Chief of Operations UN Jobs – United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF)



Job Title:         Chief of Operations
Organization: United Nations
Children’s Fund (UNICEF)
Duty Station: Kampala,
Uganda
Job Grade: P-5
Job No: 499748
About Us:
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) is mandated by the UN
general assembly to advocate for the protection of children’s rights, to help
meet their basic needs and expand their opportunities to reach their full
potential. Together with our partners, we work in 190 countries and territories
to translate that commitment into practical action, focusing special effort on
reaching the most vulnerable and excluded children, to the benefit of all
children, everywhere.
Job Summary: The Chief of
Operations will serve as the head of operations of a large-sized office or area
office, accountable for management of cost effective, efficient and secure
operations, in support of management, administration and implementation of the
country programmes, consistent with operations of all other country offices in
the Region in accordance with strategy, plans and decisions made by Regional
Management Team and Country Programme Management Teams. The incumbent will
coordinate collaboration with all other UN agencies to accelerate
implementation of the Harmonized Business practices initiatives in line within
Reform/coherence. The incumbent will also provide leadership and guidance in
operations to a gender-balanced, multidisciplinary team of professionals to
identify and correct gender balances. 
Key Duties and
Responsibilities: 
Effective operations of financial, human resource and administrative
management:
·        
Manage and ensure the effective, equitable and
efficient operations of the office’s finance, human resource and administrative
systems to support and facilitate the attainment of programmatic goals and
objectives by meeting changing operational requirements.
·        
Ensure effective operations that promote gender
sensitivity and gender parity.
·        
Guide management and assist in establishing new
offices.
Policy interpretation and application
·        
As a technical professional and senior manager,
accountable for the correct and consistent application of organizational
policies and procedures in the management of finance and administrative functions
through the provision of technical leadership and operational guidance to the
country office.
·        
Actively contribute to global and regional
strategic planning and policy changes/formulation on operational matters as
necessary; Provide technical input to contribute to the establishment of
operational guidelines in close coordination with the head of office, the
Regional Operations Officer and Division of Finance and Administrative
Management (DFAM).
·        
Implement the effective communication, training,
roll-out, monitoring and evaluation of new operational initiatives, guidelines
and procedures.
Fiduciary integrity/responsibility for funds and assets:
·        
Safeguard the financial resources entrusted to
the office by advising on and/or managing financial assets, financial planning
and cash management activities and by recommending improvements to the
financial and administrative management systems and procedures.  Accountable for fiduciary
integrity/responsibility for funds and assets taking decision on all operational
and financial transactions, disbursement of funds, and administrative
arrangements.
·        
Ensure efficient, cost-effective and transparent
utilization of resources through knowledge and technology transfer between
offices and consistency of approaches.
·        
Negotiate cost effective  contractual arrangements with service
providers as well as with implementing partners as required.
Leadership in strategic planning and policy formulation in the areas of
operations
·        
Play a leadership role in strategic planning and
decision-making within the UNICEF Operations.
·        
Take initiative in development of improved
management systems.
·        
Provide sound professional input and oversight
to the development, reform and change of financial, human resource and
administrative policies, systems and procedures that secure the highest
standard of efficiency and competence in staff.
·        
Actively participate in global and regional
strategic planning and policy changes, including formulation on operational
matters.
·        
Provide authoritative advice from technical,
operational and administrative perspectives to contribute to the improvement
and establishment of operational guidelines.
·        
Negotiate cost effective contractual
arrangements with service providers as well as with implementing partners. 
·        
Work in liaison with Head of Sections to explore
possibility to enter agreement- in line with UNICEF policies – with private
sectors/corporate entities in order to access innovative technology, to benefit
the country programme against reasonable costs or under special arrangements in
the framework of Social corporate responsibility (CSR).
·        
Take part in effective management process by
providing technical advice and support to corporate committees.
Office Services:
·        
Ensure the provision of basic office services
including space management, equipment, communications and security to enhance
staff safety and productivity.
·        
Under the auspices of the Inter-Agency
Operations Management Team, support approaches for enhancing UN common services
to attain efficiencies and effectiveness.
·        
Play a role in the UN Operation management
group, coordinating with peers of other UN agencies, based on the agenda agreed
with the UNCT, to plan and implement the Harmonized Business practices
initiatives in line within Reform/coherence, including in the areas of
Harmonized Cash transfer (HACT), common services, common premises.
Country Programme Management Plan (CPMP):
·        
In charge of the development of the finance,
budget and administrative components of the CPMP is timely completed;
participate in the review of office structures and operations, and compilation
of required job descriptions, prior to budget preparation, in line with the
country programme commitment; contribute to the preparation of budget and the
accompanying justification and documentation. 
·        
Participate in the country programme strategy,
development, planning and preview/reviews meetings, to identify staffing and
administrative operational requirements. Within the framework of the CPMP,
coordinate and contribute towards human resources planning.
Compliance and Internal Control:
·        
Regularly monitor and manage budget process.
Ensure all other operational reporting requirements are fully met for the
office. Monitor compliance with all operational systems and procedures and
ensure integrity in all financial and other administrative operations of the
office.
·        
Act as the focal person for office management
indicators; ensure all other operational reporting requirements are fully met
for the office; in collaboration with the Deputy Representative, ensure the
implementation of agreed audit recommendations; advise on corrective measures
to be taken and establish relevant internal controls. Develop training
activities to ensure effective operational performance and efficiency. Identify
potential learning organisation which can be resourceful for capacity building
of UNICEF staff and partners in good business practices and establish
collaborative partnership with these institutions as appropriate.
Staff Learning and Development:
·        
Develop training activities to ensure effective
operational performance and efficiency.
·        
Develop and implement effective staff learning
and development programme activities for both programme and operations staff on
operational matters for capacity building.
·        
Plan and conduct operations workshops/learning
programmes for organizational competency building, staff development, learning
and career development.
·        
Provide coaching and counseling to the staff on
performance enhancement/career development.
·        
Work closely with knowledge institutions to
explore and conclude when requires partnership with this institution for
capacity development of staff.
·        
Share best practices in promoting gender
awareness and equity in operation.
Partnership, Coordination and Collaboration:
·        
Maintain government counterpart relations;
resolves issues pertaining to conditions of service, operational facilities and
privileges within the context of the Basic Cooperation Agreement; Ensure
adherence to financial regulations and rules pertaining to Cash Assistance to
Government (CAG). 
·        
Coordinate with Head of sections to identify
needs for orientation and training of Government counterparts and implementing
partners in UNICEF operations policies and procedures and coordinate contribute
to the planning and implementation of capacity building of these partners
accordingly.
·        
Guide the Head of Office on finance, human
resource and administrative matters providing guidance on all operational
submissions for the approval of the Regional Director; brief office staff on financial,
human resource and administrative policies and procedures providing
authoritative advice; provide technical guidance and oversight to junior
Operations staff in country offices and swiftly resolve operational issues.
·        
Coordinate/liaise with the HQ Divisions to
support policy formulation in the area of operations; advise on the
applicability of new policy directives to regional operations.  Make substantive recommendations on the
improvement of systems and internal controls, planning and restructuring and
resolution of sensitive issues and problems, taking into account the prevailing
conditions in the locality.
·        
Establish and maintain all consultative and
management committees ; Organize and train committees in compliance with the
guidelines.
·        
Collaborate with senior Programme Officers and
country office staff providing creative problem solving in support of
programming activities while maintaining sound internal operational controls.
·        
Represent the office in meetings with local
banks and administrative suppliers; negotiate locally issued contracts as well
as in meetings with other UN Agencies to coordinate operational matters and
activities, including harmonization of the UN common system. Coordinate field
emergency services.
·        
Provide leadership for operations commitments
implantation in emergency,  in line with
the CCCs working  closely with the Head
of sections and clusters coordinators (Health, Nutrition, WASH and protection)
as well as in line with the Inter agency standing Committee  (IASC) principles  and the needs as identified by the
Humanitarian Country team (HCT).
·        
Represent UNICEF in the local salary survey
committee and fully participate in all processes of the salary survey review
and administration to ensure the methodology is applied correctly throughout.
·        
Establish good working relationship with
companies/organizations which provide for good comparators in order to gain
easy access to their information for the salary survey exercises.
·        
Coordinate promptly with the Regional Office,
the Head of Office, Programme Officers and other staff in the country office
for security-related issues and emergency operations. Provide operational
support to emergency preparedness and emergencies. Inform and update all staff
members in the country office on security related issues and emergency
operations.  Pay particular attention to
gender issues that may be expected to intensify during emergencies.
Qualifications, Skills and
Experience:
·        
The applicant for the United Nations UNICEF
Chief of Operations job placement should an advanced university degree
(Master’s) in Accounting , Business Administration, Financial Management,
Economics, or a directly-related field(s) is required.  A valid professional certification (CA; CPA;
etc.) from an accredited chartered accountancy institution, in conjunction with
a relevant first level (Bachelor’s) university degree in a directly-related
technical field (as identified above), may be taken in lieu of an advanced
university degree.
·        
At least ten years of relevant experience, at the
national and international levels in office management, finance, budget,
accounting, ICT, human resources, supply and/or procurement is required.
·        
Previous hands on experience in a
supervisory/managerial capacity is required.
·        
Work experience in an emergency duty station is
considered an asset.
·        
Fluency in English (verbal and written) is
required.  Knowledge of an additional UN
Language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian, Spanish) is considered an asset.
Personal Competencies:
·        
Core Values: Commitment, Diversity
and Inclusion, Integrity
·        
Core Competencies: Communication,
Drive for Results, Working with People
·        
Functional Competencies: Leading and
Supervising [level 3], Formulating Strategies and Concept [level 2], Analyzing
[level 2], Relating and Networking [level 3], Deciding and Initiating Action
[level 2], Following Instructions and Procedures [level 3]
NB: UNICEF is committed
to gender equality in its mandate and its staff; qualified female candidates
are strongly encouraged to apply. UNICEF is a smoke free environment.
How to Apply:
All suitably qualified and interested candidates who wish to join the
United Nations UNICEF in the aforementioned capacity are encouraged to visit
the link below to Apply.
Deadline: 22nd November 2016
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