Infrastructure & Project Management Manager

The United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) is an operational arm of the United Nations, supporting the successful implementation of its partners' peacebuilding, humanitarian and development projects around the world.  Mandated as a central resource of the United Nations, UNOPS provides sustainable project management, procurement and infrastructure services to a wide range of governments, donors and United Nations organizations.  With over 7,000 personnel spread across 80 countries, UNOPS offers its partners the logistical, technical and management knowledge they need, where they need it.  By implementing around 1,000 projects for our partners at any given time, UNOPS makes significant contributions to results on the ground, often in the most challenging environments.

Located in Kinshasa, DRC the UNOPS Multi-Country office in Central Africa covers eleven countries, including DRC, and has an active portfolio of over $300 million, with many infrastructure projects. The office has developed strong working relations with international partners, UN agencies including UN Missions and Governments across Central Africa over the years. It provides technical support and capacity building in strategic development areas including infrastructure rehabilitation and development across health, education, public works, governance/public administration sectors; procurement, project management and sectoral advisory services; peace and security, environmental preservation and protection among others.

The Infrastructure & Project Management Manager will be part of the UNOPS Programme/ PMO team and will provide advice and support to all infrastructure projects across the different offices. 

The Infrastracture & Project Management Manager will report to the Head of Programme

• Support infrastructure Project managers plan and coordinate work activities.

• Review Bill of Quantities (BoQ) prior to procurement actions, when needed

• Support Project managers develop and monitor their respective Quality, Health and Safety, Environment plans.

• Support the PMO and infrastructure Project managers provide data and information about project work for reporting purposes.

• Provide monthly report to the HoP/PMO summarizing all project matters including quality, health and safety, environmental, as well as any issues relating to possible delays, cost overruns, variations and any other matter related to infrastructure projects.

• Support PMs complete needs assessment, organize preliminary studies and monitor/supervise consultants.

• Support the review of requests for new construction and rehabilitation works.

• Review assessments and reports with recommendations for follow up actions.

• Assist the Project Manager in redacting the tender dossier, with particular focus to the technical documents (drawings, BoQ, technical specification and standards).

• Assist the Project managers to outline design requirements (e.g. timeline) to procure design services, including concept, preliminary and final stages where applicable.

• Assist the Project managers to manage the design plan ensuring deliverables are available on time, and to the required quality.

• Support all infrastructure Project managers with their design review submissions to HQ.

• Assist the procurement team with technical assistance in preparation of tender documentation and bid analysis where required

•  Ensure all infrastructure projects quantity/quality control and time schedule consistency.

• Verify that works are consistent with the project technical specifications and inform promptly of eventual deviations.

• Support the overall management of works implementation to ensure construction works are completed on time, within budget and to quality standards.

• Provide spot checks of supervision of the project work progress and quality for on time delivery. 

• Assist the Project manager  in the preparation of project/contracts related documentations such as periodic progress reports, site monitoring reports, stakeholder meeting minutes, engineer’s instructions and variation orders, contractor’s bills review reports, certifications, client hand-over documents and contracts close-out reports.

• Development and planning – support Project Management Office (PMO) team to provide appropriate levels of programmatic management to projects in CDMCO, regarding all ongoing project activities, while maintaining and implementing appropriate standards and best practices in line with UNOPS policies and procedures.

• Set-up and closure – support all project closure activities

• Monitoring and reporting - regularly review project status, quality , evaluating performance criteria

• Quality assurance -  help ensure compliance with UNOPS defined standards for programme/project management

• Act as focal point in the Country Office for Health and Safety matters

• Significantly increase awareness on health and safety, ensure implementation of the GoalZero approach (zero incidents, zero injuries and zero accidents) and completion of actions to improve health and safety. 

• Cultivate a GoalZero mindset with actions such as identifying and addressing health and safety risks, monitoring the adherence to health and safety requirements through inspections and reviews, and engaging others to embed a safe working culture at UNOPS workplaces.  

• Support Project Managers develop and monitor their respective Quality, Health and Safety, Environment plans.

• Development and planning – support Project Management Office (PMO) team in Kinshasa to provide appropriate levels of programmatic management to projects in CAR, regarding all ongoing project activities, while maintaining and implementing appropriate standards and best practices in line with UNOPS policies and procedures.

• Consult and collaborate with colleagues and partners to ensure linkages, consistency, and harmonisation of approaches and compliance with guidelines, framework and standards of accountability, integrity and performance.

• Ensure proactive programme and project risk identification and assessment and implementation of adequate mitigation measures.

• Work closely with the partnership person to ensure and facilitate the capture of lessons learnt from programme and project implementation into new opportunities and engagement development, as well as the adequate identification of risks and mitigation measures

• Set-up and closure – support relevant project closure activities

• Monitoring and reporting - regularly review project status, quality , evaluating performance criteria

• A Master’s degree in Civil Engineering or related field is required.
• 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.

• 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.

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.