Project Management and Infrastructure Specialist – UNOPS

March 15, 2024

Kenya Multi Country Office (KEMC)

Located in Nairobi, Kenya, the Kenya Multi Country Office manages a growing portfolio of engagements, including associated strategic and operational risks. The KEMCO sub-region currently consists of a portfolio of engagements in multiple countries in East and Southern Africa. This includes transactional projects in partnership with the Nairobi based UN Agencies, UN-Habitat and UNEP, and a portfolio of infrastructure and development projects in Mozambique, Somalia, Kenya, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Zambia, Uganda, Tanzania and several island states.

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

Purpose and Scope of Assignment:

The Project Management Office (PMO) – Infrastructure Specialist, is part of the broader KEMC PMO. The role of the PMO is to provide projects with the structures, tools and techniques needed to ensure proper implementation 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 functional areas covered by the PMO, include:

Strategic planning and portfolio support for ‘doing the right projects’: Ensuring UNOPS is focused on doing the right projects by supporting management decision-making with good data, knowledge and advice about infrastructure delivery in the MCO countries; and ensuring that lessons from infrastructure project delivery are integrated into partnerships and business development processes.
Delivery support for ‘doing projects right’: Ensuring UNOPS project management and delivery practice is supported. The purpose is to enable project teams to achieve effective delivery of the infrastructure programme and projects and comply with (a) UNOPS project management and operational policies, and (b) project management and infrastructure standards.
Best practice support for ‘doing projects better’: Applying UNOPS standards in project management and infrastructure to encourage consistent working practices and ensuring constant learning and improvement. Developing MCO level initiatives to ensure that UNOPS priorities (including Health, Safety, Society and Environment (HSSE); Gender Diversity and Inclusion; Sustainable Procurement; and achievement of the SDGs) are applied in project delivery. Maturing the project management practices (such as risk management, quality management, benefits management, monitoring and evaluation and others) to ensure that project teams can optimize the impact and benefits the projects are intended to achieve.

The KEMC Programme is composed of a wide variety of project categories and service lines. The oversight and assurance of the programme is distributed within the PMO team according to the categories of projects.

The Project Management Office (PMO) – Infrastructure Specialist will be responsible for supporting and overseeing all infrastructure projects (Category 3) within the KEMC Programme. The responsibilities of the PMO Infrastructure Specialist will cover all functional areas of the PMO, with specific emphasis on streamlining best practices in Quality, Health, Safety, Social and Environmental Management (QHSSE).

The primary role of a PMO – Infrastructure Specialist is to ensure that project management policies, processes and methods are followed and practiced according to the organization’s standards, while acting as the overall Project Assurance capacity within the business unit on behalf of the Director and Representative (Executive). The PMO strongly contributes to moving the KEMC toward achieving its mission-focused goals and objectives.

The position is based in Nairobi, Kenya – Family duty station.

Functional Responsibilities

1. Strategic planning and portfolio support Provide programmatic man…

Education/Experience/Language requirements

Education:

A Master’s degree in Architecture, Urban Planning, Civil Engineering, Mechanical Engineering or other related technical discipline with a Master in either a related engineering based discipline 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.

Work Experience:

A minimum of at least 5 years of experience in the field of Infrastructure Project Management is required;
Within these 5 years, at least 2 years experience with the design, procurement stages of the infrastructure life cycle is required;
Experience working in middle income countries and developing countries, and with multicultural teams is an asset;
Experience delivering training/ capacity building workshops in infrastructure related topics is a distinct advantage;
Experience managing/overseeing a programme of multiple projects simultaneously is an advantage;
Experience working with Government Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) on Donor funded projects is an asset;
Knowledge of the UN system and familiarity with UNOPS procedures is a distinct advantage;
Experience in works contract management preferably FIDIC contracting is desired.
Good knowledge of internationally recognized building codes and standards is desired;
Experience implementing infrastructure projects in post-conflict, post-disaster environments will be an advantage;
Experience managing projects with multiple sites and complex logistical dimensions in remote locations is an asset;