Senior Programme Manager - Technology Innovation (Fair Digital Commons)

UNOPS – an operational arm of the United Nations – supports the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by successfully implementing its partners’ peacebuilding, humanitarian, and development projects around the world. Our mission is to help people build better lives and countries achieve peace and sustainable development.

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

Working with us

We are proud of our people. With a wealth of knowledge and skills in various disciplines – engineering, finance, human resources, ICT, leadership, project management, procurement, and more – they help tackle some of the biggest challenges of our time. Their work around the world supports progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

At UNOPS, we offer a range of short- and long-term opportunities in various environments and duty stations – from Denmark and Kenya to Mexico, Switzerland, Myanmar, Senegal, Uganda, and many more.

Diversity

With over 5,000 UNOPS personnel and approximately 7,400 personnel recruited on behalf of our partners, spread across 80 countries, our workforce represents a range of nationalities and cultures. We promote a balanced and diverse labor force — a strength that helps us better understand and address our partners’ needs. We continually strive to maintain our gender-balanced workplace. We encourage qualified underrepresented groups as per UNOPS Gender, Diversity, and Inclusion Strategy to apply for our vacancies.

Work life harmonization

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

Background: 

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. UNOPS supports partners to build a better future by providing services that increase the efficiency, effectiveness and sustainability of peace building, humanitarian and development projects. 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.  

The UNOPS Global Pulse project is the United Nations Secretary General’s cross-pillar lead and hub for experimentation and digital innovation in advancement of the UN Charter. Originally established in 2009 to harness the power of big data and artificial intelligence to protect the vulnerable during crises, Global Pulse’s mission is to accelerate the discovery, development, and large-scale adoption of innovations for sustainable development and humanitarian action. Global Pulse promotes awareness of the opportunities for innovation to advance sustainable development and humanitarian action and it develops high-impact approaches and solutions. Global Pulse operates as a globally distributed network of regional hubs, including the UNGP Asia Pacific Regional Hub, to drive broad adoption of innovations across the UN System and beyond.

The incumbent of this position will be a personnel of UNOPS under its full responsibility.

UNOPS is seeking for the Global Pulse Project a Senior Programme Manager to establish and lead Global Pulse’s new programme area “Fair Digital Commons”. The Fair Digital Commons Senior Programme Manager will define the programme area, articulate key objectives, and ensure alignment with Global Pulse’s strategic objectives and overarching priorities as directed by the UNGP Executive Director. The Fair Digital Commons Senior Programme Manager will identify and scope initiatives that are a good fit for their programme area and, in coordination with their supervisor and the entire Global Pulse’s senior leadership team, decide to strategically invest in select initiatives to foster the strategic positioning and evolution of the programme area within Global Pulse and the United Nations to deliver maximum impact in service of the well-being of people and the planet. 

The Fair Digital Commons Senior Programme Manager will provide senior thought leadership in their programme area and will act as a representative of Global Pulse within and beyond the United Nations. They will participate in panels, working groups, and other relevant forums within and beyond the United Nations to articulate current and future challenges with regards to digital justice. They will serve as an advocate for a fair digital commons to shape current dialogue towards a more just and equitable future including our digital future.

In developing Global Pulse’s Fair Digital Commons Programme, the Senior Programme Manager will also undertake the role of Strategy Lead for the Global Data Access Initiative (GDAI). 

GDAI is a UNGP initiative under the Fair Digital Commons programme that brings together UN agencies and private, public, and social sector partners for the development of data and AI products as digital public goods (DPGs). GDAI aspires to catalyze the formation of a cohesive and responsibly open ecosystem of data and AI products and services that reduces inefficiencies in the development of digital solutions for sustainable development and humanitarian action—with an initial focus on natural disaster response and recovery—to accelerate attainment of the sustainable development goals. 

As GDAI is the first substantial initiative of UNGP’s Fair Digital Commons Programme, the Senior Programme Manager  will develop and oversight the strategy for GDAI and is accountable for the successful implementation of GDAI and the delivery of impact through this initiative. The incumbent will be responsible and accountable for strategic input leading to the successful delivery of use cases, which is the mechanism to realize the GDAI vision. The incumbent  will work with global partner organizations to ensure that input gained in the development of use cases support the progression and are integrated into the GDAI vision. The incumbent  will ensure the institutional evolution of GDAI. The incumbent will ensure effective communication and liaison with the GDAI steering committee and ensure decisions of the steering committee are effectively incorporated into GDAI’s implementation.

The day to day management and supervision of this position is under the responsibility of the Head of the UNGP- Asia Pacific Regional Hub.

• An advanced university degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or other relevant disciplines with a PhD degree preferred. 
• A first-level university degree in combination with an additional three years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of an advanced university degree.

• Contract type: Fixed-term staff  
• Contract level: P4
• Contract duration: 12 months with possibility of extension subject to satisfactory performance and funding availability

• 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.
• UNOPS embraces diversity and it is committed to the principle of equal employment opportunity for all its employees and encourages qualified candidates to apply irrespective of race, colour, national origin, ethnic or social background, genetic information, gender, gender identity and/or expression, sexual orientation, religion or belief, or disability.
  
• UNOPS seeks to reasonably accommodate candidates with special needs, upon request.
• 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
• For retainer contracts, you must complete a few Mandatory Courses (around 4 hours) in your own time, before providing services to UNOPS.
• The incumbent is responsible to abide by security policies, administrative instructions, plans and procedures of the UN Security Management System and that of UNOPS.  
• All UNOPS personnel are responsible for performing their duties in accordance with the UN Charter, UN Staff Regulations and Rules, 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 recruits/interns. Recruitment/internship in UNOPS is contingent on the results of such checks.