Re-advertisement: UN Women: Procurement Specialist- Operations Support

Overview

Oversee procurement operations in support of gender equality.

You have:

• A minimum of 5 years of progressively responsible experience in procurement, contract management, supply chain management, or related area.
• Master’s Degree or equivalent in Business Administration, Public Administration, Operations, Supply Chain Management, or related field.
• Procurement Certification from internationally recognized institutions (e.g., CIPS) is an asset.
• Fluency in oral and written English required.
• Knowledge of French and/or Spanish is an asset.
• Experience in ERP system (PeopleSoft or equivalent) and IPSAS is desirable.

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 131,084 USD and 171,644 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.

Background

NOTE: The duration of the assignment is until 15 December 2022. Whereas an external candidate will be offered a temporary appointment, subject to release agreements, staff members in UN Women may be administered as a temporary assignment and staff members in the UN Common system may be administered under a loan arrangement.

UN Women, grounded in the vision of equality enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, works for the elimination of discrimination against women and girls; the empowerment of women; and the achievement of equality between women and men as partners and beneficiaries of development, human rights, humanitarian action and peace and security.

Under the overall guidance of Deputy Director of DMA and under the direct supervision of the Head of Procurement Section, the Procurement Specialist provides operational and transactional support and effective delivery of procurement services to UN Women Headquarters and Regional/ Multi-Country and Country Offices. The incumbent is primarily responsible for the planning, implementation and managerial oversight of the functional areas ensuring consistency in service.

The Procurement Specialist is expected to provide solutions to a wide spectrum of complex issues related to procurement, promote a collaborative, client-focused, quality and results-oriented approach in the section, work in close collaboration with internal and external stakeholders both at Headquarters and field levels for the successful delivery of procurement services.

Duties and Responsibilities

Oversee the implementation of procurement and operational strategies:

• Ensure full compliance of procurement activities with UN-Women regulations, rules, policies, and internal control mechanisms;
• Initiate and lead strategies to ensure effective implementation of procurement activities in headquarters and Regional/ Multi-Country and Country Offices, including sourcing strategy, quality management, customer relationship management, e-procurement introduction and promotion, suppliers’ performance measurement;
• Analyze business requirements and formulation and implementation of proposals for increased transparency, accountability cost reduction;
• Implement internal control system to ensure that contractual modalities are prepared, approved and processed and administered in a timely manner;
• Provide technical support in all activities aimed at enhancing business processes, such as improving existing documents/templates or developing new ones where necessary, including identifying opportunities for innovation in transaction processing;
• Provide technical inputs to business process mapping and elaboration of internal Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs).
• Ensure Audit recommendations are implemented and risk register is up to date.

Plan and oversee procurement actions for acquisition for a range of goods and services, and/or establishment of Long Term Agreements (LTA’s):

• Prepare, implement and monitor procurement plans for Headquarters, monitor goals, objectives and achievements and regularly update stakeholders and clients, analyze procurement needs and historical procurement data;
• Oversee the preparation and consolidation of headquarters and Regional/ Multi-Country and Country Offices procurement plans and monitor their implementation;
• Consolidate business requirements in order to identify the need for establishment of strategic/long-term agreements at the institutional level;
• Provide technical support to clients in the development of technical specifications, Terms of Reference, Scope of Works, resolving business or contract related issues to ensure smooth contract fulfillment and implement measures to ensure effective contract management;
• Conduct market research to keep abreast of market developments and practices and keep Headquarters and Regional/ Multi-Country and Country Offices informed;
• Develop and manage the rosters of suppliers, improve systems for supplier selection, evaluation, quality and performance measurement;
• Lead the logistical aspect of procurement activities to ensure safe deliveries of goods and services are validated according existing procurement policies and procedures;
• Formulate strategies and design innovative solutions for complex procurement projects.

Ensure proper Contracts and Agreements administration:

• Ensure adherence to proper contractual modalities in the headquarters and Regional/ Multi-Country and Country Offices;
• Provide technical support in negotiating, drafting, and reviewing terms and conditions of contractual modalities favorable business terms for UN Women, in consultation with the Legal Advisor;
• Record and maintain all contracts and agreements details (organization-wide) to ensure real-time data availability to all stakeholders;
• Manage effectively stakeholder relationship (vendors and clients).

Lead and/or conduct procurement for Headquarters and Regional/ Multi-Country and Country Offices:

• Defining needs;
• Select best method and type of solicitation;
• Issue Invitation To Bid/Request For Proposal/Request For Quotations;
• Issuance of contracts/purchase orders;
• Contract administration (including process of payments, suppliers performance evaluation etc.);
• Logistics;
• Monitor product developments and deadlines and integrate Supply Chain stakeholders;
• Facilitate exchange of information on a variety of procurement process and transaction issues to clients;
• Maintain up-to-date knowledge of relevant market developments, reports preparation;
• Analyze the procurement needs and historical procurement data;.
• Keep Headquarters and Regional/ Multi-Country and Country Offices informed of relevant market and practice developments.

Ensure knowledge building and knowledge sharing:

• Enhance personnel capacity and learning skills through coaching, training, mentoring, and other innovative measures;
• Provide technical inputs to with practical cases and examples to the development and maintenance of procurement related regulations and rules, procedures, systems, tools and learning initiatives aimed to facilitate the business requirements of UN-Women and capacity building of personnel;
• Synthesize lessons learned and best practices in procurement;
• Provide technical support to operational capacity of Procurement Policy Support Unit as and when required.

Manage from business side the implementation of procurement-related functionalities of the new Oracle Cloud ERP System:

• Perform quality assurance and carry out user acceptance testing exercises, including through coordination of such exercises with HQ and Field offices, to ensure user-friendly and requirement-driven functioning of the system;
• Review and provide inputs to functional and technical specifications, user stories, use cases, workflows, on UN Women procurement processes, provide functional advice to all involved stakeholders to improve and optimize procure-to-pay business processes;
• Carry out assessments of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, gaps, risks and mitigation measures in relation to the roll-out of the procurement-related Oracle Cloud ERP modules;
• Provide inputs to the development and standardization of solicitation documents and relevant annexes in alignment with the new ERP system, provide quality management support and guidance to Headquarters and Regional/ Multi-Country and Country Offices on their application.

Key Performance Indicators:

• Procurement activities are implemented according to UN-Women regulations, rules, policies, and internal control mechanisms;
• Proper functioning of a client-oriented procurement management system;
• HQ and Regional Procurement Plans are of high quality;
• Proper implementation of LTAs;
• Up-to-date Rosters;
• Timely and quality support and advice to clients.

Competencies

Core Values:

• Integrity;
• Professionalism;
• Respect for Diversity.

Core Competencies:

• Awareness and Sensitivity Regarding Gender Issues;
• Accountability;
• Creative Problem Solving;
• Effective Communication;
• Inclusive Collaboration;
• Stakeholder Engagement;
• Leading by Example.

Please visit this link for more information on UN Women’s Values and Competencies Framework: https://www.unwomen.org/sites/default/files/Headquarters/Attachments/Sections/About%20Us/Employment/UN-Women-values-and-competencies-framework-en.pdf

Functional Competencies:

• Has a strong understanding of the main processes and methods of work regarding to procurement;
• Possesses knowledge of procurement policies and procedures relating applies them consistently in work tasks;
• Client- oriented. Strong problem solving skills; Ability to work under pressure and meet deadlines;
• Ability to establish, build and sustain effective relationships within the work unit and with internal and external clients;
• Ability to gather and present information on best practices in organizational change;
• Knowledge of data gathering and implementation of management systems;
• Strong procurement intelligence analysis skills.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• Master’s Degree or equivalent in Business Administration, Public Administration, Operations, Supply Chain Management, or related field; a first-level university degree in combination with two additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.
• Procurement Certification from International recognized institutions (e.g. CIPS-Chartered Institute of Purchasing & Supply) is an asset.

Experience:

• A minimum of 5 years of progressively responsible experience in procurement, contract management, supply chain management or related area.
• Experience in ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) system (PeopleSoft or equivalent) and IPSAS is desirable.
• Experience at both field and global level in international organizations is an advantage.
• Experience in ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) system (PeopleSoft, Oracle or equivalent) and IPSAS is desirable.

Language Requirements:

• Fluency in oral and written English required;
• Knowledge of French and/or Spanish is an asset;
• Working knowledge of another UN official language is an asset.

Application:

All applications must include (as an attachment) the completed UN Women Personal History form (P-11) which can be downloaded from: https://www.unwomen.org/sites/default/files/Headquarters/Attachments/Sections/About%20Us/Employment/UN-Women-P11-Personal-History-Form.doc. Kindly note that the system will only allow one attachment. Applications without the completed UN Women P-11 form will be treated as incomplete and will not be considered for further assessment.

Note:

In July 2010, the United Nations General Assembly created UN Women, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women. The creation of UN Women came about as part of the UN reform agenda, bringing together resources and mandates for greater impact. It merges and builds on the important work of four previously distinct parts of the UN system (DAW, OSAGI, INSTRAW and UNIFEM), which focused exclusively on gender equality and women's empowerment.

Diversity and inclusion:

At UN Women, we are committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment of mutual respect. UN Women recruits, employs, trains, compensates, and promotes regardless of race, religion, color, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, ability, national origin, or any other basis covered by appropriate law. All employment is decided on the basis of qualifications, competence, integrity and organizational need.

If you need any reasonable accommodation to support your participation in the recruitment and selection process, please include this information in your application.

UN Women has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UN Women, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to UN Women’s policies and procedures and the standards of conduct expected of UN Women personnel 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.)

Potential interview questions