Geospatial Web Developer

About the Asian Disaster Preparedness Center (ADPC)

ADPC is an intergovernmental regional organization with a vision to reduce disaster and climate risk impacts on communities and countries in Asia and the Pacific by working with governments, development partners, international organizations, NGOs, civil society, private sector, media and other key stakeholders. In addition to its headquarter in Bangkok, Thailand, ADPC currently has offices/representation in 11 additional countries.

Established in 1986 as a technical capacity building center, ADPC has grown and diversified its expertise across social and physical sciences to support sustainable solutions for risk reduction across a broad range of specialist areas. With over 100 staff from 19 different nationalities and a wide range of professional expertise from atmospheric scientist to social scientists with experiences from all levels of engagement typically required for disaster risk reduction and climate resilience in an effective manner. ADPC is a competent regional resource center and has seven thematic departments: ADPC Academy,

Risk Governance, Climate Resilience, Urban Resilience, Health Risk Management, Preparedness for Response and Recovery, Geospatial Information. These are supported by Finance, Human Resources and Administration and Strategic Planning departments. In addition to the departments, ADPC address

three cross-cutting themes: Gender and Diversity, Poverty and Livelihoods, and Regional and Transboundary Cooperation through permanent working committees.

ADPC Strategy 2020 guides the organization in providing comprehensive risk reduction support to countries and communities in Asia and the Pacific. ADPC recognizes the importance of examining the linkages between disaster risk management, poverty reduction, gender equality, sustainability, rightsbased approaches, climate change and regional cooperation.

ADPC takes various levels of actions in a close connection with the national, regional and global frameworks including; e.g. ASEAN, SAARC, MRC, 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030 (SFDRR), the Paris Agreement for climate change, the New Urban Agenda, the World Humanitarian Summit, etc

The Geospatial Information Department

The overall goal of the Geospatial Information Department of ADPC is to increase uses of geospatial technology, data, and information by countries in Asia for supporting decision making related to disaster risk management and climate resilience. The department supports all thematic areas of focus of ADPC to achieve their goals, mainly through:

• Increased accessibility and technical capacity to develop, maintain, and use geospatial information including disaster and climate risk maps, forecasted and real-time disaster data for early warning, and damage data for post-disaster assessment and recovery planning,
• Increased awareness by decision makers on applications of geospatial information in disaster risk management and climate resilience decision making, and
• Geospatial solutions, such as maps, tools, models, and data, customized to the demands of stakeholders

ADPC, together with its consortium partners, is implementing a project “SERVIR-Mekong,” a joint initiative of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). SERVIR-Mekong brings NASA's scientific and technical know-how to help developing countries use information provided by Earth observing satellites and geospatial technologies to sustainably prepare for and respond to disasters, manage natural resources, and improve food security in Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam.

The Geospatial Information Department of ADPC is seeking highly qualified candidates to fill this position and work closely with our team of scientists, GIS and remote sensing specialists, and other developers working for SERVIR-Mekong to achieve the aforementioned goals.

Statement of Intent:

The Geospatial Web Developer is a technical expert in the SERVIR-Mekong hub, hosted at ADPC. Primarily, s/he will be responsible for developing new geospatial web portals for SERVIR-Mekong, but s/he will also contribute to capacity-building of users and partners.

This position is located in Bangkok, Thailand, but will require occasional travels to project sites as requested by the supervisor.

Note:

It is not the intent of this Position Description to cover every aspect of the position requirements, rather to highlight the most important areas of personal and joint responsibility.

Key Responsibilities:

Technical

- Improve and maintain existing web portals such as the Regional Land Cover Monitoring System and the Regional Drought and Crop Yield Information System.

- Front and back-end development for new tools such as the Near-Real-Time Flood Monitoring System and the Air Quality Monitoring System.

- Develop data ingestion and processing pipelines for various remote sensing products.

- Test and implement various AI technologies to improve geospatial products.

- Provide training on cloud based remote sensing technologies to partners and stakeholders.

Corporate Responsibilities

- Provide technical resource inputs to other departments, as requested.

- Participate in corporate functions and external events, as required.

- Conduct internal capacity development activities for ADPC staff, as requested.

Qualifications:

- Master’s Degree in Remote Sensing, Geo-informatics or related field

- Familiarity and ability to work with web mapping applications and Web Frameworks such as Django and Tethys

- Proficiency in Python, JavaScript, html and css.

- Understanding of the basics of optical and radar satellite remote sensing

- Familiarity with cloud storage and computing technologies

- Familiarity with Google Earth Engine

- Knowledge of relational database models such as postgresql and mysql

- Strong written and verbal communication skills in English

- Professional experience in the Lower Mekong region desired

- Ability to communicate in at least one of the Lower Mekong languages desired

Personal Qualities

- Self-motivated, pro-active and takes initiative

- Demonstrated ability and plan and organize work and time independently

- Excellent interpersonal skills, team-oriented work style, and experience in working in a multicultural environment

- Strong desire to learn, undertake new challenges, must be a creative problem-solver, must have self-confidence, willingness to work hard, good sense of humor but with seriousness about the quality and excellence of work.

Reporting Relationships

Direct Supervisor: SERVIR-Mekong Science and Data Lead, Geospatial Information Dept.

Qualified applicants may be evaluated through a competency-based interview and/or other assessment methods.

We encourage diversity in our workplace and support an inclusive work environment. Women are especially encouraged to apply.