Hi, I am sharing on this opportunity which opened recently. Full details below:
Consultancy: Blockchain Lead, Office of Innovation, remote, full-time
About position
UNICEF Ventures explores technologies, such as blockchain, with the potential to impact children and young people globally, providing them with information, opportunity and choice. The team sees blockchain technology as having benefits in three main ways: 1) leveraging innovative financing models to distribute resources; 2) increasing the efficiency and transparency of processes, and; 3) incentivising and encouraging the creation and maintenance of open-source digital public goods. The approach to achieving this is by researching and prototyping with both internal and external stakeholders.
To understand the technical, social, ethical, and legal challenges of utilising blockchain technologies in our complex and interconnected world — the team is exploring this space with open eyes on practical experimentations of cryptocurrencies, smart contracts, and various types of tokens, as well as by supporting learning and training initiatives to build capacity.
This is a role for someone who has built open-source products before, and taken them to a large number of users. You know about rapid testing, agile development (at least from a product-manager if not project-manager point of view). You can tell a story, sell an idea, and comfortable work with a distributed team of nerds to help build out a vision. You understand the difference between ETH and ETC and can communicate it clearly in a tweet. Or a few tweets. You have an understanding of financial markets, exchanges, and smart contracts and (probably) find the term “fintech” frustrating. You can see a big picture but are able to help develop the minutiae of a plan, and understand how to adapt your communication style based on the audience you’re speaking to.
Responsibilities
- Identify and support promising blockchain based solutions for scaling through the portfolio mechanism, through technical support to the Fund’s investments, coordinating links to across UNICEF divisions
- Act as a project manager related to specific blockchain initiatives led by UNICEF, when UNICEF itself is looking to use emerging technology;
- This includes supporting Country Office pilots related to digital records, transfer of value or increased organisational efficiency
- Identifying and supporting opportunities to use blockchain for internal efficiency
- Act as a technical advisor to UNICEF related initiatives that require blockchain input, country-level pilots, HQ-led initiatives in various divisions, national committees, as well as internal and UN-wide working groups
- Guidance to blockchain- and crypto-related partnerships and fundraising efforts
Qualifications
- An advanced university degree (Master’s or higher) in engineering, computer science, business administration or other relevant field.
- A first University Degree in a relevant field combined with 2 additional years of professional experience may be accepted in lieu of an Advanced University Degree.
- A minimum of five years of relevant professional experience in technology product development, project and partnership management
- 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.
- Demonstrated outstanding analytical and quantitative skills, and the ability to conduct independent research.
- Experience managing a decentralized team.
- Demonstrated ability to translate clearly complex issues for a non-technical audience.
- Familiarity with international development;
- Developing country work experience and/or familiarity with emergency is considered an asset.
- Fluency in English is required. Knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish) or a local language is an asset.
→ Apply ←
About UNICEF
UNICEF has a 70-year history of innovating for children. We believe that new approaches, partnerships and technologies that support realizing children’s rights are critical to improving their lives.
The Office of Innovation is a creative, interactive, and agile team in UNICEF. We sit at a unique intersection, where an organization that works on huge global issues meets the startup thinking, the technology, and the partners that turn this energy into scalable solutions.
UNICEF’s Office of Innovation creates opportunities for the world’s children by focusing on where new markets can meet their vital needs. We do this by:
- Connecting youth communities (or more broadly – anyone disconnected or under-served) to decision-makers, and to each other, to deliver informed, relevant and sustained programmes that build better, stronger futures for children.
- Provoking change for children through an entrepreneurial approach – in a traditionally risk-averse field – to harness rapidly moving innovations and apply them to serve the needs of all children.
- Creating new models of partnership that leverage core business values across the public, private and academic sectors in order to deliver fast, and lasting results for children.
The Office of Innovation specifically looks to form partnerships around frontier technologies (like drones and UAVs, blockchain, 21st century skills, urban technologies, new financial tools, wearables and sensors, or 3D-Printing) that exist at the intersection of $100 billion business markets and 1 billion person needs - and to identify how they can grow and scale profitably and inclusively.