Result of Service

The corporate website is effectively maintained and enhanced, and priority child, campaign and project websites are migrated using the UNEP Starter Kit and common platform standards.

Starter Kit templates, components and implementation patterns are applied consistently across UNEP web platforms and enhanced where required.
UNEP web platforms are stable, secure, maintainable and developed in accordance with common technical standards.
Search and content discovery are improved through optimized OpenSearch, semantic search and appropriate AI-supported functionality.
Multilingual functionality, APIs and integrations operate reliably and support approved business requirements.
Major technical changes and releases are appropriately tested and technical risks identified and addressed.
Technical documentation is maintained to support continued development, deployment and maintenance of UNEP web platforms.

Work Location

Nairobi

Expected duration

6 months

Duties and Responsibilities

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is the leading global environmental authority that sets the global environmental agenda, promotes the coherent implementation of the environmental dimension of sustainable development within the United Nations system and serves as an authoritative advocate for the global environment. The mandate of UNEP is to coordinate the development of environmental policy consensus by keeping the global environment under review and bringing emerging issues to the attention of governments and the international community for action. The corporate website is the primary digital presence of UNEP, serving as a central hub for environmental information, policy updates and global initiatives. UNEP also maintains a broad portfolio of child, campaign, project and thematic websites that support programme delivery and communications across the organization. UNEP is implementing a Digital Portfolio Overhaul to modernize and streamline its web ecosystem. The work includes enhancement of the corporate website, rollout of the UNEP Starter Kit, migration of child, campaign and project websites, improved search and content discovery, strengthened multilingual functionality and consistent technical standards across UNEP web platforms. UNEP is recruiting a Developer to support implementation, enhancement and maintenance across this portfolio, with particular focus on website migrations, Starter Kit rollout, Drupal development and improved AI-supported search and content discovery. The consultant will work with the Web Platforms team and external technical partners as required. The consultant shall report to the Head of Web Platforms, who is responsible for work planning, prioritization and overall delivery oversight. The consultant will:

Analyse technical requirements and identify appropriate implementation approaches, dependencies and potential risks.
Develop, maintain and enhance UNEP Drupal websites, including modules, content models, configurations and custom functionality.
Implement, enhance and maintain reusable templates and components for the corporate website, Starter Kit and other UNEP web platforms.
Implement technical requirements for migration of child, campaign and project websites to common UNEP templates and technical standards.
Implement and enhance hybrid or decoupled Drupal functionality using React, Next.js and related technologies where appropriate.
Develop and maintain APIs and integrations that support content and data exchange between UNEP web platforms and external systems.
Develop, enhance and optimize search and content-discovery functionality, including OpenSearch, indexing, ranking, relevance configuration and semantic search.
Implement and improve AI-supported search and content-discovery capabilities to increase relevance, accuracy and user experience, in accordance with approved technical standards and organizational guardrails.
Develop and maintain multilingual website functionality, including templates, components, CMS translation workflows and related integrations.
Maintain Drupal core, contributed and custom modules, themes and dependencies, including implementation and testing of security and technical updates.
Apply Git-based development, code-review, testing and CI/CD deployment workflows.
Test and troubleshoot website functionality, integrations, performance and deployment issues, including support for major releases and migrations.
Apply UNEP requirements and accepted web-development standards for security, accessibility, performance, responsive design, interoperability and maintainability.
Review code and technical implementations and contribute to technical quality assurance across the web portfolio.
Provide technical input to vendors and other developers working on UNEP web platforms.

Qualifications/special skills

An advanced university degree (master’s or equivalent) in computer science, information systems, software engineering , or related field is required. A first-level university degree, combined with two (2) additional years of qualifying experience, may be accepted in lieu of an advanced university degree. At least two (2) years of professional experience in web development, including substantial experience with PHP and Drupal is required. Strong experience with Drupal architecture, themes, modules, templates, configuration, custom functionality and reusable components is required. Experience with website migrations and modernization of enterprise web platforms is required. Strong experience with HTML5, CSS3, JavaScript and modern JavaScript frameworks, preferably React and Next.js is required. Experience with relational databases and with developing and integrating RESTful APIs and other web-platform integrations is required. Strong experience with Elasticsearch, OpenSearch or similar enterprise search technologies, including indexing, query configuration, ranking and relevance optimization is required. Experience developing or integrating semantic search, AI-supported search or other AI-enabled content-discovery functionality is required. Strong knowledge of Git, code review and CI/CD deployment workflows is required. Experience applying security, accessibility, performance, responsive design and maintainability standards to web platforms is required. Experience troubleshooting complex web-development, integration and deployment issues is required. Ability to evaluate and apply AI technologies with appropriate consideration of accuracy, security, performance and responsible use is desirable. Demonstrated experience developing and maintaining complex websites or multi-site digital platforms is desirable. Ability to document technical systems and communicate technical issues clearly to technical and non-technical colleagues is desirable. Experience implementing multilingual websites and CMS-based translation workflows is desirable. Ability to work independently and collaboratively in a multicultural and international environment is desirable.

Languages

English and French are the working languages of the United Nations Secretariat. For this position fluency in English is required.

No Fee

THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CHARGE A FEE AT ANY STAGE OF THE RECRUITMENT PROCESS (APPLICATION, INTERVIEW MEETING, PROCESSING, OR TRAINING). THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CONCERN ITSELF WITH INFORMATION ON APPLICANTS’ BANK ACCOUNTS.