Innovation & Co-creation Contracting Consultancy, Office Of Innovation, Copenhagen, Denmark, 3 months (remote)

Overview

Consultancy to review and assess current contracting procedures and procurement pathways for innovation and co-creation, and to develop recommendations and practical tools.

Tasks Summary

• Review and assess current contracting procedures and procurement pathways used to support innovation and co-creation by UNICEF, UNDP, WFP and UNOPS and any other identified UN actors.
• Identify strengths, gaps, bottlenecks, risks, and opportunities within these procedures, with a focus on their applicability to innovation and co-creation use cases.
• Provide clear, evidence-based recommendations that guide the Hub in selecting the most suitable contracting modality for different scenarios.
• Translate findings into practical operational tools, including decision trees, SOPs, templates, and quick reference guidance for Hub staff and Country Offices.
• Develop a draft procurement strategy to establish a pathway for UNICEF to enter into a contractual arrangement with subsequent innovators.
• Support the Hub with advisory assistance on real or emerging innovation contracting cases.

Experience Requirements

• 5–8 years of progressively responsible experience in procurement, legal advisory, contracting, or innovation management—preferably within the UN system or other large international organizations.
• Demonstrated experience supporting innovation or co-creation contracting, including agile procurement approaches, partnership-based agreements, or alternative contracting modalities.
• Proven track record conducting comparative assessments of procurement frameworks (e.g., UNICEF, UNDP, UNOPS, WFP) and advising on contracting pathways for non-traditional or innovative use cases.
• Experience providing advisory support on real-time contracting issues, including risk, IP, due diligence, and approval workflows.
• Experience developing tools and operational guidance, such as decision trees, SOPs, templates, workflows, and risk-based decision frameworks.
• Familiarity with risk assessment and mitigation, supplier due diligence, and internal approval requirements for non-standard procurement.
• Ability to design user-friendly processes, workflows, templates, and decision-support tools that can be applied in diverse country office contexts.

Qualification Requirements

• An advanced university degree in Public Procurement, Business Administration, International Development, Innovation Management, Law, or a related field relevant to procurement and innovation contracting within the UN system.
• A first University Degree in a relevant field combined with 2 additional years of professional experience may be accepted in lieu of an Advanced University Degree.

Other Details

Languages Required: • Fluency in English is required.

Languages Preferred: • Knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish) or a local language is an asset

Contract Duration: 3 months

Work Modality: remote

Remuneration: