Team Lead – Analytics and Evidence for Diets and Nutrition (P4)

DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS

20 September 2026-23:59-GMT+01:00 Central European Time (Rome)

WFP celebrates and embraces diversity. It is committed to the principle of equal employment opportunity for all its employees and encourages qualified candidates to apply irrespective of race, colour, national origin, ethnic or social background, genetic information, gender, gender identity and/or expression, sexual orientation, religion or belief, HIV status or disability.

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 climate change.

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).

ORGANIZATIONAL CONTEXT

WFP supports both emergency response and national systems to improve access to healthy, nutritious diets in women, children and the population at large. A key part of this work is the generation and use of data on food and nutrition security, dietary diversity and access to nutritious foods and nutritious diets, including food costs and expenditure to identify risks and inform nutrition interventions.

Evidence generated through analytics play a critical role in shaping policies across food systems and social protection. WFP supports governments using innovative analytical approaches, including the Modelling and Mapping risk of Inadequate Micronutrient Intake (MIMI) approach which provides national and sub-national insights to advocate for and inform the design and roll-out of large-scale food fortification as well as other micronutrient interventions and complementary programs.  

In parallel, the Systems Analysis for Nutrition (SAN) team conducts analysis on the cost and affordability of nutritious diets and supports stakeholders in identifying solutions to nutrient gaps through policy and programme design. Both workstreams contribute to strengthening national and WFP capacity in nutrition analytics and evidence-based decision-making.

THE ROLE

As Team Lead, the purpose of this position is to manage the two analytical and evidence generation teams within the Nutrition, School Meals and Social Protection Service (PRGS), specifically the MIMI and SAN teams. Under the direct supervision of the Chief of Nutrition, with guidance from the Senior Nutrition Advisor, this position will lead the team and will oversee the development and implementation of the workplans. The Team Lead will be the primary representative for WFP’s Nutrition and Diet analytics, embedded within PRGS to optimize integration with Nutrition, School Meals and Social Protection programming and technical assistance services. The Team Lead will be leading engagement with key internal and external stakeholders, including academia, and supporting the generation, synthesis and use of evidence on nutrition and diets to inform policy and programme decisions.

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES (not all-inclusive, within delegated authority):

Provide Strategic Leadership for Nutrition and Diet Research, Analysis, and Methodological Development

• Provide strategic oversight and quality assurance for the design, implementation, synthesis, and dissemination of analytical methods and findings, including the responsible use of AI and machine‑learning techniques to strengthen methodological rigor and clear communication of findings to technical and non‑technical audiences;

• Direct the strategic mapping, governance, and integration of data sources and indicators informing the development of proxy indicators for dietary vitamin and mineral deficiency (VMD) risks, and diet cost and affordability;

• Provide strategic oversight of country‑level nutrition stakeholder consultations, including engagement with senior national counterparts, supervision of qualitative data collection and analysis, and translation of insights into key outputs—particularly the design and functionality of the interactive dashboard.

Identify Strategic Opportunities for New Nutrition and Diet Analytical Opportunities and Lead on their Development

• Advise the Chief of Nutrition and the Senior Nutrition Advisor on the strategic direction of nutrition and diet analytics, including opportunities to responsibly leverage AI for improved risk analysis, forecasting, and targeting.

• Maintain and strengthen internal partnerships and future collaborations, including collaboration within the Nutrition, School Meals and Social Protection service, with RAM, INNA and other WFP services and divisions relevant to the use of proxy indicators and their visualisation for nutrition and diet-related programming.

• Identify potential funding opportunities linked to nutrition and diet analytics.

Establish and Manage Strategic Relationships

• Supervise strategic stakeholder engagement at global and national levels, including mapping partners with expertise in AI, data science, and digital public goods relevant to nutrition and diet analytics.

• Liaise with Regional and Country Office teams to define analytical needs, timeframes, ToRs, workplans and budgets;

• Develop internal and external communication plans to share learning and progress of WFP’s nutrition and diet analytical work;

• Provide strategic direction for partnerships with academic and technical institutions (e.g. University of Nottingham, LSHTM, UC Davis), including collaboration on AI‑enhanced methodologies, validation approaches, and applied research.

• Manage donor relationships with WFP Partnership’s team, with regular technical meetings, reporting and provision of updates.

Team Management

• Lead and manage multidisciplinary teams, including the planning, prioritisation, and delivery of outputs that integrate advanced analytics and AI‑enabled tools for nutrition and diet analytics to enhance efficiency, quality assurance, and scalability.

• Provide direct supervision, coaching and performance management for team members to ensure appropriate development and enable high performance;

• Manage budgets and resource allocation in collaboration with the Finance Officer, Partnerships Counterparts, Senior Nutrition Advisor, Chief of Nutrition and PGRS Director.

Lead Strategic Communication, Visualization, and Uptake of Evidence

• Guide the effective communication of analytical methods, results, and implications to senior national and international audiences, including at high‑level policy and technical fora;

• Oversee the translation of complex analytical outputs into accessible, decision‑focused visualizations, working in close partnership with the RAM HungerMapLive team to ensure high‑quality integration of sub‑national data within an interactive dashboard;

• Design, coordinate, and provide oversight for dissemination and evidence‑to‑policy uptake strategies, ensuring that data outputs and dashboard insights are effectively leveraged to inform national decision‑making and programming, in close collaboration with WFP Country Offices and key in‑country stakeholders.

Provide Strategic Leadership on Knowledge Sharing of Analytical Insights

• Promote knowledge sharing and learning across teams, ensuring alignment with global evidence, corporate priorities, and technical standards.

• Coordinate the submission of manuscripts to high‑impact, peer‑reviewed journals, positioning the team’s work as a contributor to global nutrition evidence and methodological innovation;

• Represent WFP’s nutrition and diet analytics as a technical thought leader at academic conferences and other relevant forums, strengthening the visibility, credibility, and influence within the global nutrition and food security research community.

Perform any other relevant duties, as requested.

• Support WFP Corporate work particularly related to nutrition and diet analytics.

QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE

Education: Advanced University degree in Nutrition, or Food Science / Public Health (with a major in Nutrition).

Desired experiences for entry into the role:

• Minimum eight years of professional experience in an analytical role in nutrition, some of that on large-scale food fortification or local food solutions would be a plus.

• Demonstrated experience supervising large, multi-disciplinary teams of senior and junior analysts to deliver result driven outcomes;

• Proven experience conduction and managing research and/or analyses with diverse stakeholders and data inputs, including research design, data collection, analysis and write up, including food and nutrient availability, intake, status, and related health data and modelling data from Household Consumption and Expenditure Surveys to estimate food or nutrient intake or diet access at the individual level;

• Experience leading stakeholder engagement to develop evidence-based policy and programme recommendations from evidence and analytics;

• Strong track record in building and strengthening operational and policy capacity of national institutions, WFP Country Offices, and technical partners by embedding analytical tools, data products, and evidence‑based approaches into planning, policy formulation, and programme design processes, including through targeted technical guidance and hands‑on support;

• Experience presenting analytical findings or evidence to diverse audiences, including government stakeholders, programme staff and academic partners, in a clear and context-relevant format;

• Experience representing WFP on high-level academic consortia and committees and globally recognised for contribution to diet and nutrition analytics and the overall global nutrition agenda

• Proven ability to build relationships with partners (e.g., donors and governments), negotiating funding, and engaging in resource mobilization.

Language: Fluency (level C) in English language. Intermediate knowledge (level B) of a second official UN language: Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian, Spanish, and/or Portuguese (a WFP working language).

MORE ABOUT YOU:

You have:

• Functioning knowledge of data landscapes for nutrition, including micronutrients, dietary assessment and household food security. 

• Proficient in the analysis of quantitative data using statistical software such as STATA and qualitative data using NVIVO.

• Expert abilities in diet modelling software, including Cost of the Diet and Optifood.

• Experience with artificial intelligence specifically related to food and nutrition analytics

• Analytical and problem-solving skills, with a strong solution and action orientation.

• Excellent communication, scientific writing, training and facilitation skills.

• Flexibility, sound interpersonal skills and cross-cultural sensitivity.

• Capacity to coordinate with a range of national and international stakeholders, including national governments, research institutions, private sector, donors and NGO partners.

TERMS AND CONDITIONS

• This is an International Professional position and is open to all nationalities.

• Mobility is and continues to be a core contractual requirement in WFP. This position is however classified as “non-rotational” which means the incumbent shall not be subject to the regular reassignment process unless the position is reclassified as rotational.

• The selected candidate will be employed on a fixed-term contract with a probationary period of one year.

• This position is open to both internal and external candidates.

• WFP offers an attractive compensation and benefits package in line with ICSC standards (http://icsc.un.org) including basic salary, post adjustment, relocation entitlement, visa, travel and shipment allowances, 30 days’ annual leave, home leave, an education grant for dependent children, a pension plan, and medical insurance.

• The selected candidate will be required to relocate to Rome, Italy to take up this assignment.

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:  [email protected]

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 [email protected]. 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.