Director of It Innovation at United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) – United States
Recruiter: United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF)
About United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF)
UNICEF is the United Nations agency working to save children’s lives, defend their rights, and help them fulfil their potential. Operating in over 190 countries and territories, UNICEF delivers programs in health, nutrition, education, water and sanitation, child protection, and emergency response, making it the world’s largest provider of vaccines and children’s services.
Job Summary
This position offers an opportunity to contribute to child rights, education, healthcare, and child protection within United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF)’s important work in child rights, education, healthcare, and child protection. Working in United States, you will collaborate with international colleagues and partners to address global challenges and promote sustainable development. This role provides an excellent opportunity for professional growth while making a meaningful contribution to international cooperation and global peace and security.
Full Job Description
DUTIES
SUMMARY
The Director of IT Innovation is responsible for leading the strategy, design, integration, optimization, compliance, and governance of the organizations analytics ecosystem, data platforms, and business technology solutions in collaboration with business stakeholders.
This includes oversight of enterprise data architecture, analytics, business intelligence, data governance, and technology-enabled process improvements, and ensures that data systems and reporting functions comply with relevant regulatory, privacy, and funder requirements. This role will also partner closely with all areas of the organization to ensure critical alignment between business needs, funder obligations, analytics capabilities, and system performance, and develops multi-year roadmaps for enterprise technology, analytics maturity, sustainability, and continuous quality improvement (CQI).
Their work will be aligned specifically with the following regulatory and funding requirements; Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS), SOC/ISO, applicable Uniform Guidance reporting expectations, and specific government or private grant data security requirements.
ESSENTIAL DUTIES
To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.
Enterprise Data & Systems Strategy
Owns and manages the organizations analytics and data systems portfolio, including: Data warehouse and data platform environments. Business intelligence and reporting tools (e.g., Power BI, Tableau). Integration middleware (e.g., Boomi, MuleSoft, API frameworks). Enterprise CRM and cross-functional business systems (e.g., Salesforce Non-Profit Cloud).
Leads the execution of the enterprise data strategy, ensuring scalability, performance, and alignment with organizational priorities.
Oversees system optimization, enhancements, and the multi-year innovation roadmap for analytics and data systems.
Maintains enterprise architecture documentation, integration maps, and data-flow diagrams to support transparency, resilience, and audit readiness.
Leads Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) processes and best-practice implementation for analytics and business systems.
Data Governance, Reporting & Funder Compliance
Establishes and oversees data governance policies, metadata management practices, and data quality standards across systems.
Develops and manages dashboards, analytics models, and reporting frameworks that support operational, financial, and programmatic decision-making.
Ensures that systems support federal (including Uniform Guidance), state, county, and private funder reporting requirements and deliverables.
Partners with Finance, HR, Programs, Development (as appropriate), Compliance, and Contracts to ensure the accuracy, consistency, and timeliness of reporting.
Implements and monitors controls that ensure data integrity, reconciliation, and reporting accuracy across all analytic outputs.
Cross-Functional Collaboration & Change Management
Partners with Executive Leadership, Finance, HR, Programs, Contracts, Operations, and IT Infrastructure to understand business needs and translate them into technology and analytics solutions.
Leads organizational change-management efforts related to new analytics capabilities, system enhancements, and cross-functional integrations.
Serves as an escalation point for issues related to reporting logic, data flows, data quality, and systems integration.
Supports system selection and implementation processes, including requirements gathering, vendor evaluation, configuration oversight, testing, and rollout.
Leads or co-leads systems and data-focused CQI initiatives in partnership with evaluation, quality improvement, and program leadership teams.
Ensures transparent communication relative to both priorities and available resourcing for alignment.
Vendor, Budget & Resource Management
Manages budgeting for analytics systems, business intelligence tools, data platforms, and related technology innovation initiatives.
Oversees vendor contracts, service-level agreements (SLAs), and performance metrics for data and analytics solutions, including escalation and issue resolution.
Supervises and professionally develops analytics and systems staff to improve their experience and the experience of those they serve.
Compliance, Privacy, Internal Controls & Risk Management
Ensures compliance with HIPAA, FERPA, GDPR, PCI DSS, SOC 2, ISO 27001, applicable data retention rules, and funder-specific data security and privacy requirements.
Maintains documentation required for audits, monitoring visits, and compliance reviews, including system maps, data flows, security controls, and governance artifacts as required.
Ensures that system access, role-based permissions, and workflows reflect appropriate internal controls and segregation of duties expectations including minimum necessary standards.
Coordinates with Legal, Compliance, Contracts, and Finance to ensure that funder and contractual requirements are accurately reflected in systems, data structures, and reporting workflows.
ADDITIONAL DUTIES
Leads annual planning cycles related to enterprise data, analytics, and system enhancement needs across the organization.
Provides clear, consistent communication updates and visibility on analytics projects, system enhancements, and data governance initiatives to stakeholders at all levels.
Contributes to cybersecurity and data privacy initiatives in partnership with IT Infrastructure, Compliance, and Security stakeholders, including risk assessments and remediation planning.
Performs other duties and special projects as assigned.
SUPERVISORY RESPONSIBILITIES
Supervises staff and consultants in areas including, but not limited to:
Data Engineering
Data Science
Business Intelligence (agency-, division-, and program-level)
Enterprise/Data Architecture
Business Systems
Data Governance
Systems Integration
Data acquisition and modeling
Other technical, analytics, or evaluation teams as needed
QUALIFICATIONS
Education & Experience
Bachelors degree in computer science, information systems, data science, engineering, mathematics or a related field required.
Minimum of 710 years of experience in analytics, enterprise systems, business intelligence, or technology strategy.
Minimum of 4 years of management experience leading cross-functional or technical teams.
Experience working in regulated environments (e.g., HIPAA, FERPA, GDPR) strongly preferred.
Experience developing analytics or reporting systems that support federal, state, county, or private grant and contract reporting is strongly preferred.
Experience with Salesforce or comparable enterprise CRM platforms preferred.
CERTIFICATIONS (Preferred but Not Required)
AWS or Azure (GCP) data certifications
Certified Information Privacy Professional (CIPP), Certified Data Management Professional (CDMP), Security+ or comparable privacy/security certifications
Tableau or Power BI certification
Salesforce Administrator or Architect certification
PMP or Certified Business Intelligence Professional (CBIP)
SKILLS
Ability to translate complex systems and data issues into actionable insights for non-technical stakeholders.
Experience with working and building a collaborative and process-oriented environment
Proficiency with SQL, business intelligence tools, and enterprise data platforms.
Strong understanding of data governance, data architecture, and system integrations.
Knowledge of privacy and security compliance frameworks and their practical application in system design.
Ability to guide analytics and technology strategy and translate complex technical concepts for non-technical audiences.
Strong leadership, verbal/written communication, facilitation, and…
Key Details
- Job Title: Director of IT Innovation
- Grade: N/A
- Location: Los, United States
- Department: United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF)
- Contract Type: Professional Staff
- Estimated Salary Range:$84,000 – $144,000 USD annually
Qualifications
- Not specified in the official posting
Skills
- Not specified in the official posting
Benefits
- Competitive compensation package
- Professional development opportunities
- Comprehensive health and wellness benefits
- Inclusive and collaborative work environment
How to Apply
Applications must be submitted through the official UN careers portal. Female candidates and candidates from underrepresented groups are strongly encouraged to apply.