Project Management - Specialist

Located in Dakar, the UNOPS office in Senegal has developed a strong working relation with the Governments of West Africa and international partners over the years. It provides technical support in strategic development areas including elections; Procurement and related capacity building; Environmental protection, as well as infrastructure rehabilitation and development.

In order to support the Government of Benin in its response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) has allocated funding to the Benin Ministry of Health for the acquisition of medical equipment intended for fighting against COVID-19 and strengthening the country's medical capacity. The support of UNOPS was requested as an executing agency for the procurement of this equipment.

The primary role of PMO Specialist is to provide projects in Benin with the structures, tools and techniques needed to ensure that it has the right programmes and projects in place, that operational and change priorities are balanced, the governance and decision making is facilitated and it has the resources and capability to deliver them consistently well.  

The functions and services of the PMO Specialist include:

• Strategic Planning/Portfolio Support: Ensuring UNOPS is focused on doing the right projects by supporting management decision-making.

• Delivery Support: Ensuring UNOPS is doing projects the right way, through the effective delivery of the programme and projects. 

• Best Practices: Applying UNOPS standards in project management, encouraging consistent working practices and ensuring appropriate application. 

The primary role of PMO Specialist is to ensure that project management policies, processes and methods are followed and practiced according to the organization standards, while acting as the overall Project Assurance capacity within the projects team . The PMO Specialist strongly contributes to moving the SNMC toward achieving its mission-focused goals and objectives.

Summary of functions:

1. Development and planning 

2. Set-up and closure

3. Monitoring and reporting

4. Stakeholder engagement

5. Quality assurance

6. Knowledge management and innovation 

7. Personnel management

• In conjunction with the project team, provides appropriate levels of programmatic management and administrative support to the Programme Management regarding all ongoing project activities, while maintaining and implementing appropriate standards and best practices in line with UNOPS policies and procedures.

• Directly contribute to strategic oversight, advice and direction on programme and project management activities in line with service agreements and project documents. 

• Ensure proper development, implementation and, as and when appropriate, amendments, of project budgets and staffing resources, ensuring synergies across the [OC/Hub/PC].

• Develops and establishes resource tracking systems for use within the project team, complementary to UNOPS' online tools, to ensure effective planning, forecasting and tracking of delivery across the SNMC

• Identifies, and anticipates in a timely manner, potential risks and issues and advises mitigating measures to the Project Manager. 

• Coordinate and liaise with the Project Managers on the implementation progress.  

• Advise the Project Managers of any deviations from the plan and update plans.

• Work with the Project Manager to identify and manage risks.

• Manage assigned delivery of work packages and take responsibility for progress.

• Monitor project budget and financial expenditure and all administrative procedures in line with the work-plan.

• Process direct payments and advance requests and prepare project budget revisions.

• Produce financial reports; including developing financial monitoring and reporting formats as per UNOPS requirements.

• Support the Project Manager by monitoring budgets, cash flow and reporting on expense obligations to ensure that deliverables are met.

• Alert the Project Manager or any financial shortfalls and over-expenditures.

• Propose budget revision and initiate corrective action when necessary.

• Develop, track and maintain dependencies.

• Liaise closely and support the Project Manager in all project assets and finance related issues.

• For project closure purposes, acts as (or nominates and supervises) a focal point between the SNMC and donors throughout the process.

• Oversee and coordinate all project closure activities

• Prepare and issues regular project reports in accordance with donor guidelines for reporting.

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

• Maintain diaries and progress reports as required by UNOPS standard procedures.

• Identify and anticipates in a timely manner, potential risks and issues specific to delivery forecasts, and advises mitigating measures to the Project Manager.

• Provide routine analysis of delivery data within the dashboard system, using UNOPS ERP system as required.

• Perform routine maintenance and implementation of effective monitoring and evaluation systems of programme and project activities, in line with logical frameworks.

• Within the context of monitoring and evaluation, ensure all projects submit and regularly update specific milestones and targets for the duration of projects' life-cycles, and tracks progress, or otherwise, against such information.

• Ensure effective and timely preparation  of reports, in line with project documentation and clients' expectations.

• Provide the project Manager with necessary project analysis reports and information to support areas relevant to the project management team (i.e. Locally Managed Direct Costs projections etc.).

• Coordinate the implementation of requests or initiatives relevant to project management from the Regional Office, IPAS, and HQ Teams, as required.

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

• Enable the formulation of programme and project communications plans.

• Coordinate stakeholder engagement and communication, ensuring effective timing and interdependency management of communications across programmes and projects.

• Coordinate internal programme/project communications.

• Monitor the effectiveness of programme/project communications.

• Work with internal audit and finance to ensure the programme complies with audit requirements.

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

• Ensure compliance with UNOPS defined standards for programme/project management.

• Coordinate quality reviews of programme/project documents and deliverables.

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

• Represent the Project Manager in supporting key stakeholders to continuously identify and improve operational processes relevant to project implementation.

• Ensure routine and effective capacity building activities are conducted in order to build the long-term and sustainable capacity of national staff.

• Participate in, and advocate PM participation in, relevant Communities of Practice. 

• Actively interact with the Project Manager and the wider community to share case studies, lessons learned and best practices in the Knowledge System. 

• Provides feedback to Practice Leads on policy and supporting guidance working to achieve continuous improvement of UNOPS policies. 

• Contributes to the oversight of lessons learned procedures, ensuring that lessons learnt are shared in a timely and appropriate manner.

• Exercise control of all staffing issues within the projects  team including recruitment, on-boarding and staff performance reviews.

• Directly contributes to the development and maintenance of budget and resource availability tables in conjunction with the Project Manager and relevant project staff.

• Promote and support a learning culture by empowering individuals and teams to identify critical learning needs and plan/provide easy access to learning opportunities to maintain personnel competency and flexibility.

• Foster a positive work environment, respectful of both men and women, and ensure that the highest standards of conduct are observed.

A Master’s Degree in Project Management, Business Administration or related field (e.g. International Relations).

A combination of Bachelor’s degree with an additional 2 years of relevant work experience may be accepted in lieu of the education requirements outlined above.

A minimum of least 5 years of relevant and progressive professional experience, specifically in the field of Project Management with experience of successful implementation and/or oversight of programmes projects.

Previous experience of working within a PMO environment is an advantage.

Detailed knowledge of UNOPS’ project management tools, UNOPS financial and procurement rules and regulations, and financial management tools, is essential.

Experience with data analysis, management reporting and project management tools and information management systems is a strong advantage.

PRINCE2 Foundation and/or Practitioner Certification is desirable.

MSP certification (Foundation and/or Practitioner) is an advantage.

Full working knowledge of English/French is essential. 

Fluency in one or more additional official UN languages is an advantage.

Contract type: International ICA (IICA)
Contract level: IICA-2
Contract duration: Open-ended

• 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.