Architectural Engineering Technician - Senior Analyst

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.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION - UNOPS Amman Hub

The UNOPS Hub in Amman implements projects on behalf of UN agencies and bilateral donors and in close coordination with the Government and national authorities. With an established presence across the region, the office runs operations including large-scale procurement, project development, and technical management, and provides financial, human resources, and infrastructure-related services.

The UNOPS Hub in Amman delivers projects in an efficient and effective manner, in line with the principles, rules, and regulations of UNOPS, to achieve the outcomes sought by the clients.

The incumbent is responsible to abide by security policies, administrative instructions, plans and procedures of the UN Security Management System and that of UNOPS. 

UNOPS is committed to achieving a fully diverse workforce.

UNOPS is undertaking a project to support the establishment and management of the Programme Management Unit” (PMU) funded by the Federal Republic of Germany through the KfW. The PMU will be incorporated into the Development Cooperation Unit (DCU) at the Ministry of Education (MoE), and it aims to support the establishment of the function of coordination and facilitation for the German School Construction Projects (SCP) at the MoE (DCU) and to support the implementation of the Development Policy Loan (DPL) and any other future projects financed by the German Government. 

The main objectives of the PMU include: a) to facilitate and create the function of coordination for all the German projects and activities at MoE, b) to act as a focal point for KfW/Government of Germany and the School Construction Projects and DPL; c) support communication and coordination with other stakeholders, and d) to provide capacity development, on-the-job training, and quality assurance, considering international standards of the outputs related to these projects prepared by the concerned departments and managements at MoE.

The DPL aims at supporting reforms in the Ministry of Education (MoE) and related entities to improve Facility Management (FM) in Jordanian public schools. The reform agenda for the DPL will primarily focus on facility management at three levels: i) policy, ii) school administration, iii) governorates and field directorates, and iv) schools and local communities.

Under the direct supervision of the Head of PMU, the Architectural Engineering Technician - Senior Analyst must be able to undertake independently, the following functional/ technical tasks:

Implementation, Coordination and Planning

• Check and verify outputs of works conducted by the Management of Buildings and Projects Unit at the planning phase, such as applying the updated design guidelines, technical specifications, design drawings and BoQ revision, etc.;
• Check the related works conducted by the Planning and Educational Research Department at the planning phase such as, selection of sites, preparation of projects’ lists and area requirements, including schools spatial requirements;
• Provide technical support and advice where and as needed during the Implementation, Operation and Facility Management Phases in line with the approved projects’ responsibilities matrix;
• Maintain coordination with and facilitate communication between all relevant stakeholders at MoE and Ministry of Public Works and Housing (MoPWH) level, local authorities representatives, the KfW, and with other concerned parties, in close consultation with the PMU team;
• Follow up on information requests and work towards timely delivery of required information and documentation, and improve responsiveness of MoE;
• Attend weekly coordination meetings and submit weekly updates to the PMU Director;
• Track and follow up on the status of applications submitted to the concerned parties including the Ministry of Local Administration (Ministry of Municipal Affairs), Greater Amman Municipality (GAM), local authorities and utility providers in order to speed up the process of obtaining the “Construction and Service Connection Permits” and necessary approvals for the school buildings;
• Ensure that sustainability dimensions including social and gender inclusion, as well as Health, Safety, Security, and Environmental (HSSE) aspects are embedded into the project during the design and construction and operation phases by the project’s contractors/relevant stakeholders.

• Monitoring and Reporting
• Review and analyze design and construction reports from the Managing Directorate of School of Buildings and International Projects, and provide technical advice where and as needed;
• Undertake site visits/assessments of the project’s elements, recommended by KfW for design and construction works, as well as to ensure satisfactory resolution of problems/ issues on site;
• Monitor project progress, identify bottlenecks and suggest measures for improvement;
• Maintain records, compile periodic schools reports and any specific reports required by KfW standard procedures.

Quality Assurance

• Provide quality assurance on implementation of design works in accordance with agreed quality and international standards;
• Ensure designs offer buildings which are aesthetically pleasing as well as safe, sound and functional and according to the national building codes;
• Implement the requirements of KfW Quality Assurance plan and ensure all architectural designs are thoroughly documented and filed for future reference;
• Verify information and relevant documentation for consistency and completeness prior to issuance and submissions.

Knowledge Management

• Share knowledge with the PMU team members and other relevant key stakeholders to ensure coordinated delivery of activities and synergies;
• Contribute to the identification and dissemination and sharing of best practices and lessons learned for PMU and DPL development planning and knowledge building;
• Collect lessons learned and feedback from school users and field directorates maintenance engineers to incorporate it in new designs;
• Support the MoE in capacity building planning, required interaction, and transfer of design control-related knowledge among MoE staff within the different departments.

Internal/ External Communication

Outside MoE:

Supporting the communication with the following stakeholders outside MoE:

• KfW
• MoPWH
• Consultants
• Contractors
• Government entities/ authorities for approvals and regulations.
• Utility providers
• Local communities
• Donors/Implementing Agencies/International Partners

Inside MoE:

• PMU
• Development and Coordination Unit (DCU)
• Managing Directorate of School of Buildings and International Projects
• Managing Directorate of Educational Planning Research
• Managing Directorate of Queen Rania Center for Education & Information Technology
• Management of Supplies and Equipping
• Managing Directorate of Financial Affairs
• Managing Directorate of Legal Affairs
• MoE Field Directorates
• Schools Administration

• Advanced university degree (Master degree or equivalent) in Architectural Engineering, Civil Engineering, Construction Management, Project Management, or Business Administration is desired.  
• Bachelor’s degree in Architectural Engineering with 2 additional years of relevant experience will be accepted in lieu of a Master's Degree.            

• Two (2) years of demonstrated successful and progressive experience in supporting the implementation and coordination of building’s design and construction related projects;

• Demonstrated progressive experience in supporting the implementation of medium to large project(s) in education/ development sector is preferred;
• Experience in schools site selection and schools design and planning is preferred;
• Experience in managing client requests, development of architectural brief and the required collaboration between client and consultant is required;
• Experience in developing and managing relationships with donors and government/ public sector partners, as well as engaging with bilateral and multilateral partners is preferred;
• Experience in architectural and structural detailing, with the ability to develop state of art details according performance requirements, codes and standards, and manufacturer specifications;
• High proficiency with computers, and other software/ platforms related to the positions field of expertise. Good experience in working with the G-Suite platform including, Google Drive, Google Calendar, Gmail, Google Sheets, Docs, and Slides is required;
• Familiarity with donor funded school construction projects implemented in the Education sector in Jordan is preferred;
• Experience in Building Information Modeling (BIM) is preferred;.
• Demonstrated experience in Gender mainstreaming in the public sector is preferred;
• Experience of working in the UN/ International Organization is preferred.

•  International Project Manager Association (IPMA Level B) or Project Management Professional (PMP - PMI) is desired.
• RIVET is desired.

• AutoCAD is required.

• Excellent communication skills, including fluency in spoken and written Arabic and English languages, are required; 

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• 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.
• Amman is a family duty station.
• This position is open to nationals only.
• 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
• 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.