Construction Engineering Specialist

Organizational Setting

FAO's office for Yemen is responsible for developing, promoting, overseeing and implementing agreed strategies for addressing countrywide food, agriculture and rural development priorities under Yemen. It develops and maintains relations with the relevant Ministries at country level. This position is based in FAO Representation in Sanaa, Yemen. The main aim of the FAO country offices, which are headed by an FAO Representative, is to assist governments to develop policies, programmes and projects to achieve food security and to reduce hunger and malnutrition, to help develop the agricultural, fisheries and forestry sectors and to use their environmental and natural resources in a sustainable manner.

Reporting Lines

The incumbent will work under the guidance of the FAO Representative, the overall supervision of the head of programme and the direct supervision of the desert locust and FSRRP project managers.

Technical Focus

The incumbent will be responsible to oversee, supervise and manage the construction and/or rehabilitation of FAO offices, accommodation guesthouse and desert locust centres and fish landing sites in compliance with the projects’ goals and objectives. She/he will oversee the day-to-day management and supervision, ensuring the overall efficiency and effectiveness of processes and activities undertaken to achieve timely delivery of infrastructures.

Tasks and responsibilities:

• Plan, design and develop FAO office, guesthouse and desert locust centres, and fish landing sites; prepare BoQs, models, charts and graphics; and create construction drawings, and design specification including use computer -aided design (CAD) technology for simulation purposes. • Provide overall technical assistance to FAO’s construction projects (office, guesthouse and desert locust centres, fish landing sites), from their planning to their implementation and monitoring. • Ensure that effective implementation, monitoring and supervision tools are developed and implemented. • Ensure effective quality control systems are in place and contractors work in compliance with technical specifications and FAO quality standards. • Act as contract manager, monitor and evaluate performance of service providers/contractors, issue completion and defects and liability certificates. • Ensure all technical inputs and cost estimates related to the construction components are accurate, timely provided and included in the project proposals and budgets. • Support the Procurement and Logistics Unit in all tender exercises for the procurement of construction services. Prepare tender documents including technical specifications, BoQs and cost estimate tables. • Take responsibility for overall progress and use of resources. • Identify and manage risks and initiate corrective action where necessary, so that maximum benefit to FAO is achieved. Escalate high risks to FAO management. • Prepare weekly, interim, final project and handover reports and maintain the relevant projects records. • Manage projects budgets, cash flow and obligations to ensure that deliverables are met and payments to contractors and personnel are received on time. • Perform any other duties as may be required.

Minimum Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent in Civil Engineering. • At least 5 years of work experience in design, construction, implementation and monitoring, and in the field related to the tasks and responsibilities of this position. • Working knowledge (level C) of English with excellent written and spoken skills and limited knowledge (level B) of another FAO language (Arabic, French, Spanish, Chinese, Russian) for Consultants; for PSA, working knowledge of English.

FAO Core Competencies

• Results Focus • Teamwork • Communication • Building Effective Relationships • Knowledge Sharing and Continuous Improvement

Technical/Functional Skills

• Work experience in more than one location or area of work, particularly in field positions. • Extent and relevance of experience in major technical fields related to engineering design, construction and work supervision. • Demonstrated capacity to plan, advice and guide planning processes on construction related issues. • Demonstrated experience in dealing with government officials, development partners and other country stakeholders. • Demonstrated capacity to write technical reports in English.