Project Manager

Local Context / Country

The UNOPS country office in Costa Rica is part of the Multi-Country Office (MCO) currently made up of the countries of Costa Rica, Panama and the English and Dutch speaking Caribbean, where UNOPS develops initiatives in strategic sectors such as road infrastructure, water and sanitation infrastructure projects, vertical infrastructure, procurement projects, among others, contributing its capabilities in complex project management, technical advice and procurement, with a focus on sustainability and resilience; in all cases, applying the human rights approach and the gender perspective.

Functional Responsibilities

• The Project Manager will be responsible for ensuring the administration, coordination and development of several works that are in the development phase within the same project, which are part of a broader Program focused on increasing the resilience of infrastructure at a national level.
• The Project Manager complies with and supports the project life cycle. At the request of the Program Manager within the defined authority limits, he/she will be responsible for:

Function Summary:

• Project delivery and performance
• Procedures
• Monitoring and reporting
• Stakeholder Engagement
• Quality assurance
• Innovation and knowledge management
• Personnel management

Results and performance :

• Develop, complete and update implementation plans.
• Implement the approved plan (including the establishment of milestones) within the tolerances established by the Steering Committee.
• Contribute to the inclusion of the dimensions of sustainability, social and gender inclusion, environmental and economic aspects in the useful life of the project.

Procedures:

• Comply with all organizational policies and specifically with the Project Management Manual.
• Prepare/adapt all relevant plans for approval by the Steering Committee.
• Manage reporting obligations defined in legal agreements and the implementation plan.

Monitoring and reporting:

• Prepare and issue financial and project progress reports on a regular basis in accordance with partner reporting requirements contained in Memoranda of Agreement and in compliance with UNOPS policies.
• Periodically review the status of the project, evaluating the performance criteria (scope, cost, schedule and quality).

Stakeholder Management:

• Develop stakeholder profiles and facilitate the formulation of stakeholder engagement strategies.
• Establish strong working relationships with the Project Steering Committee (Executive, Senior Users and Senior Suppliers), customers and key stakeholders.

Quality Assurance:

• Work with internal stakeholders to ensure projects meet audit requirements.
• Work with procurement staff to ensure effective interface with supplier quality systems.

Knowledge management and innovation:

• Promote routine and effective capacity development activities to develop long-term, sustainable staff capacity.
• Actively engage with other project managers and the broader Project Management community to share case studies, lessons learned, and best practices.

Personnel management:

• Lead and motivate the project management team.
• Ensure that behavioral expectations are established for team members.
• Ensure that performance reviews are conducted in a fair, accurate and timely manner
• For more detailed information about the duties of the position please review the attached terms of reference.

Education/Experience/Language requirements

Education 

• A university degree (equivalent to a Master’s degree) is required, preferably in Project Management, Urban Design, Civil Engineering, Architecture, Road Engineering or a related field.
• The Master’s degree can be replaced by a Bachelor’s degree (equivalent to Bachelor’s degree), preferably in the areas mentioned above, plus 2 additional years of relevant experience.

Work experience 

• Minimum 5 years of experience (or more based on academic merit) in the implementation and management of transport infrastructure projects. Specific experience in roads, bridges and/or railway infrastructure is desirable.
• Experience supervising multidisciplinary teams is required.
• Experience in managing infrastructure projects in the public sector with multiple stakeholders is desirable.
• Experience in UNOPS will be considered a plus
• Project Management Certification (example: Prince2, PMI, etc) is desirable.

Language

• Advanced command of the Spanish language is required.
• Intermediate or higher command of English is desirable.

Source: https://jobs.unops.org/Pages/ViewVacancy/VADetails.aspx?id=29084