Consultant – DevOps Engineer for the State Register of Cultural Heritage Objects “ePamiatka” (Ukraine, Ukraine) contract NEW

Type of contract : Consultant Contract

Level :  Level 2 – Middle

Hiring Unit : Culture Sector (CLT)

Duty Station : Ukraine

Work location : On site

Hiring open to : External candidates

Application deadline (Midnight UTC+2 Time) : 02/06/2026

UNESCO Core Values: Commitment to the Organization, Integrity, Respect for Diversity, Professionalism

In cooperation with the Ministry of Culture of Ukraine, the Recovery Support Office ensures coordination of the implementation of projects in the field of restoration of cultural infrastructure and cultural heritage objects, including interaction with state authorities, local self-government bodies, donors and international partners.

The system functions as part of the state digital infrastructure and ensures centralized storage, processing and exchange of data, as well as integration with other information systems. Given the criticality of continuous operation, reliability of data storage and stability of integrations, technical support of infrastructure and system environments is of particular importance.

In the context of system scaling, increasing volumes of data and the need to ensure continuous availability of services, there is a need to engage a DevOps specialist (operational support), responsible for maintaining stable system operation, infrastructure control and prompt response to infrastructure-related incidents.

To ensure stable, continuous and controlled functioning of the “ePamiatka” system at the level of infrastructure, execution environments and integrations, through the organisation of effective operational support covering deployment processes, monitoring, configuration management and incident support.

To support the operability of infrastructure, control deployment processes, monitor the condition of system components, as well as timely detect and eliminate failures in the operation of services and integrations.

Scope of Work and Tasks

•    In cooperation with the Ministry of Culture of Ukraine, the DevOps Engineer provides basic operational support for the state digital infrastructure of the “ePamiatka” system, maintains existing continuous integration and deployment (CI/CD) processes, and supports the current technical and deployment architecture (without requirement for active design or improvement from scratch).
•    Basic maintenance and support of existing CI/CD processes for components of the “ePamiatka” system – ensuring stable pipeline execution, build control, testing and deployment of registry services during working hours. 
•    Keeps existing Terraform/Ansible configurations up to date, allowing minor or non-critical refactoring when needed.
•    Monitors pod status, node health, load and resource utilisation; restarts problematic services when needed.
•    Ensuring stable operation of the “ePamiatka” register at the level of infrastructure and environments – within working hours and excluding planned maintenance windows.
•    Verifies system health (Prometheus, Grafana, Loki/ELK); performs manual log reviews during incidents; modifies simple alerts as required.
•    Technical support of implementation of changes – preparation of environments and basic stability checks after updates during working hours.
•    Basic support of integrations and APIs – ensuring availability of data exchange, in particular with EDESSB and the State Land Cadastre, through availability checks (manual or via simple script). Analysis of logical data exchange errors is delegated to analysts.
•    Performs operational health checks of existing environments and services within available access permissions – verifies service availability indicators for PostgreSQL, Redis and Elasticsearch components. 
•    Diagnoses and resolves infrastructure incidents under normal conditions. Outside standard working hours, critical issues are accepted and handled by the Ministry’s technical administrator.
•    Verifies backups on a regular basis; verifies availability and status of configured backup procedures. Compliance with information security legislation is supported at the level of following existing policies.
•    Cooperates with development teams, GIS specialists and analysts to resolve issues and ensure smooth system operation.

Duration: 28 February, 2027

1.    Stable functioning of the “ePamiatka” system is ensured during working hours, with target availability of at least 95% within these hours (excluding planned maintenance windows).
2.     Stable operation of existing CI/CD processes is ensured, including reliable pipeline execution, build control, testing and deployment of registry services (CI/CD pipeline success rate ≥ 90% per month.).
3.    Control of data processing and exchange in the “ePamiatka” system is ensured, including stability, integrity and timely detection of errors in synchronization processes.
4.    The current state of infrastructure and execution environments is maintained, including manageability of configurations and the ability to scale within available resources.
5.    Functioning of monitoring, logging and alerting systems is ensured for timely detection of incidents and deviations in system operation.
6.    Stable operation of integrations of the “ePamiatka” system with external information systems, in particular the Unified State Electronic System in the Field of Construction (EDESSB) and the State Land Cadastre, is ensured, including control of availability.
7.    Control and recoverability of data is ensured, including execution of backups and verification of recovery capability.

Contract and Reporting

 ● Type: Individual Consultant (SSA)
 ● Modality: Home-based, office-based
 ● Reporting: UNESCO and the Ministry of Culture of Ukraine

• Communication (C)
• Accountability (C)
• Innovation (C)
• Knowlegde sharing and continuous improvement (C)
• Planning and organizing (C)
• Results focus (C)
• Teamwork (C)

For detailed information, please consult the UNESCO Competency Framework.

EDUCATION

● Higher education in information technology, computer science, software engineering, cybersecurity, system administration, or related fields.

WORK EXPERIENCE

●    At least 4-5 years of relevant professional experience in DevOps and operational support of information systems, in particular support of production environments operating in continuous availability mode.
●    Experience with containerised environments and container orchestration platforms (Kubernetes or similar solutions), including support of stateless and stateful services and use of deployment tools (Helm, Kustomize or similar).
●    Experience in supporting continuous integration and deployment (CI/CD) processes, including control of pipeline execution, testing and deployment in production environments (Jenkins, GitLab CI/CD, GitHub Actions or similar).
●    Practical experience with cloud and on-premises infrastructure (Amazon Web Services (AWS), VMware, Proxmox or similar solutions), including participation in migrations or support of environments after transformation.
●    Experience with monitoring, logging and incident management tools (Prometheus, Grafana, Loki, Elasticsearch-Logstash-Kibana (ELK) stack or similar), including alerting configuration, metrics analysis and troubleshooting of system failures.
●    Understanding of database and data storage systems (PostgreSQL, Redis, Elasticsearch or similar), as well as basic approaches to network infrastructure (Domain Name System (DNS), Virtual Private Network (VPN), load balancing) and access security.
●    Experience with Infrastructure as Code (IaC) approaches (Terraform, Ansible or similar) in terms of maintaining and updating configurations.
●    Experience working with public sector digital registries will be considered an advantage.
●    Experience with networking components of container environments (ingress controllers, load balancers) and storage systems in Kubernetes is desirable.
●    Experience working with high-load or critical systems, as well as participation in public or interagency IT projects, is an advantage.
●    Ability to effectively interact with development, analytics and other technical teams to ensure stable system operation and timely resolution of technical issues.

LANGUAGES   

● Working languages: Ukrainian (primary), English (as required)

All candidates must complete an on-line application and provide complete and accurate information.
Please upload the following documents, as a single PDF document, in the ‘Employment History Form’ section:

1. An updated detailed Curriculum Vitae
2. A Cover Letter including financial proposal, based on the job description above. 

Applications must reach UNESCO by 03 June 2026 (midnight, Kyiv time).

Please note that all candidates must complete an on-line application and provide complete and accurate information, by the above deadline.

To apply, please visit the UNESCO Careers website. No modifications can be made to the application once submitted. 

The process may include pre-recorded video interviews and/or written assessments, interviews with a Panel, as well as reference checks. In addition, candidates may be requested to provide additional information which may be pertinent to the position’s qualifications.  

Please note that all candidates, whether selected or not, will be informed of the outcome of their application in due course. 

Short-listed candidates may also be added to Talent Pools; subject to their consent (i.e. Data Privacy Statement).

• UNESCO recalls that paramount consideration in the appointment of personnel shall be the necessity of securing the highest standards of efficiency, technical competence and integrity.
• UNESCO applies a zero-tolerance policy against all forms of harassment.
• lndividuals from minority groups and indigenous groups and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply.
• All applications will be treated with the highest level of confidentiality.
• The statutory retirement age at UNESCO is 65 years.
• UNESCO does not charge a fee at any stage of the hiring process.