Technical Specialist – Census Cartography (P-4), Kinshasa

About the role

The Census Cartography Technical Specialist supports the national statistical office (Institut National de la Statistique/Bureau de Coordination du Recensement) with geospatial and mapping activities across all 26 provinces of the DRC for the second General Population and Housing Census. Working under the UNFPA Representative and the Census Chief Technical Adviser, the specialist ensures that digital cartography, high-resolution satellite imagery, spatial databases and mobile GIS are integrated into every phase of the census.

Key responsibilities

• Lead the national Census Cartography & GIS Master Plan and budget, and set technical protocols for digital cartography, coordinate reference systems, enumeration area sizes and layer standards.
• Manage procurement specifications for satellite imagery, mobile mapping devices, GNSS/GPS and GIS software/hardware, and design hybrid mapping workflows.
• Oversee the spatial delineation and digitizing of Enumeration Areas and Supervision Areas, and run QA/QC protocols so coverage is complete and accurate before enumeration.
• Supervise mobile GIS tools used by field teams, ensuring offline capability and data integrity in remote areas, and conduct field monitoring visits.
• Assess capacity gaps in GIS and cartography and train national staff, field cartographers and digitizers on ESRI/QGIS, mobile data collection platforms, satellite image interpretation and spatial analysis.
• Integrate EA boundaries into CAPI platforms, manage the post-census geodatabase, and produce digital census atlases, web-mapping applications and georeferenced population portals.
• Act as the UNFPA technical focal point for cartography and GIS committees, coordinate with partners and donors, and report progress and risks to the Census CTA and management.

Required profile

• Advanced university degree (Master's or equivalent) in Cartography, GIS, Geomatics, Geography, Remote Sensing or a related quantitative field.
• At least 7 years of progressively responsible international experience in census cartography, GIS design and spatial database management.
• Hands-on experience designing digital mapping strategies for large-scale censuses, especially in developing countries (Sub-Saharan Africa or fragile contexts highly desirable).
• Proven experience in technical capacity building and training national staff.
• Fluency in French and working knowledge of English.

Required skills

• Advanced GIS software: ESRI ArcGIS Pro, ArcGIS Enterprise, QGIS
• Spatial DBMS: PostGIS, SQL Server
• Mobile mapping tools: Survey123, ODK, CSEntry
• High-resolution satellite imagery processing
• Technical leadership, analytical thinking and teamwork

What we offer

• A competitive net salary plus health insurance and other benefits as applicable.
• A work environment reflecting gender equality, diversity, integrity and work-life balance.