Job Description

USAID/Nepal invites applications for employment from all interested and qualified candidates for the position of Development Program Specialist – Senior Geospatial Information Systems (GIS) Adviser in the Program and Project Development Office, under a Foreign Service National (FSN) Personal Services Contract (PSC) subject to availability of funds.

OPEN TO: All interested and qualified candidates

POSITION: Development Program Specialist (Senior GIS Adviser) - FSNPSC-11

OPENING DATE:  February 12, 2019

CLOSING DATE:  February 26, 2019– 5:00 P.M Kathmandu time

WORK HOURS: Full-time; 40 hours/week

NOTE:  ALL ORDINARILY RESIDENT APPLICANTS MUST HAVE THE REQUIRED WORK AND/OR RESIDENCY PERMITS TO BE ELIGIBLE FOR CONSIDERATION.

BASIC FUNCTION OF THE POSITION:

USAID/Nepal’s Senior Geospatial Information Systems (GIS) Adviser is a member of the Program and Project Development (PPD) Office’s Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL)/GIS Team. The Incumbent reports to the PPD Office Director or his/her designee; serves as the principal GIS adviser and provides specialized technical support to the Front Office, Senior Leadership Team (SLT), USAID/Nepal (Mission) staff, Implementing Partners, and Embassy Kathmandu; co-leads the Mission’s Integrated M&E Team (IMET); supervises the Mission’s GIS intern/fellow; indirectly supervises the Development Objective (DO) Teams’ GIS points of contact (POCs); and serves as Activity Manager for simplified acquisition procurement mechanisms related to geospatial and data analytics. The Senior GIS Adviser also serves as the primary liaison with the Government of Nepal’s (GON’s) Central Bureau of Statistics, National Planning Commission, Department of Survey, and other sector-specific line ministries, as well as other Donors on all GIS related activities.

The Senior GIS Adviser is the U.S. Government’s foremost GIS expert and leader and applies advanced data and geographic analysis to development challenges to improve USAID/Nepal’s strategic planning, project/activity design, MEL, and results communication in support of the U.S. Government’s foreign assistance goals in Nepal. The Senior GIS Adviser is responsible for the management, promotion, and implementation of geospatial technologies throughout USAID/Nepal’s technical sectors. The Incumbent employs the use of appropriately disaggregated data, GIS, and an array of analytical approaches to increase data-driven decision-making related to democracy and governance, agriculture, natural resources management, energy, economic growth, health, education, and disaster risk management. Information gathered, analyzed, and visualized by the Incumbent helps USAID/Nepal, Embassy Kathmandu, the Government of Nepal (GON), USAID Implementing Partners, and the International Development Partner Group (donor coordination forum) conduct deeper analysis of development challenges and the impact of interventions; make more informed and timely policy decisions; facilitate information exchange; enhance donor/government coordination; contribute to Mission-wide MEL efforts; and support the Mission’s communication of development results. 

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS:

1. Education: A Bachelor’s degree in geography, management information system, urban and regional planning, statistics, economics, computer science, engineering, math, social sciences, business/public administration, or other relevant discipline is required. A Master’s degree in the above disciplines is preferred.       
2. Prior Work Experience:  The following are required: minimum of seven (7) years of progressively responsible professional-level experience in geospatial data management, analysis, and cartographic production; performance monitoring, evaluation, and learning; the analysis and interpretation of large amounts of data; the design or management of databases and analytical systems; experience training a broad range of stakeholders; and experience working in international development with USAID or another donor agency, host government organizations, or the private sector.    
3. Post Entry Training:  The appropriate USAID courses in MEL, GIS programs, Agreement/Contracting Officer's Representative (AOR/COR), and other technical and staff supervision courses will be provided by USAID.
4. Language Proficiency: Level IV English (reading, writing, speaking). The candidate must have excellent written and oral English skills. Ability to write technical documents in English, to concisely summarize complex ideas, and to edit work is required. (Language proficiency will be tested). Level IV Nepali (speaking). The candidate must have excellent oral Nepali skills to communicate effectively in Nepali with relevant stakeholders.     
5. Job Knowledge:  The following are required: advanced level knowledge of spatial data collection, management, statistical and other types of analysis, and reporting; advanced level technical knowledge of industry-standard GIS software (ESRI, ArcGIS, QGIS, MapBox, Leaflet.js, CartoDB, open data kit plus, and other relevant tools), Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI), remote sensing software (Erdas Imagine, ENVI, etc.), and creation of geospatial data products in developing country environments; ability to train and transfer specialized GIS knowledge and skills to a broad range of stakeholders; knowledge of international development assistance policy, planning, implementation, monitoring, evaluation, and learning; knowledge of strategy and project design and performance results measurement and analysis; understanding of Nepal’s political, social, cultural, and economic characteristics and of the history of development and development assistance activities in general in the country; and a thorough knowledge of the GON’s databases, mapping, statistics, and development parameters.   
6. Skills and Abilities: 
   • Ability to apply geospatial technology and analyses to international development challenges related to such diverse sectors as democracy and governance, agriculture, natural resources management, energy, economic growth, health, education, and disaster risk management.
   • Experience and technical skills in implementing geospatial metadata standards, workflows, data-sharing protocols, and GIS best practices; cartography, remote sensing, web mapping, and management of geodatabases; obtaining, cleaning, processing, visualizing, evaluating, and interpreting factual data; conducting reproducible analysis using statistical software or programming languages (e.g. Stata, SAS, SPSS, R, etc.); and preparing and presenting concise, accurate, and complete reports to a wide range of stakeholders.
   • Ability to work with a diverse set of individuals and excellent interpersonal communication, writing, and presentation skills to support and advocate for georeferenced data collection, analysis, visualization, and data quality practices to Mission and Implementing Partner staff who have varying degrees of familiarity with GIS. Motivation to continuously improve the Mission’s GIS into an advanced resource, recognized as essential to the Mission’s programing. Demonstrated ability to establish and maintain relationships across GON entities, donor organizations, bilateral and multilateral agencies, and private-sector organizations.
   • Ability to collaborate in a team environment and work independently to achieve Mission objectives. Ability to multitask and work under pressure to meet deadlines. Strong management and organizational skills and initiative for follow through.
   • Exceptional computer skills and knowledge of software program applications authorized for USAID use, such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Google Suite, and other GIS related databases and analytical softwares.
   • Must have excellent written and oral English skills. Strong ability to write technical documents, concisely summarize complex ideas, and edit work.   

Interested applicants should submit a cover letter and a resume - not to exceed 3 pages - and any other documentation that addresses the qualification requirements of the position as listed in the detailed job description.  Please provide names of three references and their contact numbers and email addresses as well.  Please send your application to the attention of USAID/Nepal Human Resources Office, U.S Embassy Maharajgunj, G.P.O. Box. 295, Kathmandu, Nepal or via email.

Only short listed applicants will be contacted to participate in the hiring process.

USAID/Nepal is an equal opportunity employer committed to a staff composition that reflects the social and ethnic diversity of Nepali society.  We believe that social inclusion and diversity contribute to excellence.  Applicants from disadvantaged caste, under-represented ethnic groups, and women are especially encouraged to apply.