Back Programme Management Office (PMO) Team Leader

Background Information - Job-specific

Located in Dakar, the UNOPS office in Senegal has developed a strong working relation with the Governments of West Africa and international partners over the years. It provides technical support in strategic development areas including elections; Procurement and related capacity building; Environmental protection, as well as infrastructure rehabilitation and development.

Our goal is to support countries, help people in need and enable our partners through delivering on our mandate of infrastructure, procurement and project management in the countries in the west of Africa.

The primary role of Programme Management Office (PMO) is to provide the MCO with the structures, tools and techniques needs to ensure that it has the right programmes and projects in place, that operational and change priorities are balanced, the governance and decision making is facilitated and it has the resources and capability to deliver them consistently well.

The functions and services of the PMO include:

• Strategic Planning/Portfolio Support: Ensuring UNOPS is focused on doing the right projects by supporting management decision-making.

• Delivery Support: Ensuring UNOPS is doing projects the right way, through the effective delivery of the programme and projects.

• Best Practices: Applying UNOPS standards in project management, encouraging consistent working practices and ensuring appropriate application.

  Through these functions and services, the PMO ensures that project management policies, processes and methods are followed and practiced according to the organization standards, while acting as the overall Project Assurance capacity within the business unit on behalf of senior management. The PMO strongly contributes to moving the office towards achieving its mission-focused goals and objectives.

  The Programme Management Office (PMO) Team Leader will work under the direct supervision of the Head of Programme and in close collaboration with the Country Managers to provide support to the Portfolios, Programmes and Projects implemented by UNOPS in the MCO. The PMO Team Leader will be responsible for developing and implementing strategies towards delivering projects that contribute to the SDGs, with excellence and to partner satisfaction. The assignment will also involve travel to all Country Offices in the MCO.

  Functional Responsibilities
  1. Leadership and Team Management
  

• 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 individuals and teams to identify critical learning needs and plan/provide easy access to learning opportunities to maintain personnel competency and flexibility.

Develops strategies and approaches that foster a common vision for maturity and harmonization of practices across all country offices in the MCO.

Exercise management of all staffing issues within the PMO team including recruitment, on-boarding and staff performance reviews.

Directly contributes to the development and maintenance of budget and resource availability tables in conjunction with project managers and relevant project staff.

Lead the implementation of the Resource Pool Approach for the PMO team.

Provides appropriate levels of programmatic management and administrative support to the Head of Programme regarding all ongoing project activities, while maintaining and implementing appropriate standards and best practices in line with UNOPS policies and procedures.

Directly contribute to strategic oversight, advice and direction on programme and project management activities in line with service agreements and project documents.

Ensure proper development, implementation and, as and when appropriate, amendments, of project budgets and staffing resources, ensuring synergies across the Senegal Office.

Develops and establishes resource tracking systems for use within the PMO, complementary to UNOPS' online tools, to ensure effective planning, forecasting and tracking of delivery across the office.

Identifies, and anticipates in a timely manner, potential risks and issues and advises mitigating measures to the Head of Programme.

Provide expertise for start-up of programmes or projects, planning and closing projects, conducting regular health checks.

Facilitate the development of high-level programme/project plans, including the collation of lower-level plans into programme/project-level milestones.

Develop, track and maintain dependencies.

Liaise closely and support the Head of Support Services in all operations, finance and assets management issues.

For project closure purposes, acts as (or nominates and supervises) a focal point between the office and donors throughout the process.

Oversee and coordinate all project closure activities, ensuring appropriate disposal of project assets, timely and effective final (operational) reporting, initiation of financial disbursements as appropriate during Defects Liability Periods, updating of information on the OneUNOPS and effective handover of closed projects to UNOPS HQ for financial closure processes.

Monitor and ensure projects prepare and issue regular project reports in accordance with donor guidelines for reporting.

Regularly review project status, evaluating performance criteria (scope, cost, schedule and quality).

Maintain diaries and progress reports as required by UNOPS standard procedures.

Identify and anticipates in a timely manner, potential risks and issues specific to delivery forecasts, and advises mitigating measures to the Head of Programme.

Provide routine oversight and analysis of delivery data within the dashboard systems available.

Perform routine maintenance and implementation of effective monitoring and evaluation systems of programme and project activities, in line with logical frameworks.

Within the context of monitoring and evaluation, ensure all projects submit and regularly update specific milestones and targets for the duration of projects' life-cycles, and tracks progress, or otherwise, against such information.

Provide editorial support to programmes and projects, ensuring effective and timely dissemination of reports, in line with project documentation and clients' expectations.

Provide the Head of Support Services and Finance Officer with necessary project analysis reports and information to support areas relevant to the project management team (i.e. Resource requirements of projects, Locally Managed Direct Costs projections, etc.).

Coordinate and oversee the implementation of requests or initiatives relevant to project management from the Regional Office, IPAS, and HQ Teams, as required.

Supports development of stakeholder profiles and facilitates the formulation of stakeholder engagement strategies.

Enable the formulation of programme and project communications plans.

Facilitate stakeholder engagement and communication, ensuring effective timing and inter-dependency management of communications across programmes and projects.

Ensure coordination of internal programme/project communications.

Monitor the effectiveness of programme/project communications. 6. Quality Assurance

Support Head of Support Services, and work with internal audit and finance to ensure the programme complies with audit requirements.

Work with procurement personnel to ensure effective interface with suppliers' quality systems.

Ensure compliance with UNOPS defined standards for programme/project management.

Coordinate quality reviews of programme/project documents and deliverables.

Monitor, promote and facilitate high level of data quality across all projects in the data systems.

Provide quality control for management products (project documents, reports, etc.).

Represent the Head of Programme in supporting key stakeholders to continuously identify and improve operational processes relevant to project implementation.

Ensures that programme teams have an up to date understanding of the UNOPS Legislative Framework and SNMCO procedures, as it pertains to their roles as PMO Team members.

Standardize and introduce economies of repetition in the execution of projects.

Ensure risk registers and issue logs are maintained within all projects; all projects go through a quarterly end stage review, or equivalent; All projects report on time and in accordance with legal agreements; Projects document Centre (PDCs) and share drive are regularly updated and maintained as appropriate.

Act as a focal point for the MCO’s maturity enhancement and innovation initiatives.

Lead the development and implementation of common procedures and work flows to improve quality and effectiveness of projects, and monitor their full implementation.

Ensure routine and effective capacity building activities are conducted in order to build the long-term and sustainable capacity of relevant personnel.

Participate in, and advocate PMs' participation in, relevant Communities of Practice.

Actively interact with PMs and the wider PM community to share case studies, lessons learned and best practices in the Knowledge System.

Provides feedback to Practice Leads on policy and supporting guidance working to achieve continuous improvement of UNOPS policies.

Contributes to the oversight of lessons learned procedures, ensuring that lessons learnt are shared in a timely and appropriate manner.

Proactively remain abreast of new developments, innovations and tools related to Portfolio, Programme and Project Management (P3M) practices promoting a common approach and frame of reference.

Coach, mentor, train and otherwise support PMO Team members and Project Teams in fulfillment of their project support functions.

Act as an advisory resource for other programme personnel.

A Master’s Degree is required, preferably in Project Management, Business Administration, International Relations or related fields.

A combination of a Bachelor's degree with an additional two (2) years of relevant work experience may be accepted in lieu of the education requirements outlined above.

Certification

Prince 2 Practitioner or equivalent an advantage.

A minimum of at least seven (7) years of relevant and progressive professional experience, specifically in the field of Project Management with experience of successful implementation and/or oversight of portfolios, programmes and projects is required.

A minimum of two (2) years experience leading multidisciplinary, multicultural teams is required.

Proven experience in planning and implementing organizational and/or process change initiatives his highly desirable.

Previous experience of working within a PMO environment is an advantage.

Previous experience working with UNOPS’ project management tools, financial and procurement rules and regulations, and financial management tools, is an advantage.

Experience working in Post-Conflict (or active conflict) environments is highly desirable.

Demonstrated experience working with Government MDAs on Donor-Funded projects is an asset. Language Requirements

Fluency in written, spoken and reading English is required.

Fluency in written, spoken and reading French is required.

Please note that UNOPS does not accept unsolicited resumes.

Applications received after the closing date will not be considered.

Please note that only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process, which involves various assessments.

UNOPS embraces diversity and is committed to equal employment opportunity. Our workforce consists of many diverse nationalities, cultures, languages, races, gender identities, sexual orientations, and abilities. UNOPS seeks to sustain and strengthen this diversity to ensure equal opportunities as well as an inclusive working environment for its entire workforce.

Qualified women and candidates from groups which are underrepresented in the UNOPS workforce are encouraged to apply. These include in particular candidates from racialized and/or indigenous groups, members of minority gender identities and sexual orientations, and people with disabilities.

We would like to ensure all candidates perform at their best during the assessment process. If you are shortlisted and require additional assistance to complete any assessment, including reasonable accommodation, please inform our human resources team when you receive an invitation.

Terms and Conditions

For staff positions only, UNOPS reserves the right to appoint a candidate at a lower level than the advertised level of the post.

For retainer contracts, you must complete a few Mandatory Courses (they take around 4 hours to complete) in your own time, before providing services to UNOPS. For more information on a retainer contract here.

All UNOPS personnel are responsible for performing their duties in accordance with the UN Charter and UNOPS Policies and Instructions, as well as other relevant accountability frameworks. In addition, all personnel must demonstrate an understanding of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in a manner consistent with UN core values and the UN Common Agenda.

It is the policy of UNOPS to conduct background checks on all potential personnel. Recruitment in UNOPS is contingent on the results of such checks.

Senegal

Located in Dakar, the UNOPS office in Senegal has developed a strong working relation with the Governments of West Africa and international partners over the years. It provides technical support in strategic development areas including elections; procurement and related capacity building; environmental protection, as well as infrastructure rehabilitation and development.