Senior Backend & Data Engineer

The UNOPS Global Portfolios Office (GPO) brings together diverse expertise to help partners deliver impact worldwide. With hubs in New York, Geneva, and Vienna, and expert teams operating globally, GPO leads multi-regional initiatives that advance sustainable development, climate action, and peacebuilding - including in some of the world’s most challenging environments. By leveraging our collective expertise and global networks, GPO supports UNOPS’ strategic priorities and the Sustainable Development Goals across more than 130 countries. We work closely with major global partners - including governments, international financial institutions, and UN agencies - to deliver a wide range of services, such as project management, fund management, hosting services, and HR support.

As part of the Global Portfolios Office, UNOPS Geneva provides comprehensive solutions in secretariat hosting, operational support, and fund management. We manage global programmes, including the Water, Environment and Climate (WEC) Portfolio, offering project management, procurement, HR, and financial services. Geneva hosts the secretariats of eight global partnerships focused on health (RBM, Stop TB, ATscale), nutrition (SUN), water/sanitation (SHF), humanitarian leadership (GELI), urban development (Cities Alliance), and disaster displacement (PDD). We also provide fund management for EIF and UN Water, and operational support to Geneva-based partners like the Global Fund and UNHCR. 

UNOPS Geneva Office is providing support to a wide range of portfolios, including UNEP, UNICEF, UNHCR, and other partners. 

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.

This position is a Partner Personnel role. UNOPS is supporting UNICEF-DI as a UN partner and is acting on its behalf to provide recruitment and administrative support for this position. The selected candidate will be recruited through UNOPS in accordance with UNOPS recruitment rules, and will be engaged as UNICEF-DI personnel. The incumbent will work under the effective management and supervision of UNICEF-DI, not UNOPS.

About UNICEF Digital Impact Division (DID)

Digital Impact Division (DID) is at the heart of reshaping how UNICEF delivers lasting results for children. We are committed to harnessing the full potential of emerging digital technologies

to advance UNICEF’s mission.

DID works in close collaboration with regional Digital Impact teams and colleagues across headquarters divisions, regions, and country offices to leverage technologies and capabilities that accelerate progress on UNICEF’s goals, strengthen community resilience, and expand access to essential digital services and information.

Our mission is to enhance UNICEF’s global digital impact by promoting equitable access to information and services, empowering communities to create lasting, positive change for children, and foster a more inclusive, interconnected, and sustainable world for every child, everywhere.

About UNICEF Digital Inclusion (DI)

UNICEF’s Digital Inclusion (DI) programme supports governments and partners to improve equitable, affordable digital access for children, schools, and communities. The programme engages with regulators, operators, and public institutions to explore innovative approaches to connectivity, infrastructure governance, and digital public goods.

Under the supervision of the Mapping/ Data Product Lead, the Senior Backend & Data Engineer will be responsible for designing, developing, and maintaining the backend architecture of Giga's digital products and tools, including data platforms, web applications, and measurement tools. The Senior Backend & Data Engineer will collaborate with multidisciplinary teams of front-end developers, designers, data scientists, and researchers to build scalable, secure, and high-performance backend systems using Django, ensuring technical excellence and alignment with user needs and organizational goals. 

• Design and develop backend systems for Giga's digital tools, including the Giga Meter (connectivity measurement app), Giga Maps (school connectivity web platform), and monitoring dashboards using Django and Django REST Framework. 

• Architect scalable backend solutions by defining system design, data models, API structures, and integration patterns that support Giga's connectivity and data products. 

• Build and maintain RESTful APIs to enable seamless communication between frontend applications, mobile apps, and third-party services. 

• Design and optimize database schemas using PostgreSQL (or relevant database), ensuring data integrity, performance, and scalability for large-scale connectivity data. 

• Collaborate with vendors and technology partners to integrate external APIs, define technical requirements, and ensure quality deliverables. 

• Work closely with frontend developers, designers, and data scientists to translate user stories into technical implementations and deliver features in agile sprints. 

• Implement authentication, authorization, and security best practices to protect user data and ensure compliance with security standards. 

• Define and monitor backend performance metrics, including API response times, system uptime, and database query performance. 

• Write comprehensive tests (unit, integration, and end-to-end) and maintain documentation to ensure code quality and system reliability. 

• Support CI/CD pipelines and deployment processes, ensuring smooth releases and continuous improvement of Giga's backend infrastructure. 

• Build and maintain data pipelines using Celery and Celery Beat to automate data ingestion, transformation, and loading (ETL) processes for school connectivity data across multiple countries and sources. 

• Deploy, configure, and manage Apache Superset as Giga's business intelligence platform, enabling data visualization, reporting, and analytics for internal teams, government partners, and stakeholders. 

• Design and implement data transformation workflows to process connectivity measurements, school registry data, and geospatial information into structured analytics-ready formats. 

• Extend Celery-based data pipelines for scheduled data refreshes, data quality validation, and integration with external APIs and data sources. 

• Collaborate with data scientists and analysts to operationalize analytical models, automate reporting workflows, and ensure data availability for decision-making. 

• Monitor and optimize data pipeline performance, ensuring reliability, data freshness, and handling failures gracefully with proper logging and alerting. 

Monitoring and Progress Controls

• An Advanced University Degree (Master's degree or equivalent) in Computer Science, Engineering, Data Analytics or a related field is required.  

• A first University Degree in a relevant field, combined with 2 additional years of professional experience, may be accepted in lieu of an Advanced University Degree.

Required:

• Minimum of 5 years of relevant professional experience in backend software development or software engineering. 

• Hands-on experience designing and implementing RESTful APIs and microservices architectures. 

• Demonstrated experience developing and maintaining production-level systems using Python, including applying sound software architecture principles and working with relational databases (e.g., PostgreSQL/ MySQL) preferably for normalised schema design, query optimization, performance tuning, and database migrations.

Desired:

• Strong experience in building scalable web applications and backend systems using Django and Python, with expertise in API design (REST/gRPC), framework architecture, and highly reliable automation ecosystems.

• Proven experience in designing reliable, data-driven systems and pipelines for large-scale testing, validation, and release workflows in distributed environments.

• Extensive experience working in Agile/SAFe environments, collaborating with cross-functional teams including product managers, developers, and DevOps engineers to deliver robust and scalable solutions.

• Please note that UNOPS does not accept unsolicited resumes. 
• Please note that UNOPS will at no stage of the recruitment process request candidates to make payments of any kind.
• Applications to vacancies must be received before midnight Copenhagen time (CET) on the closing date of the announcement. Applications received after the closing date will not be considered. 
• Please note that only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process, which involves various assessments. 
• UNOPS embraces diversity and is committed to equal employment opportunity. Our workforce consists of many diverse nationalities, cultures, languages, races, gender identities, sexual orientations, and abilities. UNOPS seeks to sustain and strengthen this diversity to ensure equal opportunities as well as an inclusive working environment for its entire workforce. 
• UNOPS evaluates all applications based on the skills, qualifications and experience requirements outlined in the vacancy announcement. We are committed to considering all candidates in a fair and transparent manner, and we value diverse perspectives and experiences, including those of women, indigenous and racialized communities, individuals with diverse gender identities and sexual orientations, and people with disabilities.
• We would like to ensure all candidates perform at their best during the assessment process. If you are shortlisted and require additional assistance to complete any assessment, including reasonable accommodation, please inform our human resources team when you receive an invitation.

• For staff positions only, UNOPS reserves the right to appoint a candidate at a lower level than the advertised level of the post. 
• For retainer contracts, you must complete a few mandatory courses (they take around 4 hours to complete) in your own time, before providing services to UNOPS. Refreshers or new mandatory courses may be required during your contract. Please note that you will not receive any compensation for taking courses and refreshers. For more information on a retainer contract here. 
• For more details about the contract types, please click here.
• All UNOPS personnel are responsible for performing their duties in accordance with the UN Charter and UNOPS Policies and Instructions, as well as other relevant accountability frameworks. In addition, all personnel must demonstrate an understanding of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in a manner consistent with UN core values and the UN Common Agenda. 
• It is the policy of UNOPS to conduct background checks on all potential personnel. Recruitment in UNOPS is contingent on the results of such checks.