Freight Services Specialist (Team Lead) – P3  

The Position:

The Freight  Services Specialist (Team Lead) position is located in the Logistics Management Services (LMS) Team within Pillar 2 – Supply Operations in the Supply Chain Management Unit (SCMU). The position reports directly to the Logistics Management Services Manager. The Freight Services Specialist Team Lead will work closely with other SCMU colleagues, the new integrated HQ division (name To Be Decided), the UNFPA Supplies Partnership, the Humanitarian Response Division, other HQ Business Units, the Regional Offices and the Country Offices and with a number of external partners.

The position is focused on the specialized area of Freight Management Services; to support the design and implement of specific strategies in achieving operational excellence in freight management.

How you can make a difference:

UNFPA is the lead UN agency for delivering a world where every pregnancy is wanted, every childbirth is safe and every young person’s potential is fulfilled.  UNFPA’s strategic plan (2022-2025), reaffirms the relevance of the current strategic direction of UNFPA and focuses on three transformative results: to end preventable maternal deaths; end unmet need for family planning; and end gender-based violence and harmful practices. These results capture our strategic commitments on accelerating progress towards realizing the ICPD and SDGs in the Decade of Action leading up to 2030. Our strategic plan calls upon UN Member States, organizations and individuals to “build forward better”, while addressing the negative impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic on women’s and girls’ access to sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights, recover lost gains and realize our goals.

In a world where fundamental human rights are at risk, we need principled and ethical staff, who embody these international norms and standards, and who will defend them courageously and with full conviction.

UNFPA is seeking candidates that transform, inspire and deliver high impact and sustained results; we need staff who are transparent, exceptional in how they manage the resources entrusted to them and who commit to deliver excellence in programme results.

UNFPA occupies a unique position in the sexual and reproductive health commodity ecosystem as a critical player in supply chain management, a leading public procurer of sexual and reproductive health commodities, a trusted partner to national governments, and one of the few organizations with the scale and partnerships necessary to build accountability for last mile delivery. 

 The UNFPA Supply Chain Management Unit (SCMU) is self-funded and was made operational in January 2022. It is tasked with ensuring that UNFPA is able to effectively and efficiently support the delivery of life-saving reproductive health products and other programme supplies to the end user when and where they are needed. To achieve this, it is important to strengthen the capacity of governments and implementing partners to ensure coordination, end-to-end visibility and accountability on all supply chain and logistics management related activities, in particular for programme supplies, across all UNFPA programmes. 

Job Purpose:

The Freight Services SpecialistTeam Lead plays a crucial role in supervising the freight management function under the guidance of the Logistics Management Services Manager. This position involves managing the Freight Management Services Team, focusing on designing and implementing freight actions and procedures that are aligned with UNFPA’s Strategic Plan across 119 country programmes. The position is responsible for planning and ensuring the team’s alignment in achieving strategic objectives.

Qualifications and Experience: 

Education:  

Advanced university degree required. An advanced degree in Supply Chain Management, Business Administration, Economics, International Commerce, Logistics or, a professional Supply Chain Management certification such as Chartered Institute of Procurement & Supply (CIPS) at Level 4 or above Certificate and/or Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (CILT-UK) Level 4 or above and Project Management qualifications and certifications such as PRINCE2® Foundation and Practitioner certifications, PMP® or CAPM® from Project Management Institute (PMI) is an added advantage.

Knowledge and Experience: 

A minimum of five (5) years of relevant progressively responsible experience in public or private sector logistics is required. Candidates should demonstrate experience in the below key areas, with the understanding that these experiences may overlap: 

• At least three (3) years of hands-on experience in managing international freight operations including air, sea, and land transportation modalities.
• At least two (2) years of hands-on experience in freight management within development and/or complex humanitarian operating environments in low resource countries. 
• At least two (2) years of hands-on experience in managing international health supply chain operations with focus on temperature-sensitive logistics. 
• Experience in supporting the implementation of logistics business transformation projects, especially those involving digitalisation and technological innovation is required.
• Experience in supporting the implementation and management of Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) project within logistics operations, demonstrating successful integration of EDI technology to streamline supply chain processes is required.
• Experience in managing a team, particularly within a remote and/or matrix organizational structure is required.
• Knowledge of global supply chain security, risk management, and compliance regulations is required.
• Intermediate proficiency in project management skills is required.
• Professional written and spoken presentation skills, including for the development of reports, presentations, and the ability to synthesize complex supply chain documents for both technical and non-technical audiences is required.
• Strong interpersonal skills and capability to develop and maintain broad diversified partnerships is required.
• Experience using Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) is required.
• Experience in supporting the implementation of large-scale logistics projects especially in the public health sector and establishing strategic public-private alliance/partnerships in the logistics industry is an asset.
• Knowledge of UNFPA’s country classification system, UNFPA’s Strategic Plan, Strategy for Family Planning 2022-2030 and Acceleration Plan is an asset.

Languages: 

Fluency in English is required. Working knowledge of another official UN language is an asset.

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