Senior Contracts Associate, GS-7, Central Services Center, DFAM, NYHQ, #130362

UNICEF works in over 190 countries and territories to save children’s lives, defend their rights, and help them fulfill their potential, from early childhood through adolescence.

At UNICEF, we are committed, passionate, and proud of what we do. Promoting the rights of every child is not just a job – it is a calling.

UNICEF is a place where careers are built: we offer our staff diverse opportunities for personal and professional development that will help them develop a fulfilling career while delivering on a rewarding mission. We pride ourselves on a culture that helps staff thrive, coupled with an attractive compensation and benefits package.

Visit our website to learn more about what we do at UNICEF.

For every child, equity

Purpose of the Position
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.

DFAM New York-based Central Services Center (CSC) was established in 2024 as part of the Headquarters Efficiencies Initiative (HQEI). The goal of the CSC is to further consolidate and streamline common, location-dependent transactions and processes. The aim is to improve efficiency and compliance by reducing transactional level tasks for teams, thus enabling NYHQ Division/Office staff to strategically focus on delivering high-quality programmatic work and, ultimately, achieve cost savings and efficiency gains. Consolidating transactions within a Central Service Centre (CSC) will help UNICEF to further mitigate the risks of efficiency loss, duplication and excessive costs as the Centre provides specialization and increased efficiency in the use of resources.

How can you make a difference? 
Under the close supervision and guidance of the Finance Officer (Contracts) in the CSC, the Senior Contracts Associate performs highly skilled work on UNICEF individual consultancy contracts, institutional pre-contracting transactions including low-value transactions, and manages the more complex cases and client requests, which frequently requires the evaluation of difficult situations and adaptation of procedures and processes to resolve such cases. The Senior Contracts Associate is responsible for more specialized work in individual consultancy contracts, institutional pre-contracting transactions including low-value transactions and requires advanced knowledge acquired through formal training and experience. The position involves supervisory responsibility of others.

Key Expected Functions:

Planning: 

• In consultation with supervisor, provides input and participates in forecasting, planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the individual consultancy contracts, institutional pre-contracting transactions portfolio and low-value transactions, including establishment of performance indicators, and assessment of fit for purpose and monitoring of streamlined services provision ensuring meeting the established SLA benchmarks.
• In close collaboration with the supervisor, drafts and revises SOPs for the Unit on a regular basis to ensure their validity at all times.  

Individual consultancy contracting/Institutional pre-contracting including low-value transactions:

• Provides technical advice and expertise in application, interpretation, and execution of individual consultancy, procurement and financial policies, procedures, and guidelines.
• Ensures the adoption of fair and transparent solutions throughout the various stages of the processes.
• Delivers technical and operational guidance to support seamless implementation of transactional workflows.
• Liaises with clients and Supply Division in planning procurement and contracting initiatives, supporting development of appropriate specifications, terms of reference, and logistics arrangements and timelines.
• Identifies opportunities to strengthen sustainability of supply chains.
• Conducts submissions reviews and quality assurance for completeness and compliance with UNICEF rules and regulations.
• Prepares/amends/closes purchase orders/funds commitments/PRQs in SAP, and submits for relevant approvals, ensuring completeness of documentation in UNICEF systems including obtaining clearances for former UN/UNICEF staff members, facilitating submissions to Contract Review Committee.
• Ensures review and quality assurance of all transactions under individual consultancy contracts, institutional pre-contracting including low-value transactional portfolio.
• Maintains up-to-date files for all transactions for future reference including for audit, a system for monitoring the different stages of each transaction.
• Regularly extracts reports on the status of requests and take necessary action in coordination with supervisor and relevant client Divisions.
• Keeps stakeholders/partners informed on the progress by liaising with clients, Divisions, vendors and other stakeholders to ensure timely cases-completion in line with the established SLAs.
• Keeps supervisor abreast of potential problem areas.

 Support in learning & capacity development

In consultation with supervisor, researches and analyzes data and information to help identify training needs within CSC for the development of learning plans and other targeted training 

• interventions.
• Conducts regular training sessions for processors to enhance efficiency and performance in individual consultancy contracting, institutional pre-contracting including low-value transactions.
• Assists the CSC team in organizing and conducting courses, workshops and events by participating in exercises which aim to build capacity of stakeholders.

Other duties/responsibilities:

• Ensures timely and effective performance management of staff, providing practical advice and guidance to ensure individual and team objectives are met.
• Provides practical input on implementation of guidelines in the area of individual consultancy contracting, institutional pre-contracting including low-value transactions portfolio, in close coordination with the supervisor.
• Supports supervisor and update staff on individual consultancy contracting, procurement and financial policies, procedures rules and regulations.
• Contributes to recommendations on the improvement of internal controls systems taking into account the prevailing conditions.
• In collaboration with supervisor, DHR, Supply Division, GSSC and the global community, provides input to help ensure knowledge exchange and learning is prioritized to continuously build capacity of individuals and the team.
• Develops and facilitates training of newcomers, establish processes or manuals to support effective workflows and perform related tasks are required by the supervisor and/or the CSC Chief.

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

Education

• Completion of secondary education (High School) is required, preferably supplemented by technical or university courses related to HR, supply chain, logistics, business administration, contract/commercial law, or another relevant technical field.

Work Experience

A minimum of seven (7) years of progressively responsible experience in individual consultancy contracting, supply chain management, procurement, or a commercial context is required.

SKILLS

• Prior hands-on experience using MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and other UNICEF software such as SharePoint; knowledge of integrated management information systems is required.
• Understanding of development and humanitarian work is an advantage.
• Past supervisory role would be considered an asset.
• Relevant experience in another UN system agency or organization is considered an asset.
• Knowledge of UN and UNICEF’S rules, regulations and procedures is highly desirable. 

Language Requirements

• Fluency in English (verbal and written) is required. Knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish) is considered 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, and (8) Nurtures, Leads and Manages People.

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. 

Remarks:

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

UNICEF’s active commitment towards diversity and inclusion is critical to deliver the best results for children. 

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). Should you be selected for a position with UNICEF, you either must be inoculated as required or receive a medical exemption from the relevant department of the UN. Otherwise, the selection will be cancelled.

All selected candidates will 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.

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.