Advisor- Innovative and Sustainable Finance

UNOPS - United Nations Office for Project Services; United States; Remoto; USD 89.000 - 134.000; Tempo parcial

Resumo da vaga

UNOPS invites applications for Advisor- Innovative and Sustainable Finance, a home-based retainer role supporting Geneva-based programmes. You will design and implement financing mechanisms, ROI instruments, and engage stakeholders across climate, health, water and energy sectors.

The position is part of the Corporate Retainer Pool, with flexible assignments worldwide, demanding strong analytical finance skills and the ability to navigate donor expectations within the UNOPS framework.

Descrição da vaga

Advisor- Innovative and Sustainable Finance

Job Category

Duty Station(s)

Home based

Seniority Level

ICS 11

Contract Type

ICA - IICA - Retainer

IICA 3

Posting Start Date

30-Oct-2026

Posting End Date

15-Nov-2026

Duration

12 months

Job Highlight

This is a unique opportunity to originate and implement innovative and sustainable financing solutions within a global portfolio. The role allows you to shape new financial instruments, influence policy, and drive transformative change across programmatic areas such as health, climate, energy, environment, food, nutrition, and water and sanitation. It offers the chance to blend financial expertise with development goals, engage high-level stakeholders, and contribute to sustainable impact through entrepreneurial design and strategic partnerships.

About the Group

The Infrastructure and Project Management Group (IPMG) provides policy, standards guidance and support in three UNOPS service lines of Project Management, Infrastructure and Financial Management Services (Grant Support and Fund Management). IPMG leads the design and implementation of a project, programme and portfolio management (P3M) system centered around the needs of UNOPS partners, beneficiaries and frontline personnel. IPMG also drives UNOPS efforts to leverage sustainable, resilient and inclusive infrastructure and maximize local capacity through grant support management to achieve sustainable development. Through thought leadership, we aim to position UNOPS with its partners, foster innovative solutions for sustainable and inclusive development, and accelerate the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This includes speeding up the implementation of urgent infrastructure and scaling up infrastructure service delivery, particularly in relation to climate action and energy. Our delivery approach to project management, infrastructure and grant support management prioritizes development needs, empowers institutions and communities, builds partners’ capacity, champions gender equality and social inclusion and reduces environmental impact. IPMG translates policy into practice by providing strategic direction, standards and oversight, while facilitating knowledge sharing and capacity-building for UNOPS teams globally.

Job Specific Context

Under the direct supervision of the Geneva Head of Programme, this role provides expert advisory services to UNOPS Projects, Programmes and hosted entities, developing innovative and sustainable financing mechanisms and return on investment (ROI) instruments primarily for Geneva and WEC portfolio. This role will also be part of UNOPS corporate retainer pool, may support UNOPS offices in other regions, depending on business needs. This role involves navigating the legal, operational, and financial complexities within the UNOPS framework and donor expectations.

UNOPS Corporate Retainer Pool

UNOPS is managing a pool of Corporate Retainers to meet the need for temporary, short-term ad-hoc support to UNOPS business units across the globe in several expertise areas identified by the HQ business units and in consultation with the regional offices. The Corporate Retainer Pool (CRP) covers a wide range of expertise areas. The CRP is coordinated by the Operational Support Unit in the Infrastructure and Project Management Group (IPMG) however, the Business Unit leading the expertise area supervises each position as relevant.

** IMPORTANT INFORMATION **

Retainer positions are not full-time positions. They constitute a contract whereby the Retainer may be requested to provide a specific output/deliverable within a specified period of time, on short notice. When holding a retainer contract, individuals may receive ad hoc requests from the UNOPS project teams or country offices, and the quantity of requests will vary depending on the current needs. UNOPS shall have no obligation to obtain any minimum quantity of services from the Individual Contractor during the duration of the retainer ICA. The Individual Contractor may have multiple consultancy contracts with or outside UNOPS, as long as they declare them to the UNOPS Ethics Office. Read more about the ICA retainer modality here.

This retainer position falls under the UNOPS Corporate Retainer Pool (CRP), and the Technical Supervisor, i.e. the Head of Programme, Geneva Office will be responsible for the technical onboarding and overall supervision of the Advisor. During assignment implementation, the requesting unit (represented by its Assignment Supervisor) will be responsible for day-to-day supervision tasks and deliverables.

The functions/responsibilities/key results of this job description are generic and may not always be applicable, nor be comprehensive, for all missions under this job title. The specific tasks and deliverables for each retainer assignment may vary and will be detailed in the terms of reference developed for each assignment by the requesting office/unit, while the GPO/GVA will exercise an oversight function. Under this contract type, the assignments will vary in scope and duration - ranging from short-term assignments of a few hours at a time to longer blocks of time (e.g. several weeks or months full time, and up to a year). Work may also vary with regard to the time zone / location. Whilst most assignments can be delivered working from home, some may require presence in HQ and/or international travel on occasion, including to remote or post-conflict environments. Whilst the successful incumbent can be based in different time zones, s/he should be able and willing to ensure a degree of time overlap with the teams ordering the retainer’s services.

All corporate retainers are invited to participate in a one-hour induction session (or two 30-minute sessions) where they are guided through the UNOPS retainer management tool, the retainer contract modality and their expertise area in the UNOPS context.

While the contract modality for this Vacancy Announcement is an ICA retainer contract on a project or assignment basis, UNOPS may offer, on a need basis, full-time employment for a specified consecutive period of time (up to one year maximum) - with the possibility to go back and forth between the two contract modalities, pending acceptance of the incumbent of the assignments proposed to him/her.

All retainer assignments will be managed through the UN