UNOPS

The UNOPS Global Portfolios Office (GPO) unites the New York Portfolios, including the Peace and Security team (PSC); the Geneva Office; and the Vienna-based Water, Environment and Climate (WEC) teams, to maximize global impact, foster efficiencies and streamline global programmes. Leveraging our collective expertise and networks, GPO supports UNOPS' strategic priorities and the SDGs across over 130 countries. We deliver project management, fund management, advisory services, project implementation, and HR services, working closely with major global partners. Our thematic focus includes sustainable development, climate action, health, peace & security, and humanitarian action.

As part of the Global Portfolios Office, UNOPS Geneva provides comprehensive solutions in secretariat hosting, operational support, and fund management. We manage global programmes, including the Water, Environment and Climate (WEC) Portfolio, offering project management, procurement, HR, and financial services. Geneva hosts the secretariats of eight global partnerships focused on health (RBM, Stop TB, ATscale), nutrition (SUN), water/sanitation (SHF), humanitarian leadership (GELI), urban development (Cities Alliance), and disaster displacement (PDD). We also provide fund management for EIF and UN Water, and operational support to Geneva-based partners like the Global Fund and UNHCR. 

UNOPS Geneva Office is providing support to a wide range of portfolios, including UNEP, UNICEF, UNHCR, and other partners. 

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.

This position is a Partner Personnel role. UNOPS is supporting UNICEF-DI as a UN partner and is acting on its behalf to provide recruitment and administrative support for this position. The selected candidate will be recruited through UNOPS in accordance with UNOPS recruitment rules, and will be engaged as UNICEF-DI personnel. The incumbent will work under the effective management and supervision of UNICEF-DI, not UNOPS.

About UNICEF Digital Inclusion

Part of UNICEF-DI, UNICEF’s Digital Inclusion programme supports governments and partners to improve equitable, affordable digital access for children, schools, and communities. The programme engages with regulators, operators, and public institutions to explore innovative approaches to connectivity, infrastructure governance, and digital public goods.

A growing number of regulators in emerging markets are exploring innovation sandboxes, temporary test licenses, and more dynamic spectrum management approaches. However, there is currently no open-source reference system that allows spectrum usage rights to be defined, allocated, revoked, and audited in a machine-readable manner that can be tested safely in regulator-approved environments.

SpecProj1 is an exploratory technical initiative under UNICEF Digital Inclusion to develop an open-source reference implementation of a spectrum-rights registry and authorization service for use in controlled test settings.

The Digital Advisor will design, lead, and deliver an open-source minimum viable prototype (MVP) of a spectrum-rights registry and authorization service. The role requires independent technical judgment, end-to-end ownership of deliverables, and the ability to translate emerging policy and regulatory questions into practical system design. The incumbent is expected to:

• Design new technical approaches in an emerging area

• Work with minimal supervision within broad programme objectives

• Assess the quality and suitability of technical outputs

• Interface directly with external stakeholders, including regulators and technical partners

The role also operates in two phases:

• Phase 1 (Months 1–4): Design and demonstrate a functional MVP capable of defining, issuing, validating, and revoking spectrum-usage allocations in a sandbox context.

• Phase 2 (Months 5–9): Refine and extend the system based on regulator feedback; support test integrations; document architectural options for future public-interest experimentation. This phase is intentionally less prescriptive.

Required

• An advanced University Degree (Master’s degree or equivalent) preferably in mathematics, computer science, IT, engineering or a related field is required.

• A first level University Degree (Bachelor`s degree or equivalent) preferably in the above-mentioned areas or in a relevant field combined with 2 additional years of professional experience may be accepted in lieu of the Advanced University Degree.

Required:

• A minimum of 7 years of experience in software engineering, system architecture, or distributed systems is required.

• Experience in designing and delivering complex technical systems is required

• Experience in backend services, APIs, and data modeling is required.

• Proven record of producing and maintaining open-source software is required.

Desired:

• Experience engaging with non-technical stakeholders on complex technical topics

• Please note that UNOPS does not accept unsolicited resumes. 
• Please note that UNOPS will at no stage of the recruitment process request candidates to make payments of any kind.
• Applications to vacancies must be received before midnight Copenhagen time (CET) on the closing date of the announcement. Applications received after the closing date will not be considered. 
• Please note that only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process, which involves various assessments. 
• UNOPS embraces diversity and is committed to equal employment opportunity. Our workforce consists of many diverse nationalities, cultures, languages, races, gender identities, sexual orientations, and abilities. UNOPS seeks to sustain and strengthen this diversity to ensure equal opportunities as well as an inclusive working environment for its entire workforce. 
• Qualified women and candidates from groups which are underrepresented in the UNOPS workforce are encouraged to apply. These include in particular candidates from racialized and/or indigenous groups, members of minority gender identities and sexual orientations, and people with disabilities. 
• We would like to ensure all candidates perform at their best during the assessment process. If you are shortlisted and require additional assistance to complete any assessment, including reasonable accommodation, please inform our human resources team when you receive an invitation.

• For staff positions only, UNOPS reserves the right to appoint a candidate at a lower level than the advertised level of the post. 
• For retainer contracts, you must complete a few mandatory courses (they take around 4 hours to complete) in your own time, before providing services to UNOPS. Refreshers or new mandatory courses may be required during your contract. Please note that you will not receive any compensation for taking courses and refreshers. For more information on a retainer contract here. 
• For more details about the contract types, please click here.
• All UNOPS personnel are responsible for performing their duties in accordance with the UN Charter and UNOPS Policies and Instructions, as well as other relevant accountability frameworks. In addition, all personnel must demonstrate an understanding of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in a manner consistent with UN core values and the UN Common Agenda. 
• It is the policy of UNOPS to conduct background checks on all potential personnel. Recruitment in UNOPS is contingent on the results of such checks.