Closing date: Saturday, 28 February 2015

Vacancy code VA/2015/B0059/6808

Position title Enterprise Risk Management Advisor

Level ICS-11

Department/office Sustainable Project Management

Duty station Copenhagen, Denmark

Contract type International ICA

Contract level IICA-3

Duration 1 year

Application period 12-Feb-2015 to 01-Mar-2015

United Nations Core Values: Integrity, Professionalism, Respect for Diversity

Background Information - UNOPS

UNOPS mission is to serve people in need by expanding the ability of the United Nations, governments and other partners to manage projects, infrastructure and procurement in a sustainable and efficient manner.

Within these three core areas of expertise, UNOPS provides its partners with advisory, implementation and transactional services, with projects ranging from building schools and hospitals, to procuring goods and services and training local personnel. UNOPS works closely with governments and communities to ensure increased economic, social and environmental sustainability for the projects we support, with a focus on developing national capacity.

Working in some of the world's most challenging environments, our vision is to advance sustainable implementation practices in development, humanitarian and peacebuilding contexts, always satisfying or surpassing partner expectations.

We employ more than 6,000 personnel and on behalf of our partners create thousands more work opportunities in local communities. Through our headquarters in Copenhagen, Denmark and a network of offices, we oversee activities in more than 80 countries.

Background Information - Job-specific

The Sustainable Project Management Practice Group (SPMPG) has been mandated to design and implement a UNOPS Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) Framework and to also manage the organizational structure of ERM. The successful incumbent will report directly to the Deputy Director of SPMPG and work closely with many cross-functional groups within the organization.

The incumbent is responsible to design, implement and manage an Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) Framework that abides by the security policies, administrative instructions, plans and procedures of the UN Security Management System and that of UNOPS, as well as standards and best practices applicable to UNOPS Corporate governance risk management.

The adoption of ERM aims to enable UNOPS senior management and managers to deal effectively with uncertainty, looking for an appropriate balance between sustainable performance and associated risks.

ERM facilitates the mitigation of the organization's exposure to risk by managing loss prevention programs for all UNOPS organizational structures and activities as designated, with an emphasis on fraud detection and prevention, financial exposure limitation, legal and compliance risk management, third-party claims, risks in shared services (IT, HR, Finance, Legal and Security), as well as in its core procurement, infrastructure and project operations activities.

Also, this role will be responsible for designing and updating risk detection and treatment strategies and policies, working closely with colleagues in other disciplines.

This position will interface between the ERM team and other functional and regional areas in the organization.

In short, the ERM preserves and adds economic value to the organization, mainly contributing to the achievement of our goals and performance targets, accounting for more than just a set of procedures and control policies.

This is a UNOPS headquarters-based assignment, which may involve travel to various locations, including remote or post-conflict environments. The functions/duties/key results of this job description, though quite specific, may be subject to some adjustments as a result of the definitions and targets of the ERM programme that will be implemented, for all tasks under role.

Functional Responsibilities

The ERM Advisor will be responsible for:

• Designing and implementing UNOPS risk governance framework, management processes and tools necessary to identify, evaluate, mitigate, and monitor the organization's operational and strategic risk. Application of best practice ERM frameworks, such as COSO, ISO31000 and other key ERM frameworks.
• In cooperation with colleagues in finance, legal, audit, other management practices, delivery practices, regional and country offices developing Enterprise Risk Management tools, practices, and policies to analyze and report enterprise risks, and to manage risks according to an enterprise risk management framework.
• Ensuring the organization's risk management policies and strategies are in compliance with applicable regulations, rating agency standards, and strategic imperatives of the organization.
• Establishing the Enterprise Risk Management architecture for UNOPS.
• Advising and supporting business units' managers within the organization in identifying, assessing, responding to, and monitoring risks and reporting corporately on these risks.
• In collaboration with colleagues from other disciplines, providing key inputs into the organization's enterprise risk management system and ensuring alignment with organizational objectives.

Impact of results

The outcomes of the role impact on the overall performance of UNOPS, as well as the quality of services provided to partners. The work of the ERM Advisor contributes to achievement of UNOPS mission and vision by reducing risks of loss in terms of financial resources, reputation or harm to UNOPS people.

Particularly, the implementation of ERM is expected to bring the following benefits to the organization

1. Preserving and enhancing the value of the organization, by reducing the probability and / or impact of loss events;
2. Promoting greater transparency, by informing partners and relevant stakeholders of the risks to which the organization is subject, the policies adopted to mitigate them, and the effectiveness of same; this contributes to achieving one of UNOPS stated objectives of greater transparency.
3. Improving the governance standards through the explanation of the risk profile adopted in line with the position of stakeholders and the culture of the organization and introducing a conceptual consistency at all levels of the organization.
4. Designing clear processes to identify, prioritize, monitor and mitigate the risks involved in the organization's operations;
5. Advising on improving internal control tools (control systems) to measure monitor and manage risks;
6. Improving communication between areas of the organization related to risks and their consequences;
7. Identifying and prioritizing relevant risk issues (net exposure, considering the interrelated impacts and integrated the different types of risk);
8. Identifying skills required to anticipate risks and, if necessary, mitigate them;

Competencies

• Strong analytical and planning skills since situational analysis is critical relative to interpreting underwriting, funding, and servicing activities compared to corporate policy/procedures. Strong knowledge of ERM Frameworks (e.g. COSO, ISO 31000).
• Excellent oral/written communication and computer literacy, interpersonal, persuasive communication and presentation skills with an ability to communicate well with Senior Management.
• Ability to use appropriate analysis, judgment, and logic when solving issues, providing recommendations, and making decisions.
• Advanced stakeholder management and ability to interact collaboratively with internal customers and external partners.
• Capability to managing multiple projects, including ability to coordinate and balance numerous tasks in a time-sensitive environment, under pressure, meeting deadlines.
• Change management and demonstrated ability to positively lead people through significant change.
• Ability to make sound business and management decisions to achieve the organizational objectives.
• Displaying commitment to continuous improvement of business, customer, and team member environments.
• Ability to effectively monitor and develop team members to ensure smooth operation of the ERM programme.
• Ability to delegate effectively and empower team members.
• Sound ability to exercise management skills.
• Ability to work discreetly with confidential information and situations.
• Proven sound judgment in building strong relationships with key strategic partners.
• Ability to understand, apply and lead by example in applying UN values and culture.
• Familiarity with UNOPS project management, sustainable infrastructure, procurement, HR and finance policies and procedures will be considered advantageous.

Education/Experience/Language requirements

Education

• Master's degree in risk management, engineering, finance, accounting, economics, business administration, statistics or other related fields is desired. A Bachelor degree combined with additional relevant work experience can be accepted in lieu of the Master's degree.
• Professional certifications in one of the following Risk Management Professional credentials are required: the Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE), Certified Risk Analyst (CRA), and Certification in Risk Management Assurance (CRMA), Financial Risk Manager (FRM), Professional Risk Manager (PRM), PMI-RMP, Management of Risk (M-o-R) Practitioner, C31000, or Chartered Accountancy (e.g. ICAEW, CPA and ICAA).
• Certification in PRINCE2 and/or PMP is an asset.

Experience

• 7 years of risk management, consulting or advice in Enterprise Risk management, Compliance Risk management and/or Compliance auditing in international organizations is required
• 5 years of related experience in project-based organizations is an asset.
• Experience in UN agencies or other multilateral organizations is an asset.

Language

• Fluency in English is required.
• Fluency in French or Spanish is an asset.

Contract type, level and duration

Contract type: International Individual Contractor (IICA)

Contract level: IICA-3

Contract duration: One year

For more details about the ICA contractual modality, please follow this link: www.unops.org/english/Opportunities/job-opportunities/what-we-offer/Pages/Individual-Contractor-Agreements.aspx

Additional Considerations

• Please note that the closing date is midnight Copenhagen time (CET)
• Applications received after the closing date will not be considered.
• Only those candidates that are short-listed for interviews will be notified.
• Qualified female candidates are strongly encouraged to apply.
• For staff positions UNOPS reserves the right to appoint a candidate at a lower level than the advertised level of the post
• The incumbent is responsible to abide by security policies, administrative instructions, plans and procedures of the UN Security Management System and that of UNOPS.

It is the policy of UNOPS to conduct background checks on all potential recruits/interns.

Recruitment/internship in UNOPS is contingent on the results of such checks.

Application information: https://gprs.unops.org/Pages/ViewVacancy/VADetails.aspx?id=6808