Jobs and Careers

JOB DESCRIPTION: 

Objective of the assignment is to adapt the current research practices and programming at SDG Lab as well as the policy making and service delivery in the Government into an ongoing changing environment, such that the design activities of the Lab and the Government become more human-centric and resilient to constant changes that may affect any design process.
The Design Thinking Assistant will work under the overall guidance and direct supervision of the SDG Innovation Lab Lead.

RESPONSIBILITIES: 

- Actively contribute to human-centered design discussions with all stakeholders of various projects with the purpose of incorporating human-centric insights into project activities;
- Research human-centered design methodologies to prepare design thinking session tools and materials. Provide technical support during the above sessions;
- Support with translating these insights and learnings from brainstorming and sense making sessions into meaningful knowledge through visualizations and communicate with project team;
- Facilitate design thinking sessions of the project team and gather feedback and lessons learned;
- Prepare visualizations and presentations based on workshop results;
- Support in developing training materials for citizen-centric, design thinking methods and tools, to a wide array of stakeholders;
- Provide overall support to the Service Design and Research Lead in the development of design thinking service line.

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS: 

- Secondary education;
- Bachelor's degree in Political Science, Social Sciences, or a related field would be desired;
- 5 years of relevant experience at national or international level;
- Alternatively, if in a possession of bachelor’s degree, 2 years of relevant experience at the national or international level would be required;
- Fluency in English and Armenian languages;
- Experience in the usage of computers and office software packages (e.g. MS Word, Excel) and knowledge of Miro, Canva, and other online tools for creative thinking.

Desired Skills in addition to the Competencies Covered in the Competencies Section:
- Passion for exploring citizen-centric approaches and design thinking methodologies;
- Knowledge of innovation for development;
- Creativity and out-of-the-box thinking;
- Growth mindset;
- Solid organizational skills, including attention to detail, advanced troubleshooting and multitasking skills;
- Commitment and will to collaboratively balance among interests of various projects;
- Excellent oral, written, and visual communication skills.

Competencies:
Core Competencies
- Achieve Results: Level 1: Plans and monitors own work, pays attention to details, delivers quality work by deadline;
- Think Innovatively: Level 1: Open to creative ideas/ known risks, is pragmatic problem solver, makes improvements;
- Learn Continuously: Level 1: Open minded and curious, shares knowledge, learns from mistakes, asks for feedback;
- Adapt with Agility: Level 1: Adapts to change, constructively handles ambiguity/ uncertainty, is flexible;
- Act with Determination: Level 1: Shows drive and motivation, able to deliver calmly in face of adversity, confident;
- Engage and Partner: Level 1: Demonstrates compassion/ understanding towards others, forms positive relationships;
- Enable Diversity and Inclusion: Level 1: Appreciate/ respect differences, aware of unconscious bias, confront discrimination.

Cross-Functional and Technical Competencies
- Digital and Innovation - Human centered design: Knowledge of user centered design methodologies and ability to apply them practically
Digital and Innovation - Agile methodologies and practices: Being nimble and and being able to improvise and quickly adjust to unforeseen changes in conditions or context;
- Digital and Innovation - Co-creation: Ability to embrace diversity, work with a diverse group of stakeholders, understand their interests, perspectives, and views and tap into them as a source of creativity;
- Digital and Innovation - Design Thinking: Being able to work with incomplete information, ambiguity, and opposing views, needs, and constraints and synthesize them into solutions that are viable, technically feasible, and useful;
- Digital and Innovation - Systems Thinking and Transformation: Understand that change is non-linear and unpredictable; being comfortable and able to work with emergence.

APPLICATION PROCEDURES: 

Interested candidates may view the vacancy notice and apply through the following link: https://tinyurl.com/yjxj6dna.

Please clearly mention in your application letter that you learned of this announcement through Career Center and mention the URL of its website - www.careercenter.am. Thanks.

ADDITIONAL NOTES: 

- Contract type: National Personnel Service Agreement - NPSA
- Position level: NB2/NPSA5

ABOUT: 

The complexity and interconnectedness of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) require novel approaches, methodologies, strong data systems, and institutions that would have the capacity to provide 'out of the box' solutions to the problems faced by the global community.
In response, the United Nations and the Government of Armenia have established the Armenia National SDG Innovation Lab as a platform for collaboration, experimentation, analytics and world-class human resource development to accelerate the implementation of the Agenda 2030. The Lab is the first of its kind in country platform to support SDG implementation at the country level. To do this, the Lab has adopted a toolbox of innovative methodologies such as behavioral experimentation, data analytics, impact investment and capacity building in the Lab’s most advanced public policy techniques.
After the completion of its start-up phase (Phase I, Nov 2017 - Feb 2018), which involved initial set up, recruitment of core staff, resource mobilization, the Lab is now entering its Phase II with several projects already in the pipeline from Phase I and many more at concept stage ready to be implemented.
The Lab aims at mainstreaming citizen-centric decision making and evidence-based policymaking which are key contributing factors to effectiveness in the public sector. To promote entrenching these approaches into the process of public policymaking, the Lab closely cooperates with the Government.