Background
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion are core principles at UNDP: we value diversity as an expression of the multiplicity of nations and cultures where we operate, we foster inclusion as a way of ensuring all personnel are empowered to contribute to our mission, and we ensure equity and fairness in all our actions. Taking a ‘leave no one behind’ approach to our diversity efforts means increasing representation of underserved populations. People who identify as belonging to marginalized or excluded populations are strongly encouraged to apply. Learn more about working at UNDP including our values and inspiring stories. UNDP does not tolerate sexual exploitation and abuse, any kind of harassment, including sexual harassment, and discrimination. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks.
The United Nations Development Programme is the global development network of the United Nations system that is on the ground in 177 countries, with its Headquarters in New York, USA. The Bureau for Management Services (BMS) is a central Bureau tasked with the development of corporate strategies, policies, tools and systems in key cross-cutting management areas. Drawing on sound analytics and a risk-management approach, BMS supports the achievement of development results through management advice, innovative business solutions, and other corporate services in line with international best practices and evolving needs and expectations of development partners. BMS also ensures policy adherence in operations management within UN Rules & Regulations, safeguarding UNDP’s accountability vis-à-vis Member States and other stakeholders.
UNDP is an operational backbone to the UN system: providing payroll, financial transactions, common premises, treasury investment, procurement, legal services to UN agencies. UNDP provides IT support for 13 UN entities with 40,000 United Nations and external users of the UNDP’s ERP system, as well as information and communication technology (ICT) and application solutions for the United Nations field presence. To support the UNDP Digital Strategy and enable the digital transformation of the organization, the Office of Information & Technology Management (ITM) is tasked with developing and operating the enabling corporate technology platforms and providing related services that power the digital transformation including: (1) advice, administration and acceleration services to promote delivery of maximum business value of each platform; (2) a global service desk operation; (3) and outreach services to promote knowledge sharing and effective, agile planning and governance of technology development and utilization.
Duties and Responsibilities
As Cloud Platform Specialist – Project and Portfolio Management, will be responsible for ongoing management and maintenance of the Oracle Cloud ERP platform with specific focus on the Projects, Grants and Contracts modules (PPM) and related functionalities and features. This will include leading and performing Tier 3 support activities as well as natural platform evolution activities. The evolution of the platform will involve system requirements analysis, functional system design, integrated testing, and solutions maintenance of the Oracle Cloud SaaS for UNDP or another UN agency as part of the Partner agencies that leverage the UNDP Cloud applications.
This position will be reporting to the Chief, Digital Corporate Platforms and work in closely the corporate applications team.
UNDP adopts a portfolio approach to accommodate changing business needs and leverage linkages across interventions to achieve its strategic goals. Therefore, UNDP personnel are expected to work across units, functions, teams, and projects in multidisciplinary teams in order to enhance and enable horizontal collaboration.
1) Lead support for the Projects track for Oracle Cloud ERP Quantum platform including ancillary systems and integrations.
- Effectively guide cross-functional teams comprised of internal technical module leads and business analysts as well as system integrator staff in triage of issues, and development of evolving and new functionality within the integrated systems solutions and service delivery.
- Engage and collaborate with globally distributed teams and provide hands-on leadership to drive results.
- Work with systems integrator to provide timely support, meet deliverables, deadlines and solution services.
2) Provide process and thought leadership to develop policies, procedures and standards based on leading practices and ensure their conformance with departmental and organizational objectives
- Provide vision and expertise, direction, and assistance with regards to the Project and Portfolio Management scope of functionality including the Projects, Contracts and Grants modules within Quantum.
- Effectively communicate software solution expectations to internal customers, team members and other stakeholders
- Ensure compliance to corporate security, audit and risks policies.
3) Ensure documentation of architectural components, systems, integrations and processes
- Provide input, collect, track and report metrics and ensure high quality of reported data
- Effectively contribute to platform roadmap, priority and execution.
- Effectively define and manage support and development work across the functional area
- Proactively communicate statuses, issues and escalations to management and stakeholders
- Opens, manages, and resolves Oracle Service Requests with Oracle Support.
- Drives the resolution & troubleshooting of issues during development and post-production support, reporting /escalating to management, when needed.
4) Knowledge Sharing and Knowledge Building
- Establishing forums and regular meetings where stakeholders can openly share insights, experiences, and best practices encourages collaboration. Such platforms enable the exchange of ideas, problem-solving techniques, and innovative approaches, fostering a culture of teamwork and collective intelligence.
- Facilitate training sessions, workshops, and mentorship programs in the relevant process areas of PPM and ITM. By actively participating in these initiatives, engage in the exchange of expertise, stay updated on industry advancements, and develop new skills, contributing to their professional development and organizational growth.
- Facilitate and contribute to the knowledge repositories where stakeholders can document and access organizational knowledge promotes knowledge sharing and retention. These repositories serve as valuable resources for storing information, best practices, lessons learned, and historical data, ensuring that critical knowledge is preserved and accessible to all stakeholders. Regular updates and contributions from team members help enrich these repositories, facilitating knowledge building and organizational resilience.
The incumbent performs other duties within their functional profile as deemed necessary for the efficient functioning of the Office and the Organization.
Competencies
Core: Full list of UNDP Core Competencies can be found here - Achieve Results – LEVEL 3: Set and align challenging, achievable objectives for multiple projects, have lasting impact
- Think Innovatively – LEVEL 3: Proactively mitigate potential risks, develop new ideas to solve complex problems
- Learn Continuously – LEVEL 3: Create and act on opportunities to expand horizons, diversify experiences
- Adapt with Agility – LEVEL 3: Proactively initiate and champion change, manage multiple competing demands
- Act with Determination – LEVEL 3: Think beyond immediate task/barriers and take action to achieve greater results
- Engage and Partner- LEVEL 3: Political savvy, navigate complex landscape, champion inter-agency collaboration
- Enable Diversity and Inclusion- LEVEL 3: Appreciate benefits of diverse workforce and champion inclusivity
Cross-Functional & Technical competencies
Business Management – Digital Awareness and Literacy:
- Ability and inclination to rapidly adopt new technologies, either through skillfully grasping their usage or through understanding their impact and empowering others to use them as needed.
Business Direction and Strategy – System Thinking:
- Ability to use objective problem analysis and judgement to understand how interrelated elements coexist within an overall process or system, and to consider how altering one element can impact on other parts of the system
Business Management – Working with Evidence and Data:
- Ability to inspect, cleanse, transform and model data with the goal of discovering useful information, informing conclusions and supporting decision-making
Business Management – Customer Satisfaction/Client Management:
- Ability to respond timely and appropriately with a sense of urgency, provide consistent solutions, and deliver timely and quality results and/or solutions to fulfil and understand the real customers’ needs.
- Provide inputs to the development of customer service strategy.
- Look for ways to add value beyond clients’ immediate requests.
- Ability to anticipate client’s upcoming needs and concerns.
Information Management & Technology – Applications Management:
- Ability to set-up, develop, support, and maintain applications.
- Expertise in Oracle Cloud, ServiceNow, SalesForce.com and Microsoft technology would be an asset.
Information Management & Technology – Configuration Management – Business analysis, requirements:
- Knowledge of configuration management changes, ability to manage and control the configuration change management process.
Business Management – Portfolio Management:
- Ability to select, prioritise and control the organizations programmes and projects, in line with its strategic objectives and capacity; ability to balance the implementation of change initiatives and the maintenance of business-as-usual, while optimising return on investment.
Required Skills and Experience
Education:
- Advanced university degree (Master’s degree or equivalent) in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Systems, Business Administration, or related discipline is required. Or
- A first-level university degree (Bachelor’s degree or equivalent) in the above-mentioned field of study, in combination with an additional two years of qualifying experience will be given due consideration in lieu of the advanced university degree.
Experience:
- Minimum 7 years (with Master’s degree) or 9 years (with Bachelor’s degree) of professional work experience in ERP platforms and technologies is required.
- 5 years of experience implementing or supporting an Oracle ERP deployment, or experience supporting a similar enterprise grade ERP is required.
- Experience with at least two Oracle legacy ERP deployments (PeopleSoft or eBusiness preferably) are desired, specifically strong functional knowledge within the Oracle Project and Portfolio Management area is desired.
- Knowledge of business processes and controls for Projects process areas is desired, specifically experience with project creation, project budgeting, project management, project reporting, project closure or grant management is desired.
- Experience with global international deployments is desired.
- Proven ability to support, and maintain applications is desired.
Language:
- Fluency in oral and written communication skills in English is required.
- Working knowledge of other official UN language(s) is desired
Please note that continuance of appointment beyond the initial 12 months is contingent upon the successful completion of a probationary period.
Disclaimer
Under US immigration law, acceptance of a staff position with UNDP, an international organization, may have significant implications for US Permanent Residents. UNDP advises applicants for all professional level posts that they must relinquish their US Permanent Resident status and accept a G-4 visa, or have submitted a valid application for US citizenship prior to commencement of employment.
UNDP is not in a position to provide advice or assistance on applying for US citizenship and therefore applicants are advised to seek the advice of competent immigration lawyers regarding any applications.
Applicant information about UNDP rosters
Note: UNDP reserves the right to select one or more candidates from this vacancy announcement. We may also retain applications and consider candidates applying to this post for other similar positions with UNDP at the same grade level and with similar job description, experience and educational requirements.
Non-discrimination
UNDP has a zero-tolerance policy towards sexual exploitation and misconduct, sexual harassment, and abuse of authority. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks, and will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles.
UNDP is an equal opportunity and inclusive employer that does not discriminate based on race, sex, gender identity, religion, nationality, ethnic origin, sexual orientation, disability, pregnancy, age, language, social origin or other status.
Scam warning
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