Blockchain Technology Strategy & Portfolio Project Manager

DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS

24 November 2026-23:59-GMT+01:00 Central European Time (Berlin)

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ABOUT WFP

The World Food Programme is the world's largest humanitarian organization saving lives in emergencies and using food assistance to build a pathway to peace, stability and prosperity, for people recovering from conflict, disasters and the impact of extreme weather shocks.

At WFP, people are at the heart of everything we do and the vision of the future WFP workforce is one of diverse, committed, skilled, and high performing teams, selected on merit, operating in a healthy and inclusive work environment, living WFP's values (Integrity, Collaboration, Commitment, Humanity, and Inclusion) and working with partners to save and change the lives of those WFP serves.

To learn more about WFP, visit our website: https://www.wfp.org and follow us on social media to keep up with our latest news: YouTube, LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok.

WHY JOIN WFP? 

• WFP is a 2020 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate.
• WFP offers a highly inclusive, diverse, and multicultural working environment.
• WFP invests in the personal & professional development of its employees through a range of training, accreditation, coaching, mentorship, and other programs as well as through internal mobility opportunities.
• A career path in WFP provides an exciting opportunity to work across the various country, regional and global offices around the world, and with passionate colleagues who work tirelessly to ensure that effective humanitarian assistance reaches millions of people across the globe.
• We offer an attractive compensation package (please refer to the Terms and Conditions section of this vacancy announcement).

JOB TITLE: Blockchain Technology Strategy & Portfolio Project Manager

TYPE OF CONTRACT: Consultancy

UNIT/DIVISION: WFP Innovation Accelerator (INNA)

DUTY STATION (City, Country): Munich, Germany

DURATION: 11 months

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE OF THE ASSIGNMENT:

The World Food Programme (WFP) is the United Nations frontline agency fighting hunger. WFP reaches more than 100 million people every day - delivering food assistance in emergencies and working with smallholder farmers, communities, and governments to improve nutrition and build resilience.

The WFP Innovation Accelerator was named by Fast Company as Most Innovative Non-Profit Organization 2021 for its work in identifying, nurturing, and scaling disruptive start-ups and innovations to end global hunger. Based in Munich, Germany, the Innovation Accelerator provides WFP employees, entrepreneurs, and start-ups with funding, hands-on support, and access to WFP's global operations. Through the Innovation Accelerator, WFP is leveraging unprecedented advances in digital innovation - such as mobile technology, artificial intelligence and blockchain - and new business models to transform the way it serves vulnerable communities across the world. In 2022, Accelerator supported innovations that positively impacted the lives of 37 million people globally. Most recently, the Accelerator runs programmes for external partners such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and others.

More information here: http://innovation.wfp.org and https://youtu.be/OnKkQlRdh2c.

ACCOUNTABILITIES/RESPONSIBILITIES:

The incumbent, reporting to the Head of Innovative Finance, Frontier Innovations and Venture Launchpad, is expected to:

Drive the blockchain technology strategy development and project portfolio management: design the development and implementation of the blockchain strategy at the WFP Innovation Accelerator and oversee the blockchain project portfolio management, addressing both internal WFP processes, as well as in the context of program delivery in emerging and developing countries:

Develop a blockchain strategy and set focus areas and priorities to explore where blockchain technology can have an impact on humanitarian response and the food systems transformation.

Identify and drive the development of promising blockchain-based technical solutions addressing humanitarian use cases from idea to scaling through the core WFP Innovation Accelerator program.

Define key performance indicators and milestones for blockchain projects and overall portfolio, and assure their implementation, impact measurement, and reporting.

Build collaborations around blockchain technology, create the methods for accessing potential partnerships, and work with the team of Blockchain Consultants to ensure that new blockchain solutions are developed, prototyped and iterated upon quickly.

Act as a project manager to champion specific blockchain initiatives led by WFP:

This includes supporting Country Office blockchain pilots related to emergency response, small-holder farmer support, supply chain management, and other areas.

Identifying and supporting opportunities to use blockchain for internal efficiency and effectiveness across WFP.

Champion blockchain piloting with and/or integration within WFP operations or within other organizations (as applicable), while liaising with internal units such as TEC, procurement and legal, as required.

Drive the development of blockchain-based software solutions from ideation to pilot implementation (Technology Readiness Level 5-6): Use available tools and expertise to drive the development of lightweight technology prototypes to test research hypotheses. Develop architecture standards, templates, and principles for WFP Innovation Accelerator blockchain projects in line with corporate standards. Map solution design to WFP Enterprise Architecture standards and reference architectures. Collaborate with all necessary stakeholders, including business and IT roles to gather needed input to derive and document an agreed-upon solution. Support the project team in applicable procurement processes linked to the projects, as needed. Provide guidance on applying agile project management methods (e.g. Scrum, Kanban) in projects, as required. Provide effort estimations for software development and appropriate project delivery. Liaise with the TEC Division to provide WFP Innovation Accelerator, internal and external stakeholders and vendors with appropriate software-development infrastructure and access to WFP.

Provide Technical Advisory & Thought Leadership Services: present and provide technical insights linked to blockchain concepts to peers and external stakeholders to introduce and explain the technology and foster appropriate use-case adoption:

Serve as a blockchain expert & thought leader with deep insight into the blockchain industry.

Advise and support innovation teams on key decisions regarding technical product features, technology elements, and relevant technology vendors/partners. Coach project teams from ideation to implementation (as applicable), using methodologies such as human-centred design, lean start-up, project management and SCRUM. Participate and carry out discussions with WFP colleagues in other divisions or in WFP operations to showcase the potential value of blockchain to address humanitarian and food security challenges. Provide technical inputs to Frontier Innovation and WFP innovation Accelerator strategy and plans. Support the overall Innovation Accelerator operations

Provide analysis & content preparation (data on projects, PowerPoint presentations, briefs, etc.) for corporate priority topics and management meetings.

Participate and carry out discussions with colleagues in other divisions or external stakeholders on topics related to innovation.

Support other core processes of the Innovation Accelerator (e.g. innovation sourcing; innovation bootcamps; sprint programme; thought leadership; scale-up enablement; innovation services; knowledge management) as required.

Support the Head of the Innovation Accelerator and the Director of Innovation and Knowledge Management with any other activities as required.

DELIVERABLES AT THE END OF THE CONTRACT:

• Develop a blockchain technology strategy for the WFP Innovation Accelerator to inform WFP's investments in this space.
• Generate a pipeline of external and internal blockchain projects and ensure that blockchain technologies are being used to deliver maximum value to WFP.
• Provide sound technical advice on blockchain topics to projects and initiatives.
• Ensure that the Frontier Innovations portfolio is delivered at a high quality and in-line with WFP corporate IT standards, where required.

QUALIFICATIONS & EXPERIENCE REQUIRED:

Education:

Bachelor's degree in (Applied) Computer Science, Applied Mathematics, or related technical discipline. Master's degree is a plus.

Experience:

At least 5 years' experience in a technical role such as software development of which 3 years in a blockchain product and/or project management role or equivalent.

Knowledge & Skills:

• Passionate to build and apply technology innovations (e.g. mobile apps, blockchain, artificial intelligence) for social impact.
• Strong conceptual thinking to develop new strategies & innovative projects.
• Experience in innovation portfolio management and project life cycle from ideation, minimum viable product, testing, prototyping and implementation.
• Practical knowledge of data analysis and data preparation and data governance in advance of the use case selection for blockchain solutions.
• Project experience with blockchain and distributed ledger technology (DLT) such as Hyperledger, Ethereum, Corda, IOTA.
• Good programming skills in one or more relevant programming languages (e.g. Python, Solidity, NodeJS, JavaScript, etc.).
• Able to develop non-functional requirements for technical prototypes.
• Knowledge and experience implementing agile project management methodologies.
• Worked cross-functionally and able to get things done in an agile and hands-on way.
• Proven track record in driving projects - effectively delivering impactful elements of projects in a fast-moving environment, ideally for new businesses, new business models, start-ups.
• Able to generate new and original solutions to complex problems and to design new products ideas.
• Strong analytical skills to assess business requirements to develop innovative projects.
• Comfortable with a variety of responsibilities - we are a social impact accelerator, so we all have to roll up our sleeves!
• Able to interact with a broad range of stakeholders and external audience with maturity and tact.
• Excellent communication/presentation skills, with the ability to write strategy documents, to develop business plans and to write and deliver presentations.
• Collaborative spirit, able to partner with a wide range of people at all levels and across different cultures and to act with credibility and diplomacy.
• Self-motivated and able to work with a high degree of autonomy.
• Sets high-level of ambition for the project and own work to achieve impact for the hungry people we serve.
• Fully committed and motivated to achieve the aims of the UN World Food Programme.

Languages:

Fluency in oral and written English is required. Intermediate knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian, and Spanish) or Portuguese (one of WFP's working languages) is beneficial.

WFP LEADERSHIP FRAMEWORK

 

WFP Leadership Framework guides to the common standards of behavior that guide HOW we work together to accomplish our mission.

Click here to access WFP Leadership Framework

 

REASONABLE ACCOMMODATION

 

WFP is committed to supporting individuals with disabilities by providing reasonable accommodations throughout the recruitment process. If you require a reasonable accommodation, please contact:  global.inclusion@wfp.org

NO FEE DISCLAIMER

 

The United Nations does not charge any application, processing, training, interviewing, testing or other fee in connection with the application or recruitment process. Should you receive a solicitation for the payment of a fee, please disregard it. Furthermore, please note that emblems, logos, names and addresses are easily copied and reproduced. Therefore, you are advised to apply particular care when submitting personal information on the web.

 

REMINDERS BEFORE YOU SUBMIT YOUR APPLICATION

• All applications must be submitted exclusively through our online recruiting system. We do not consider CVs or applications sent by email, LinkedIn, or any other channel.

• We strongly recommend that your Workday profile is accurate and complete, and that all sections are filled in, including your employment history, academic qualifications, language skills, and UN grade (if applicable). Once your profile is completed, please apply, and submit your application.

• If you experience technical issues while submitting your application, you may contact us at global.hrerecruitment@wfp.org. Please note that this email is only for technical issues with an application - unsolicited applications or documents sent to this inbox will not receive a reply.

• At the application stage, the only required documents are your CV and Cover Letter. Additional documents (passport, certificates, recommendation letters, etc.) may be requested later in the process.

• Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and invited to proceed to the next stage of the recruitment process.

All employment decisions are made on the basis of organizational needs, job requirements, merit, and individual qualifications. WFP is committed to providing an inclusive work environment free of sexual exploitation and abuse, all forms of discrimination, any kind of harassment, sexual harassment, and abuse of authority. Therefore, all selected candidates will undergo rigorous reference and background checks.

No appointment under any kind of contract will be offered to members of the UN Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ), International Civil Service Commission (ICSC), FAO Finance Committee, WFP External Auditor, WFP Audit Committee, Joint Inspection Unit (JIU) and other similar bodies within the United Nations system with oversight responsibilities over WFP, both during their service and within three years of ceasing that service.