Innovation Specialist (Disability & Assistive Technology), P3, Fixed-Term, Copenhagen, Denmark

Contract

This is a P-3 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 5 years of experience, depending on education.

Salary

The salary for this job should be between 134,294 USD and 175,847 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.

The fundamental mission of UNICEF is to promote the rights of every child, everywhere, in everything the organization does — in programs, in advocacy and in operations. The equity strategy, emphasizing the most disadvantaged and excluded children and families, translates this commitment to children’s rights into action. For UNICEF, equity means that all children have an opportunity to survive, develop and reach their full potential, without discrimination, bias or favoritism. To the degree that any child has an unequal chance in life — in its social, political, economic, civic and cultural dimensions — her or his rights are violated. There is growing evidence that investing in the health, education and protection of a society’s most disadvantaged citizens — addressing inequity — not only will give all children the opportunity to fulfill their potential but also will lead to sustained growth and stability of countries. This is why the focus on equity is so vital. It accelerates progress towards realizing the human rights of all children, which is the universal mandate of UNICEF, as outlined by the Convention on the Rights of the Child, while also supporting the equitable development of nations.

Organizational context

The Product Innovation Center (PIC) within Supply Division (SD) works closely with internal and external partners to drive R&D and scale of new innovative products to improve the lives of children. This is done by identifying needs not appropriately met by products currently available and then scanning the market to see if there are products that can meet this need. If yes, we procure and scale the products, if no, we drive R&D utilizing develops product profiles to specify the performance a product has to deliver and incentivize R&D, using our procurement and implementation power. In addition, PIC is mandated to push the envelope of the organization in terms of coming up with new innovative concepts to influence R&D of products beyond UNICEF’s procurement, evolve the global thinking around product innovation for development/humanitarian contexts as well as to develop new ways of driving scale of products. Key to these ambitions is an aim to ensure most impact for disadvantages children for the resources available, always pushing for value for money of products.

The Product Innovation Center operates within public procurement practices to drive research and development (R&D), validation and implementation of new products to address programmatic and/or emergency needs. In instances where there are no products in a procurable form on the market, a Product Innovation Project (PIP) is initiated with the ultimate goal of enabling procurement of fit-for-purpose and value-for-money supplies across all UNICEF program areas.

How can you make a difference?

Purpose for the job

The Innovation Specialist will be an integral part of growing the existing disability & assistive Technology portfolio. An important part of the role is to manage Product Innovation Projects (PIPs) within the disability & assistive technology portfolio, including providing technical advice to governments and partners on infrastructure needs and sustainable implementation for portfolio products.

The position will also include project managing global tendering processes for disability and assistive products that UNICEF will add to the Supply Catalogue and help scale products in LMICs. The process of scaling products through demand generation will be an ongoing task, both for existing and future portfolio items. Leading these scaling efforts, creating and implementing demand generation strategies will be a priority.

Finally, the role also has a proactive element of continuously understanding the market, the need and the demand for disability- and assistive products. This means being able to understand potential product gaps in the market, understanding the challenges and barriers of children with disability, particularly in LMIC and emergency context and finally, understanding and nudging UNICEF country programming to include the disability and assistive product angle in their programs and initiatives.

Key functions, accountabilities and related duties/tasks:

• Grow the UNICEF’s portfolio for assistive technology and disability products.
• Identify, develop and run product innovation projects and document and communicate developments to management, donors, and the innovation review board.
• Manage the various steps of product innovation, including user-needs research, market research, communication with developers, field trials, impact and cost-effectiveness analysis, procurement strategy, supply chain strategy, and scale.
• Manage global tendering process of new disability & assistive products.
• Drive uptake of disability & assistive products through demand generation efforts – both within UNICEF and externally.
• Provide timely technical contributions to programs procuring or introducing assistive technologies, including specifications, prioritizations, communication, monitoring and evaluation, supply chain management and sustainable implementation.
• Contribute to fundraising activities and drive proposal development to enable product innovation within the disability & assistive technology space.
• Work to strengthen existing networks and partnership within the disability and assistive technology space.
• Create tools and framework to optimize uptake and implementation of disability and assistive technology.
• Represent UNICEF and the project team at key stakeholder meetings
• Prepare and lead both internal and external webinars and workshops.
• Any other duties or assignments as requested by the supervisor.

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

Required:

A completed advanced university degree (Master’s Degree) in one of the following areas: Public Health, Policy, Industrial Design, Mechanical Engineering, Business Studies, Social Sciences or a field relevant to assistive technology.

*A completed 1st university degree (Bachelor’s degree) and 7 years of relevant experience may be accepted in lieu of advanced degree (Master’s).

Minimum five (5) years of progressive relevant professional experience within the disability & assistive technology space.

Solid experience or knowledge of running structured innovation processes.

Demonstrable experience in working with products for persons with disabilities.

Solid understanding of the challenges and barriers faced by children with disabilities.

Demonstrable experience within project management.

Experience or knowledge of procurement process and financial incentive structures.

Fluency in English.

Desired:

Experience in conducting user-needs assessments, field trials/end-user assessments, and market research.

Knowledge of another UN language (French, Spanish, Arabic, Chinese, Russian) is an advantage.

For every Child, you demonstrate...

UNICEF's values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, and Accountability (CRITA) and core competencies in Communication, Working with People and Drive for Results.

The competencies required for this post are:

• Demonstrates Self Awareness and Ethical Awareness (1)
• Works Collaboratively with others (1)
• Builds and Maintains Partnerships (1)
• Innovates and Embraces Change (1)
• Thinks and Acts Strategically (1)
• Drives to achieve impactful results (1)
• Manages ambiguity and complexity(1)

https://www.unicef.org/careers/media/1041/file/UNICEF%27s_Competency_Framework.pdf

UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages all candidates, irrespective of gender, nationality, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including persons living with disabilities, to apply to become a part of the organization.

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 also adheres to strict child safeguarding principles. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles and will therefore undergo rigorous reference and background checks. 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:

• Applicants will be considered against the requirements.
• UNICEF only considers higher educational qualifications obtained from an institution accredited/recognized in the World Higher Education Database (WHED), a list updated by the International Association of Universities (IAU) / United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The list can be accessed at: http://www.whed.net/
• 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 may also be 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.