Roster for Senior Project Manager Consultant

WFP seeks candidates of the highest integrity and professionalism who share our humanitarian principles

Selection of staff is made on a competitive basis, and we are committed to promoting diversity and gender balance

Please note that TEC has advertised this VA with the intention to fill a position in the Project Management Office as well as to start creating a roster of staff to fill up similar profiles for recurrent positions and future needs.

INCLUSION IN THE ROSTER DOES NOT GUARANTEE ANY FUTURE CONTRACTUAL RELATION WITH THE WFP

Job Title: Senior Project Manager Consultant

Type of Contract: Regular consultancy contract (CST) Level II

Division: TEC Division, TECR- Resource Management

Duty Station: Rome (HQ)

Duration: 11 months

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE OF THE ASSIGNMENT:

Technology and connectivity are rapidly reaching some of the most vulnerable people and places affected by crisis, but they are also increasingly expanding to the services responding to those same crises. As one of the main humanitarian actors, WFP has the opportunity and the obligation to leverage data and technology to better know and serve those in need by digitally transforming the way it works. The Technology Division (TEC) has embarked in a transformation journey to become a flexible, customer-centric, digital leader and is currently looking for a Senior Project Manager to be responsible for managing the implementation of the new Strategic Plan (2022–2025) and Corporate Results Framework (CRF) across relevant IT solutions. The implementation of new Strategic Plan and CRF will require changes in corporate systems and platforms, and new guidance and approaches, to accommodate the introduction of five new outcomes and related outputs, management results, revised outcome and output indicators and activity categories as well as closer UN system alignment. While working in the Project Management Office, the Senior Project Manager is expected to oversee relevant TEC stakeholders and external implementing partners aiming for IT solutions which achieve the highest quality in terms of technical usability, user acceptability, and domain suitability. The incumbent will be responsible for leading teams to deliver projects that span across one or more business units and to manage resources, schedules, financials and adhere to deadlines throughout the whole project management cycle. This also includes the management of issues, risks and project change requests to ensure successful and on-time project delivery.

ACCOUNTABILITIES/RESPONSIBILITIES:

1. Lead and coordinate a portfolio of complex initiatives/projects embracing one or multiple business lines and including the following duties:

• Ensuring the gathering and validation of requirements following a Human-Centered Design (HCD) approach, along with time and cost estimates related to the scope implementation.
• Assessing development’s change requests and gathering feasibility and impact assessments related to the scope of requirements’ changes.
• Work creatively and analytically in a problem-solving environment demonstrating teamwork, innovation and excellence.

1. Manage the project work-plan, risks and issues, including:

• Monitoring, tracking and reporting the projects’ progress against the planned objectives, identifying key success factors and potential issues that threaten performance and could affect outcomes, timeline and budget.
• Collaborating and coordinating with key stakeholders, teams and PMO members by sharing project's planning and updates.
• Identifying, tracking and measuring divisional risks through corporate documents as the risk register and developing a corresponding response plan.

1. Manage budget and resources assigned to the projects, including:

• Monitoring and reporting on available funding, actuals and forecast expenditures.
• Preparing work orders, liaising with, and acknowledging the services, provided by third party consultants.
• Sourcing of the required skills, e.g. from available LTAs.
• Planning resource capacity by identifying resources to meet current and future demands.

1. Liaise with Business Relationship Managers and Business Analysts to better understand the project requirements, needs, change requests and understand interdependencies between technology, operations and business objectives.
2. Coordinate with supervisors/managers of the project team to ensure agreed objectives are respected.
3. Review and certify the quality of the deliverables under the responsibility of IT (e.g. specification documents, test strategy and documentation).
4. Ensure that the technical work of the teams complies with the guidelines and procedures established by IT (e.g. SDLC, Scrum, test methodology).
5. Discuss and support the resolution of the issues and questions raised by the technical and functional teams of the projects.
6. Communicate clearly and manage stakeholders’ expectations about the projects’ timeline, risks, quality, and costs, keeping them informed of progress of projects’ IT activities, challenges and achievements.
7. Report periodically on the progress of the projects informing of any IT issues and risks requiring attention and decide how best to implement corrective actions.
8. Guide and contribute towards the establishment of practices, frameworks and policies to expand and strengthen the Project Management methodology in accordance with new divisional structure.
9. Other duties as required.

DELIVERABLES:

• A comprehensible overview of the IT project portfolio with high level of satisfaction of the stakeholders, IT Solution Architects, Business Relationship Managers and Development Teams.
• Acting and contributing to the success of projects by following effective communication through good conflict management, and generally exercising leadership skills.
• Review and realignment of relevant business processes and data streams linked to the IT Strategic plan.
• Full project life cycle ownership: successful project delivery will include full implementation from initiation to deployment for one major or several minor initiatives simultaneously.
• Well-defined project implementation roadmaps fully aligned with business roadmaps and the related KPIs, project plan, project budget, and any other needed document required during the project lifecycle.
• Creation of relevant and regular reports and dashboards in the Divisional project management tool: project state/health, risk register, resource assignment, Gantt charts, etc.

QUALIFICATIONS & EXPERIENCE REQUIRED:

Education:

• University degree in Business Administration, Economics, Information Technology or related fields. Project Management education/ certification desirable.

Experience:

• Minimum 5 years of professional experience in project management within an organisation and proven record of management and delivery of the full cycle of projects, ideally IT-related projects.

Technical Skills & Knowledge:

• Knowledge and experience with project management methodologies, including Agile/Scrum and project management software tools
• IT background or solid knowledge of IT.
• Experience with managing teams with related areas of expertise.
• Ability to interact comfortably with different levels of management, senior stakeholders and functional teams.
• Experience with multi-vendor projects, delivery coordination and management.
• Initiative and drive to meet deliverables on time and within budget.
• Proven ability to work creatively and analytically in a problem-solving environment demonstrating teamwork, innovation, and excellence.
• Excellent communication skills both written and oral.
• Organized with attention to detail to ensure projects run efficiently.
• Personal Effectiveness: strategic and analytical thinking, results orientation, commitment to excellence, appropriate and transparent decision making.
• Ability to effectively prioritize and execute while under pressure.
• Strong customer service orientation.
• Ability to work in multi-cultural and multi-ethic environments.

Language:

• Fluency (level C) in English language. Intermediate knowledge (level B) of a second official UN language: Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian, Spanish, and/or WFP’s working language, Portuguese, is desirable.

TERMS AND CONDITIONS:

WFP offers a competitive compensation package, which will be determined by the contract type and selected candidate’s qualifications and experience.

Please visit the following websites for detailed information on working with WFP.

http://www.wfp.org Click on: "Our Work" and "Countries" to learn more about WFP's operations.

Deadline for applications: 2 February 2023 at 11:59pm Rome time (CET/CEST)

Qualified female applicants and qualified applicants from developing countries are especially encouraged to apply.

WFP has zero tolerance for discrimination and does not discriminate on the basis of HIV/AIDS status.

No appointment under any kind of contract will be offered to members of the UN Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ), International Civil Service Commission (ICSC), FAO Finance Committee, WFP External Auditor, WFP Audit Committee, Joint Inspection Unit (JIU) and other similar bodies within the United Nations system with oversight responsibilities over WFP, both during their service and within three years of ceasing that service.

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