Senior Data Scientist (Fixed-Term)

Job Description

Job Opening ID: 268031
Job Network : Public Information and Conference Management
Job Family : Data Analytics and Management
Category and Level : Professional and Higher Categories, P-5
Duty Station : NAIROBI
Department/Office : United Nations Environment Programme
Date Posted : Jan 23, 2026
Deadline : Feb 21, 2026

Org. Setting and Reporting

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is the leading global environmental authority that sets the global environmental agenda, promotes the coherent implementation of the environmental dimension of sustainable development within the United Nations system and serves as an authoritative advocate for the global environment.

UNEP’s vision for the Digital Transformation of the organization is rooted in responding to a changing digital development landscape and the evolving needs of our partners, including government, businesses, finance, and civil society. As such, UNEP continues to seek out and embrace existing and emerging digital technology in all aspects of its work to better serve its partners in their efforts to tackle the triple planetary crises of climate change, nature loss and pollution. Through a process of scanning, testing and scaling relevant digital technologies, UNEP aims to become an increasingly data-driven, agile, transparent and effective partner.

UNEP’s approach to Digital Transformation is not only about digitalizing our products and services, but also using them to drive transformation changes in five areas: environmental decision-making, economic incentives and business models, human behaviors, and environmental governance. The focus of this job is to use internal and external data for evidence-based decision support by looking at trends, current data and predictions.

The Data Scientist will support in accelerating and scaling environmental sustainability through digital transformation, and in the digital transformation of UNEP’s business processes and culture. This position is located in the Chief Digital Office within the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in Nairobi. Under the direct supervision of Chief Digital Officer, the incumbent will be responsible for the following duties:

Responsibilities

• Heads the Applications, AI and Data Science function, with overall responsibility for UNEP data platforms and applications on both the corporate and programmatic sides.
• Plans and directs the work programme on data science, providing both methodical and managerial supervision of all activities; plans, organizes and manages staff and evaluates their performance.
• Takes the lead in exploration, identification, and acquisition of data sources to determine their suitability for use in decision making and advancing the goals of the organization. Enables broader use of data sources by applying quality methods to structure, clean, format, parse, and standardize for analytical use.
• Ensures close working relationships with key stakeholders to leverage the use of data science methods to support their programmatic areas with solutions that assist them in accomplishing their mandates.
• Coordinates the design and development of data science products to reveal insights and provides an understanding or knowledge of the data that would otherwise not be detected without the application of advanced analytical methods such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, predictive analytics, data and text mining, natural language processing, statistics, and use of relevant algorithms and computational approaches.
• Orchestrates the liaison with technology stakeholders to access infrastructure, software and services needed to develop and deploy data science products.
• Liaises with the Business Analysis team to translate user requirements into technical roadmaps and supervise their implementation in collaboration with business owners.
• Coordinates the design and development of customized visualization and presentation products to reveal the findings of analysis for clients, suitable for all forms of production to include briefings, reports, documentation to oversight bodies, interactive interfaces, and publication quality outputs.
• Guides, trains and supervises staff in the function.
• Represents the organization and the Chief Digital Officer at international and regional meetings and inter-agency activities, as well as internal meetings as needed.
• Advises senior management on trends and developments in data science and recommends appropriate courses of action.

Competencies

PROFESSIONALISM: Knowledge of the software and data analysis life cycles from ingest and wrangling to analysis and visualization to present findings. Excellent analytical and problem-solving skills, ability to build new products and drive new approaches. Ability to convey complex / difficult data science topics to clients in a relatable manner. Takes pride in the work for the organization and understands the impact that can be brought into the organization by allowing data-driven and evidence-based decisions. Ability to apply judgment in the context of assignments given, plan own work and manage conflicting priorities.

Shows pride in work and in achievements; demonstrates professional competence and mastery of subject matter; is conscientious and efficient in meeting commitments, observing deadlines and achieving results; is motivated by professional rather than personal concerns; shows persistence when faced with difficult problems or challenges; remains calm in stressful situations. Takes responsibility for incorporating gender perspectives and ensuring the equal participation of women and men in all areas of work.

PLANNING & ORGANIZING: Develops clear goals that are consistent with agreed strategies; identifies priority activities and assignments; adjusts priorities as required; allocates appropriate amount of time and resources for completing work; foresees risks and allows for contingencies when planning; monitors and adjusts plans and actions as necessary; uses time efficiently.

MANAGING PERFORMANCE: Delegates the appropriate responsibility, accountability and decision-making authority; makes sure that roles, responsibilities and reporting lines are clear to each staff member; accurately judges the amount of time and resources needed to accomplish a task and matches task to skills; monitors progress against milestones and deadlines; regularly discusses performance and provides feedback and coaching to staff; encourages risk-taking and supports creativity and initiative; actively supports the development and career aspirations of staff; appraises performance fairly.

CLIENT ORIENTATION: Considers all those to whom services are provided to be 7clients7 and seeks to see things from clients point of view; establishes and maintains productive partnerships with clients by gaining their trust and respect; identifies clients needs and matches them to appropriate solutions; monitors ongoing developments inside and outside the clients environment to keep informed and anticipate problems; keeps clients informed of progress or setbacks in projects; meets timeline for delivery of products or services to client.

JUDGEMENT/DECISION-MAKING: Identifies the key issues in a complex situation, and comes to the heart of the problem quickly; gathers relevant information before making a decision; considers positive and negative impacts of decisions prior to making them; takes decisions with an eye to the impact on others and on the Organization; proposes a course of action or makes a recommendation based on all available information; checks assumptions against facts; determines the actions proposed will satisfy the expressed and underlying needs for the decision; makes tough decisions when necessary.

Education

Advanced university degree (Master’s degree or equivalent) in data science, mathematics, statistics, engineering or any related field involving data science is required. A first-level university degree in combination with qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree. A degree in data science with a focus on environmental applications is desirable.

Job - Specific Qualification

Not available.

Work Experience

• A minimum of ten years of progressively responsible experience in data science, data analytics, applied mathematics, or software engineering, is required.
• Experience in statistical and computational methods, such as clustering, classification, correlation, dimension reduction, forecasting, machine/deep learning, and Generative AI is required.
• Experience in data Science tools such as Jupyter, Matlab, Knime, SPSS, SAS or similar Statistical Programming Languages such as R, Python, Javascript, tools for large datasets such as Hadoop, Spark is required.
• Experience managing software development and data science teams to deliver production-grade data platforms and applications is required.
• Experience managing the delivery of environmental applications with an international or multinational setting is desirable.

Languages

English and French are the working languages of the United Nations Secretariat. For this job opening, either English or French is required.

Assessment

Evaluation of qualified candidates may include an assessment exercise which may be followed by competency-based interview.

Special Notice

Appointment against this position is for an initial period of one (1) year and may be subject to extension. Staff members are subject to the authority of the Secretary-General and to assignment by him or her.

External candidate selected for this position will be granted a fixed-term appointment limited (“FTA-limited”) in accordance with section 2.2 (b) of administrative instruction ST/AI/2013/1 on Administration of fixed-term appointments. Renewal of appointment is contingent upon continued existence of mandate and availability of funding. If this position is discontinued, the incumbent will be separated from service.

United Nations Secretariat staff members who meet the definition of “internal candidate” in staff rule 4.10 who are selected for this position will be reassigned or transferred to the position, without a lien to their parent position.

In this context, all staff are expected to move periodically to new functions in their careers in accordance with established rules and procedures. Staff members of the United Nations Secretariat must fulfil the lateral move requirements to be eligible to apply for this vacancy. Staff members are requested to indicate all qualifying lateral moves in their Candidate Profile (CP) and motivation statement.

The United Nations Secretariat is committed to achieving 50/50 gender balance and geographical diversity in its staff. Female candidates are strongly encouraged to apply for this position.

Internal Applicants 6 When completing the Candidate Profile form, ensure ALL fields, ALL professional experience and contact information are completed and up to date. This information is the basis for the hiring manager to assess your eligibility and suitability for the position and to contact you.

Individual Contractors and Consultants who have worked within the UN Secretariat in the last six months, irrespective of the administering entity, are ineligible to apply for or be appointed to any professional and higher temporary or fixed-term positions, within six months of the end of their current or most recent service. For such positions, at least six months need to have elapsed between the end of a consultancy or individual contract and the time of application and consideration for an appointment as a staff member under the Staff Rules and Regulations of the United Nations.

Applicants, who successfully go through a competitive recruitment process and are recommended for selection and/or inclusion in the roster of pre-approved candidates for subsequent job openings at the same level and with similar functions, may have their application information and roster status shared with other UN Organizations. Such applicants may be contacted by other UN Organizations for similar job openings, subject to the confirmation of their interest. Placement on the roster is no guarantee of a future selection.

At the United Nations, the paramount consideration in the recruitment and employment of staff is the necessity of securing the highest standards of efficiency, competence and integrity, with due regard to geographic diversity. All employment decisions are made on the basis of qualifications and organizational needs.

The United Nations is committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment of mutual respect. The United Nations recruits and employs staff regardless of gender identity, sexual orientation, race, religious, cultural and ethnic backgrounds or disabilities. Reasonable accommodation for applicants with disabilities may be provided to support participation in the recruitment process when requested and indicated in the application.

On-line applications will be acknowledged where an email address has been provided. All applicants are strongly encouraged to apply on-line as soon as possible after the job opening has been posted and well before the deadline stated in the job opening. If you do not receive an e-mail acknowledgement within 24 hours of submission, your application may not have been received. If the problem persists, please seek technical assistance through the Inspira “Contact Us” link.

No Fee

THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CHARGE A FEE AT ANY STAGE OF THE RECRUITMENT PROCESS (APPLICATION, INTERVIEW MEETING, PROCESSING, OR TRAINING). THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CONCERN ITSELF WITH INFORMATION ON APPLICANTS BANK ACCOUNTS.

DEADLINE: February 21, 2026