Director - SDG Lab

Based in Geneva, the Europe and Central Asia Regional Office (ECR) supports UNOPS offices throughout the region through: management, financial and programmatic oversight of global and country-specific portfolios, clusters and operations centres, including hosting services; fund and management advisory services; project implementation; procuring goods and services; and managing human resources.

ECR ensures that projects are executed to the highest standards, providing a shared knowledge base and ensuring that best practices and lessons learned are disseminated between business units and projects across the entire region.

The Director is responsible for defining and implementing the substantive work programme of the SDGLab under his/her supervision. He/she oversees the management of activities undertaken by the SDGLab and ensures that programmed activities are carried out in a timely and cost-effective fashion. The Director  is responsible for leading and managing the SDGLab Team and for the reporting of results, including to its financial donors.

Within the responsibilities assigned to him/her, the Director SDGLab will be responsible for:

• Leads the strategic orientations of the SDGLab and ensures that the SDGLab adapts to a rapidly and constantly evolving global context when relevant to its core work;

• Manages the daily program and operations of the SDGLab; Leads and manages the SDGLab team and its work;

• Promote teamwork, collaboration and diversity, by providing timely guidance and supervision to the team, to enable them to perform their duties responsibly, effectively and efficiently.

• Plan, recruit, manage and develop a flexible and diverse workforce, with the skills and competencies needed to ensure optimum performance

• Catalyzes interest and galvanizes momentum around the commitments of the 2030 Agenda, its principles, the universal and indivisible nature of the goals;

• Develops & maintains a multi-faceted network with SDG relevant stakeholders to strengthen the SDG community to foster collaboration and partnerships to accelerate the implementation of the 2030 Agenda; 

• Oversees the management of the financial resources of the SDGLab and ensures that operations are undertaken in an efficient and cost-effective way.

• Ensures the sound monitoring of the results of the SDGLab, through quality reporting and the use of appropriate M&E instruments; Ensure internal performance and quality management, including tracking, monitoring and reporting on project delivery and financials.

• Manage communications and ensure stakeholders are aware of project activities, progress, exceptions. Oversees relations with the media, as they relate to the work of the SDGLab, and supervises the communication and social media strategy, tools and activities of the SDGLab;

• Represents the SDGLab at international, regional and national meetings on the SDGs and at other public and UN meetings;

• Pro-actively engages in resource mobilization efforts for the SDGLab.

• Advanced university degree (Master’s degree or equivalent) in international relations, public administration, law, social sciences or related area. A first-level university degree in combination with qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.

• A minimum of ten (10) years of progressively responsible experience in international relations, sustainable development, development cooperation, public policy or related fields, including solid experience in project management and team leadership.
• Extensive experience in operating in multilateral contexts and several years of experience in working in development and/or humanitarian contexts at country level;
• Excellent knowledge of the SDG ecosystem in Geneva, including the full range of development and humanitarian actors operating in or/from International Geneva is highly desirable;
• Broad, diverse and solid network with organizations and institutions active in the SDG/development/humanitarian fields within the ecosystem of Geneva and beyond is an advantage;
• Proven expertise in catalyzing effective action by multiple and disparate actors in ways that are inclusive, effective and outcome driven an asset;

• 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.