Project Management Support Specialist

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Description

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• Lead, Motivate and Manage the pool of Project Management Support (PMS) personnel;
• Ensure that behavioral expectations for Project Management Support team members are established;
• Actively contributes to the implementation and further refinement of the Resources Pool Management Strategy; promoting synergies across the MCO;
• Identify emerging resources needs and proposes solutions to ensure uninterrupted and consistent support the Project Managers in project delivery;
• Develops strategies and approaches that foster a common vision for maturity, and strive towards harmonizing good practices across projects in the MCO;
• Instill a culture of excellence, best practices, continuous improvement, and lesson learning in the delivery of projects in the Project Management Team;
• Take a leadership role in the implementation of the Operational Excellence Agenda; ensuring KPIs are mainstreamed into all PMs performance metrics and monitored regularly;
• Foster a positive work environment, respectful of both men and women, and ensure that the highest standards of conduct are observed;
• Promote and support a learning culture by empowering team members to take charge of their learning and development aspirations, and plan/ facilitate learning opportunities to maintain personnel competency and flexibility;
• Exercise management of all staffing issues within the PM Team including recruitment taking into account gender parity and diversity objectives, on-boarding and staff performance reviews
• Ensure that performance reviews are conducted fairly, accurately and timely;
• 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.
• Develop and establish resource tracking systems and/ tools for use within the PMS Resources Pool Team, complementary to UNOPS’ online tools, to ensure consistent, effective, and comprehensive support to Project Managers across the MCO;
• Providing induction briefings to newly recruited staff and render support to consultants in the course of their assignment;
• Ensures the Project Management Team meets the metrics established for the unit and it’s partners;

• Advise Project Managers and PMS Team members on UNOPS Policies and Procedures, Financial Rules and Regulations (FR&R) and other requirements for efficient project implementation and progress;
• Provide functional oversight and monitoring of project financials and advise the Project Managers accordingly;
• Ensure all projects expenditures are tracked regularly and take relevant action when required to revise budgets (realignment and amendment);
• Ensure all projects monitor and record best practices and innovative approaches within UNOPS FR&R; identify and show alternative options according to Activity needs;
• Facilitate information flows and provide functional oversight to PMS Team members support to change controls, risk registers and issue management; document and feedback lessons learned and best practices;

• Ensure PMS Team members contribute to the maintenance of all supporting project financial documents for audit and review processes;
• Provide functional oversight to PMS Team members’ continuous monitoring of the project quality indicators and undertaking monthly assurance tasks on behalf of the Project Manager;
• Provide functional oversight to PMS Team members to ensure work efficiency and quality towards intended outcomes, partner commitments and operational excellence exigencies at all times;
• Assume the Project Management Support Specialist Role on projects as assigned by the Head of Programme;

• Ensure PMS Team members maintain all supporting project financial documents for audit and review processes;
• In collaboration with the PMO team, provide periodic analysis to ensure accurate data entry into UNOPS ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) system;
• Undertake regular and in-depth reviews of financial information, expenditures etc in UNOPS ERP;
• Monitor project budgets and financial expenditure and all administrative procedures in line with legal commitments and workplans;
• Coordinate with the Finance team to ensure due diligence over financial reports; including developing financial monitoring and reporting formats as per UNOPS requirements;
• Support the Head of Programme to monitor budgets, cash flow and reporting on expense obligations to ensure that deliverables are met;
• Alert Project Managers or any financial shortfalls and over-expenditures;
• Provide advice to Project managers and PMS Team members on budget revision and initiate corrective action when necessary

• Support the Head of Programme to undertake quality and editorial assurance of project reports and documents.
• Ensure PMS Team members maintain records of project files and other supporting documents consistently in line with prevailing guidance
• Manage the compilation, consolidation and analysis of relevant data related to the project(s)
• Assist the Project Manager in the preparation of project completion reports and ensure compliance with contractual obligations.

• Contract management of all contracts (Procurement, HR, Service Contracts etc) under the Project
• Pro-actively coordinate/liaise with support units on all administrative matters related to contract management
• Liaise with the Programme Management Office (PMO) Team Members to complete project assurance related tasks.

• Advanced university degree (Master’s Degree or equivalent) in Business Administration, Finance, Logistics, Emergency Management, International Relations and/or relevant field is a requirement;
• A first University Degree (Bachelor’s Degree or equivalent)  in Business Administration, Finance, Logistics, Emergency Management, International Relations and/or other relevant field with an additional 2 years of relevant work experience may be accepted in lieu of the advance education requirements outlined above.

• A minimum of  five (5) years relevant and progressive professional experience, specifically in the field of Project Management and Operations Management with focus on monitoring, reporting, development and coordination or related field is required;
• A minimum of two (2) years experience in a supervisory role is  required;
• Demonstrated experience delivering or facilitating training/ capacity building workshops in project management related topics is highly desirable.
• Proven experience working with Management Information Systems (MIS), data analytics and/or reporting is highly desirable;
• Advanced understanding of operational risk management is highly desirable;
• Proven experience in planning and implementing organizational and/or process change initiatives his highly desirable;
• Experience in humanitarian emergency operating contexts, including humanitarian coordination mechanisms, donors, security, and operations management;
• Experience and demonstrated knowledge of UN rules and procedures in Procurement, Finance, HR Management and administrative rules and regulations will be an advantage. 
• Experience and demonstrated knowledge of UNOPS rules and procedures in Procurement, Finance, HR Management and administrative rules and regulations will be an advantage. 
• Familiar with web-based applications and Google-Suite products, especially google docs, sheets, slides and forms is an asset

• Fluency in spoken, written and reading English is required.
• Fluency in Amharic and/or other Regional Language is Required
• Working knowledge of French is an advantage
• Working knowledge of Arabic is an advantage

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