Categories: Vacancies, April 2026

Agricultural Engineer

Location: Addis Ababa, Ethiopia with frequent travel to the fields, Ethiopia

Organization: UNOPS

Deadline: 11-June-2025

Job Description

Agricultural Engineer (Retainer)

Background Information – Job-specific

UNOPS Horn of Africa Multi-Country Office is recruiting for the position of Agricultural Engineer-Retainer, based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Established in 2009, the Horn of Africa Multi-Country Office (HAMCO) sub-region currently consists of an established Operation Centre in Addis Ababa which manages a portfolio of engagements in four (4) Horn of Africa countries (Ethiopia, Djibouti, Sudan and South Sudan). HAMCO focuses on Infrastructure, Procurement, Project Management, HR and Transactional Services, and Fund Management services across a wide range of sectors including Health, Education, Agriculture, Resilient infrastructure, among others.

Our goal is to support countries, help people in need and enable our partners through delivering on our mandate of infrastructure, procurement and project management in the countries in the Horn of Africa.

UNOPS HAMCO is the owner of a number of projects which require the implementation of climate strategy adopted by UNOPS to guide its efforts in line with its strategic goals and global climate commitments for the period 2025 – 2029.

HAMCO intends in fact to prioritize and address partnerships that amplify the impact of climate mitigation and adaptation efforts providing tailored technical assistance that supports the successful implementation of project objectives with national and global climate priorities.

In this framework, the agriculture sector plays a key role in the provision of climate resilient and sustainable Social and Economic Services; Environmental Management; Livelihood and for this reason HAMCO wants to make available the services of an Agriculture specialist.

The selected candidate will work transversally with HAMCO project teams to support and complement the programming and the implementation of the UNOPS climate guidelines and partnerships The selected candidate will report to the PM in charge.

Functional Responsibilities

The Agricultural Engineer will be responsible for the below listed tasks.

Management/Coordination

Deliver the climate actions in the assigned projects in accordance with UNOPS project management policies and procedures in collaboration with the Project Manager.
Supervise/ address /Coordinate the implementation of the activities agreed with the PM .
Ensure that assigned projects components are completed within the planned budget and timeframe, prepare necessary narrative and financial reports and assist implementing partners on the same;
Ensure the activities comply with the Environmental and Social Standards and that these are implemented according to the Environmental and Social Obligations set in the agreement with the Gov of Ethiopia and with the Environmental and Social Commitment Plan (ESCP) for the project, if mandatory.
Ensure narrative and financial reporting deadlines to the Donor

Monitoring and supervision

Monitor and Evaluate the progress in the implementation Collect and organize data to support the implementation of the activities
Collect the necessary data to ensure the feeding of the Monitoring Information System and the M&E system established by UNOPS.

Stakeholder management and collaboration

Support the stakeholder management to address/monitor specific project’s objectives Work closely with implementing partners
Support the organisation/attend relevant meetings with stakeholders and write the minutes

Specialistic inputs

Provide technical advice and comments on agricultural/climate interventions, including comments and reviews on the partners project plans;
Undertake field visit to project regions, zones and woredas to monitor and evaluate projects implementation quality;
Formulate, document and maintain quality control standards and on-going quality control objectives to maximize inputs reliability and minimize costs.
Create, document and implement inspection criteria and procedures.
Maintain an active role in internal continuous improvement.
Support beneficiaries’s capacity building / training and all other ad hoc meetings related to quality management.

Education/Experience/Language requirements

Education	Bachelor’s Degree in Agriculture, Agricultural Engineering, Crop Management, Climate, or any related field is required. A Master’s Degree in the above mentioned fields or related will be an asset and will reduce some of the required years of experience.
Experience	A minimum of four (4) years of experience with a Bachelor’s degree, or two (2) years of experience with a Master’s degree, in crop production and protection is required. At least two (2) years of relevant experience working on Ethiopia’s national policies, strategies, programmes, and the related challenges and opportunities in agriculture is required. A minimum of two (2) years of experience in designing and implementing crop production and protection projects is required. Knowledge of technologies and best practices in crop production and protection is considered an advantage. Familiarity with the management of Quick Impact Projects is an asset. Experience using computers, particularly Google Workspace, G Suite applications, the internet, and other relevant software programs is desirable. Previous experience working with UNOPS is an asset.
Language	Fluency in written, spoken and reading English is required. Knowledge of another UN Official Language is an asset

** IMPORTANT INFORMATION **

Retainer positions are not full-time positions. They constitute a contract whereby the Retainer may be requested to provide a specific output/deliverable within a specified period of time, on short notice. When holding a retainer contract, individuals may receive ad-hoc requests from the UNOPS project teams or country offices, and the quantity of requests will vary depending on the current needs. UNOPS shall have no obligation to obtain any minimum quantity of services from the Individual Contractor during the duration of the retainer ICA. It is possible to have multiple consultancy contracts with or outside UNOPS, as long as it is declared to the UNOPS Ethics Office. Read more about the ICA retainer modality here.