Overview
The Information Systems Officer will manage IT projects, develop system specifications, provide user support, and maintain IT infrastructure for the OHCHR Regional Office in Panama and its client offices.
Key Responsibilities
- Manages projects involving feasibility studies, requirements analysis, implementation, roll-out and support of new, moderately complex systems, IT services, infrastructure upgrades and digital platforms; and/or participates as a member of an IT service team with responsibility for major components of more complex systems.
- Develops detailed system and other functional specifications, process documentation, standard operating procedures, implementation plans and user documentation for major systems and assigned ICT services.
- Provides specialized advice to users, regional offices and business owners, analyzing users’ requirements and translating these into new IT services, workflows, service improvements or integration requirements; determines systems integration and linkage issues.
- Maintains, upgrades or enhances existing user systems, digital platforms and service catalogues; troubleshoots and provides continuing user support, including resolution of difficult problems, advice on the use of new techniques, and monitoring of transactions, service performance and continued effectiveness of assigned systems.
- Administers, configures and maintains applications, workflows, service catalogue items, scripts and related system components across interrelated systems and applications; ensures appropriate data security, access controls and compliance with relevant ICT standards.
- Organizes and performs unit, integration, regression and user acceptance testing; designs and utilizes test plans; prepares test cases and test data; assists users in acceptance testing, deployment and post-implementation support.
- Develops training materials, operating procedures, user manuals, technical SOPs and guidance notes; trains staff and supports adoption of assigned systems, cybersecurity practices and digital tools.
- Contributes to disaster recovery, business continuity and operational resilience plans and ensures appropriate documentation, planning and training of those responsible.
- Researches, analyzes and evaluates new technologies, cloud platforms, infrastructure solutions and ICT tools and makes recommendations for their deployment where appropriate.
- Participates in the preparation of reports, papers and business cases on systems and service-related topics, system requirements, information management, service performance, ticket volumes, asset status and workload distribution.
- Facilitates communications between ICT service providers, regional and country presences, UN Secretariat ICT offices and clients to ensure effective client relations, demand management, escalation and service delivery. Serves as coordinator in the development and monitoring of Service Level Agreements (SLAs) between service providers and clients, for either specific IT services or general technology support, including any chargeback mechanisms.
- Handles aspects of contract, procurement, vendor and asset administration, including service level agreements with vendors, performance monitoring, statement of work inputs, procurement of ICT equipment and services, inventory records, lifecycle management and chargeback policy for users.
- Provides guidance to, and may supervise or coordinate, new/junior staff, National IT Officers, GS ICT staff, consultants, contractors and ICT focal points; contributes to capacity building, mentoring and skill transfer.
- Manages daily IT operations for the assigned regional office and supported country presences, including remote support, incident follow-up, escalation to HQ or service providers, and coordination with local OHCHR IT staff.
- Maintains and improves local ICT infrastructure and cloud-based services, including network components, Wi-Fi, secure connectivity, VPN access, Microsoft 365, Intune, OneDrive, SharePoint Online and related platforms.
- Supports mission travel, field deployments, office relocations and onboarding of new staff by ensuring appropriate ICT equipment, connectivity, access rights and user support arrangements.
Required Experience
- A minimum of five years of progressively responsible experience in planning, IT operations, systems administration, network support, user support, service management or related technical functions is required.
- Experience providing ICT support to geographically distributed offices or field presences is required.
- Experience with Microsoft 365, cloud administration, cybersecurity implementation, endpoint/device management, ICT asset management, vendor coordination or service reporting is desirable.
- Prior experience within the United Nations system or another international organization is desirable.
Qualifications
- Advanced university degree (Master’s degree or equivalent) in computer science, information systems, mathematics, statistics or related field.
- A first-level university degree in combination with two additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.
- Successful completion of relevant certifications or formal training in areas such as IT service management, project management, cloud administration, cybersecurity, network administration, Microsoft 365 administration or data analytics could be an advantage.
