Overview
The Quality Assurance Specialist provides assurance, advisory, and quality oversight for UNICEF Ukraine’s programme and operations functions. The role strengthens accountability, governance, and operational excellence.
Key Responsibilities
- Lead the design and implementation of the annual Quality Assurance Plan.
- Conduct in-depth quality reviews, spot checks, compliance assessments, process walk-throughs, and control testing.
- Support the identification of control gaps, inefficiencies, and emerging risks.
- Conduct data-integrity reviews on VISION/SAP transactions, donor reports, performance monitoring data, and management dashboards.
- Partner with programme and operations teams to embed quality-at-source practices.
- Review documentation and transactions for completeness, accuracy, and compliance.
- Support the assessment of internal work processes.
- Periodically test compliance with the Table of Authority.
- Lead HACT financial assurance activities.
- Analyze country office workflows and recommend process redesigns.
- Support the formulation of actionable recommendations to strengthen accountabilities.
- Advise on risk-sensitive operational decisions.
- Provide technical support for HACT implementation.
- Provide Quality Assurance support during emergency response scale-up.
- Advise management on systemic noncompliance issues and emerging compliance trends.
- Support internal and external audits, donor verifications, operational spot checks, and HQ/RO assurance exercises.
- Support the analysis of the cause and effect of policy changes.
- Deliver tailored trainings to staff and partners on internal controls, compliance requirements, data integrity, and quality standards.
- Develop and disseminate workflows, guidance notes, templates, and job aids.
- Promote a culture of accountability, ethics, transparency, and continuous improvement.
- Facilitate onboarding and refresher sessions.
- Contribute to the operationalization of the global Anti-Fraud Strategy.
- Support evidence collection to respond to OIAI queries.
- Identify lessons learned from investigations and recommend preventive or corrective measures.
- Support the delivery of fraud-risk training and orientations to partners and suppliers.
- Support the identification of red flags, conflict-of-interest situations, financial irregularities, and misconduct risks.
- Promote adherence to UNICEF’s Ethics, PSEA, Child Safeguarding, Anti-Fraud/Corruption, and Data Protection policies.
- Undertake specific tasks as advised by the Supervisor.
Required Experience
At least 5 (five) years of continuous professional work experience in Risk and Compliance, operations management, or another directly relevant area. Experience in financial management, particularly developing and implementing financial control systems, ERM, audits, internal control preferably with international organizations, NGOs and UN.
Qualifications
An advanced university degree in Business Administration, Finance, Operations, Management, Accounting, Statistics, Financial Management, Strategic Management, Risk Management, Audit, Investigation, Internal Control and any other related fields. A Bachelor or equivalent (First Level University Degree) in a relevant area combined with 2 additional years of relevant work experience may be accepted in lieu of an advanced university degree.
