ICT and Events Manager

The United Nations Human Settlements Programme, UN-Habitat, is the agency for human settlements. It is mandated by the UN General Assembly to promote socially and environmentally sustainable towns and cities with the goal of providing adequate shelter for all.  UN-Habitat office in KSA has been working in a number of projects to support the UN-Habitat mandates and to boost the implementation of the NUA and the SDGs especially goal 11 as well as support the implementation of the Saudi Vision 2030 and its different programs that corresponds with the mandate of UN-Habitat. The Saudi Arabia Office is affiliated to The Regional Office of Arab States (ROAS), which is responsible for the implementation of the UN Habitat Work Programme at Regional and at Country level for all domains of change under the UN-Habitat Strategic Plan(2020-2023). The KSA country programmes and projects are establishing a wide program to enhance UN-Habitat's capacity of delivery at the country level.

UN-Habitat has been tasked by the Quality of Life Program to provide technical and advisory services for the design, development, and promotion of a global Quality of Life Index with a universal, and standardised method that will provide coherence and alignment for all development partners, including the UN system. The project is composed of three different phases over a period of 36 months. 

The project is composed of three outcomes as follows: 

• Enhanced technical and institutional capacity of participating countries and cities to adapt and use the Global Quality of Life Index as a decision-support system that relies on reliable, timely, and disaggregated data. 

• Enhanced understanding of local, national and global urban Quality of life trends, and challenges that hinder effective implementation of policies/ actions and formulate transformative actions.

The ICT and Events Manager will work under the overall guidance of the Senior Project Manager/Project manager for the project ‘Technical Support to the Quality of Life Index’ in cooperation with the Quality of Life Program, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. She/he will be responsible for providing technical and ICT support related to the delivery of the QoL index for the full duration of the project.

ICT:

• Responsible for the efficient liaison between the project team, all subcontractors and service providers hired to support the design, development, launch, operation, and/or maintenance of the ICT Platform. 

• Provide all logistical and operational support to QoL team for the efficient launch and implementation of this web and mobile based applications platform

• Under the guidance of the different specialisations of the of the QoL project (Programmatic, Technical, Institutional, communication), prepare the project charter with regards to the IT solutions and tools and IT innovation issues

• Responsible for analysing the results of a Market Research on similar platforms 

• Prepare a handbook for to do List for the preparation of the events, applications, global database, interactive platform from IT perspective 

• Draft basis of ToR of companies and /Or IT consultants who should be delivering technologically innovative applications for harvesting and analysis of data. 

• Shortlisting of the companies and /Or IT consultants from the Arab region that could deliver the IT solutions of the project if necessary 

• Prepare and list of good practices for preparing the global database which should be of global use from an IT point of view with lessons learnt and IT problems and solutions to be included in the guideline for the QoL IT handbook ( From UN-Habitat and other key UN agencies)

• Prepare a proposals to the project senior team where IT solutions for the Global database should be sitting and how this will be maintained including all the IT protocols that should be guiding its use and its security

Events Management:

• Serve as lead manager for the QoL related events, from logistics to programming, including task management for the groups mentioned above, oversight of all speaker preparation, onsite execution, and closeout.

• Project manage all aspects of event coordination and overall attendee experience.

• Conceptualize and oversee execution for all event programming, working in close coordination with the Project team.

• Maintain overarching event budget, including vendor contracts and other expenses.

• Manage contracts and relationships with various vendors to fulfil catering, venue, photography, travel, and audio/visual needs for onsite events, to ensure best rates are negotiated.

• manage all pre-event planning, organising guest speakers and delegate packs

• coordinate suppliers, handle counter parts and troubleshoot on the day of the event to ensure that all runs smoothly and to budget

• Ensure that insurance, legal, health and safety obligations are followed and organise facilities for security, first aid, hospitality, and the media

• Manage speaker engagement including invitations, acceptances, and briefings.

• Work closely with the communications team on all event communications and registration forms and promotion elements across digital channels.

• Guide and support in other duties administration and operations tasks as assigned.

Functional competencies:

Professionalism: 

Strong conceptual skills. Shows pride in work and in achievements; demonstrates professional competence and mastery in the UN-Habitat focus areas of Urban Recovery, Urban Planning and Design, Housing and Slum Upgrading; is conscientious and efficient in meeting commitments, observing deadlines and achieving results; is motivated by professional rather than personal concerns; shows persistence when faced with difficult problems or challenges; remains calm in stressful situations.

Teamwork: 

Works collaboratively with colleagues to achieve organisational goals; solicits input by genuinely valuing others' ideas and expertise; is willing to learn from others; places team agenda before personal agenda; supports and acts in accordance with final group decision, even when such decisions may not entirely reflect own position; shares credit for team accomplishments and accepts joint responsibility for team shortcomings.

Planning and Organizing: 

Develops clear goals that are consistent with agreed strategies; identifies priority activities and assignments; adjusts priorities as required; allocates appropriate amount of time and resources for completing work; foresees risks and allows for contingencies when planning; monitors and adjusts plans and actions as necessary; uses time efficiently.

• Please note that UNOPS does not accept unsolicited resumes.

• Applications received after the closing date will not be considered.

• Please note that only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process, which involves various assessments.

• UNOPS embraces diversity and is committed to equal employment opportunity. Our workforce consists of many diverse nationalities, cultures,  languages, races, gender identities, sexual orientations, and abilities. UNOPS seeks to sustain and strengthen this diversity to ensure equal opportunities as well as an inclusive working environment for its entire workforce. 

• Qualified women and candidates from groups which are underrepresented in the UNOPS workforce are encouraged to apply. These include in particular candidates from racialized and/or indigenous groups, members of minority gender identities and sexual orientations, and people with disabilities.

• We would like to ensure all candidates perform at their best during the assessment process.  If you are shortlisted and require additional assistance to complete any assessment, including reasonable accommodation, please inform our human resources team when you receive an invitation.

Terms and Conditions 

• For staff positions only, UNOPS reserves the right to appoint a candidate at a lower level than the advertised level of the post. 

• For retainer contracts, you must complete a few Mandatory Courses (they take around 4 hours to complete) in your own time, before providing services to UNOPS. For more information on a retainer contract here.

• All UNOPS personnel are responsible for performing their duties in accordance with the UN Charter and UNOPS Policies and Instructions, as well as other relevant accountability frameworks. In addition, all personnel must demonstrate an understanding of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in a manner consistent with UN core values and the UN Common Agenda.

• It is the policy of UNOPS to conduct background checks on all potential personnel. Recruitment in UNOPS is contingent on the results of such checks.