Home Vacancies, March 2025 Project Manager

Project Manager

Location: Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Organization: UNOPS

Deadline: 19-Mar-2025

Job Description

 Background Information – Job-specific

UNOPS Horn of Africa Multi-Country Office is recruiting for this position: Project Manager to be based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia with regular missions to the field.


Qualified females and candidates from underrepresented groups in UNOPS are highly encouraged to apply.

Established in 2009, 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.  Building on our global experience successfully delivering projects in complex operating environments, UNOPS has recently initiated several infrastructure projects with our priority partners.


In response to a growing demand for UNOPS Infrastructure Service Line a number of infrastructure projects have been signed with the Government and Partners in 2023.  If you have experience leading teams; delivering high quality infrastructure works that match client needs with budget; are always ready to get hands on with the work, and can lead partners through best practices and operational excellence and excited to support the peace, recovery and development agendas across the country, then this is your opportunity.

The Project Manager is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the project(s) and provides services to the different donors, partners and beneficiaries. Project Manager acts on behalf of the Project Board to manage the project on an ongoing basis during the Implementation Stage. The main responsibility of a Project Manager is to ensure that the project outputs are delivered to agreed specifications, time, cost, quality, scope, risk and benefits.  The incumbent  is expected to meet the organization’s performance and delivery goals.

The Project Manager has the authority to assign; as per the Project Plan, work packages and activities to Team Managers, and approve deliverables produced under their supervision.  The incumbent is responsible for using the Project Initiation Document (PID), Legal Agreement to create the Project Implementation Plan (PIP).  The successful candidate will be required to establish a thorough understanding of the terms, conditions, and the respective roles and responsibilities of the partners/stakeholders, to ensure the project(s) outputs are capable of meeting the business cases for both UNOPS and the partner(s). Success of the project(s), and hence of the Project Manager, will be based on the defined Success Criteria

 Functional Responsibilities


  1. Project Delivery and Performance
  2. Procedures 
  3. Monitoring and reporting
  4. Stakeholder engagement
  5. Quality assurance
  6. Knowledge management and innovation 
  7. Leadership and Personnel Management


Project Delivery and Performance

  • Develop, complete and update implementation plan(s)
  • Implement the approved plan (including the establishment of milestones) within tolerances set by the Project Board.
  • Embed sustainability dimensions including social and gender inclusion, environmental and economic aspects into project life span.
  • Manage the production of the required outputs, taking responsibility for overall progress and use of resources and initiating corrective action where necessary.
  • Ensure that quality of work packages and deliverables complies with the quality requirements defined in the Implementation Plan.
  • Liaise with any external suppliers or account managers
  • Manage acceptance and delivery of work packages
  • Monitor project progress ensuring that work packages are being executed properly
  • Control project and work packages changes
  • Accept goods, services or works delivered by suppliers.
  • Lead contract management duties including supplier performance evaluation.
  • Act as the Employer’s Representative within the FIDIC works contracts.
  • Identify, and anticipate in a timely manner, potential risks and issues and advises mitigating measures to senior management/ Project Board so that maximum benefit to partner(s) and other stakeholders is achieved
  • Identify and report to the supervisor potential business opportunities for UNOPS
Procedures

  • Comply with all organizational policy and specifically the Project Management Manual
  • Prepare/adapt all relevant plans for approval by the Project Board.
  • Manage the reporting obligations defined in the Legal Agreement(s) and in the Implementation Plan
  • Draft the requirements definitions for procurement processes. Approving requisitions and requests for non-purchase order payments; Evaluating submissions received, if appointed to the evaluation team.
  • Ensure maintenance of the project files and lessons learned are recorded
  • Ensure the development and implementation of project financial management guidelines and control mechanisms, in conformity with UNOPS rules and regulations.
  • Manage budgets, cash flow and obligations to ensure that deliverables are met and payments to contractors and personnel are received on time.
  • Understand and manage UNOPS overheads, allocable charges, and related corporate charges as they apply to the project
  • Understand the unique structures of the UN and budget appropriately for personnel
  • Manage expenditures against the budget (based on accurate financial reports)
  • Where the Sr.Project Manager has no delegation as a committing officer, s/he retains these responsibilities and will monitor and instruct/request others to carry out the relevant commitments and disbursements.
  • For project closure purposes, provide a formal handover of the project to the closure manager
  • Support project audit activities, including planning, preparation and coordination during the audits and follow up on audit observations/recommendations
Monitoring and Reporting

  • Prepare and issue regular project and/or financial reports in accordance with Partner and UNOPS requirements for reporting.
  • Regularly review project status, evaluating performance criteria (scope, cost, schedule and quality).
  • Maintain diaries and progress reports as required by the organization’s standard procedures.
  • Provide routine oversight and analysis of delivery data within the dashboard system.
  • Ensure all project team members track and regularly update milestones and targets for the duration of projects’ life span
Stakeholder Engagement

  • Develop stakeholder profiles and facilitate the formulation of stakeholder engagement strategies
  • Establish solid working relationships with the Project Board (Executive, Senior Users and Senior Suppliers), client and key stakeholders
  • Enable the formulation of project communications plans. Coordinate internal project communications. Monitor the effectiveness of project communications
  • Coordinate stakeholder engagement and communication, ensuring effective timing and interdependency management of communications. Ensure stakeholders are aware of project activities, progress, exceptions and are in a position to accept handover outputs
Quality Assurance

  • Work with internal stakeholders to ensure projects comply with audit requirements
  • Work with procurement/purchasing staff to ensure effective interface with suppliers’ quality systems
  • Coordinate quality reviews of project documents and deliverables
  • Provide quality control for management outputs (project documents, reports, etc.)
Knowledge management and innovation

  • Encourage routine and effective capacity building activities are conducted in order to build the long-term and sustainable capacity of staff.
  • Actively interact with other Project Managers and the wider UNOPS PM community to share case studies, lessons learned and best practices
  • Contribute to the oversight of lessons learned procedures, ensuring that lessons learnt are shared in a timely and appropriate manner. Participate in the relevant Communities of Practice
  • Research and logging of lessons learned throughout the project life span.
  • Provide feedback to Practice Groups on policy, supporting guidance with an aim towards continuous improvement of UNOPS policies
Leadership and Personnel Management

  • Lead and motivate the project management team, if applicable
  • Ensure that behavioral expectations of team members are established
  • Ensure that performance reviews are conducted fairly, accurately and timely
  • Select, recruit and train the team as required and take into account gender parity and diversity objectives.
  • Ensure safety and security for all project personnel and comply with UNDSS standards
  • Create, foster and role model a culture of respect and zero tolerance for discrimination, abuse of authority, harassment, sexual harassment and sexual exploitation and abuse. Ensure accountability for actions and perform duties in accordance with protection mechanisms and action plans, as expected by UNOPS policies, standards and commitments.
Impacts of results

The Project Manager directly leads the achievement of project results by adhering to project management methods and strategies, reducing risks, cutting costs and improving success rates.  This consequently reinforces the visibility and image of  UNOPS as an effective service provider in project services and management and strengthens its competitive position as a partner of choice in sustainable development and project services.

 Education/Experience/Language requirements


Education
  • An Advanced University (Masters) Degree in Engineering, Architecture, Construction Management or other related technical discipline is required.
  • A combination of a Bachelor’s Degree  in Engineering, Architecture, Construction Management or other related technical discipline with an additional 2 years of relevant work experience may be accepted in lieu of the education requirements outlined above.
Certification
  • Prince 2 Foundation or equivalent is an advantage.
  • Prince 2 Practitioner or equivalent an advantage.
Experience:
  • A minimum of five (5) years’ progressively responsible experience in complex  Infrastructure Projects is required;
  • At least  one (1) year experience implementing international norms in Health and Safety is required;
  • A minimum of two (2) years in a Management role is required;
  • A minimum of two (2) years demonstrated experience leading multidisciplinary, multicultural teams is  required;
  • Experience implementing Health and/or Education Sector infrastructure is highly desirable;
  • Knowledge and experience with procurement of goods/services/ works is an asset;
  • Experience managing projects with Multiple construction sites and complex logistical arrangements in remote locations is an asset;
  • Experience developing and implementing Environmental and Social Management Plans (ESMP) and/or World Bank Safeguard Frameworks is an advantage;
  • Experience working in development sector is a distinct advantage;
  • Knowledge of the UN system and familiarity with UNOPS procedures is a distinct advantage;
  • Demonstrated experience working with Government MDAs on Donor-Funded projects is an asset;
  • Familiar with web-based applications and Google-Suite products, especially google docs, sheets, slides and forms is an asset;
  • Strong writing and reporting skills are an asset.
  • Experience in risk management is an asset.
  • Strong problem-solving skills are an asset.
Language 
  • Fluency in written and spoken English is required
  • Fluency in Amharic is required.
  • Working knowledge of additional UN Official language is an asset.

This is a local position and is open to Ethiopian nationals only.

 

SEE ADDITIONAL DETAILS AND APPLY HERE>>>

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR