Procurement Analyst (Procurement Assurance)

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.

As a central procurement resource for the United Nations system and its partners, UNOPS emphasizes efficient, transparent, cost-effective and sustainable delivery of goods, services and works, in line with public procurement best practices. On a yearly basis, UNOPS procures over USD 1 Bn worth of goods, services and works on behalf of our partners. These include a broad base of categories, including life-saving pharmaceuticals, mine action equipment, vehicles or road construction services. 

Procurement Group (PG) is part of Implementation Practices and Standards (IPS) and is based at UNOPS HQ in Copenhagen. It leads the organization’s procurement practice and is responsible for: articulating strategy, policy positions and innovative solutions for procurement at UNOPS; enabling the operationalization and managerial oversight of UNOPS procurement activities through appropriate systems and reports; strengthening the knowledge, skills and career development of procurement practitioners; and leading the implementation of sustainable procurement across the organization.

The Procurement Assurance team within PG is responsible for leveraging data to oversee and enhance the procurement function, including through data analytics, risk and performance assessments and capacity development. This includes developing guidance and tools, such as dashboards, to make procurement data accessible across the organization. The team is also responsible for procurement data reporting across UNOPS, including the collation and publication of the Annual Statistical Report on UN Procurement (ASR) on behalf of the UN System (published at www.ungm.org/asr).

Reporting to the Procurement Specialist (Procurement Assurance team) the incumbent will contribute to the assurance of UNOPS procurement operations, undertake procurement analytics projects, and further develop procurement data literacy within the organization.

Tasks include, but are not limited to:

1. Procurement oversight improvement

• Contributing statistics and insights to assist the development of policies, guidelines, reports and presentations on procurement operations within UNOPS, including sustainable procurement

• Helping find the root causes of underperformance and non-compliance, as well as opportunities for improvement, in collaboration with various HQ and field stakeholders 

• Assisting with procurement capacity assessments of field offices, focusing on performance, compliance and risk, and helping make recommendations for improvement 

• Maintaining and enhancing the Corporate Procurement Plan in collaboration with field stakeholders

2. Procurement data analytics

• Analysing complex and connected data, proposing and testing hypotheses, identifying patterns and trends, and deriving statistics and insights related to procurement. This includes: spend information, vendor data, sustainability indicators, contract compliance data and benchmarking

• Supporting the design, development, testing, implementation, maintenance and documentation of procurement data tools, including dashboards and reports, including conducting rigorous data quality checking

• Producing regular, periodic and ad hoc data reports on procurement, including in the context of internal and external audits and in collaborative initiatives with other UN agencies

• Assisting the production of key procurement publications, for example the Annual Statistical Report on UN Procurement (www.ungm.org/asr) or the report on Joint Procurement Initiatives and others as required, including through project coordination, data analysis and content writing 

• Other related technical and analysis support as required

3. Procurement data literacy and capacity development

• Supporting the development and delivery of capability development programs and documentation for internal users on data tools, including in their use and ongoing maintenance - including group and 1-to-1 training, tutorials, guidance materials etc

• Assisting with organizing, facilitating and/or delivering training and presentations for UNOPS personnel and occasionally external stakeholders (e.g. UN colleagues, suppliers)

• Implementing knowledge management, communications and training campaigns in various formats, including in-person, remotely/online or via missions in UNOPS country offices

Education

• Advanced Degree (Master’s degree or equivalent) is required, preferably related either to the subject matter area (i.e. procurement, supply chain) and/or data analysis component (e.g. in the field of Statistics, Mathematics, Data Science, Computer Science, Information Systems, Engineering, Business Analytics, Business Administration, Economics or equivalent).

• University degree (bachelors/first level) in related fields with additional 2 years of relevant working experience (total: 3 years) may be considered in lieu of a Master’s degree.

• Additional industry certifications will be considered as an advantage. 

Experience

• Candidates must have a minimum 1 year professional experience where they have demonstrated the following required skills (applicants will need to correctly answer a related screening question in the application form to be considered. Eligible candidates will be invited to submit an assessment related to these skills):

  • Analysing, evaluating and reporting business-related data and/or statistics, ideally in the subject-matter area (procurement, supply chain management)

  • Data communication and visualisation through a variety of media - such as presentations, training, reports, dashboards

  • Advanced expertise in spreadsheet tools (e.g. Google Sheets, Microsoft Excel) 

• PG will consider candidates with a combination of relevant technical expertise (i.e. data analysis, dashboard development) and subject-matter knowledge (procurement, supply chain management etc). Candidates may be stronger in one of these than the other but should be enthusiastic to learn new skills on the job.

• Knowledge of public procurement and reporting practices, particularly those related to UNOPS and the UN, is highly desirable

• The following skills and experience are considered an asset for the role. The ideal candidate will possess one or more of these. Training may be made available to the incumbent to fill any skill gaps.

  • Building dashboards in Google Data Studio or an equivalent dashboard platform (e.g. Tableau, PowerBI)

  • SQL coding (our team uses Google Cloud Platform (GCP) including Big Query)

  • Knowledge of procurement of goods and services relevant to UNOPS activities

• It is highly recommended to submit a concise cover letter outlining how you consider your education and experience align with the requirements of the role

Language skills

• Fluency in written and oral English is a requirement

• Knowledge of another UN official language is an advantage

• 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 and candidates from the Global South are strongly encouraged to apply.

• UNOPS seeks to reasonably accommodate candidates with special needs, upon request.

• 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.Recruitment in UNOPS is contingent on the results of such checks.

• This recruitment process may be used to fill other vacancies including short-term placements and retainer contracts.

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