Portfolio Management Specialist

Background Information – UNOPS 

UNOPS is an operational arm of the United Nations, supporting the successful implementation of its partners’ peacebuilding, humanitarian and development projects around the world. Our mission is to help people build better lives and countries achieve sustainable development.

UNOPS areas of expertise cover infrastructure, procurement, project management, financial management and human resources.

Working with us

UNOPS offers short- and long-term work opportunities in diverse and challenging environments across the globe. We are looking for creative, results-focused professionals with skills in a range of disciplines.

Diversity

With over 4,000 UNOPS personnel and approximately 7,000 personnel recruited on behalf of UNOPS partners spread across 80 countries, our workforce represents a wide range of nationalities and cultures. We promote a balanced, diverse workforce — a strength that helps us better understand and address our partners’ needs, and continually strive to improve our gender balance through initiatives and policies that encourage recruitment of qualified female candidates.

Work life harmonization

UNOPS values its people and recognizes the importance of balancing professional and personal demands.

Role of the Change and Transformation Unit

The role of the Change and Transformation Unit (CTU) is to work across UNOPS, to design and implement effective, sustainable solutions, to make a difference where it matters most.

CTU supports new possibilities for UNOPS by helping teams to innovate, finding new ways of working and developing/designing nimble organizational models. Our expertise, tools and processes ensure greater participation in change; we pay as much attention to people and processes, as we do to structures and technology.

Our team brings experience, energy and partnership to a full range of change management and transformation advisory services including: organization design, organizational development, design and implementation of corporate transformation programmes, facilitating changes to behavior and ways of working, human centered design and change leadership

Our team are all experienced change management consultants who can provide support around change leadership, managing change at all levels, coaching people leaders and/or managing change projects.

Role of the Portfolio Management Specialist

In January 2023, UNOPS committed to a series of strategic and administrative reforms, including a reset of the organizational strategy.  These reforms involve a significant change management component and additional capacity is required across several priority areas in order to implement these changes.  

We are now recruiting a Portfolio Management Specialist to provide facilitation support,  guidance, advice and oversight support to ensure the effective management of UNOPS change and transformation portfolio. 

The role will ensure that project and change management policies, processes and methods are followed and practiced according to the organization standards across all projects within the portfolio.

The Portfolio Management Specialist reports to the Portfolio Management Advisor, who provides broad supervision and guidance.  This position may be home based. 

• An advanced degree preferably in Economics, Management, Public Administration, Business Administration, Social Sciences, Political Science, International Relations, or other related field.
• A combination of Bachelor’s degree with an additional 2 years of relevant work experience may be accepted in lieu of the education requirements outlined above.
• Project Management certification (i.e. PRINCE2, MSP) is an asset.

• A minimum of 5 years of relevant and progressive professional experience in portfolio and/or programme management, is required. Strong experience creating written and visual consulting outputs (PowerPoint decks) is an asset.
• Experience with Google Workplace, particularly Sheets and Slides is an asset.
• Knowledge of UN/UNOPS’ project management rules, regulations, standards, requirements and systems, is strongly desired.

• 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.