Innovation Specialist (BlockChain), (P-3), Office of Innovation, Stockholm, Sweden, #128785 Temporary Appointment (364 days)

UNICEF’s Office of Innovation (OOI) is seeking a Blockchain Lead to drive technical and strategic coordination for Blockchain-related activities within the Ventures team and beyond.

UNICEF works in over 190 countries and territories to save children’s lives, defend their rights, and help them fulfill their potential, from early childhood through adolescence.

At UNICEF, we are committed, passionate, and proud of what we do. Promoting the rights of every child is not just a job – it is a calling.

UNICEF is a place where careers are built: we offer our staff diverse opportunities for personal and professional development that will help them develop a fulfilling career while delivering on a rewarding mission. We pride ourselves on a culture that helps staff thrive, coupled with an attractive compensation and benefits package.

Visit our website to learn more about what we do at UNICEF.

For every child, inspiration

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, inspiration…

UNICEF has a history of innovating for children. We believe that new approaches, partnerships, and technologies are critical for achieve improved outcomes for children. The Office of Innovation is a creative, interactive, and agile team in UNICEF that sits at the unique intersection of working on material global issues, startup thinking, technology and partnerships that can scale solutions. We look to form partnerships around frontier technologies (including AI, drones, and UAVs, blockchain, new banking tools, wearables and sensors, and 3D-printing) that exist at the intersection of $100 billion markets and 1 billion person needs.

The Office of Innovation’s Venture Fund is a pooled funding vehicle specially designed to finance early stage, open-source technology that can benefit children. The core motivation of the Innovation Fund is to identify clusters or portfolios of initiatives around emerging technology – so that UNICEF can both shape markets and also learn about and guide these technologies to benefit children. We invest in solutions that can impact the lives of the most vulnerable children.

How can you make a difference? 

The UNICEF Office of Innovation (OOI) is looking for a Blockchain Lead to provide knowledge, technical and strategic coordination and support for Blockchain-related activity of the Ventures team, Office of Innovation and UNICEF more broadly.

Successful candidates will need to have both a deep technical expertise of Blockchain, understanding of the most recent developments trends and ecosystem players, as well as hands-on experience in building and scaling open-source products and working across teams and levels of technical understanding to achieve results.

Overall, this position is responsible for:

• In close collaboration with other members of the Ventures team, develop and execute the Ventures’ team’s Blockchain and Web3 strategy.
• Guide and support the Venture Fund’s investment strategy and implementation on Blockchain and Web3.
• Provide technical, knowledge and strategic project management to specific blockchain and Web3 initiatives, as undertaken by UNICEF.

Expert guidance to blockchain and Web3 related partnerships and fundraising efforts.

The Innovation Specialist (Blockchain) will be in charge of:

1. In close collaboration with other members of the Ventures team, develop and execute the Ventures’ team’s engagement strategy as a priority frontier technology area.
2. Guide and support the Venture Fund’s investment strategy and implementation on Blockchain and Web3.
3. Provide technical, knowledge and strategic support and project management to specific blockchain and Web3 initiatives, as undertaken by UNICEF.
4. Expert guidance and Support to blockchain and Web3 related partnerships and fundraising efforts

If you would like to know more about this position, please review the complete Job Description here:   Innovation Specialist (Blockchain) P3.pdf

To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have…

The following minimum requirements:

Education: An advanced university degree (Master’s or higher) in engineering, computer science, business administration or other relevant field. 2 additional years of relevant experience and a bachelor’s degree will be considered in lieu of an advanced degree.

Work Experience: At least 5 years of relevant work experience in in technology product development, project and partnership management. 7 years of experience 

• Technical understanding of decentralized systems and blockchain networks (e.g DLT, Bitcoin and Ethereum, Layer 2 solutions,DApps, DeFi and DAOs).
• Experience engaging with stakeholders from different backgrounds and coordinating multi stakeholder activities.
• Experience managing a decentralized team.

Skills:

• Familiarity with international development;
• Demonstrated ability to translate clearly complex issues for a non-technical audience.
• Demonstrated outstanding analytical and quantitative skills, and the ability to conduct independent research.

Language Requirements: 

• Fluency in English is required

The following desirables:

• Developing country work experience and/or familiarity with emergency.
• Piloting and scaling of technology solutions in UNICEF programme countries desired
• 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 Core Values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust and Accountability and Sustainability (CRITAS) underpin everything we do and how we do it. Get acquainted with Our Values Charter: UNICEF Values

The UNICEF competencies required for this post are…

(1) Builds and maintains partnerships

(2) Demonstrates self-awareness and ethical awareness

(3) Drive to achieve results for impact

(4) Innovates and embraces change

(5) Manages ambiguity and complexity

(6) Thinks and acts strategically

(7) Works collaboratively with others 

Familiarize yourself with our competency framework and its different levels.

UNICEF is here to serve the world’s most disadvantaged children and our global workforce must reflect the diversity of those children. The UNICEF family is committed to include everyone, irrespective of their race/ethnicity, age, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, socio-economic background, or any other personal characteristic.

We offer a wide range of benefits to our staff, including paid parental leave, time off for breastfeeding purposes, and reasonable accommodation for persons with disabilities. UNICEF strongly encourages the use of flexible working arrangements.

UNICEF does not hire candidates who are married to children (persons under 18). 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 is committed to promoting the protection and safeguarding of all children. All selected candidates will undergo rigorous reference and background checks and will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles. Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check.

UNICEF appointments are subject to medical clearance.  Issuance of a visa by the host country of the duty station is required for IP positions and will be facilitated by UNICEF. Appointments may also be subject to inoculation (vaccination) requirements, including against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid). Should you be selected for a position with UNICEF, you either must be inoculated as required or receive a medical exemption from the relevant department of the UN. Otherwise, the selection will be canceled.

Remarks:

As per Article 101, paragraph 3, of the Charter of the United Nations, the paramount consideration in the employment of the staff is the necessity of securing the highest standards of efficiency, competence, and integrity.

UNICEF’s active commitment to diversity and inclusion is critical to deliver the best results for children. For this position, eligible and suitable male candidates from programmatic countries are encouraged to apply.

Government employees who are considered for employment with UNICEF are normally required to resign from their government positions before taking up an assignment with UNICEF. UNICEF reserves the right to withdraw an offer of appointment, without compensation, if a visa or medical clearance is not obtained, or necessary inoculation requirements are not met, within a reasonable period for any reason. 

UNICEF does not charge a processing fee at any stage of its recruitment, selection, and hiring processes (i.e., application stage, interview stage, validation stage, or appointment and training). UNICEF will not ask for applicants’ bank account information.

All UNICEF positions are advertised, and only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process. An internal candidate performing at the level of the post in the relevant functional area, or an internal/external candidate in the corresponding Talent Group, may be selected, if suitable for the post, without assessment of other candidates.

Additional information about working for UNICEF can be found here.