Chief of Operations at the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF)

UNICEF works in 190 countries and territories to protect the rights of every child. UNICEF has spent 70 years working to improve the lives of children and their families. Defending children's rights throughout their lives requires a global presence, aiming to produce results and understand their effects. UNICEF believes all children have a right to survive, thrive and fulfill their potential - to the benefit of a better world.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: Chief of Operations (P-5)

Job Number: 511636
Location: FT, Abuja, Nigeria
Work Type: Fixed Term Staff

Job Description
How can you make a difference?

• As the head of operations of a large-sized office, the incumbent will be accountable for management of cost effective, efficient and secure operations, in support of management, administration and implementation of the country programme, consistent with operations of the country in accordance with strategy, plans and decisions made by Country Programme Management Teams.
• The incumbent will provide guidance in operations to a multidisciplinary team of professionals to identify and correct gender balances.
• Coordinate collaboration with all other UN agencies to accelerate implementation of the Harmonized Business practices initiatives in line within Reform/coherence.

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. 
• Advise management and assists in establishing new offices.

Policy interpretation and application:

• As technical professional and senior manager, provides accurate and social policy interpretation and 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.
• Contribute to global and regional strategic planning and policy changes/formulation on operational matters as necessary; Provide technical input to the establishment of operational guidelines in close coordination with the head of office, the Regional Operations Officer and 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 decisions 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.
• 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, including those that strengthen gender policy in programming and staff gender parity.  Negotiate cost effective contractual arrangements with service providers as well as with implementing partners.
• Working closely with Head of Sections explore possibility to enter into 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).
• Participate in effective management process by providing technical advice and support to corporate committees (including PBR, RMTs, CMT, JCC, CRC, PSB, etc.).

Office Services:

• Ensure the provision of basic offices 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 key role in the UN Operation management group, coordinate with peers of other UN agencies based on the agenda agreed with the UNCT, 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.

CPMP:

• Ensure 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 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:

• 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.
• Serve 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 establishes 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 counselling to the staff on performance enhancement/ development.  Liaise with knowledge institutions to explore and conclude partnerships with institutions 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; Ensures 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.
• Advise 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 resolves 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 (e.g. APC, JCP, JCC, CRC, PSB, TRT, PBR and Training); 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 Interagency 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 participates 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 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.

Requirements
To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have…

• Education: Advanced university Degree in Accounting, Business Administration, Economics, or Financial Management.  Membership - or enrolled for membership – in a recognized professional accountancy body.
• Experience: Ten years (10) years of relevant professional work experience. Both national and International work experience in office management, finance, accounting, ICT, human resources, administration supply and procurement related fields. Familiarity and work experience in emergency duty station is an asset. Experience in humanitarian field preferably UNICEF and good knowledge of the African continent is an asset.
• Language: Fluency in English is required. Knowledge of an additional UN Language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian) is considered an asset.

For every Child, you demonstrate…

• UNICEF’s core values of Commitment, Diversity and Integrity and core competencies in Communication, Working with People and Drive for Results.

The technical competencies required for this post are….

• Leading and Supervising - III
• Formulating Strategies and Concept - II
• Analysing - II
• Relating and Networking - III
• Deciding and Initiating Action - II
• Following Instructions and Procedures – III

Application Closing Date
27th March, 2018.

How to Apply
Interested and qualified candidates should:
Click here to apply online