Overview
The Infrastructure Advisor will provide strategic guidance, technical oversight, and advisory support to infrastructure projects across multiple offices, ensuring adherence to UNOPS standards and enhancing portfolio-level decision-making.
Key Responsibilities
- Provide strategic leadership and advisory support for effective governance, performance, and risk management across the infrastructure portfolio.
- Advise on the design and implementation of portfolio monitoring systems, performance metrics, and predictive indicators.
- Lead initiatives to improve processes, operational efficiency, and management controls.
- Provide strategic technical advisory and coordination support to infrastructure Project Managers across the full project lifecycle.
- Advise Project Managers on planning, coordination, and monitoring of construction and rehabilitation activities.
- Provide guidance on the development, implementation, and oversight of Quality, Health, Safety, and Environmental (QHSE) plans.
- Support the PMO and Project Managers in consolidating technical data and project information for reporting.
- Prepare periodic portfolio-level reports for the Head of Programme and PMO.
- Advise Project Managers in conducting feasibility studies, needs assessments, and preliminary investigations.
- Provide technical oversight and guidance in the preparation of tender dossiers.
- Support Project Managers in defining and managing design requirements, timelines, and deliverables.
- Provide strategic technical input to procurement and project teams during tender preparation and bid evaluation.
- Provide strategic oversight and technical assurance for construction activities.
- Oversee and assure the application of effective quality, quantity, and schedule controls.
- Monitor compliance of construction works with technical specifications, contractual requirements, and applicable standards.
- Provide advisory support to Project Managers on the overall management of works implementation.
- Conduct targeted spot checks and high-level reviews of construction progress, supervision arrangements, and quality assurance mechanisms.
- Support Project Managers in the preparation and quality review of key project and contract documentation.
- Provide strategic oversight and advisory support to ensure robust monitoring, evaluation, and reporting of infrastructure projects.
- Support the integration of results frameworks and M&E plans into project implementation strategies.
- Provide high-level oversight of project performance, regularly reviewing scope, cost, schedule, and quality criteria.
- Ensure timely, accurate, and comprehensive reporting of project and financial performance.
- Maintain oversight of project data management, dashboards, and progress tracking systems.
- Guide project teams to consistently track, update, and report milestones and targets.
- Analyze trends across projects to identify systemic issues, potential bottlenecks, and opportunities for efficiency improvements and risk mitigation.
- Provide strategic oversight and advisory support to ensure that infrastructure projects consistently achieve UNOPS quality, compliance, and risk management standards.
- Advise and support internal stakeholders to ensure projects comply with audit, regulatory, and corporate quality requirements.
- Collaborate with procurement, supply chain, and project teams to ensure alignment between project delivery and suppliers’ quality management systems.
- Coordinate and oversee quality and risk reviews of key project documents, deliverables, and technical outputs.
- Provide high-level quality assurance for management outputs.
- Identify portfolio-level quality and risk trends, advise on mitigation measures, and recommend improvements.
- Foster a culture of proactive risk management and continuous improvement.
- Provide strategic leadership to foster a culture of learning, knowledge sharing, and continuous improvement.
- Promote a learning environment within project teams.
- Facilitate engagement with Project Managers and the wider UNOPS project management community.
- Monitor emerging trends, tools, and good practices in infrastructure and project management.
- Ensure timely documentation and sharing of lessons learned.
- Provide strategic feedback to corporate practice and functional groups on policies, systems, and operational guidance.
- Champion innovative approaches and solutions.
Required Experience
- A minimum of 7 years of experience (or more, depending on academic credentials) in civil engineering construction management is required.
- A minimum of 5 years of experience in project management is required.
- Experience with quality assurance methodologies is required.
- Experience in documenting business / functional requirements and performing process mapping/ redesign is required.
- Work experience in post-conflict/ fragile environments is desired.
- Experience working in multicultural environments or UN system organisations in a developing country is desired.
- Experience in development or humanitarian contexts is desired.
- Experience in IT systems relevant to the advisory function, with an ability to implement (if needed) as per the requirements, is desired.
Qualifications
- Bachelor’s degree (or equivalent) in Civil Engineering, Architecture or related field with 9 years of relevant experience OR Master’s degree (or equivalent) in the above-mentioned areas or related field with 7 years of relevant experience.
- Project management certification from a globally recognised institute (for example PRINCE2® Foundation) is desired.
- AutoCAD certification is desirable.
