Project Management and Infrastructure Advisor - Surge Capacity, Multiple positions

Based in Copenhagen, Denmark, the UNOPS Integrated Practice Advice and Support (IPAS) serves all the regions and headquarters, primarily with advice and solutions to everyday implementation challenges. IPAS consists of a diverse team of subject matter experts in the six practice areas of HR, Administration, Legal, Finance, Procurement, Project Management and Infrastructure. IPAS has three main roles:

Support to operations in the field offices: IPAS provides timely advice and supports actively finding of solutions to everyday implementation challenges, based on policy and best practices. It also provides operational support in specific areas.

Business efficiency: IPAS recommends changes to policies, processes and operating standards based on the feedback and experience of the field offices. IPAS also ensures transparent and efficient project implementation, in line with policy and business needs. 

Body of knowledge: IPAS contributes to research and coordination within the policy groups and project practitioners. It provides structured knowledge and subject matter expertise which is used across practice areas to provide coherent and tailored advice to the requesting offices.

Faced with recurring demands for such services, IPAS has been given the responsibility to create a Rapid Response team to meet the needs of UNOPS field offices. These needs include but are not limited to providing personnel for quick inception of new projects, supporting emergency responses, as well as covering gaps after unexpected departure of colleagues whose roles are critical to the operations of the office.

IPAS is now hiring committed colleagues to be part of this Surge Capacity team in the areas of HR, Procurement and Project Management / Infrastructure. We are looking for candidates from all around the world who are passionate about our mission and values, and looking forward to making a difference for people in need.


Sneak peak of our working environment:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8CyuSqczvI

As a Infrastructure and Project Management Practice Advisor - Surge Capacity Team, you will be providing technical guidance and PM support to UNOPS field offices globally. You will be assigned to surge missions with the objective to support projects and offices that require rapid Project Management and/or Infrastructure support. 

Frequent travel to field offices, including to hardship locations is expected. Remote support may also happen, depending on the nature of the assignment and clients’ preferences, as well as potential limitations to travel due to external factors and/or global context.

As the face of IPAS in the field, you will be required to be a role model by leveraging a business partnering approach in every assignment. You will be responsible for providing implementation management and support to ongoing projects, including infrastructure projects, operational support and capacity building in field offices, always with the aim of increasing quality, professionalism and creating efficiencies. Your work will focus on identifying challenges and delivering innovative solutions to ensure high quality and expert services across the organisation. This may also involve the analysis of ongoing projects to support the successful delivery in time, cost and quality of UNOPS projects, with full compliance with the UNOPS policies and guidelines in infrastructure and project management.

When not supporting a field office, the Infrastructure and Project Management Advisor will work with the IPAS Project Management and Infrastructure (PMI) team based in Copenhagen. 

You will report to the IPAS Manager, and have a secondary reporting line to the IPAS PMI Advisor when not deployed to a field assignment. When deployed to a field assignment, your primary reporting line will be to the Manager of the position you will occupy during that time.

The functions/responsibilities/key results of this job description are generic and may not always be applicable, nor be comprehensive, for all missions. The specific tasks and deliverables for each assignment may vary and will be detailed in the terms of reference developed for each assignment by the requesting office/unit.

Summary of Key Functions:

1. Primary: PM and Infrastructure hands-on support and implementation to projects and field offices  -with travel and sometimes remotely. 

2. Secondary: Support to IPAS PMI  - PM & infrastructure advice and support  to field offices.

Primary responsibilities: 

While on assignment in a country office, the PMI Advisor will report to the Head of Programme or another senior position in the country office. The Advisor is expected to  temporary act as the project management for  ongoing or start-up projects, following UNOPS policies and guidelines. In their role, they will exercise project manager’s responsibilities for a specific project. They will also advise the country office on project management capacity, quality and progress related issues, and highlight operational and compliance challenges for that project whilst tailoring appropriate mitigation approaches. The findings will be addressed in a mission report.  

He/she will be assigned specific tasks within the areas of responsibilities of a UNOPS Senior Project Manager, these are:

1-Project Delivery and Performance

2-Procedures

3-Monitoring and reporting

4-Stakeholder engagement

5-Quality assurance

6-Personnel management

These areas include the following tasks:  

1-Project Delivery and Performance

• Develop, complete and update implementation plan(s) (If applicable);

• Implement the approved plan (including the establishment of milestones) within tolerances set by the Project Board; 

• Embed sustainability dimensions including social and gender inclusion, environmental and economic aspects into project life span;

• Identify, and anticipate in a timely manner, potential risks and issues and advises mitigating measures to senior management/ Project Board so that maximum benefit to partner(s) and other stakeholders is achieved;

• Manage the production of the required outputs, taking responsibility for overall progress and use of resources and initiating corrective action where necessary;

• Ensure that quality of work packages and deliverables complies with the quality requirements defined in the Implementation Plan;

• Ensure that proper Health & Safety standards are being implemented at all project sites and work with the contractor on relevant risk mitigation measures (if applicable);

• Liaise with any external suppliers or account managers;

• Manage acceptance and delivery as well as changes of work packages;

• Monitor project progress ensuring that work packages are being executed properly;

• Accept goods, services or works delivered by suppliers (If applicable);

• Lead contract management duties including supplier performance evaluation (If applicable);

• Act as the Employer’s Representative within the works contracts (If applicable);

• Identify and report to the supervisor potential business opportunities for UNOPS.

2-Procedures

• Comply with all organizational policy and specifically the Project Management Manual;

• Prepare/adapt all relevant plans for approval by the Project Board;

• Manage the reporting obligations defined in the Legal Agreement(s) and in the Implementation Plan;

• Ensure maintenance of the project files and lessons learned are recorded;

• Ensure the development and implementation of project financial management guidelines and control mechanisms, in conformity with UNOPS rules and regulations (if applicable);

• Manage budget, cash flow and obligations to ensure that deliverables are met and payments to contractors and personnel are received on time;

• Where the Project Manager has no delegation as a committing officer, s/he retains these responsibilities and will monitor and instruct/request others to carry out the relevant commitments and disbursements.

3-Monitoring and reporting

• Prepare and issue regular project and/or financial reports in accordance with Partner and UNOPS requirements for reporting;

• Regularly review project status, evaluating performance criteria (scope, cost, schedule and quality);

• Maintain issue and risk reports as well as mitigation approaches as required by the organization’s standard procedures;

• Provide routine oversight and analysis of delivery data and alignment to implementation plans;

• Ensure all project team members track and regularly update milestones and targets for the duration of projects' life span.

4-Stakeholder engagement

• Develop stakeholder profiles and facilitate the formulation of stakeholder engagement strategies;

• Establish solid working relationships with the Project Board (Executive, Senior Users and Senior Suppliers), client and key stakeholders;

• Enable the formulation of project communications plans. Coordinate internal project communications. Monitor the effectiveness of project communications;

• Coordinate stakeholder engagement and communication, ensuring effective timing and interdependency management of communications. Ensure stakeholders are aware of project activities, progress, exceptions and are in a position to accept handover outputs.

5-Quality assurance

• Work with internal stakeholders to ensure projects comply with audit requirements;

• Work with procurement/purchasing staff to ensure effective interface with suppliers' quality systems;

• Coordinate quality reviews of project documents and deliverables as well as in timely and effective undertaking of Quarterly Assurance processes;

• Provide quality control for management outputs (project documents, reports, etc.).

6-Personnel management - if applicable  

• Lead and motivate the project management team;

• Select, recruit and train personnel as required and take into account gender parity and diversity objectives;

• Ensure safety and security for all project personnel and comply with UNDSS standards;

• Create, foster and role model a culture of respect and zero tolerance for discrimination, abuse of authority, harassment, sexual harassment and sexual exploitation and abuse. Ensure accountability for actions and perform duties in accordance with protection mechanisms and action plans, as expected by UNOPS policies, standards and commitments.

Secondary responsibilities:

When not on assignment, ensures efficient support to IPAS PMI, focusing on advising projects on:

• Act as a surge capacity for IPAS PMI in the delivery of dedicated support to field colleagues as well as in tailoring specific solutions to complex / high risk challenges;

• Support capacity building efforts working with other IPAS colleagues in the development and delivery of tailored learning sessions;

• Contribute to proactive risk management by identifying and capturing critical risks and support field offices and projects in mitigating such risks and support to field offices and projects;

• Provide consistent advice on the application, interpretation and adoption of corporate policies, methodologies, guidance and processes related to UNOPS infrastructure; and how to embed best practices in infrastructure project and programme management, with an emphasis on risk management;

• Actively support IPAS in the development of and sharing of knowledge by leveraging from the field exposure, capturing case studies and lessons learned and contribute to the identification of appropriate improvements by making recommendations on policy, guidance and tools;

• Actively interact with other Project Managers and the wider PM community to share case studies, lessons learned and best practices;

• Undertake other tasks as deemed necessary by the IPAS PMI Team Leader.

Education:

• An advanced university degree (Master's or equivalent such as MEng, MSc) or professional certification in preferably Civil Engineering (CEng, PE, P. Eng.), Architecture, Construction Management or relevant discipline is required;

• A Bachelor degree combined with 2 years of relevant work experience can be accepted in lieu of the Master’s degree;

Experience:

• A minimum of 10 years of experience in functions related to Project and Programme Management and Operations support (with an advanced university degree);

• Proven technical leadership and expertise in project and programme management is required;

• Minimum 3 years managing projects in the international development context is required;

• Certification in PRINCE2® Practitioner and/or other PM certification is required;

• Prior experience in a UN Agency will be a strong asset; 

• Current or prior experience as a UNOPS PM is strongly preferred given the nature of the surge capacity role;

• Prior experience working in a developing country, conflict and/or post-conflict project management environment would be a strong asset.

Languages:

• Perfect command of both written and spoken English is a strict requirement.
• Knowledge of another UN language such as French or Spanish would be a strong asset.

Others:

The person in this position will be required to frequently travel to different locations around the world, including hardship locations. Missions abroad may last for several weeks/up to a maximum of 3 months. Availability to travel is therefore a prerequisite for this position, even though some of the missions may be conducted remotely.

• Contract type: ICA
• Contract level: I-ICA-3
• Contract duration: Open-ended, subject to organizational requirements, availability of funds and satisfactory performance

• 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.
• 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.  

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.

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.