Project Management Office - Senior Officer

Under the direct supervision of Project Management Office (PMO) - Specialist and overall guidance of the Head of Programme (HoP), the PMO Senior Officer will contribute to ensuring that the programme activities are in line with strategic direction, are in compliance with corporate requirements, and fulfil reporting requirements of all stakeholders. The PMO Senior Officer will be responsible for monitoring specific programmatic activities of projects and functional Units. He/She also takes the lead in, preparing and updating of overall risk and issue through regular analysis; and advises HoP and the PMO Specialist for timely decision and action. The PMO Senior Officer strongly contributes to moving the Ethiopia Office toward achieving its business goals and objectives.  

The functions and services of the PMO Senior Officer 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.

1. Development and planning 

• Provide appropriate levels of project management support to the projects team facilitating the  implementation of appropriate standards and best practices in line with UNOPS policies and procedures.

• Support the development of PMO Unit plan and assist in coordinating the development, consolidation and tracking progress of other Units’ plans; 

• Support HoP and PMO Specialist with the establishment, monitoring and delivery of business and programme level strategies, plans, targets, indicators and work plans, verifying budgets against forecasts.

• Support projects in the development of Gender Action Plan; and monitor that the plans are followed through.  

• Develop and establish resource tracking systems for use within the PMO, complementary to UNOPS' online tools, to ensure effective planning, forecasting and tracking of delivery across the Ethiopia Office.

• Support project team to identify and anticipate potential risks and issues in a timely manner, and escalate to the HoP and management team as necessary.

• Work closely and support the project team in project setup and closure activities.

• Serve as a focal point and engagement closure manager where assigned to facilitate project closure activities, ensuring appropriate disposal of project assets, timely and effective operational and financial closure, submission of reports, as well as adequacy of documentation. 

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

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

This position is open only for Ethiopian nationals. 

1. Contract type: Local Individual Contract Agreement _LICA
2. Contract level: L-ICA9
3. Contract duration: Ongoing ICA – ‘Open-ended, subject to organizational requirements, availability of funds and satisfactory performance.’

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.

• 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.
• Open to Ethiopian nationals/locals 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
• 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.