Senior ICT Project Manager

Background Information – Job-specific

Albania Country context

To help build a more sustainable future for the people of Albania, UNOPS provides a range of services on behalf of partners – including project management, infrastructure, procurement, human resources and advisory services. With good governance and gender equality at the heart of its work, UNOPS supports initiatives in line with national strategies and priorities – including Albania’s path to European Union accession – while also providing emergency support services during times of unprecedented crises. Since the office was established in 2020, UNOPS has been providing support specifically in rescuing, repairing and renovating important cultural heritage sites and to procuring and delivering state-of-the-art medical equipment.

UNOPS Albania Office is part of the Austria Multi-Country Office (AUMCO) under the UNOPS Regional Office of Europe and Central Asia (ECR). Specifically, AUMCO aims to enable achievement of Agenda 2030 and the Paris Agreement through global programmes and tailored interventions in the Balkans, South Caucasus, and Central

Background to the position

The Project “Support to Albania Judicial Institutions to the Establishment of an Integrated and Interoperable Case Management System” is designed to contribute to the enhancement of the rule of law system in Albania by increasing efficiency and effectiveness of the judicial institutions and to bring the system for promotion and protection of human rights in line with EU best practices.

The EU funded Project will address some of the key priorities of the reform of justice in Albania, e.g. the urgent modernisation and digitalisation of case management to ensure interoperability across different justice institutions, and facilitate the generation of reliable statistical data to follow the functioning of the judicial bodies in line with the best European standards.

UNOPS is recruiting a Project Manager with a background in ICT to implement this project. The Project Manager will be responsible for the planning, implementation, and management of all the outputs of the project in Albania. The ideal candidate will have a strong understanding of ICT project management methodologies and experience in managing complex digitisation projects, and ideally also have working experience in the justice sector. The ICT Project Manager will be responsible for developing and maintaining relationships with key stakeholders, including government officials, donors, and UN agencies. S/he will lead a multi-disciplinary team of international and national team members, full time and retainers. The project is to be implemented during four years.

Functional Responsibilities

Under the supervision of the Country Manager for Albania and Kosovo, the incumbent will be responsible to implement the aforementioned project, which includes following key functions:

Requirements, Landscape, and Options Analysis

• Conduct a comprehensive needs assessment to identify gaps and requirements in the current information technology infrastructure.
• Collaborate with key judiciary institutions to gather input on system requirements and expectations.
• Analyze existing processes and workflows to determine areas where ICT solutions can improve efficiency and transparency.
• Provide expert advice and recommendations to the government on the best practices in information technology modernization for judicial systems, aligning with EU standards.
• Advise and support on the development a strategic roadmap for the implementation of an Integrated Case Management System (ICMS)
• Advise on the selection of appropriate ICT solutions, technologies, and vendors to meet project goals.
• Conduct stakeholder and landscape analysis to document key personas, technical capacities, and business requirements.
• Use a user-centered approach to outline functional and non-functional requirements, including key use cases.
• Conduct options assessments, incorporating considerations like total cost of ownership (TOC), duration, sustainability, and scalability.
• Present findings to project governance bodies for informed decision-making.
• Identify and assess various risks, including political, institutional, inter-agency, legal, and technology-related risks, and develop risk mitigation plans.
• Provide additional advisory services on ICT strategies and technologies, aligning them with local and international standards in line with the project scope.

Capacity and Change Management

• Develop a change management plan from the project’s outset, focusing on user adoption and change resistance mitigation.
• Tailor training and communication strategies to suit different groups of stakeholders.

Project Planning and Management

• Lead the planning, execution, and monitoring of the project and its outputs per UNOPS methodologies, taking responsibility for overall progress and use of resources and initiating corrective action where necessary through a comprehensive change management strategy.
• Identify, and anticipate in a timely manner, potential risks and issues and advises mitigating measures to senior management/ Project Board
• Establish a user-focused working group engaged throughout the development and implementation phases.
• Foster sensitivity and take a proactive approach for issues related to gender and diversity
• Coordinate team assignments, balancing capacity against client requirements.

Procedures

• Comply with UNOPS organisational policies and specifically the UNOPS Project Management Manual.
• Manage the obligations defined in the Legal Agreement(s) and in the Implementation Plan
• Procurement: Take a leading role in the requirements definitions, tendering process and evaluation of offers.
• Develop terms of references for consultancies, expert services and other activities as relevant and participate in the identification and selection of consultants and service providers. Approve requisitions and requests, lead evaluation of proposals and bidder submissions, as assigned.
• Financial: Manage budgets, cash flow and obligations to ensure that deliverables are met and payments to contractors and personnel are received on time. Understand and manage UNOPS overheads, allocable charges, and related corporate charges as they apply to the project
• Audit: Support project audit activities, including planning, preparation and coordination during the audits and follow up on audit observations/recommendations
• Where the Project Manager has no delegation as a committing officer, s/he retains these responsibilities and will monitor and instruct/request others to carry out the relevant commitments and disbursements.

Stakeholder engagement and communication

• Develop stakeholder profiles and facilitate the formulation of stakeholder engagement strategies
• Establish solid working relationships with the Project Board (Executive, Senior Users and Senior Suppliers), client and key stakeholders
• Ensure stakeholders are aware of project activities, progress, exceptions and are in a position to accept handover outputs
• Lead on the formulation of project communications plans and coordinate internal and external project communications in line with UNOPS and donor visibility and communication guidelines.
• Understand and respect national ownership and capacity.

Knowledge Building and Knowledge Sharing

• Encourage routine and effective capacity building activities are conducted in order to build the long-term and sustainable capacity of staff.
• Actively interact with other Project Managers and the wider PM community to share case studies, lessons learned and best practices
• Stay updated on emerging technologies and advocate for their consideration where appropriate.
• Contribute to ICT standards and strategies within UNOPS and external networks.
• Engage in communities of practice, sharing knowledge and lessons learned.

People Management

• Lead and motivate the project management team with focus on constant improvement
• Select, recruit and train a team as required and take into account gender parity and diversity objectives.
• Create, foster and role model a culture of respect and zero tolerance for discrimination, abuse of authority, harassment, sexual harassment and sexual exploitation and abuse. Ensure accountability for actions and perform duties in accordance with protection mechanisms and action plans, as expected by UNOPS policies, standards and commitments.
• Look for ways to build capacity of local counterparts

Education/Experience/Language requirements

Education

• An advanced university degree (e.g., Masters) in Computer Science, Information Systems, or a related subject is required.
• A first-level university degree (e.g., Bachelor) in combination with two (2) additional years of relevant experience may be accepted in lieu of an advanced university degree.
• Certification in ITIL (Information Technology Infrastructure Library) Strategic Leader is a strong asset.
• Certification in Google Cloud technologies is an asset.
• Certification in Prince2, PMP, or similar project management certifications is an asset.

Work experience

• A minimum of seven (7) years of experience managing IT projects, including experience with the software development lifecycle.
• Experience with leading complex ICT and digital transformation projects similar to the project is required.
• Demonstrated experience in leading cross-functional teams and multi-stakeholder initiatives.
• Experience working with Government stakeholders is highly desirable
• Experience of the Justice sector is an advantage
• Experience with data management, analytics, and modelling is highly desirable.

Languages

• Full proficiency in English is required.