The IC will provide specialized technical expertise in the implementation, administration, monitoring, and optimization of cloud infrastructure and DevOps platforms within Microsoft Azure. The IC will be responsible for ensuring the availability, security, scalability, and performance of enterprise systems, managing CI/CD pipelines, and writing Infrastructure as Code (IaC). Crucially, the IC will work in close coordination with the internal development team to analyze existing on-premises application architectures, gather deployment requirements, and translate current on-premises VM resource metrics into optimized, cloud-native Azure resource allocations. The IC will also execute the tactical technical migration of legacy systems from an on-premises Proxmox virtualization environment to the Microsoft Azure cloud platform.

Background: The Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) forms part of the United Nations Secretariat and, like the other regional commissions, operates under the supervision of the United Nations Economic and Social Council. ESCWA comprises 21 Arab countries in Western Asia and North Africa. ESCWA provides a framework for the formulation and harmonization of sectoral policies for member countries, a platform for congress and coordination, a home for expertise and knowledge, and an information observatory. ESCWA activities are coordinated with the divisions and main offices of the Headquarters of the United Nations, specialized agencies, and international and regional organizations, including the League of Arab States and its subsidiary bodies, and the Gulf Cooperation Council. This position is located in the Decision-Support and Data Science Division (DSDSD). The Decision-Support and Data Science Division is part of ESCWA's broader modernization and innovation efforts, providing advanced analytics, secure digital platforms, and decision-support services within ESCWA, other UN entities, and Member States. Aligned with the UN 2.0 agenda and grounded in operational resilience, DSDS leverages cutting-edge hybrid infrastructure, scalable cloud tech frameworks, and modern deployment models to ensure high availability, security, and performance for critical digital assets. Its core functions include enterprise cloud environment management, infrastructure automation, continuous integration and continuous deployment (CI/CD) optimization, and the migration of legacy on-premises platforms to advanced public cloud ecosystems. Through these capabilities, DSDS maintains reliable, enterprise-grade digital decision-support tools that empower evidence-based decision-making and foster organizational efficiency across the region. Under the supervision of the Chief of the Decision-Support and Data Science Division and in close collaboration with the infrastructure and digital development teams, the Individual Contractor (IC) will support the implementation, automation, secure hosting, and optimization of core cloud systems and scalable technology environments to support strategic initiative delivery.

Duties and responsibilities: Within delegated authority, the IC will be responsible for independently performing the following:

• Cloud Infrastructure Implementation & Administration:
  • Deploy, manage, and optimize enterprise-scale cloud resources within Microsoft Azure, ensuring optimal performance, governance, and resource utilization.
  • Administer hybrid virtualization architectures, transitioning existing virtual machines and workloads out of the on-premises Proxmox environment into designated Azure landing zones.
  • Maintain and configure base operating systems across enterprise Windows Server and Linux environments hosted in the cloud.
• DevOps Platform Engineering & Infrastructure as Code (IaC):
  • Design, build, and maintain automated CI/CD pipelines using Azure DevOps to support rapid, secure, and reliable software delivery cycles.
  • Author, review, and maintain infrastructure state using Infrastructure as Code tools, specifically Terraform, Bicep, and ARM Templates.
  • Develop automated operational scripts utilizing PowerShell to streamline recurring system administration and provisioning tasks.
• Application Lifecycle & Developer Collaboration:
  • Work closely with the development team to audit existing on-premises hosted applications and gather technical requirements for upcoming Azure cloud deployments.
  • Analyze the resource utilization and architectural dependencies of applications currently running on on-premises virtual machines to determine the optimal Azure cloud topology.
  • Evaluate and recommend whether applications should be migrated as traditional Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) virtual machines or refactored into cloud-native Azure resources (such as App Services, Azure SQL, or container instances) to maximize scalability and cost-efficiency.
  • Provide technical guidance to developers regarding cloud deployment pathways, access control configurations, and performance optimization on Azure.
• Cloud Security, Identity, & Monitoring:
  • Manage cloud governance, object lifecycles, and secure identity mapping through Azure Active Directory (Azure AD / Entra ID).
  • Configure comprehensive observability setups using Azure Monitor and Log Analytics to establish proactive system alerts, log analysis, and performance tracking.
  • Implement infrastructure hardening, security controls, and operational best practices across all deployed cloud frameworks.

Desired Candidate Profile

A bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Information Technology, Cloud Engineering, System Administration, or related technical fields is required. All candidates must submit a copy of the required educational degree. Incomplete applications will not be reviewed. A minimum of 3 years of professional experience in system administration, IT infrastructure operations, or cloud platforms architecture is required. Demonstrated hands-on experience deploying, administering, and monitoring production cloud environments using Microsoft Azure is required. Proven experience building automated CI/CD pipelines and developing infrastructure deployments utilizing Infrastructure as Code tools (Terraform, Bicep, or ARM Templates) is required. Proven experience collaborating directly with software development teams to extract application performance metrics, translate software requirements into infrastructure specifications, and plan application modernization strategies is required. Solid technical proficiency in scripting with PowerShell and configuring core infrastructure services, including Windows Server, Linux, and Azure Active Directory, is desirable. Practical technical experience supporting or executing system migrations from on-premises hypervisors (specifically Proxmox VE or VMware) to public cloud environments (Microsoft Azure) is highly desirable. Official Microsoft certifications (e.g., Azure Administrator Associate, Azure DevOps Engineer Expert, or Azure Solutions Architect Expert) are highly desirable.

English and French are the working languages of the United Nations Secretariat; and Arabic is a working language of ESCWA. For this position, fluency in English is required and knowledge of Arabic is desirable. Note: Fluency equals a rating of fluent in all four areas (speak, read, write, and understand) and Knowledge of equals a rating of confident in two of the four areas.