ICT Infrastructure Specialist

OVERVIEW

Parent Sector : Social and Human Sciences Sector (SHS)

Duty Station: Paris

Job Family: Social and Human Sciences

Type of contract : [[Contract Type]]

Duration of contract : From 7 to 11 months

Recruitment open to : External candidates

Application Deadline (Midnight Paris Time) : 02-09-2024 EXTENDED

UNESCO Core Values: Commitment to the Organization, Integrity, Respect for Diversity, Professionalism

OVERVIEW OF THE FUNCTIONS OF THE POST

In November 2021, 193 Member States of UNESCO adopted the Recommendation on the ‎Ethics of Artificial Intelligence ‎‎(the Recommendation). This global standard aims to leverage ‎the positive impacts of AI while addressing its inherent ‎risks. Countries around the world are ‎now in the process of implementing the Recommendation, with UNESCO ‎supporting them ‎through various capacity-building efforts, funded through partnerships with multiple donors, ‎‎including the Government of Japan, the European Commission, and the Patrick J. McGovern ‎Foundation.‎

The Digital Flanders Agency has launched an Artificial Intelligence Expertise Center (AI EC) ‎tasked with enhancing and ‎guiding the adoption of AI across Flemish public administrations. ‎The capacity and capability of the AI EC need to be ‎strengthened to empower it to fulfil its ‎coordination role among Flemish public administrations in the facilitation and ‎implementation ‎of AI projects. The project aims to foster Flemish public administrations’ AI-readiness and ‎increase the ‎adoption of AI across the Flemish public administrations in a safe, robust, ‎trustworthy, and ethical manner. Through ‎its three outcomes, the project focuses on ‎strengthening (i) institutional capacity for AI governance, (ii) technical ‎capacity for AI projects, ‎and (iii) human capacity for AI awareness, literacy and skills within the Flemish public ‎‎administrations.‎

Read more about the project here: www.unesco.org/en/artificial-intelligence/recommendation-ethics/flemish-government.

The Consultant will work under the overall authority of the Assistant Director-General for ‎Social and Human Sciences Sector (ADG/SHS) and under the direct supervision of the Head of ‎Ethics of AI Unit at UNESCO Headquarters. 

As a member of the UNESCO Ethics of AI Team, the Consultant will contribute to the ‎development of various knowledge products and the delivery of tasks to advance the ‎implementation of the UNESCO Recommendation on the Ethics of AI.‎
 

SCOPE OF WORK

European Commission Project

a.‎  Assess current ICT infrastructure: assess the existing ICT infrastructure, including data, cybersecurity, and AI ‎components.‎
b.‎ Develop reference documentation on data governance strategy in the context of AI, data and AI ‎interoperability and data stewardship: comprehensive reference documentation must be developed to outline ‎the necessary conditions to build an AI-ready data infrastructure for the Flemish public administration. The ‎documentation needs to provide guidance on effectively managing data for AI applications while upholding ‎ethical standards, complying with data classification and regulatory requirements (AI Act, GDPR, Data Act, ‎Data Governance Act, Cloud Strategy), and respecting further legal, political and technical sensitivities.‎
c.‎ Develop reference AI-ready architecture framework: inform the development of a reference architecture ‎framework that outlines the essential components and features necessary for an AI-ready infrastructure while ‎considering the sensitive nature of some data, as well as associated risks and implications for the Flemish ‎public administrations. The framework must serve as a guideline for enhancing the existing ICT infrastructure ‎for AI projects, providing a structured approach to address identified gaps and leverage existing strengths ‎within the infrastructure.‎
d.‎ Provide analysis on potential reusable AI components: recommendations must be provided on the possible ‎ways and feasibility of introducing reusable AI components.‎
e.‎ Piloting the AI-ready reference architecture framework and potential reusable AI components with ‎stakeholders: once the AI-ready reference architecture framework is developed, it needs to be piloted in a use ‎case with stakeholders from the Flemish public administration through additional workshops, meetings, and ‎consultations. This validation process must ensure that the framework accurately reflects the needs, ‎requirements, and priorities of public administration entities in Flanders and aligns with their strategic ‎objectives for AI implementation.‎
 

Long Description

General Tasks

f.‎ Engaging substantively as part of the Ethics of AI team in the regular efforts to link its work with the high-level ‎processes related to ethics and governance of AI (including within the UN system, G20 and G7 platforms, GPAI, ‎and others). ‎
g.‎ Contributing to other ongoing work of the AI Ethics Team: contributing to ongoing research and ‎analysis conducted by the secretariat; participating in meetings; presenting the work to different ‎stakeholders; supporting the secretariat with the preparation of different materials such as speeches, ‎presentations, blogs, white papers etc.‎

COMPETENCIES (Core / Managerial)

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REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

Education
•    Advanced university degree (Master’s or equivalent) in the governance of artificial intelligence, ethical and social ‎implications of artificial intelligence or digital technologies, law and technology, computer science, data science, ‎computational social science, or other related fields. ‎

Work Experience
•    A minimum of five years of professional experience on the ethical, legal, social and governance issues of artificial ‎intelligence and related digital technologies at the national and/or international level. A PhD can count as work ‎experience.‎
•    Proven experience involving ICT infrastructure is mandatory:‎
o    Extensive expertise in AI technologies, data governance, regulatory compliance, data quality ‎management, bias analysis, ethical AI practices, interoperability standards, and cloud infrastructure ‎solutions.‎
o    Comprehensive knowledge of aligning AI initiatives with business strategies, stakeholder engagement, ‎identifying and prioritizing AI use cases, change management, and tracking business performance ‎metrics. Expertise in selecting and adapting foundational AI models, data governance, security ‎management, technology standardization, AI platform development, integration strategies, scalable AI ‎architectures, and using AI to enhance enterprise architecture.‎
o    Expertise in identifying requirements for modular and composable AI solutions, defining solution ‎architecture guidelines for microservices, building robust data pipelines, managing AI model lifecycle, ‎and developing well-documented APIs and interfaces for system integration.‎
o    Expertise in ensuring seamless data flow and connectivity for AI workloads, leveraging scalable and ‎flexible cloud infrastructure, and optimizing costs and resources through shared resources and ad hoc ‎sandboxes for development.‎

Skills and competencies ‎
•    Very good understanding of artificial intelligence’s ethical, legal, social and governance issues and related digital ‎technologies.‎
•    Excellent knowledge of ICT infrastructure, ideally with a particular focus on AI-ready ICT infrastructure.‎
•    Excellent knowledge about the dynamics of governance of AI, including policies, legislative and regulatory ‎frameworks, institutional mechanisms, organisational structures and processes, and initiatives by different ‎stakeholders in this field. This includes broad familiarity with UNESCO’s AI Readiness Assessment Methodology ‎and the ability to translate lessons learned and good practices into practical guidance for policymakers.‎
•    Proven ability to draft clearly and concisely and to produce high-quality policy-oriented analysis and synthesis ‎documents.‎
•    Proven ability to work on multiple interrelated outputs.‎

Languages
•    Excellent knowledge (spoken and written) of English.  ‎

DESIRABLE QUALIFICATIONS

Education
•    Advanced university degree (PhD) in the governance of artificial intelligence, ethical and social implications of ‎artificial intelligence or digital technologies, law and technology, computer science, data science, ‎computational social science, or other related fields.‎

Work Experience
•    Experience conducting research and analysis and/or implementing programmes/projects on the ethical, legal, ‎social and governance issues of artificial intelligence and related digital technologies is strongly desirable.‎
•    Experience in producing policy-oriented reports or recommendations is strongly desirable.‎

Languages
•    Knowledge of another language, especially Dutch.‎
 

APPLICATION

Interested candidates should click on “Apply Now”, then download and complete the Employment History form (Word file). At the end of the Word file, insert extra pages with the following required information:

• A one-page statement laying out how their qualifications and experience make them suitable for the assignment, and explaining how they would approach the work;
• The salary expectations for the assignment, which should be quoted in US dollars on a monthly basis for a 11-month period (full-time working).

Upon completing the Word file with all the requested information above, upload the file at the “My Employment History Form / My Documents” section of the online application form. Only applications with the above requested information will be considered.

SELECTION AND RECRUITMENT PROCESS

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