Junior AI Solution Developer

About the Role and Organization

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) operates across 170 countries aiming to eradicate poverty and promote sustainable development, including the advancement of the Sustainable Development Goals. Within Kenya, UNDP's focus includes strengthening democratic governance aligned with Vision 2030's Political Pillar, emphasizing democratic systems that are issue-driven, citizen-centered, and accountable.

Key Responsibilities

• Create and progress an AI-driven sentiment analysis tool for government and citizen communications from prototype to a deployed, production-quality solution in collaboration with government partners.
• Design, develop, test, and iteratively improve machine learning and natural language processing (NLP) models—such as text classification and sentiment analysis in English and Kiswahili—with a focus on accuracy, robustness, and user experience informed by feedback.
• Contribute to designing and implementing at least three government AI tools that enhance service delivery, operational efficiency, and adoption of emerging technologies, supporting Output 2 of the Regional Centre of Competence.
• Produce clear technical documentation, user manuals, deployment kits, and handover packages while ensuring adherence to responsible AI principles, data protection regulations, and security best practices throughout the development process.
• Collaborate closely with technical teams, government entities, and stakeholders to gather requirements, showcase solutions, and facilitate integration into existing government workflows.

Expected Deliverables

• A fully deployed sentiment analysis tool for governmental application, refined from prototype to production.
• Delivery and support of a minimum of three AI solutions/tools aimed at improving government services, including training, user feedback collection, and demonstrations.
• Capacity building through conducting at least three workshops or training sessions for government officers on the developed AI solutions.
• Training, evaluation, and documentation of local machine learning and NLP models, including performance metrics.
• Comprehensive technical documentation and user guidance for each AI solution.
• Ensuring all solutions comply with responsible AI practices, Kenya's Data Protection Act, and UNDP’s related data and AI guidelines.

Candidate Qualifications

• Solid foundational proficiency in Python and popular data science and machine learning libraries such as pandas, scikit-learn, NLTK or spaCy, and either PyTorch or TensorFlow.
• Good understanding of machine learning fundamentals and NLP techniques, particularly text classification and sentiment analysis.
• Experience or exposure to API development or consumption, and deploying applications or models using frameworks like Flask or FastAPI, containerization technologies like Docker, or cloud platforms including Microsoft Azure.
• Familiarity with version control systems like Git/GitHub and collaborative software development workflows.
• Demonstrated interest in ethical and responsible AI, data privacy, and leveraging AI for improving public sector services.

Educational Requirements

The ideal candidate holds a bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Data Science, or a closely related field, coupled with strong enthusiasm for applied machine learning and AI in the public sector context.

Language Proficiency

• Fluency in English is required.
• Fluency in Kiswahili is also essential.

Additional Information

UN Volunteers dedicate themselves full-time to their professional roles, receiving a benefits package that includes a monthly living allowance to maintain a comfortable standard of living at the assigned duty station. Further benefit details can be referenced through the UNV entitlement resources.