Senior Adviser (Giga Financing and Market Shaping), (P-5), Office of Innovation (Giga), Geneva, Switzerland, #127617 (Temporary Appointment 364 days)

UNICEF works in some of the world’s toughest places, to reach the world’s most disadvantaged children. To save their lives. To defend their rights. To help them fulfill their potential. 

Across 190 countries and territories, we work for every child, everywhere, every day, to build a better world for everyone. 

And we never give up. 

For every child, hope

Giga (giga.global) is a partnership between UNICEF (unicef.org) and the ITU (itu.int) working to connect every school in the world. The team (https://giga.global/about-us/) has experience and background in building technology products, finance and investment, design, and infrastructure.  It’s a global team, with two “centers of gravity” (in Barcelona, Spain and Geneva, Switzerland) but with many team members located around the world.

Giga is broken into three main areas: Mapping, Finance, Procurement, supported by cross-cutting support services. The Country Engagement Team supports the initiation and implementation of all three areas of Giga’s support in countries. The Mapping team maps schools and their connectivity, creating a real-time display of access and need on Project Connect (https://projectconnect.unicef.org/map). The Finance team works to create the financing (grant, loan, and investment) for connectivity. The Procurement works closely with UNICEF Supply Division to support governments through public procurement processes for contracting sustainable, high quality and affordable school connectivity. There are also crosscutting teams that support on communications, partnerships, staff wellbeing, operations and finance. 

We aim to have agility and flexibility in how we work, and to be driven by realtime data about what we’re doing.  We also work within the political and global framework of the UN, which means that we can collaborate with policy makers and regulators, governments, civil society, and of course, most closely with our 135 country offices, in everything we do.

How can you make a difference?

The Senior Adviser (Giga Financing and Market Shaping) plays a pivotal role in guiding Giga’s programmatic activities, ensuring effective oversight, alignment and coordination. As a key team within the Office of Innovation (OoI), this role also involves close collaboration with other OoI teams, particularly those focused on education, to foster education-focused collaborations and enhance the initiative’s impact.

Under the guidance of the Senior Innovation Advisor (Giga), the Senior Adviser (Giga Financing and Market Shaping) will lead the strategic implementation of Giga’s global internet connectivity initiatives for schools. This role is pivotal in harmonizing Giga’s core areas—Financing, Connectivity Credits, and Procurement & Market Shaping—into a unified strategy. Furthermore, the Senior Adviser will liaise closely with cross-sectoral OoI teams, including Communications and Monitoring & Evaluation (M&E), to ensure the initiative’s success through integrated efforts.

The Senior Adviser will supervise several key teams, each with distinct goals: Capital Fund, Connectivity Credits Marketplace, Market Influence & Procurement Centre, and Country Support. These teams collectively aim to innovate financial structures, reduce connectivity costs, and enable on-the-ground implementation in numerous countries, ensuring that Giga’s objectives are met efficiently and effectively.

Managerial leadership:

• Ensure strategic alignment and coordination among the three major areas of Giga’s work: Financing, Connectivity Credits, and Procurement & Market Shaping.
• Actively engage with other OoI teams, notably education-focused groups, to integrate their insights and collaborative efforts into Giga’s strategies.
• Work closely with the Senior Innovation Advisor (Giga) to align these programmatic areas with the sections of Operations and Communications and the Barcelona Tech Centre.
• Establish and uphold effective communication channels among the leads of these areas, ensuring synchronization with Giga’s overarching goals and objectives, as well as with broader OoI strategic initiatives.
• Oversee the recruitment of specialists in Financing, Connectivity Credits, and Procurement & Market Shaping areas, ensuring a balanced skill set and expertise to achieve program objectives, ensuring the right mix of skills and expertise to drive Giga’s goals.

Programme development and planning

• Formulate comprehensive strategic plans for Financing, Connectivity Credits, and Procurement & Market Shaping, setting clear objectives, timelines, and deliverables.
• Manage the budget planning, allocation, and monitoring process within the three programmatic areas, ensuring efficient utilization of resources.
• Prepare and submit regular progress reports to the Senior Innovation Advisor (Giga), highlighting achievements, challenges, and recommendations for moving forward.

Programme management, monitoring and quality control of results

• Monitor the execution of these strategic plans, ensuring timely achievement of outcomes and adapting strategies as necessary to respond to evolving challenges and opportunities. Leverage the expertise and insights from cross-sectoral OoI teams for a more robust and adaptive approach.
• Develop and manage a comprehensive monitoring and evaluation framework to track and assess the progress and impact of Giga’s programmatic activities.
• Promote a culture of continuous learning and continuous improvement within the teams, leveraging insights from M&E activities to refine and enhance program strategies.

Advisory services and technical support

• Offer technical guidance and support to the leaders of Financing, Connectivity Credits, and Procurement & Market Shaping, leveraging expertise in open-source technology, startup projects, and organizational operations.
• Ensure the integration of best practices in financial modeling, tech development, and procurement within these programmatic areas.

Advocacy, networking and partnership building

• Represent Giga in discussions with external stakeholders, including donors, partners, and government representatives, enhancing Giga’s visibility and cultivating strategic partnerships.
• Lead discussions and negotiations with potential investors and partners, aligning their contributions with Giga’s programmatic objectives.

Innovation, knowledge management and capacity building

• Support the Human Resources/Human Engagement element of team management, cultivating a collaborative, inclusive work culture that values diversity and encourages professional growth.
• Coordinate with legal and compliance teams to ensure all programmatic activities adhere to UNICEF, ITU, and other relevant regulations and standards.

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

• An Advanced degree in Business Administration, Finance, Economics, Technology, or related field.
• Minimum of 10 years of relevant experience at the national and international level in leading strategic programme management, financial engineering, tech startups, or related areas, preferably within both corporate and humanitarian/development sectors.
• Proven experience in managing multi-disciplinary teams and driving programmatic initiatives to achieve set objectives.
• Strong understanding of open-source technologies, blockchain, and other emerging tech platforms.
• Experience in budget management, financial analysis, and reporting.
• Demonstrated ability to work effectively within large organizations, navigating complex structures and processes to achieve desired outcomes.
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills, with the ability to engage effectively with a wide range of stakeholders.
• Ability to work in a fast-paced, agile, and flexible environment, adapting strategies and operations as needed to achieve programme goals.
• Strong problem-solving skills, with a proactive approach to identifying and addressing challenges.
• Commitment to promoting a culture of respect, inclusivity, and team collaboration.
• Fluency in English is required. Knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish) or a local language is 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 (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. All selected candidates will, therefore, 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.

Remarks:

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). 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.

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