Senior Coordination Officer

UNOPS – an operational arm of the United Nations – supports the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by successfully implementing its partners’ peacebuilding, humanitarian, and development projects around the world. Our mission is to help people build better lives and countries achieve peace and sustainable development.

UNOPS areas of expertise cover infrastructure, procurement, project management, financial management, and human resources.


Working with us

We are proud of our people. With a wealth of knowledge and skills in various disciplines – engineering, finance, human resources, ICT, leadership, project management, procurement, and more – they help tackle some of the biggest challenges of our time. Their work around the world supports progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).


At UNOPS, we offer a range of short- and long-term opportunities in various environments and duty stations – from Denmark and Kenya to Mexico, Switzerland, Myanmar, Senegal, Uganda, and many more.


Diversity

With over 5,000 UNOPS personnel and approximately 7,400 personnel recruited on behalf of our partners, spread across 80 countries, our workforce represents a range of nationalities and cultures. We promote a balanced and diverse labor force — a strength that helps us better understand and address our partners’ needs. We continually strive to maintain our gender-balanced workplace. We encourage qualified underrepresented groups as per UNOPS Gender, Diversity, and Inclusion Strategy to apply for our vacancies.



Work life harmonization

UNOPS values its people and recognizes the importance of balancing professional and personal demands.

The position is located in the Office of the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Yemen (OSESGY) in Amman, Jordan. The incumbent will report directly to the Principal Military Advisor (PMA) who is the lead of the support to the military aspects of the Office’s work. The incumbent will be expected to undertake travel, including to Yemen and the region.

• Maintains overall responsibility for the operations of the Joint Coordination Room.

• Acts as the main representative of the Military Coordination Committee (MCC) facilitator, PMA; receives input/ guidance from the PMA.

• Provides oversight to support de-escalation efforts by the parties in the Military Coordination Room, including by convening meetings, facilitating dialogue, relaying messages, engaging in de-escalatory support, create personal rapport with the parties’ operational level focal points.

• Alerts the MCC to any critical issues or developments that would delay or compromise the implementation of the truce.

• Supports the implementation of operational decisions by the MCC, and where appropriate, provides recommendations to advance implementation.

• Suggests improvements to the facilitation of the operations room as well as confidence-building measures.

• Provides oversight to the expansion of the mechanism on operational and local levels, including the gradual build-up of local-level teams subject to party agreements.

• Supports the set-up of other tools of OSESGY to facilitate the implementation, including UN-staffed Outreach Teams that would make ad-hoc visits to the ground to key areas at the invitation of the parties.

• Channels OSESGY advice and general guidelines relevant for the operational level including on gender, civil society organizations’ inclusion, training and capacity-building.

•  Carries out additional duties and responsibilities as outlined by the PMA. 

• Advanced University Degree (Master's or equivalent degree) in security studies, international relations or a related field.
• A first-level university degree in combination with two additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.  

• A minimum of 10 years of progressive, responsible, professional experience in the area of security sector reform (SSR), military operations, peacekeeping, and/or peace support development in an international organisation.
• Experience in the coordination, facilitation, dialogue, management and implementation of ceasefires is desirable. 
• Demonstrated experience in support to mediation/negotiation on security arrangements is desirable.
• Operations Room experience in current operations and crisis areas is desirable.
• A background working on regional issues in the Middle East and specifically Yemen is desirable.
• A background as a section leader with proven history of management and coordination of a culturally diverse team is desirable.
• Military background as commissioned officer (at least Col/O6) is desirable.

Languages 
 English and French are the working languages of the UN Secretariat. For the position advertised, English is required and Arabic is desirable. Knowledge of another UN official language is an advantage. 

Core Competencies  

Professionalism: Shows pride in work and in achievements; Demonstrates professional competence and mastery of subject matter; Is conscientious and efficient in meeting commitments, observing deadlines and achieving results; Is motivated by professional rather than personal concerns; Shows persistence when faced with difficult problems or challenges; remains calm in stressful situations. Takes responsibility for incorporating gender perspectives and ensuring the equal participation of women and men in all areas of work.

Teamwork: Works collaboratively with colleagues to achieve organizational goals; Solicits input by genuinely valuing others’ ideas and expertise; is willing to learn from others; Places team agenda before personal agenda; Supports and acts in accordance with final group decision, even when such decisions may not entirely reflect own position; Shares credit for team accomplishments and accepts joint responsibility for team shortcomings

Planning & Organizing: Develops clear goals that are consistent with agreed strategies. Identifies priority activities and assignments; adjusts priorities as required. Allocates appropriate amount of time and resources for completing work. Foresees risks and allows for contingencies when planning. Monitors and adjusts plans and actions as necessary. Uses time efficiently.

Managerial competencies  

Leadership: Serves as a role model that other people want to follow: empowers others to translate vision into results; is proactive in developing strategies to accomplish objectives; establishes and maintains relationships with a broad range of people to understand needs and gain support; anticipates and resolves conflicts by pursuing mutually agreeable solutions; drives for change and improvements; does not accept the status quo; shows the courage to take unpopular stands. Provides leadership and takes responsibility for incorporating gender perspectives and ensuring the equal participation of women and men in all areas of work; Demonstrates knowledge of strategies and commitment to the goal of gender balance in staffing.

Judgement/decision making: Identifies the key issues in a complex situation, and comes to the heart of the problem quickly. Gathers relevant information before making a decision. Considers positive and negative impacts of decisions prior to making them. Takes decisions with an eye to the impact on others and on the Organization. Proposes a course of action or makes a recommendation based on all available information. Checks assumptions against facts. Determines that the actions proposed will satisfy the expressed and underlying needs for the decision. Makes tough decisions when necessary.

• 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.
• UNOPS embraces diversity and it is committed to the principle of equal employment opportunity for all its employees and encourages qualified candidates to apply irrespective of race, colour, national origin, ethnic or social background, genetic information, gender, gender identity and/or expression, sexual orientation, religion or belief, or disability.
  
• Amman is a family duty station.
• 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.  
• All UNOPS personnel are responsible for performing their duties in accordance with the UN Charter, UN Staff Regulations and Rules, UNOPS Policies and Instructions, as well as other relevant accountability frameworks. In addition, all personnel must demonstrate an understanding of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in a manner consistent with UN core values and the UN Common Agenda.
• 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.