DIAL is a donor-funded program hosted within the UN Foundation and based in the UN Foundation’s Washington, D.C. office. The Software Engineer will be an employee of the UN Foundation.
About the ICT4SDGs
Software platforms have yet to reach ubiquitous scale in the sector, and commercial software providers have not appreciably adjusted their product design to meet the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Digital investments in global development are most often siloed by programmatic sector and working within constricted timelines, resulting in fragmentation and duplication of effort, de-prioritization of reuse, increased overall cost, and a limited the number of Information Communications Technology (ICT) applications that have built sufficient momentum to develop into broadly reusable software platforms. These ICT investments don’t address the end-to-end needs of government programs, leaving governments to determine how to integrate multiple, often fragmented technologies.
The SDG Digital Investment Framework (a product of the ICT4SDGs program) helps policymakers identify reusable ICT building blocks (e.g., ID, messaging and payment services) that can deliver priority SDG use cases. A key tenet of the framework is that there are recurring business processes across the SDGs that common ICT services can support, and multiple sectors can invest in and share. By prioritizing use cases according to citizens’ needs, we can map functionality across sectors and then invest in comprehensive infrastructure comprised of reusable software components, called ICT building blocks.
About the Open Source Center
The mission of the DIAL Open Source Center (OSC) is to convene a vibrant and inclusive community for builders of free and open source software, promoting knowledge sharing, collaboration and co-investment in technology and human capacity to support positive social change in communities around the world. It believes that an ecosystem with mature open source products, co-funded and contributed to by multiple organizations, is the key to delivering open and sustainable digital products and services that honor the Principles for Digital Development and addressing the SDGs through reusable building blocks.
Where appropriate, these two programs at DIAL are uniquely positioned to provide direct technical support to open source products to effect ecosystem-level changes, particularly in situations where a small, focused team can provide catalytic change, and where the goals may not align directly with the product vision of any one (siloed) product and community. Therefore, DIAL is seeking a Software Engineer. This software engineer would provide technology specialist services (architecture, implementation, testing and documentation, e.g.) primarily to serve the needs of the OSC and ICT4SDGs work.
The Software Engineer will report to the Director of Technology for overall guidance, work planning and performance reviews. He/She will work closely and may also be supervised by DIAL’s Director of Community for the Open Source Center.
ResponsibilitiesThe Software Engineer will have the following main responsibilities:
ICT4SDGs Catalytic Gap Filling
Open Source Center Support
General DIAL Support
For full-time, benefit eligible employees, UNF offers an excellent range of benefits, including:
Additionally, all benefit eligible employees have 12 paid holidays, 20 vacation days, 10 sick days, 3 personal days, and 8 weeks of parental leave.
The United Nations Foundation links the UN’s work with others around the world, mobilizing the energy and expertise of business and non-governmental organizations to help the UN tackle issues including climate change, global health, peace and security, women's empowerment, poverty eradication, energy access, and U.S.-UN relations.
