Head of Engagement Assurance

UNOPS strategic focus places increased emphasis on national capacity development and sustainable approaches to project management, procurement and infrastructure services.  A key objective is to be recognized as an organization that delivers world-class infrastructure and project management, which is both economically and socially sustainable, even in the most challenging environments. To achieve this goal, UNOPS has established the Infrastructure and Project Management Group (IPMG).

Within UNOPS, IPMG’s objectives are to serve the organization’s personnel and partners by broadening their infrastructure and project management capabilities, while disseminating best-practices in both of these areas. Through this work, the group helps facilitate the successful delivery of programmes and projects around the world.

To achieve its objectives, IPMG has established three interrelated and interdependent work technical teams, namely, Strategic Initiatives, Standards, and Engagement Assurance. IPMG is managed overall by the Director of IPMG and supported by a Programme Support Unit (PSU). Engagement Assurance includes the following units: Organizational Project and Programme Management Office (OPMO), Risk-based Performance Assessment (RPA), and Infrastructure Design Review (Infra DR).

The Engagement Assurance team supports the effective application by the projects and the country offices of the Infrastructure and Project Management policy and associated standards publications.  The range of expertise in assurance includes inter alia P3M3 and Infrastructure maturity assessments, Project Management, including in an infrastructure context, Engineering/Architecture, certification of infrastructure designs and identification of the root causes of portfolio level risks associated with partner engagements.

Engagement Assurance is overall managed by the Head of Engagement Assurance. S/he directly supervises the three (3) unit/team leaders of OPMO, RPA, and Infra DR. In addition, the Head of Engagement Assurance is part of the IPMG Management Team, which is the decision-making body of the IPMG and comprises of the IPMG Director and the Heads of the three (3) technical teams as well as the PSU manager. The Head of Engagement Assurance reports to the IPMG Director.

1. Team Management & Strategy Development

• Contribute to development, and execution of the IPMG strategy and Business Plan, within allocated budget;
• Management of a team consisting of currently 11 members, as well as a small number of retainers (remote supervision);
• Development, planning, and execution of the work plan for the team within the agreed timeline and quality standards;
• Provision of management reports to the IPMG Director as required.

• Supervise the development and application of a comprehensive framework to support the Organizational Project and Programme Management Office (OPMO) initiative that helps drive organizational improvements in infrastructure and project management delivery and risk management;
• Through the OPMO initiative, lead the promotion, facilitation and support of the successful delivery of programmes and projects to overall higher standards, as well as the focus on early identification of issues and mitigation of risk;
• Lead and participate in the provision of an integrated delivery support and exception response to the projects and programmes either from UNOPS HQ or directly in the relevant Country Offices.

• Manage the continuous improvement and application of the Risk-based Performance Assessment approach, including the identification and selection of the UNOPS Country offices to be assessed;
• In close collaboration with the Risk Unit in Finance Group, and through the RBPA initiative, contribute to enhance organizational risk management at the engagement, country, regional and organization level.

• Direction and overview of the UNOPS Infrastructure Design Review process for the  timely delivery of UNOPS Infrastructure design certificates to ensure UNOPS risks in infrastructure in relation to designs are within tolerance;

• Management of corporate Long-Term Agreements (LTA) for Infrastructure and Project Management.

• Lead and participate in the provision of  capacity building activities in project management and infrastructure;
• Support the application of infrastructure and project management policy, best-practices and standards;
• Support, strengthen and improve change initiatives that will lead to enhanced knowledge, and effective application of UNOPS’ project management processes and tools;
• Keep abreast of and be adept in contemporary project management and infrastructure techniques and industry practices as they impact UNOPS to implement projects;
• Provide technical inputs to IPMG Standards publications, especially in relation to construction supervision/management;
• Show leadership within and contribute to  the community of practice, by maintaining contact and building relationships by addressing questions, providing support and acting as an available resource;
• Carry out other IPMG related tasks as assigned by the Director of IPMG.

3. Monitoring and Progress Controls

• Setting standard, personal and development objectives (PER) for self and direct reports. Ongoing assessment of task completion, which meets quality expectations;
• Achievement of the targets on IPMG Balance Score Card and workplan assigned to the Head of Engagement Assurance;
• Successfully meeting time, cost and quality expectations of the team work plan; escalate issues to IPMG Management Team when applicable;
• Completing progress reports as required.

• Master’s Degree or equivalent in Civil Engineering, Architecture, Construction Management, Project Management or other relevant discipline is required;
• A Bachelor’s Degree with two additional years of relevant experience may be accepted in lieu of a Master’s degree (total 9 years of experience);

• PRINCE2® Foundation and Practitioner is highly desired;
• P3O Certification is highly desired;
• PMP Certification is highly desired.

Contract type:  Individual Contractor Agreement (ICA)

Contract level:  I-ICA 3

Contract duration: Ongoing ICA - 12 months

About IPMG:

IPMG offers a unique work environment in UNOPS headquarters, in Copenhagen, Denmark, located in the UN City building, one of Copenhagen’s landmarks. UNOPS HQ offers a safe, family-friendly lifestyle environment with multiple opportunities for networking and and active lifestyle, in a city known for its excellent urban design and planning.

The IPMG team is a diverse team in terms of age, nationalities and family situations.  The team is inclusive and values social and athletic activities like team breakfast, Friday evening networking or sports such as sailing, climbing, running and squash. IPMG is very dynamic and welcomes agility, autonomy and self-drive. The work of IPMG is oriented towards exciting opportunities which have a corporate, global impact and is in touch with the whole of UNOPS. UNOPS has a hosting agreement with the Government of Denmark, and as such both national and international candidates are eligible for HQ-based positions. UNOPS officials are exempt fromDanish taxes on UN incomes. EU citizens may opt to be registered with the Danish State Administration as EU migrant worker and keep the rights associated with that status or register through UNOPS with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. EU Citizens may apply for the public Danish health insurance or special health card depending on their choice of registration, while the non-EU citizens will be registered by UNOPS under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

IPMG is very respectful of the UNOPS policy on work life balance. IPMG is keen on improving diversity in the team with a current focus on gender equality and equal representation.

About this vacancy announcement:

• Please note that the closing date is midnight Copenhagen time.
• Applications received after the closing date will not be considered.
• Only the applications meeting all the requirements in education, experience, certifications and languages as listed above will 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
• 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.