Digital Information Specialists

Organizational Setting

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) contributes to the achievement of the 2030 Agenda through the FAO Strategic Framework by supporting the transformation to MORE efficient, inclusive, resilient and sustainable agrifood systems, for better production, better nutrition, a better environment, and a better life, leaving no one behind.

FAO's commitment to environmental sustainability is integral to our strategic objectives and operations.

The Partnerships and UN Collaboration Division (PSU) is responsible for coordinating and overseeing the identification, strengthening and stewardship of strategic partnerships with UN agencies and non-state actors (NSAs) including civil society, academia and research institutions, family farmers' and indigenous peoples' organizations and parliamentarians. The Division leads FAO's engagement in the UN Development System repositioning, develops capacities, fosters dialogue, scales up programmes and advocates for FAO's corporate positions in support of FAO's new Strategic Framework and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It ensures that multi-stakeholder processes and strategic interventions globally and locally are an integral part of FAO's work and provides targeted support for successful collaboration with NSAs and UN agencies. The Division has the lead responsibility for the promotion of the Principles for Responsible Investment in Agriculture and Food Systems (CFS-RAI) and the implementation of the Food Coalition, the UN Decade of Family Farming (2019-2028) and the FAO Policy on Indigenous Peoples. It is also in charge of FAO's e-learning programmes delivered through the FAO e-learning Academy and access to scientific and technical data through knowledge platforms and enhanced information policies and standards such as FAO AGRIS and AGROVOC, promotes and facilitates knowledge sharing on sustainable food security and nutrition among various stakeholders.

The purpose of this call is to establish a roster of specialists to support FAO in developing and applying digital solutions, information systems, data-driven tools and semantic technologies. Assignments may be global, regional or country-level and may be home-based with travel as required.

Reporting Lines

The incumbents report to officers within their assigned unit.

Technical Focus

Qualified candidates may be considered for assignments in one or more of the following profiles:

Profile 1: Information Technology (IT) Specialist

•     Design, development, implementation, and maintenance of enterprise applications and digital solutions 
•     Software development, systems integration, and API management 
•     Cloud computing, infrastructure management, and DevOps practices 
•     Cybersecurity, identity and access management, and information security 
•     Database administration and performance optimization 
•     Enterprise architecture and solution design 
•     Technical support for digital transformation initiatives and innovation projects

Profile 2: Information Management Specialist

•     Development and implementation of information and knowledge management strategies 
•     Content, document, and records management 
•     Metadata standards, information architecture, and lifecycle management 
•     Knowledge-sharing platforms and collaboration tools 
•     Data governance and information quality frameworks 
•     Management of organizational knowledge and information resources 
•     Support to information dissemination and digital knowledge services

Profile 3: Semantics Specialist

•     Design and maintenance of controlled vocabularies, taxonomies, thesauri, and ontologies
•     Semantic modelling and knowledge organization systems
•     Semantic interoperability frameworks
•     Knowledge graphs, linked open data, and semantic web technologies
•     Metadata harmonization and standards implementation
•     Conceptual modelling and semantic data integration
•     Multilingual knowledge organization and semantic enrichment

Profile 4: Data Analyst

•     Data collection, processing, validation, and quality assurance 
•     Statistical analysis, data mining, and exploratory data analysis 
•     Dashboards, reports, and business intelligence solutions 
•     Data visualization and communication of findings 
•     Performance monitoring and indicator development 
•     Predictive analytics and machine learning applications (where relevant) 
•     Evidence-based decision-making through data-driven insights

Tasks and responsibilities

Profile 1: Information Technology (IT) Specialist

•     Contribute to design, development, testing, deployment, and maintenance of web-based applications and digital platforms supporting FAO knowledge and information products 
•     Support enhancement and operation of FAO AGRIS and related systems 
•     Develop system integrations, APIs, and data exchange mechanisms 
•     Support implementation of AGROVOC and other knowledge organization systems 
•     Develop metadata management, indexing, search, and retrieval solutions 
•     Design data processing workflows and ingestion pipelines, including quality-control procedures 
•     Support database, repository, and cloud infrastructure administration and optimization 
•     Develop technical documentation, specifications, and operational procedures 
•     Collaborate with IT, information management, semantic, and data analytics teams 
•     Provide technical support, troubleshooting, and maintenance 
•     Contribute to software engineering, cybersecurity, accessibility, and performance best practices 
•     Participate in testing, release management, and continuous improvement 
•     Perform other related duties as required

Profile 2: Information Management Specialist

•     Develop and improve information management policies, standards, and guidelines 
•     Support organization and dissemination of agricultural information resources 
•     Develop metadata standards, application profiles, and documentation 
•     Support metadata creation, curation, validation, and quality assurance 
•     Contribute to FAO AGRIS metadata workflows and processes 
•     Support information quality frameworks and data stewardship practices 
•     Coordinate information exchange with internal and external partners 
•     Develop training and guidance materials 
•     Conduct information audits and gap analyses 
•     Contribute to information architecture and metadata models 
•     Monitor developments in information management standards 
•     Prepare technical reports and knowledge products 
•     Provide technical advice and capacity development support 
•     Perform other related duties as required

Profile 3: Semantics Specialist

•     Develop and maintain AGROVOC and other knowledge organization systems 
•     Design controlled vocabularies, ontologies, taxonomies, and semantic models 
•     Support semantic interoperability frameworks and data integration 
•     Develop mappings and alignments between vocabularies and metadata standards 
•     Manage linked data publication and semantic resources 
•     Support knowledge graph development and semantic integration 
•     Conduct semantic modelling, concept analysis, and terminology management 
•     Support metadata harmonization and enrichment 
•     Support multilingual terminology systems 
•     Develop documentation, guidelines, and training materials 
•     Collaborate with IT and data specialists on semantic integration 
•     Monitor semantic web standards and technologies 
•     Provide technical advice and capacity development support 
•     Perform other related duties as required

Profile 4: Data Analyst

•     Collect, process, validate, and analyse data from multiple sources 
•     Develop analytical datasets, pipelines, and reporting workflows 
•     Conduct data quality assessments and validation 
•     Design dashboards, reports, and visualizations 
•     Analyse trends, patterns, and indicators 
•     Support monitoring and evaluation of programmes and projects 
•     Develop indicators and performance frameworks 
•     Conduct statistical and predictive analyses 
•     Support analysis of FAO AGRIS data and usage statistics 
•     Analyse user engagement and digital platform performance 
•     Collaborate with IT, information management, and semantic teams 
•     Prepare analytical reports and documentation 
•     Support data governance and quality practices 
•     Perform other related duties as required

CANDIDATES WILL BE ASSESSED AGAINST THE FOLLOWING

Minimum Requirements

•     For Consultants: Advanced university degree from an institution recognized by the International Association of Universities (IAU)/UNESCO in information science, computer science, data science, agriculture, engineering, social sciences, economics, etc. Consultants with a bachelor's degree need two additional years of relevant professional experience.
•     For PSA.SBS: University degree (or technical degree/certificate) from an institution recognized by the International Association of Universities (IAU)/UNESCO in in information science, computer science, data science, agriculture, engineering, social sciences, economics.
•     At least one (1) year of relevant professional experience in one or more of the following areas: information technology, information management, semantic technologies, data analytics, digital solutions, or related disciplines.Working knowledge of English;

FAO Core Competencies

•     Results Focus
•     Teamwork
•     Communication
•     Building Effective Relationships
•     Knowledge Sharing and Continuous Improvement

Technical/Functional Skills

Profile 1: Information Technology (IT) Specialist

•     Experience with search and indexing technologies (e.g. Elasticsearch, Solr),NoSQL and document databases (e.g. MongoDB). 
•     Experience with object storage solutions (e.g. MinIO, S3-compatible storage). 
•     Experience with REST APIs and microservice architectures. 
•     Experience with semantic technologies, RDF, SKOS, SPARQL and AGROVOC-related implementations. 
•     Experience with containerization and cloud-native environments. 
•     Experience developing web applications using modern frontend and backend frameworks.

Profile 2: Information Management Specialist

•     Knowledge of metadata standards and schemas (e.g. Dublin Core, AGRIS AP, DCAT, MODS) and with bibliographic and repository management systems. 
•     Experience with metadata quality assessment and curation. 
•     Knowledge of open data and FAIR principles. 
•     Experience supporting scholarly communication, digital repositories or agricultural information systems. 
•     Familiarity with AGROVOC and controlled vocabularies. 
•     Experience working with multilingual information resources. 
•     Understanding of interoperability standards and information exchange protocols.

Profile 3: Semantics Specialist

•     Knowledge of semantic web standards and technologies, including RDF, RDFS, OWL, SKOS, SPARQL and Linked Open Data principles. 
•     Experience in thesaurus, taxonomy and ontology development and management. 
•     Experience with AGROVOC or other domain-specific knowledge organization systems. 
•     Experience with semantic interoperability, vocabulary alignment and metadata harmonization. 
•     Experience with knowledge graph development and semantic data integration. 
•     Experience with terminology management and multilingual vocabularies. 
•     Experience using semantic management platforms and tools such as PoolParty, Skosmos, VocBench, Protégé, GraphDB or similar technologies. 
•     Familiarity with metadata standards and information management frameworks used in research, agriculture, food systems or international organizations.

Profile 4: Data Analyst

•     Experience with data analysis, statistical methods and reporting. 
•     Experience with data visualization and business intelligence tools (e.g. Power BI, Tableau, Kibana or similar). 
•     Experience with Python, R or other analytical programming languages. 
•     Experience with data cleaning, transformation and quality assurance processes. 
•     Experience with large-scale datasets, metadata repositories or research information systems. 
•     Familiarity with open data standards, FAIR principles and data governance frameworks. 
•     Experience working with agricultural, scientific, bibliographic or knowledge-management datasets is considered an asset. 
•     Knowledge of semantic technologies and linked data concepts is desirable.
•     Experience with web and digital analytics platforms, including Google Analytics 4 (GA4), for monitoring user behaviour, content performance, audience engagement and digital service usage.
•     Experience analysing website traffic, user journeys, search behaviour, acquisition channels and engagement metrics to support evidence-based decision-making.
•     Experience designing and monitoring key performance indicators (KPIs) and dashboards for digital products, knowledge platforms and information services.
•     Familiarity with event-based analytics, tagging strategies and data visualization tools for reporting and performance monitoring.

Selection Criteria

•     Knowledge of other FA language will be considered an asset
•     Analytical and problem-solving skills.
•     Ability to work effectively in multicultural and multidisciplinary environments.
•     Communication skills, including ability to present technical information clearly in English.
•     Ability to manage priorities and deliver quality results under time constraints.