Programme Specialist, (Portfolio Strategist, Venture Fund), P-3, Office of Innovation, Stockholm, Sweden

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 74,649 USD and 97,747 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, innovate…

The UNICEF Venture Fund has been specifically designed to finance early stage, open-source technology that can benefit children. The core motivation of the Venture Fund is to identify "clusters" or portfolios of initiatives around emerging technology - so that UNICEF can shape markets, learn about and guide these technologies that can positively impact the lives of the most vulnerable children. We find these solutions clustered around $100 billion industries in frontier technology spaces, such as: UAVs, virtual and augmented reality, artificial intelligence, blockchain, nanosatellites, and human dynamics. With $35M raised to date, the Venture Fund is scaling its investment portfolio with the aim of investing in 20 start-ups every year and provides funding to CO-led projects.

How can you make a difference?

1. Developing and executing the overall portfolio management strategy, including necessary systems, partnerships, and technical assistance, for companies receiving funding
2. Maintaining portfolio management systems and processes, including regular tracking of milestones and companies’ performance through metrics, and applying data to guide portfolio management strategy
3. Based on a robust needs assessment process, developing a technical assistance strategy for each portfolio company (with support from external partnerships, a network of mentors, engagement of technical leads) in seed and growth portfolios
4. Identifying and managing growth strategies for portfolio companies
5. Advising on sourcing and selection of companies, and leading on selection and contractual process of companies receiving bridge and acceleration funding

Please access the full JD here JD TA Portfolio Strategist P3 _07.2023.pdf

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

• An advanced university degree in finance, entrepreneurship, business administration or relevant field
• A minimum of five years of progressively responsible professional work experience in a relevant field.
• Seven years of experience in lieu of an advanced degree.
• Demonstrated management-level experience in managing portfolios of investments ideally in venture capital, at seed and early growth stages, and in UNICEF programme regions required
• Demonstrated experience in developing partnerships and entrepreneurial strategies
• Demonstrated knowledge of specific challenges faced by seed stage companies and approaches to address them
• Experience in coordinating and monitoring complex projects, product development, business growth and ROI metrics required- specifically for solutions leveraging frontier tech and open-source licensing desired
• Experience in coordinating teams to reach ambitious goals
• Understanding of open-source and frontier technologies, and their applications to UNICEF strategic priorities required
• Strong written and verbal communication skills required, including external representation and presentations, facilitation of networks of communities
• Experience of managing networks and portfolios of consultants and technical advisors to deliver against agree objective required
• Ability to synthesize technical information and translate it into accessible products and systems
• A strong understanding of UNICEF programmes, goals and principles, and experience in a UNICEF programme country desired
• Experience working in complex, resource poor contexts is a plus.
• 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: UNICEF Values

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:

UNICEF’s active commitment towards diversity and inclusion is critical to deliver the best results for children. For this position, eligible and suitable candidates are encouraged to apply.

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

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.

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