Chief, Innovative & Structured Finance, P-5, Division of Finance & Administrative Services (DFAM), New York Headquarters

Contract

This is a P-5 contract. This kind of contract is known as Professional and Director staff. It is normally internationally recruited only. It's a staff contract. It usually requires 10 years of experience, depending on education.

Salary

The salary for this job should be between 208,877 USD and 261,770 USD.

Please keep in mind that the salary displayed here is an estimation by UN Talent based on the location and the type of contract. It may vary depending on the organization. The recruiter should be able to inform you about the exact salary range. In case the job description contains another salary information, please refer to this one.

UNICEF works in some of the world’s toughest places, to reach the world’s most disadvantaged children. To save their lives. To defend their rights. To help them fulfill their potential.

Across 190 countries and territories, we work for every child, everywhere, every day, to build a better world for everyone.

And we never give up.

For every child, hope...

The financing gap to achieve the SDGs by 2030 is estimated to be US$ 4.5 trillion per year. New sources of financing to close this gap will come from two channels - public finance and private domestic/international capital, and blended finance combining both public and private capital. UNICEF's vision and ambition is that financing for development in all its facets – public and private – work together to enable significantly greater volumes of funding and financing to flow to where it will make the most difference, in order to radically accelerate results and impact for children. Public finance is the basis for financing for development, driving key programmatic priorities, while innovative financing/alternative financing is a vital tool.

In this context, UNICEF has identified strategic deployment of innovative finance for children (“IF4C”) as a critical means to help leverage additional resources for UNICEF programmes and tap new sources of predictable capital at scale by creating financial structures in collaboration with various partners. If scaled up, innovative finance could also yield other important benefits, including increasing the sustainability and impact of existing resources by smoothing financial flows, boosting efficiency in terms of operations, sustainability, and environmental impact, and enhancing global brand and appeal to entirely new audiences. This major shift is aligned with the approach of the 2022-2025 Strategic Plan of UNICEF, which recognizes the importance of innovative finance to achieve results for children.

How can you make a difference?

Under the guidance of the Deputy Director, Treasury & Structure Finance (TSF) Section, the incumbent will be DFAM’s focal point for the Innovation for Children (IF4C) initiatives and will work in close collaboration with the other team members in the TSF Section, the Office of the Comptroller, and the other DFAM Sections. The primary focus of the staff member is to identify programmatic opportunities related to potential and ongoing projects and to provide guidance in line with stipulations in UNICEF Financial Regulations and Rules (FRR). This will entail the review, analysis, and recommendation of innovative, risk informed financing mechanisms that provide UNICEF with more efficient and effective funding and financing options working in coordination with key UNICEF stakeholders such as the Private Fundraising & Partnerships Division, the Supply Division, the Office of Innovation, the Legal team, the Public Partnerships Division, the Convener for IF4C and regional offices and country offices.

Summary of key functions/accountabilities:

1. Take leadership role as DFAM’s primary point of contact for its engagement in innovative financing (IF) mechanisms by providing value-added advisory services on best practices and policy/operational instruments, providing technical guidance and support, evaluating and advising on risks and operability of proposed IF mechanisms within the context of UNICEF’s Financial Regulations and Rules.
2. Contribute to exploratory meetings and working groups on potential innovative mechanisms design and execution, representing DFAM and providing strategic policy guidance as needed.
3. Provide feedback to DFAM management on potential risks in proposed initiatives and/ or mechanisms and consult on viable alternatives.
4. Provide clear and concise risk and operational assessments of financing mechanisms and make recommendations for any required approvals to DFAM management.
5. Conduct cash flow analysis, financial risk analysis and any other cost-benefit analysis and make recommendations as appropriate
6. Contribute to the assessment of UNICEF financial risk exposure for complex financing instruments/initiatives such as pre-financings, advanced market commitments, impact financing and other financing structures in collaboration with the Programme Group, the Supply Division and the Legal team.
7. Provide clear documentation and engage in discussion to enable the DFAM’s Financial Reporting Unit to determine any accounting and financial reporting implications of proposed financing or funding initiatives.
8. Provide clear documentation and engage in discussion to enable the DFAM’s Resource Management Section to determine any budgeting implications.
9. Provide value added contributions to the development of guidance materials to educate operations and program colleagues of what financial modalities should be used, when and under what circumstances, clearly outlining advantages, disadvantages and risks associated with them. This includes keeping policies, procedures and related templates updated to facilitate the end-to-end process.
10. Identify new trends and developments across the field of innovative finance, advanced market commitments, impact financing and other financing structures more broadly to inform the Innovative Financing activities.
11. Any other IF duties as assigned by the supervisor.

To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have… -An advanced university degree (Master’s) in Business Administration, Economics, Finance, Auditing, Accounting, or another related field is required. -A minimum of ten (10) years of extensive work experience in leading complex financial transactions is required, preferably gained in the following areas of the private and/or public sectors:

1. Global Banking and capital markets experience.
2. Project Finance and/or Structured Finance. experience, that can be applied in a humanitarian and development context.
3. Innovative financing mechanisms including Trust Funds.

-A minimum of fifteen (15) years of progressive experience at a senior level, working and negotiating in a multi-cultural environment, with strong financial acumen, including structuring, modelling, and analytical skills; due diligence experience; ability to negotiate financial mechanisms terms, is required.

-Proven ability and experience with external market focus, and ability to work effectively with a varied set of actors in the financial markets, from International Financial Institutions to Development Banks, Fintech companies, digital finance companies, as well as other United Nations Organizations, is considered an asset.

-Prior experience working with field offices of humanitarian organizations and UNICEF’s National Committees is considered an asset.

-Prior knowledge and experience working with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), and/or International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS), is highly desirable.

-Excellent presentation and communications skills, both oral and written; ability to present ideas cogently to executive management and teams.

-Demonstrated experience in strategic thinking and timely decision-making, and ability to multi-task in ever changing working environment.

-Proven ability to work in multi-disciplinary teams and provide training and mentoring.

-Developing country work experience and/or familiarity with emergency is considered an asset.

-Fluency in English is required. Knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish) or a local language is an asset.

For every Child, you demonstrate...

UNICEF’s Core Values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust and Accountability and Sustainability (CRITAS) underpin everything we do and how we do it. Get acquainted with Our Values Charter: https://uni.cf/UNICEFValues

UNICEF competencies required for this post are…

(1) Builds and maintains partnerships (2) Demonstrates self-awareness and ethical awareness (3) Drive to achieve results for impact (4) Innovates and embraces change (5) Manages ambiguity and complexity (6) Thinks and acts strategically (7) Works collaboratively with others.

During the recruitment process, we test candidates following the competency framework. Familiarize yourself with our competency framework and its different levels: competency framework here.

UNICEF is here to serve the world’s most disadvantaged children and our global workforce must reflect the diversity of those children. The UNICEF family is committed to include everyone, irrespective of their race/ethnicity, age, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, socio-economic background, or any other personal characteristic. We offer a wide range of benefits to our staff, including paid parental leave, breastfeeding breaks and reasonable accommodation for persons with disabilities. UNICEF strongly encourages the use of flexible working arrangements. UNICEF has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UNICEF, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. UNICEF is committed to promote the protection and safeguarding of all children. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks, and will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles. Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check.

Remarks:

Mobility is a condition of international professional employment with UNICEF and an underlying premise of the international civil service.

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process.

UNICEF appointments are subject to medical clearance. Issuance of a visa by the host country of the duty station, which will be facilitated by UNICEF, is required for IP positions. Appointments are also subject to inoculation (vaccination) requirements, including against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid). Government employees that are considered for employment with UNICEF are normally required to resign from their government before taking up an assignment with UNICEF. UNICEF reserves the right to withdraw an offer of appointment, without compensation, if a visa or medical clearance is not obtained, or necessary inoculation requirements are not met, within a reasonable period for any reason.