Senior Project Manager (Internal candidates only)

 

Overview
Lead project operations and ensure successful implementation.

You have:

Advanced university degree (Master’s/PhD) preferred in a relevant discipline related to the nature of the project: Finance, Economics, Human Resources, Procurement, Supply Chain, Project Management, etc.
Certification in project management (PRINCE2, PMI, etc.) is an advantage.
A minimum of 7 years of progressively responsible experience in project/program management.
Fluency in Spanish is required.
Intermediate level of English is required.
Contract
This is an IICA-3 contract. This kind of contract is known as International Individual Contractor Agreements . It is normally internationally recruited only . It’s an external contract. It usually requires 7 years of experience , depending on education. More about IICA-3 contracts .

Details
Background Information – Job-specific
United Nations responsible for infrastructure, procurement, and project management (General Assembly Resolution 65/176 of 2010). Our mission is to help people improve their lives and countries achieve peace and sustainable development. UNOPS’ three priority areas are:

i) Sustainable infrastructure: UNOPS designs, builds, repairs, and maintains infrastructure in some of the world’s most challenging environments. Its activities focus on infrastructure development in transport, education, and health, among other areas.

ii) Public Procurement: UNOPS is a central procurement resource for the United Nations system and Governments. It emphasizes efficient, transparent, and sustainable delivery of goods and services.

iii) Project management: UNOPS manages more than a thousand humanitarian, development and peacebuilding projects each year for various partners, ensuring quality, effectiveness and results that meet the highest standards.

UNOPS’s work seeks environmental, social, and economic sustainability, which contributes to progress in equity and the common good in the countries where it operates, thus promoting the improvement of the living conditions of the most needy. UNOPS is present in 23 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. Its services, products, and technical assistance comply with the public administration principles of transparency, equity, integrity, free competition, impartiality, morality, effectiveness, efficiency, and respect for national institutions.

Project information:

The Ecuadorian Social Security Institute (IESS) is an institution whose structure and operations are based on the values ​​of solidarity, obligation, universality, equity, efficiency, subsidiarity, and sufficiency. Its main role is the implementation of the General Mandatory Insurance System, part of the national Social Security system. The IESS serves 3.1 million members (contributors) and benefits approximately 12 million people (almost 80% of Ecuador’s population) through more than 1,200 medical units nationwide, including hospitals, clinics, health centers, medical offices, and primary care centers.

According to the IESS (National Institute of Social Security), catastrophic diseases, such as cancer, whether oncological or hematological, transplants of any organ, and rare diseases such as hemophilia, represent a significant burden for any Ecuadorian health system and, therefore, for the IESS subsystem, both in terms of economic costs and impact on patients’ quality of life. The acquisition of medications for these diseases is often expensive and complex, posing challenges for the sustainability of the health system and equity in access to treatment. Between 2009 and 2021, the IESS spent 1.782 billion on the care of catastrophic diseases.

Third-level complexity IESS hospitals and those with a portfolio of treatment services for these diseases continue to have inefficient supplies that cause drug stockouts, which directly impacts the response to treatment, lower overall survival compared to international standards, incomplete treatment regimens that produce disease relapse or resistance to first-line treatment, increasing costs by having to use more expensive medications to combat the development of the disease, often with fatal outcomes, and with the knowledge that with continued treatment, a much more encouraging response is achieved.

The problem is not only the purchase of medicines at high prices, but a multifaceted complexity that ranges from production itself, the unpredictable medical demand and logistical challenges, to the mandatory public procurement system (electronic catalog), IESS payment problems, an increase in patient referrals to a private non-profit institution called the Ecuadorian Cancer Fighting Society (Solca) estimated between $30 – 50 million dollars annually, increased costs of second or third line treatments and contextual risks (judicializations, corruption), all of which converge to prevent reliable and timely supply and, ultimately, access to and continuity of treatment for patients with catastrophic diseases.

The project’s purpose will be to support the IESS (Mexican Social Security Institute) in its efforts to ensure effective access and continuity of treatment for IESS patients suffering from oncological, hematological, catastrophic immune system diseases, and organ transplant recipients. This project is aligned with progress toward achieving target 3.8 of Sustainable Development Goal 3, which aims to achieve universal health coverage through access to quality essential health services and access to safe, effective, affordable, and quality medicines for all beneficiaries.

The project’s objective is to contribute to ensuring effective access and continuity of treatment for IESS patients suffering from catastrophic illnesses through comprehensive management for the timely supply of oncology medications and other high-cost pathologies in eight hospitals nationwide.

To achieve the project objective, the following components will be implemented:

Component 1: Acquisition of medicines prioritized by the IESS.

Component 2: Contract management, logistics coordination and quality assurance.

Component 3: Project management.

The estimated project value is $111,612,000 over a 21-month period, ensuring effective supply for 18 months and a 3-month project closure period.

Local context

Since 2022, UNOPS has maintained a presence in Ecuador, where it has collaborated with the Ministry of Public Health (MSP) and the Ecuadorian Social Security Institute (IESS) to strengthen the health system, particularly through the renewal of a fleet of 311 Advanced Life Support ambulances, benefiting approximately 15 million people. It also maintains an active dialogue with various state entities—including the Ministries of Health, Finance, Interior, and Foreign Affairs, as well as various government secretariats and institutions—with the aim of contributing to strengthening public management in a transparent and efficient manner.

UNOPS contributes to the UN Programming Framework in Ecuador 2022-2026 and offers its expertise in procurement, infrastructure, and project management, offering innovative solutions in challenging contexts.

Functional Responsibilities
The Senior Project Manager is responsible for the daily operations of the project(s) and provides services to the various donors, partners, and beneficiaries. They act on behalf of the Project Board to manage the project continuously during the Implementation Phase. Their primary responsibility is to ensure that project results are delivered within the specified time, cost, quality, scope, risk, and benefit constraints. They are expected to meet the organization’s performance and delivery objectives.

The project manager/senior project manager has the authority to assign work packages to team managers based on the project plan and approve the deliverables they produce.

The Project Manager/Senior Project Manager is responsible for creating the Implementation Plan, using the Project Initiation Document (PID) and the Legal Agreement, and for thoroughly understanding the terms, conditions, roles, and responsibilities of partners/stakeholders to ensure that project deliverables meet the business case for both UNOPS and partners. The success of the project, and therefore of the Project Manager/Senior Project Manager, will be based on the defined Success Criteria.

Function Summary:

Project delivery and performance
Procedures
Monitoring and reporting
Stakeholder management
Quality assurance
Knowledge management and innovation
Personnel management

Project delivery and performance
– Develop, complete, and update implementation plans – Implement the approved plan (including setting milestones) within the tolerances established by the Project Board.

Integrate sustainability dimensions, including social and gender inclusion, environmental and economic aspects, throughout the project lifecycle.
Manage the development of required products, assuming responsibility for overall progress and resource utilization, and initiating corrective actions when necessary.
Ensure the quality of work packages and deliverables, meeting the quality requirements defined in the Implementation Plan.
Establish contact with any external vendor or account manager.
Manage the acceptance and delivery of work packages.
Monitor project progress, ensuring that work packages are being executed correctly
Control changes to projects and work packages
Accept goods, services or works delivered by suppliers.
Lead contract management functions, including supplier performance evaluation.
Identify and anticipate potential risks and issues in a timely manner and advise senior management on mitigation measures and the Project Board to maximize the benefit to partners and other stakeholders.
Identify and inform the supervisor about potential business opportunities for UNOPS

Procedures
Comply with all organizational policies and specifically with the Project Management Manual.
Prepare/adapt all relevant plans for Project Board approval.
Manage the information obligations defined in the Legal Agreement(s) and the Implementation Plan
Draft requirements definitions for procurement processes. Approve requisitions and payment requests not related to purchase orders. Evaluate received proposals, if assigned to the evaluation team (if applicable).
Ensure the maintenance of project files and lessons learned.
Ensure the development and implementation of project financial management guidelines and control mechanisms, in accordance with UNOPS rules and regulations (if applicable).
Manage budgets, cash flow, and obligations to ensure deliverables are met and contractors and staff are paid on time.
Understand and manage UNOPS overhead, allocable charges, and related corporate charges as applicable to the project.
Understand the unique structures of the United Nations and appropriately budget for staff.
Manage expenses against budget (based on accurate financial reporting)
When the Senior Project Manager is not delegated as a committing officer, he/she retains these responsibilities and will supervise and instruct/request others to carry out the relevant commitments and disbursements.
For project closure purposes, provide a formal project handover to the assigned closure manager.
Support project audit activities, including planning, preparation, and coordination during the audit and following up on audit observations/recommendations

Monitoring and reporting
Prepare and issue periodic project and/or financial reports in accordance with partner and UNOPS reporting requirements.
Periodically review the status of the project, evaluating performance criteria (scope, cost, schedule, and quality).
Maintain daily reports and progress reports as required by the organization’s standard procedures.
Provide routine monitoring and analysis of delivery data within the dashboard system.
Ensure that all project team members track and regularly update milestones and objectives throughout the life of the project.

Stakeholder management
Develop stakeholder profiles and facilitate the formulation of stakeholder engagement strategies.
Establish strong working relationships with the Project Board (Executives, Senior Users, and Senior Suppliers), client, and key stakeholders.
Facilitate the development of project communications plans. Coordinate internal project communications. Monitor the effectiveness of project communications.
Coordinate stakeholder engagement and communication, ensuring effective timeline management and communication interdependence. Ensure stakeholders are aware of project activities, progress, and exceptions, and are able to accept the handover results.

Quality assurance
Work with internal stakeholders to ensure projects meet audit requirements
Work with purchasing/procurement staff to ensure effective interface with supplier quality systems.
Coordinate quality reviews of project documents and deliverables.
Provide quality control in the management of results (project documents, reports, etc.)

Knowledge management and innovation
Promote the implementation of systematic and effective capacity development activities in order to develop the long-term and sustainable capacity of staff.
Actively engage with other project managers and the broader project management community to share case studies, lessons learned, and best practices.
Contribute to the oversight of learning processes, ensuring that these lessons are shared in a timely and appropriate manner. Participate in relevant communities of practice.
Research and record lessons learned throughout the life of the project.
Provide feedback to policy practice groups, offering supportive guidance with the goal of continuously improving UNOPS policies.

Personnel management (if applicable)
Lead and motivate the project management team.
Ensure behavioral expectations for team members are established.
Ensure that performance evaluations are conducted fairly, accurately, and in a timely manner.
Select, recruit, and train the team as needed, taking into account gender parity and diversity goals.
Ensure the safety of all project personnel and comply with UNDSS standards
Create, foster, and model a culture of respect and zero tolerance for discrimination, abuse of authority, harassment, sexual harassment, and sexual exploitation and abuse. Ensure accountability for actions and perform duties in accordance with protection mechanisms and action plans, as stipulated in UNOPS policies, standards, and commitments.
For more detailed information about the job duties, please refer to the attached terms of reference.

Education/Experience/Language requirements
Education – An advanced university degree (Master’s/PhD) is preferably required in a relevant discipline related to the nature of the project: Finance, Economics, Human Resources, Procurement, Supply Chain, Project Management, etc.

A Bachelor’s Degree may be accepted with two years of relevant experience in addition to the required amount.
Certification – Project management certification (PRINCE2, PMI, etc.). This is an advantage. – Complete UNOPS and oneUNOPS Projects PMM training within three (3) months of signing these Terms of Reference.

Experience: – A minimum of 7 years of progressive experience (or more, depending on academic credentials) in project/program management. – Experience leading multicultural and multidisciplinary teams is required.

Desirable: – Experience working with UNOPS in the management and execution of similar projects will be valued. – Experience in public health projects is desirable. – Work experience in the implementation and execution of projects for international organizations and/or in project execution for government entities will be valued. – Knowledge of international procurement and public contracting processes will be valued.

Language – Fluency in Spanish is required. – Intermediate English is required.

Work Environment: – This role is primarily performed from the UNOPS Ecuador Office, based on an in-person schedule, with visits to the office five times a week. The office does not have employee parking.

Motivation Letter

While your resume showcases your skills, experience, and education, we are also eager to learn more about your interests and motivations. Therefore, we invite you to upload a motivation letter with your application for the position. Don’t forget to share in your letter your motivation for joining the UNOPS team in the advertised position, including your interests and skills. We would also like to know your perspective on the United Nations values: Inclusion, Integrity, Humility, and Humanity. For more information on UN Values, see the attached Values ​​and Behaviors Framework.

***Please upload your academic diplomas or transcripts with your application***

Competencies ES
Develops and implements sustainable operational strategies, thinks long-term, and considers the external context to shape the organization’s structure. Anticipates and perceives the impact and implications of future activities and decisions on other parts of the organization. Demonstrates an understanding of the impact their role has on all stakeholders and always puts the beneficiary first. Develops and maintains strong external relationships and is a competent partner to others (where applicable). Evaluates data and procedures to reach logical and pragmatic decisions. Adopts an impartial and rational approach with calculated risks. Applies innovation and creativity to the problem-solving process. Effectively establishes a course of action for themselves and/or others to achieve a goal. Actions result in the successful completion of the task with special attention to quality in all areas. Identifies opportunities and takes the initiative to act. Understands that the responsible use of resources maximizes the impact we can have on our stakeholders. Treats all individuals with respect, responds tactfully to differences, and encourages others to do the same. Upholds ethical and organizational standards. Maintains high standards of trust. Is a role model for diversity and inclusion. Is open to change and flexible in a fast-paced environment. Adapts perspective to changing circumstances or requirements. Reflects on past experiences and modifies own behavior. Performance is consistent, even under pressure. Always pursues continuous improvement. Expresses ideas or facts clearly, concisely, and openly. Communication indicates consideration for the feelings and needs of others. Listens actively and proactively shares knowledge. Manages conflict effectively by overcoming differences of opinion and seeking common ground. Acts as a positive role model who contributes to team spirit. Collaborates and supports the development of others. For Personnel Managers only: Using appropriate leadership styles, acts as a positive leadership role model, motivating, directing, and inspiring others to succeed.

Contract type, level and duration
Contract Type: ICA – Individual Contractor Agreement

Regular Monthly Contract: This contract is based on a regular monthly contract, meaning that continuous service delivery is required throughout the contract period, with payments due at the end of each calendar month.

Contract Level: ICS 11 – IICA 3 (international candidates ).

Contract Duration: Permanent contract, linked to project duration, funding, and satisfactory performance. Duty Station: Quito, Ecuador

UNOPS is an inclusive employer, and we encourage applications from women and men regardless of ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation, or gender identity. We are committed to promoting equitable representation.

Work-life balance: UNOPS values ​​its employees and recognizes the importance of maintaining a balance between professional and personal responsibilities. We have a work-life balance policy and offer several flexible scheduling options.

Upon request, UNOPS seeks to accommodate candidates with special needs.

For more information about the ICA contract, please visit the following link: https://www.unops.org/english/Opportunities/job-opportunities/what-we-offer/Pages/Individual-Contractor-Agreements.aspx