Consultant - Data Engineering Developer

The World Health Organization Regional Office for Africa (WHO AFRO), through the Health Information and Knowledge Management (HIK) Team, is strengthening reliable, interoperable, and decision-oriented health information systems across the African Region. A key pillar of this work is the Regional Data Hub (RDHUB), a cloud-based platform hosted within the WHO ecosystem and designed to consolidate, standardize, analyse, and present health data for use by countries, technical programmes, and regional leadership. The RDHUB supports evidence generation, country monitoring, health systems strengthening, and more timely use of data for planning, implementation, and reporting. It also provides a foundation for advanced analytics, data visualization, AI-enabled narratives, and intelligent data discovery tools.

Building on progress made in the current consultancy, including support to RDHUB architecture, data pipelines, analytics, AI-enabled tools, technical documentation, and platform enhancement, WHO AFRO requires continued technical support to advance the RDHUB and related HSS digital products toward production readiness, broader country use, and sustained internal capacity. This includes continued work on data ingestion and transformation pipelines, dashboard development, AI engineering, platform development, country support, infrastructure support, knowledge generation, and documentation for governance and implementation.

To support these priorities, WHO AFRO seeks a consultant with strong expertise in digital health systems, data engineering, analytics and visualization, cloud platforms, DevOps, and AI solution development to contribute to RDHUB delivery and related HSS digital initiatives.

The consultant will work with the HIK Team to continue technical development, platform enhancement, country support, and knowledge transfer across the following deliverable areas. Deliverables have been grouped and prioritized to focus on core RDHUB tasks, while secondary workstreams will be addressed within reasonable scope and in collaboration with respective teams.

The consultant is expected to provide the following key deliverables:

1. Regional Data Hub (RDHUB) and HSS Platform Development

a) Contribute to the continued development and enhancement of the Regional Data Hub and other Health Systems Strengthening (HSS) related digital platforms
b) Contribute to the application code base, feature development, bug fixing, and technical improvements across assigned platform components.
c) Support deployment workflows, release management, and environment configuration through Azure CI/CD and DevOps practices.
d) Support integration of platform modules, APIs, and data services required for seamless functionality across frontend, backend, analytics, and AI components.

2. Data Engineering, Ingestion and Transformation

a) Develop, maintain, and optimize data ingestion, preprocessing, validation, and transformation workflows through Microsoft Fabric data pipelines and related tools.
b) Support the ingestion and harmonization of data from internal and external systems, including APIs, files, databases, and other structured and semi-structured sources.
c) Contribute to data marshalling, cleaning, transformation, and integration processes to ensure production of reliable, analytics-ready datasets.
d) Support metadata alignment, pipeline documentation, and maintenance of repeatable and scalable data engineering processes.

3. Analytics, Dashboards and Visualization

a) Design, develop, and maintain dashboards, analytical views, and data visualizations to support regional, country, and programme use cases.
b) Support creation of visual and analytical products for monitoring trends, comparing indicators, and improving interpretation of health and HSS data.
c) Contribute to the embedding of analytics outputs within RDHUB and other HSS platforms for end-user access and decision support.
d) Support refinement of data presentation approaches to improve usability, clarity, and actionability of insights.

4. AI Engineering and Narrative Solutions

a) Develop and enhance AI-enabled functionality within RDHUB and related systems, including retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) solutions and intelligent data discovery tools.
b) Support the design and embedding of AI-generated narratives, summaries, and contextual interpretation of data outputs.
c) Contribute to the development, testing, and tuning of chatbot or conversational AI components for guided access to datasets, metadata, and analytical insights.
d) Support responsible implementation of AI solutions in line with WHO technical, governance, and data protection expectations.

5. Infrastructure, Databases and Cloud Engineering Support

a) Provide technical support for database administration and related infrastructure needs for RDHUB and associated systems.
b) Support cloud engineering tasks related to hosting, configuration, performance, access, and system reliability in Azure and associated services.
c) Contribute to environment setup, troubleshooting, optimization, and support for development, testing, and deployment workflows.
d) Assist in maintaining secure and functional connectivity between applications, services, and data environments.

6. Data Governance, Documentation and Quality Assurance

a) Support development and maintenance of key technical and governance documentation, including business requirements documents (BRDs), data governance frameworks, protocols, SOPs, user guides, and implementation notes.
b) Contribute to data governance support activities, including documentation of standards, processes, roles, and controls relevant to RDHUB and related systems.
c) Support user acceptance testing (UAT), quality assurance (QA), debugging, and functional validation of platform components and data workflows.
d) Produce technical documentation, change logs, and knowledge materials to support continuity, sustainability, and internal handover.

7. Country Support, Capacity Building and Knowledge Generation

a) Support countries in digitization initiatives, technical onboarding, platform use, and related implementation activities.
b) Provide user support, troubleshooting assistance, and follow-up engagement for assigned country and stakeholder needs.
c) Develop and deliver training, demonstrations, and capacity-building sessions for country teams, technical officers, and platform users.
d) Contribute to knowledge management and generation through preparation of technical briefs, implementation notes, learning products, and other knowledge resources emerging from RDHUB and HSS platform work.

Educational Qualifications
Essential:Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Information Technology, or another related field.
Desirable: Master’s degree in information technology, Computer Science, Health Informatics, or a related field.

Experience
Essential: 
- At least 5 years of relevant professional experience in software development, digital platforms, data systems, or related technical roles.
- Demonstrated experience working with health information systems and/or digital health platforms.
- Proven experience in data analysis, data management, and data integration.
- Experience with API integrations, cloud-based systems, and modern data platforms.
- Experience working with Microsoft Azure, Microsoft Fabric, DevOps workflows, and related cloud services is highly desirable.
- Experience supporting dashboard development, visualization, and analytics products is desirable.
- Experience supporting documentation, testing, user support, and training in technical or health systems contexts is an asset.

Skills/Knowledge
Strong knowledge of health information systems and digital health ecosystems.
Strong technical skills in software development, data engineering, and systems integration.
Knowledge of Microsoft DevOps, Fabric, Azure cloud services, and related deployment practices.
Knowledge of database administration, cloud infrastructure support, and system troubleshooting.
Familiarity with AI engineering concepts, including RAG development and AI-assisted analytics or narrative generation.
Strong analytical and problem-solving skills.
Strong communication and interpersonal skills, including the ability to work with multidisciplinary teams and engage both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
Ability to prepare clear technical documentation, guidance materials, and implementation notes.

Languages required
Essential: Excellent knowledge of English or French or Portuguese. 
Desirable: Working knowledge of any WHO or UN official language considered an asset.

Location
On-site - Brazzaville (Republic of Congo).

Travel
The consultant may travel to some countries within the WHO African region to provide technical support and advice on the relevant tasks mentioned above. Full medical clearance is required.

Remuneration and budget (travel costs are excluded):
Remuneration:
Band level B - USD 7,000 - 8,480 per month. Payment will be made monthly upon certification that the services have been satisfactorily performed.

Living expenses (A living expense is payable to on-site consultants who are internationally recruited):
Per diem will be paid in accordance with WHO rules applicable to international consultants for travel.

Expected duration of contract: 
Three (3) months, renewable based on operational needs.

• This vacancy notice may be used to identify candidates for other similar consultancies at the same level.
• Only candidates under serious consideration will be contacted.
• A written test may be used as a form of screening. 
• If your candidature is retained for interview, you will be required to provide, in advance, a scanned copy of the degree(s)/diploma(s)/certificate(s) required for this position. WHO only considers higher educational qualifications obtained from an institution accredited/recognized in the World Higher Education Database (WHED), a list updated by the International Association of Universities (IAU)/United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The list can be accessed through the link: http://www.whed.net/. Some professional certificates may not appear in the WHED and will require individual review.
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