Consultancy: Data Center Migration Technical Project Manager, ICTD New York

UNICEF works in some of the world’s toughest places, to reach the world’s most disadvantaged children. To save their lives. To defend their rights. To help them fulfill their potential.

Across 190 countries and territories, we work for every child, everywhere, every day, to build a better world for everyone.

And we never give up.

For every child, a connected world

The fundamental mission of UNICEF is to promote the rights of every child, everywhere, in everything the organization does — in programs, in advocacy and in operations. The equity strategy, emphasizing the most disadvantaged and excluded children and families, translates this commitment to children’s rights into action. For UNICEF, equity means that all children have an opportunity to survive, develop and reach their full potential, without discrimination, bias or favoritism. To the degree that any child has an unequal chance in life — in its social, political, economic, civic and cultural dimensions — her or his rights are violated. There is growing evidence that investing in the health, education and protection of a society’s most disadvantaged citizens — addressing inequity — not only will give all children the opportunity to fulfil their potential but also will lead to sustained growth and stability of countries. Therefore, the focus on equity is so vital. It accelerates progress towards realizing the human rights of all children, which is the universal mandate of UNICEF, as outlined by the Convention on the Rights of the Child, while also supporting the equitable development of nations.

The ICTD Transition and Transformation project aims to put in place the capabilities required to support UNICEF’s innovative and digital transformation – including the needs of a post-COVID-19 organizational business model. To discharge its mission and support the over 20,000 globally dispersed staff UNICEF operates a hybrid data center infrastructure with the primary data center being a co-location facility in New Jersey, USA and the backup data center located in Manhattan, New York. These 2 facilities are integrated with 5 Cloud-based data centers in the Singapore, South Africa, The Netherlands, France and East USA Azure regions, all interconnected with Azure ExpressRoutes. 

In its continuing commitment to ensuring Operational Efficiency and Effectiveness, Programme Effectiveness and Innovative use of Technology, ICTD has decided to relocate the Digital Core of the Division to Valencia, Spain, leaving a team of Business Relations Managers and Business Analysts to support Business Partners in Headquarters, and create the first Digital Center of Excellence in Nairobi, Kenya. A key component in this undertaking is the migration of its Data Centers from the USA to Spain and Italy.

UNICEF has decided to relocate its primary data center to Valencia, Spain and its backup/disaster recovery facility to Brindisi, Italy to have a fully built facility by 31st August 2022. The project scope is described in the following section and includes all elements required for the successful migration.

How can you make a difference?

The purpose of this consultancy is to orchestrate, coordinate and deliver the transition of 2 Data Centers from the USA to Spain and Italy. The consultant will be responsible for a wide spectrum of IT infrastructure work with major emphasis on efforts related to the smooth migration from the current Data Center sites to the new sites. Unplanned downtime is not expected to exceed 8 hours during the transition period.  Both the new primary and backup/recovery sites have been identified and contractual arrangements completed. 

Under the general guidance of the Deputy Director, Solution Center and Support (SCS) and direct supervision of the Chief, Platform Service Delivery (PSD), the Data Center Migration Project Manager coordinates, guides, assesses and evaluates technical options, analyzes risks, reports progress and engages various vendors and technical partners associated with the project.

The Data Center Migration Project Manager:

• Reviews, refines and updates the ICTD Data Center migration project plan to ensure that it delivers the ICTD Transition and Transformation Initiative goals;
• Reviews and refines the scope of work for each of the work stream leads in alignment with the Transition and Transformation Project Plan;
• Implements the Data Center migration plan;
• Reviews the risk management plan reassesses risks and actively recalibrates activities to best achieve the intended goal while working with ICTD risk managers to minimize failure and downtime;
• Coordinates the activities of vendors, UN partners, technical owners, ICTD stream leads and other migration actors to ensure a smooth data center migration;
• Coordinates the development of detailed test plans including end-end disaster recovery test plans;
• Monitors Data Center build and ensures that it is in accordance with approved architectural design, local regulations and Data Center build best practices;
• Guides teams in vendor negotiations and analysis of vendor solutions and/or technical propositions;
• Validates that vendor invoices and deliverables in alignment with established contracts and KPIs;
• Maintains project plans and a dashboard for the infrastructure and application teams;
• Monitors budgets;
• Oversees the closure of the migration project.

This consultancy will be for 11.5 months.

To qualify as a champion for every child you will have… 

Academic Degrees:

• Advanced Degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering or related technical field;
• *A first-level university degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering or a relevant technical field combined a minimum of 10 years’ experience in the successful migration of cross-border/transcontinental data centers may be accepted in lieu of an advanced university degree.

Professional Experience:

• A minimum of 8 years’ professional experience in managing data center relocation and other IT projects including 4 years in the senior leadership of the relocation of a complex multi-technology, hybrid cloud environment for a globally dispersed organization;
• A minimum of 8 years of Project Management experience;
• Experience in a UN organization is an asset.

Other Skills and Qualifications:

The Data Center Migration Project Manager will demonstrate:

• The successful management of large scale, transnational and complex hybrid data center migrations;
• Familiarity with latest Covid-19 protocols relating to Data Center migrations;
• Familiarity with European regulations that govern data center installations;
• Expert level proficiency is required in:
  • Converged data center infrastructure technologies and data center operations;
  • Network capacity planning, virtualization, cloud computing, storage area networking and disaster recovery
  • planning and orchestration;
  • Data center networking technologies, cabling standards and the Uptime Data Center Tier system;
  • Data Center contracting;
  • Data Center services financial management;
  • European data center installation regulatory requirements and information privacy governance.

Holders of certifications in DC Engineering and/or Data Center Management have a distinct advantage;

Language Requirements: Fluency in English is required. Additional UN languages will be considered an asset.

• Excellent written and oral communication skills, with fluency in English is required. Knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish) or a local language is an asset.

For every Child, you demonstrate…

UNICEF’s values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, and Accountability (CRITA) and core competencies in Communication, Working with People and Drive for Results.

The UNICEF Level 2 competencies required for this post are the following:

1. Builds and maintains partnerships
2. Demonstrates self-awareness and ethical awareness
3. Innovates and embraces change
4. Drive to achieve results for impact
5. Manages ambiguity and complexity
6. Thinks and acts strategically
7. Works collaboratively with others

To view our competency framework, please visit here.

Click here to learn more about UNICEF’s values and competencies.

Please indicate your ability, availability and daily/monthly rate (in US$) to undertake the terms of reference above.  Applications submitted without a daily/monthly rate will not be considered. 

Remarks:

UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages all candidates, irrespective of gender, nationality, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including persons living with disabilities, to apply to become a part of the organization.

UNICEF has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UNICEF, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. UNICEF also adheres to strict child safeguarding principles. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks, and will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles.

Individuals engaged under a consultancy or individual contract will not be considered “staff members” under the Staff Regulations and Rules of the United Nations and UNICEF’s policies and procedures, and will not be entitled to benefits provided therein (such as leave entitlements and medical insurance coverage). Their conditions of service will be governed by their contract and the General Conditions of Contracts for the Services of Consultants and Individual Contractors. Consultants and individual contractors are responsible for determining their tax liabilities and for the payment of any taxes and/or duties, in accordance with local or other applicable laws.

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process.