AI Software Engineer Lead

Organizational Context

The Division of Business Operations (BOS) supports WHO/Europe with essential services like HR, finance, and ICT, ensuring accountability and agility. The ICT Unit, where this role sits, champions digital solutions across the European region, including country offices and UN City, providing robust connectivity, software, data security, and user support to achieve WHO's strategic goals.

Job Purpose

The AI Software Engineer Lead will spearhead the hands-on implementation and advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) initiatives and solutions within WHO/Europe. This role is crucial for developing cutting-edge internal and external applications, ensuring robust digital capabilities across the European region, including country offices and UN City. The position involves supporting and advising technical divisions on complex challenges, fostering innovative solutions, and promoting the ethical application of AI. By optimizing cloud resources, managing large datasets, and upholding best software engineering practices, the lead will empower a digitally-optimized WHO to achieve its strategic goals, enhancing productivity and ensuring data safeguarding and accessibility. This role directly contributes to the ICT Unit's mandate of championing forward-thinking, cost-effective digital and technological solutions, ultimately strengthening WHO/Europe's capacity to react agilely to changes and drive strategic initiatives.

Responsibilities

The AI Software Engineer Lead will define and implement AI/ML initiatives for WHO/Europe, setting project priorities and work plans. This includes establishing technical direction for data integration, automating AI activities like data ingestion and visualization, and overseeing the entire AI project lifecycle from prototyping and modeling to deployment and monitoring. The role involves guiding the development of internal and external applications using modern frameworks, ensuring best software engineering practices, and managing cloud-based solutions for AI/ML workloads, optimizing for performance and cost. Key responsibilities also include leading and mentoring a team of AI and software professionals, fostering innovation, and collaborating with other divisions to integrate AI solutions. The lead will manage large datasets for model training, ensure ongoing model performance and accuracy, and establish quality assurance protocols. Effective communication with stakeholders, managing team resources and project budgets, and identifying/mitigating risks related to technical feasibility, data security, and compliance are essential. The role requires staying updated with AI/ML trends, advocating for ethical AI application, and liaising with HQ to ensure adherence to WHO policies.

Work Experience

At least seven years of progressive experience is essential, covering software engineering and architecture, particularly developing cloud-native applications. This includes deploying AI models and integrating generative AI solutions in the cloud, developing automated analytical pipelines for AI/ML, and managing complex applications with front-end technologies (HTML5, CSS/SASS, JavaScript) and databases (SQL, NoSQL).

Skills

Algorithms, data structures, and computational complexity. Proficient in AI/ML techniques, frameworks, and production deployment/monitoring. Strong proficiency in Python, Java, or JavaScript/Node, with AI libraries/APIs. Experience designing Azure AI solutions (AI Search, indexers, skillsets) and developing custom skillsets for generative AI integration. Solid understanding of DevOps, CI/CD, Docker, and Kubernetes. Data engineering, including large dataset handling, cleaning, analysis, and feature engineering. Strong problem-solving skills. Emotional intelligence.

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