Portfolio Associate

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 8,000 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.

Based in Kiev, Ukraine, the Ukraine Operation Center (UAOC) activities range from tailor-made administration, operations, human resources and logistics support for implementation of development and humanitarian projects; management services and advisory services to partners to facilitate effective procurement.

UAOC ensures that projects are executed to the highest standards, providing a shared knowledge base and ensuring that best practices and lessons learned are disseminated between business units and projects across the entire region

The Portfolio Associate works in close collaboration with the Operations, Programme and projects personnel and as well as with personnel of other UN agencies to exchange information and ensure consistent service delivery. The incumbent is responsible for implementation of operational strategies, portfolio planning, administration and management, and knowledge building and knowledge sharing.

The Portfolio Associate reports to the Portfolio Analyst who provides direction and general supervision.

Implementation of operational strategies

• Full compliance with UNOPS rules and regulations of programme/project management, financial processes, financial records and reports and audit follow up, human resources management, procurement processes; implementation of the effective internal control framework.
• Contribution to the content of internal Standard Operating Procedures in programme/project management, in consultation with the direct supervisor and office management.

Portfolio planning, administration and management

• Organization, direction and supervision of all administrative, financial and logistical activities of the projects under her/his responsibilities;
• Support to the management of all aspects of project implementation and service delivery in full compliance with UNOPS rules and regulations; monitoring of progress for all assigned projects/service agreements, anticipating operational and budgetary issues and taking pre-emptive action.
• Review of service requests, assessment of their complexity, level of effort and UNOPS service fee levels for compliance with the UNOPS self-financing principle, and feedback to management for assessment/acceptance of projects for execution and/or service requests
• Preparation of service request documents and analysis of submissions for project and/or UNOPS service acceptance; coordination of inputs from different parties; preparation of the Implementation Analysis Note and related documentation and presentation of requests to the project acceptance committee.
• Collaboration with colleagues, clients, partners, and undertaking of missions, as may be required, to guide operational issues and UNOPS service provision. Resolution of operational and process issues, referring complex issues to supervisor with clear recommendations for courses of action.
• Preparation and issuance of authorizations to Programme Managers and Country Offices to undertake project-related activities and incur expenditures; monitoring of expenditures and advice to clients/partners and funding agencies on budget status.
• Preparation of project budgets and revisions and other related documents.
• Assist in initiation of procurement of goods or services by requesting quotations, examining cost estimates, evaluating cost effectiveness and compliance with provisions contained in the UNOPS Procurement Manual and related guidelines with the support of procurement unit. Active follow-up from procurement to delivery through procurement unit
• Finalizing Partner pre-selection personnel contract requests and liaison with all parties for finalizing contracts. Processing of all administrative requirements (e.g. funding source, clearances, and documentation) and request to HR focal point to undertake recruitment action; follow-up to completion.
• Verification of accuracy of requests/transactions and completeness of documentation. Initiation of action and certification for approval at the higher level as may be required.  Monitoring of expenditures, regularly informing supervisor and clients of budget status and any need to reallocate resources to meet objectives.
• Administrative arrangements (e.g. funding, travel, logistics) for training and study tours, evaluating relevance of event with project objectives and review of nominations.
• Preparation of briefing materials as required for mission travel and/or discussion on project activities.
• Leading the travel arrangements including ticketing, travel authorizations and travel claims for UNOPS administered personnel in accordance with relevant applicable rules and procedures.

Knowledge building and knowledge sharing

• Maintenance of accurate data and information to facilitate monitoring and evaluation of project and service activities, and to institutionalize and disseminate knowledge.
• Coaching and/or mentoring of colleagues and more junior personnel on portfolio management and service administration and encouraging feedback to lead to process improvement and standardization.
• Publication and sharing of information and knowledge with colleagues, clients and partners.
• Participation in the trainings for the programme, operations and projects personnel on programme/project management
• Sound contributions to knowledge networks and communities of practice.

• Completion of Secondary education required. First university degree in Business administration; Human Resource Management, Public Administration, or equivalent discipline is desirable.

• Minimum six (6) years relevant work experience in a similar position, including direct experience in managing service delivery and working directly with clients, with at least 2 years of this experience with an international organization are required.
• Experience in UN system organizations in desirable.
• Proficiency in computers and office software packages (MS office) and experience in handling web- based management system is required.
• Experience in use of HR information systems, Enterprise system is desirable.

• Fluency in English and Ukrainian is required.  Working knowledge of Russian is highly desirable.

• Please note that the closing date is midnight Copenhagen time
• Applications received after the closing date will not be considered.
• Only those candidates that are short-listed for interviews will be notified.
• Qualified female candidates are strongly encouraged to apply.
• Work life harmonization - UNOPS values its people and recognizes the importance of balancing professional and personal demands. We have a progressive policy on work-life harmonization and offer several flexible working options. This policy applies to UNOPS personnel on all contract types
• For staff positions only, UNOPS reserves the right to appoint a candidate at a lower level than the advertised level of the post
• The incumbent is responsible to abide by security policies, administrative instructions, plans and procedures of the UN Security Management System and that of UNOPS.  

It is the policy of UNOPS to conduct background checks on all potential recruits/interns.
Recruitment/internship in UNOPS is contingent on the results of such checks.