Strategy and Foresight Data Specialist - IPSA 11

UNDP works with countries to expand people’s choices for a fairer, sustainable future.  UNDP’s Strategic Plan 2022-25 aims to build a more agile, anticipatory UNDP that embraces complexity, actively manages risk, continually adapts and seeks to learn alongside delivering results.   The Strategy and Futures (S&F) Team in the Executive Office supports the UNDP Administrator in building a more agile, anticipatory UNDP, alert to the trends and changes of an uncertain world and ready to respond to many different futures.

The S&F Team is responsible for two pillars of work: strategy and futures. Both pillars intersect and help inform each other. The strategy pillar is responsible for shepherding the Strategic Plan and for providing direction to the corporate systems that underpin our planning and reporting. This includes developing the organization’s strategic plans and driving the midterm review of the plans. The futures pillar’s focus is to connect, cohere and amplify the various futures efforts across UNDP, linking people and resources of knowledge and experience into and to establish a futures ecosystem, enabling UNDP to achieve stronger development impact. 

The Strategy and Foresight Data Specialist will be part of the S&F Team. The successful candidate will provide analytical and research support to the S&F Team. They will be required to work closely with members of the S&F Team, other units in the Executive Office and the broader organization.

1. Data analysis/analytical problem solving
2. Data visualization 
3. Data management
4. Knowledge creation, communication and reporting

Data analysis/analytical problem solving

• Ability to use machine learning and network analysis to uncover emerging trends, promising technologies and interventions that will shape our future.
• Ability to mine large amounts of data, including financial, qualitative and quantitative, using analytical approaches, data, and a strong passion for empirical research
• Ability to identify insights by triangulating quantitative and qualitative data and evidence
• Ability to evaluate, transform and model data to derive relevant findings
• Develop algorithms for supervised and unsupervised machine learning for mixed dataset analytics. This includes automated tagging of text and topic modelling using narrative from various sources and formats.
• Incorporate the machine learning analytics, natural language processing and other algorithms based on relevant data from various UNDP sources, including monitoring and results frameworks, project documents and qualitative analysis texts and documents. 

Data visualization 

• Ability to use Data Visualization (Power BI, Tableau, JS Libraries) to support development of analytic functionality and presentation.
• Produce, and collaborate with graphic designers to develop, clear infographics of complex information through sourcing data and drafting story boards on selected issues related to the development of the UNDP Strategic Plan. 
• Work with selected colleagues across UNDP to generate insights and provide support to data visualization

Data management

• Ability to use - and support the team’s use of - Data Management tools (e.g., Airtable, Microsoft Access/Excel, and Google Sheets/Forms), to enable data sourcing, analysis and presentation processes.

Knowledge creation, communication and reporting

• Coordinate with designers and communication specialists to prepare content for external publication
• Regularly provide clear updates on analysis, methods, progress, challenges,
• Assist in preparing impactful and high-quality reports, presentations, and internal and external briefings

Institutional Arrangement

The Strategy and Foresight Data Specialist reports to the Strategy Lead in the Executive Office’s Strategy and Futures Team .