communications Technologies; Computer Science; Information Systems;
*Information Technologies; Project Management or other relevant field.
(Field(s) of Education marked with an asterisk* are essential)
Certificates and/or Licenses
Not specified
Relevant Job Experience
Essential
- At least 17 years of experience in information technology, of which 10 should be in running enterprise-wide IT Operations and Security functions and at least 10 years at a senior managerial level.
- In-depth technical understanding of all aspects of IT infrastructure, security, and processes.
- Proven ability to lead and manage large IT operations and information security teams, including managing a broad range of services to agreed service levels, and proven ability to create a continuous improvement culture with measurable results.
- Proven ability and recent experience managing multiple global outsourced Managed Service Providers, including all aspects of the vendor management lifecycle.
- Ability to influence, manage, and lead negotiations with internal and external stakeholders, especially with software, hardware, and industry-leading partners in developing product roadmaps, negotiating contracts, and implementing service agreements.
- Proven experience in developing long-term strategic IT/business plans, ability to understand and analyse complex business issues and processes and demonstrated ability to influence business to adopt new services and ways of working.
- Strong program/project management experience following Project Management Life Cycle (PMLC).
- Thorough understanding of major systems operations and maintenance support, including experience running an on-call support team covering 24 hours by 7 days a week.
- Experience leading globally distributed teams in a matrixed environment to ensure collaboration and effective operations.
- Strong verbal communications in English, including excellent writing skills and executive-level presentation skills.
- Willingness to travel internationally up to 25% at a short notice.
Desirable
- Working with or in humanitarian / international UN agencies at senior management levels.
- Working knowledge of ITIL processes and ITIL certification.
- Operating IT infrastructure for a global organisation with deep field locations .
- Experience of transitioning from in-house services to managed service.
Functional Skills
*IT-Service Delivery Management
*IT-Experience managing large & complex IT infrastructure in 24/7 environment
*IT-ITIL Processes and Service Operations Management
IT-Experience with ICT infrastructure support
IT-Information Technology (Practices/Processes)
IT-ICT Operations Management
IT-IT Systems and Standards
IT-Microsoft Office 365
(Functional Skills marked with an asterisk* are essential)