Foundry Technical Engineering Lead

DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS

15 October 2026-23:59-GMT+01:00 Central European Time (Rome)

WFP celebrates and embraces diversity. It is committed to the principle of equal employment opportunity for all its employees and encourages qualified candidates to apply irrespective of race, colour, national origin, ethnic or social background, genetic information, gender, gender identity and/or expression, sexual orientation, religion or belief, HIV status or disability.

ABOUT WFP

The World Food Programme is the world’s largest humanitarian organization saving lives in emergencies and using food assistance to build a pathway to peace, stability and prosperity, for people recovering from conflict, disasters and the impact of extreme weather shocks.

At WFP, people are at the heart of everything we do and the vision of the future WFP workforce is one of diverse, committed, skilled, and high performing teams, selected on merit, operating in a healthy and inclusive work environment, living WFP's values (Integrity, Collaboration, Commitment, Humanity, and Inclusion) and working with partners to save and change the lives of those WFP serves.

To learn more about WFP, visit our website: https://www.wfp.org and follow us on social media to keep up with our latest news: YouTube, LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok.

WHY JOIN WFP?

• WFP is a 2020 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate.
• WFP offers a highly inclusive, diverse, and multicultural working environment.
• WFP invests in the personal & professional development of its employees through a range of training, accreditation, coaching, mentorship, and other programs as well as through internal mobility opportunities.
• A career path in WFP provides an exciting opportunity to work across the various country, regional and global offices around the world, and with passionate colleagues who work tirelessly to ensure that effective humanitarian assistance reaches millions of people across the globe.
• We offer an attractive compensation package (please refer to the Terms and Conditions section of this vacancy announcement).

JOB TITLE: DOTS (Foundry) Technical Engineering Lead

TYPE OF CONTRACT: Regular Consultancy (CST 2)

UNIT/DIVISION: Technology Division, Global Data Office

DUTY STATION (City, Country): Remote

DURATION: 11 months

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE OF THE ASSIGNMENT:

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is the world's largest humanitarian agency, fighting hunger worldwide. WFP Technology Division is the digital business engine of the World Food Programme, providing multi-pronged and resilient technical capabilities able to respond with the agility required in humanitarian operations.

WFP has launched its digital transformation program with a strong focus on utilizing data for better informed decision-making. We have implemented Palantir Foundry, a leading data integration platform to enable solving optimization problems with data at scale, alongside platforms for deep field data collection, visual analytics, and corporate reporting.

Under the supervision of the Chief Data Officer, the incumbent will be a key team member in leading the design, implementation, operation and optimization of engineering services to support WFP HQ and field offices worldwide. In addition, this role will function as the anchor for the team of developers that are currently implementing projects. In this capacity, this role will be responsible for setting the bar and ambition for the rest of the team, ensuring the long-term success of the technical solutions as well as individual growth for members of the team.

ACCOUNTABILITIES/RESPONSIBILITIES:

Programming & Technical

• Review and design overall WFP Foundry pipeline structure and architecture
• Review all workflow designs and approve budget (relevant to developer and maintenance resources).
• Monitor health checks and performance, and assess pipeline changes on a larger scale, including upstream and downstream implications and communicate findings to engineering team
• Optimize Resource Management of DOTS (computing and storage)
• Own development/coding best practices and standards in the Platform.
• Manage and run the technical part of the release process (i.e. merge to master), follow up on required code changes with developers prior to release
• Work closely with the release manager to bridge the gap between business needs and tasks and technical implementation
• Identify gaps and develop engineering testing processes
• Ensure that the platform is developed with a holistic and long-term approach in mind — tactically this will -among other things, translate to manage the overall tech debt and refactoring efforts needed and weigh that against new developments efforts on a larger scale
• Liaise with non-technical stakeholders such as UI designers, business POCs and surface needs to Foundry program management
• Own the definition of Ready and ensure processes and documentation are optimized for handing over DOTS workflow to maintenance.
• Define the hub and spoke engineering to implementation teams and user groups.

Leadership & Management

• Overall supervision of the Maintenance Team working with the Maintenance Lead to ensure alignment across the activities for active projects and maintenance and ensure correct level of knowledge transfer. Optimize the maintenance model together with the Maintenance Lead,
• Manage the developers as they work on projects. Monitor cadence, ensure peer reviews are conducted, run retrospectives, and mentor developers. Provide regular performance assessments.
• Promote transparency and accountability across all developer streams by building and improving standard operating models for engineering team(s)
• Develop methodology and practice to assess engineering team skills meet best practices
• Assigning tasks with the Release Managers in weekly/biweekly sprints and ensuring that team’s workload is feasible
• Resource allocation across multiple work streams
• Onboarding/offboarding processes for new developers defined and adjusted (running technical interviews, etc.)
• Provide feedback to individual team members on how they can improve their work
• Quarterly feedback to LTA Vendors on performance of contractors.
• Bridge between Platform Governance team(s) and implementation teams - making sure the implementation teams adhere to internal governance standards and proactively communicates problems or improvements that can be made to the existing governance processes that affects technical teams

QUALIFICATIONS & EXPERIENCE REQUIRED:

Education: Advanced University Degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Information Systems, Information Management, Data Management, or other relevant disciplines.

Experience

• At least 6 years of experience working with software development (of which 4 years working with Palantir Foundry and 2 years with AIP in a senior role)
• At least 4 years of experience working on data and analytics projects. (Desirable)
• At least 4 years of with Python, PySpark, Java, or C# (Mandatory)
• At least 4 years of leading and mentoring technical team members (Desirable)

Knowledge & Skills

• Experience with data integration or analytics solutions such as Alteryx, Talend, SAP Hana (and/or Datasphere), Tableau, etc.
• Experience working with database technologies such as Postgres, Hadoop, Amazon S3, Oracle, SQL Server, etc.

• Experience with agile/scrum methodologies
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Excellent problem solving and analytical skills
• Solid technical understanding of data management & ETL
• Strong Project or Product Management skills

Languages:

Fluency (level C) in English language. Intermediate knowledge (level B) of a second official UN language: Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian, Spanish, and/or WFP’s working language, Portuguese.

WFP LEADERSHIP FRAMEWORK

WFP Leadership Framework guides to the common standards of behavior that guide HOW we work together to accomplish our mission.

Click here to access WFP Leadership Framework

REASONABLE ACCOMMODATION

WFP is committed to supporting individuals with disabilities by providing reasonable accommodations throughout the recruitment process. If you require a reasonable accommodation, please contact: global.inclusion@wfp.org

NO FEE DISCLAIMER

The United Nations does not charge any application, processing, training, interviewing, testing or other fee in connection with the application or recruitment process. Should you receive a solicitation for the payment of a fee, please disregard it. Furthermore, please note that emblems, logos, names and addresses are easily copied and reproduced. Therefore, you are advised to apply particular care when submitting personal information on the web.

REMINDERS BEFORE YOU SUBMIT YOUR APPLICATION

• All applications must be submitted exclusively through our online recruiting system. We do not consider CVs or applications sent by email, LinkedIn, or any other channel.

• We strongly recommend that your Workday profile is accurate and complete, and that all sections are filled in, including your employment history, academic qualifications, language skills, and UN grade (if applicable). Once your profile is completed, please apply, and submit your application.

• If you experience technical issues while submitting your application, you may contact us at global.hrerecruitment@wfp.org. Please note that this email is only for technical issues with an application - unsolicited applications or documents sent to this inbox will not receive a reply.

• At the application stage, the only required documents are your CV and Cover Letter. Additional documents (passport, certificates, recommendation letters, etc.) may be requested later in the process.

• Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and invited to proceed to the next stage of the recruitment process.

All employment decisions are made on the basis of organizational needs, job requirements, merit, and individual qualifications. WFP is committed to providing an inclusive work environment free of sexual exploitation and abuse, all forms of discrimination, any kind of harassment, sexual harassment, and abuse of authority. Therefore, all selected candidates will undergo rigorous reference and background checks.

No appointment under any kind of contract will be offered to members of the UN Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ), International Civil Service Commission (ICSC), FAO Finance Committee, WFP External Auditor, WFP Audit Committee, Joint Inspection Unit (JIU) and other similar bodies within the United Nations system with oversight responsibilities over WFP, both during their service and within three years of ceasing that service.

Welcome to our new recruitment platform!

If you used to have an account on our previous platform, please note that you will need to create a new account for future applications. However, this change will not affect any ongoing recruitment processes.

Understanding contract types in WFP

To ensure that WFP is able to deliver on its mandate, a range of contract types exist depending on the duration and nature of work. Find out more here.

Guidance on the Use of AI in WFP Recruitment Processes

These guidelines are here to help you use AI tools responsibly throughout WFP’s recruitment process. We also want to be transparent about how we use AI on our side. Curious? Find out more here.

Working with WFP

Our greatest strength is the people working around the world providing access to nutritious food and promoting lasting solutions to those we serve. WFP provides its staff with meaningful and impactful careers, continuous learning and training, and a multicultural and stimulating work environment.

WFP celebrates and embraces diversity. It is committed to the principle of equal employment opportunity for all its employees and encourages qualified candidates to apply irrespective of race, colour, national origin, ethnic or social background, genetic information, gender, gender identity and/or expression, sexual orientation, religion or belief, HIV status, physical or mental disability.

About WFP

The United Nations World Food Programme is the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate. We are the world’s largest humanitarian organization, saving lives in emergencies and using food assistance to build a pathway to peace, stability and prosperity for people recovering from conflict, disasters, and the impact of climate change.

Read more about WFP’s history here, and WFP’s mission here

Hear the voices of WFP

Want to hear what it’s like working for WFP? Check out our newsletter highlighting the career stories of our passionate staff here: Pathway to WFP | LinkedIn

Our values and behaviours

Integrity, collaboration, commitment, humanity, inclusion. These values inspire everything we do every day, allowing us to work towards a world with zero hunger. You can read more about the values here.

Our behaviour guides us in how we accomplish our mission. All WFP employees are expected to demonstrate the standards of behaviour described in the WFP Leadership Framework. Learn more about the WFP Leadership Framework here.

Beware of fraudulent job offers

WFP is aware of fictitious employment offers being circulated via email or originating from online job boards. Many of these schemes consist of an alleged offer of employment or contract with WFP in return for the payment of fees or providing personal or banking information. Read more.