Project Management Intern

The Asia Pacific Regional Office, based in Bangkok, Thailand, provides strategic leadership and oversight for UNOPS operations across 17 countries, ensuring high performance, operational excellence, and alignment with organizational goals. Operations currently span Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Nepal, Papua New Guinea, Pakistan, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam, and the Pacific Islands. Across these countries, we work closely with key stakeholders to strengthen partnerships and maximize impact through five main operating units: Afghanistan (AFCO), Myanmar (MMCO), South Asia Multi-Country Office (SAMCO), East Asia and Pacific Multi-Country Office (EAPMCO), and the Asia Regional Health Cluster (ARHC). Through these entities, we provide agile, client-focused service delivery across diverse sectors - including infrastructure, health, procurement, and project management - supporting the implementation of sustainable development solutions across the region.

The East Asia and Pacific Multi-Country Office (EAPMCO), headquartered in Bangkok, supports UNOPS operations across 24 countries in Southeast Asia, Northeast Asia, and the Pacific. Established in January 2023, EAPMCO provides strategic direction, operational support, and quality assurance to ensure the efficient and effective delivery of projects across its portfolio. EAPMCO implements initiatives in priority areas such as energy transition, climate change, and sustainable development, drawing on UNOPS' core expertise in human resources, procurement, infrastructure, fund management, and programme management.

Background Information UNOPS UNOPS supports the successful implementation of its partners’ peacebuilding, humanitarian and development projects around the world. Our mission is to serve people in need by expanding the ability of the United Nations, governments and other partners to manage projects, infrastructure and procurement in a sustainable and efficient manner. Working in some of the world’s most challenging environments, our vision is to advance sustainable implementation practices, always satisfying or surpassing our partners’ expectations. With over 7,000 personnel spread across 80 countries, UNOPS offers its partners the logistical, technical and management knowledge they need, wherever they need it. A flexible structure and global reach means that we can quickly respond to our partners' needs, while offering the benefits of economies of scale. 

South East Asia and Pacific Multi-Country Office (EAPMCO) 
UNOPS South East Asia and Pacific Multi Country Office (EAPMCO) supports, develops and oversees the UNOPS portfolio of projects in South East Asia and the Pacific. EAPMCO was established in January 2023 following the merger of the Thailand Multi-Country Office, which covered 20 countries across North East Asia, South East Asia and the Pacific, and the Cambodia Multi-Country Office, which covered 4 countries South East Asia - 3 countries in the Mekong Sub-region (Cambodia, Lao PDR and Vietnam) and the Philippines. EAPMCO currently covers 24 countries across North East Asia, South East Asia and the Pacific. With its head office in Bangkok, the Multi-Country Office comprises eight EAPMCOs: EAPMCO Thailand, EAPMCO Indonesia, EAPMCO Pacific Operations Cluster, EAPMCO Papua New Guinea, EAPMCO China, EAPMCO Vietnam, EAPMCO Mekong and EAPMCO Philippines. In 2024, the UNOPS EAPMCO implemented projects worth more than USD 80 million, in the areas of Energy Transition, Digital Transformations, Sustainable Environmental Management, Climate Change, Waste Management, Rule of Law and Access to Justice, Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH), Post Conflict Reintegration, Emergency Relief, Post COVID19 Economic Transformations, and Health, through HR, procurement, construction, contract management, fund and program management services. The Multi Country Office head office in Bangkok provides strategic direction, operational support, delivery oversight and assurance of the excellence of business processes and quality standards across all of the entire Multi Country Office locations. It is also responsible for developing, delivering and managing the portfolio of engagements in the country of the MCO location itself.

Project Management Office (PMO) 

The Project Management Office (PMO) is a section under the Programme Management Unit (PMU). The PMO works closely with various functions within EAPMCO to support the MCO to deliver successful projects, providing appropriate oversight, relevant advice, and guidance to projects. The functions and services of the PMO include: 
● Oversight and Assurance: monitor that projects under the MCO are implemented in line with UNOPS policies and in line with Legal Agreements. 
● Growing the maturity of project management practices for consistent application of PM Standards 
● Process review and improvement ● Knowledge Management and facilitation of best practices This ideal candidate is analytical, structured, organized and detail-oriented applicants who: 
● Demonstrate strong skills in data analysis, visualization, and interpretation. 
● Are able to work independently and deliver results with a high standard of accuracy. 
● Have interest in project assurance, monitoring systems, and process improvement. 
● Enjoy solving problems using evidence, dashboards, data models, or automation.

Functional Responsibilities 

At UNOPS, interns join our teams as equal members and are offered a good mix of support work and independent assignments with substantial responsibility. Under the direct supervision of the Head of the Project Management Office (PMO), the intern will support the PMO team in advancing project management excellence across the South-East Asia and Pacific Multi-Country Office (EAPMCO). The internship offers an opportunity to gain hands-on experience in data management, analysis, and visualization, project assurance, reporting, process improvement and automation, and knowledge sharing within the UN development context. The intern will work closely with the PMO team, contributing to strengthening delivery oversight, workflows, data management and interpretation, and learning mechanisms.

1. Project Development, Oversight, and Quality Assurance Support

● Support the PMO in preparing and coordinating project assurance activities to help ensure projects meet UNOPS quality, risk, and performance standards.

● Assist in collecting, consolidating, and analyzing documentation (e.g. risk registers, financial data,progress reports) for monthly or quarterly reviews.

● Verify project data accuracy in oneUNOPS and PMO monitoring tools, flagging missing or inconsistent information to the PMO team.

● Support the preparation of performance summaries and risk snapshots under the guidance of the PMO team.

● Participate in meetings (such as quality assurance or project board discussions) and prepare meeting summaries, action points, and key discussion points as required.

● Contribute to tracking and organizing follow-up actions agreed during Project Boards and assurance meetings.

2. Data Management and Analysis

● Support the collection, validation, analysis, and interpretation of project and portfolio data (delivery,expenditure, forecasts, risks, outputs) to enhance data-driven oversight and decision-making.

● Conduct trend analysis, variance analysis, and simple predictive checks to help identify performance patterns or early warning signals across the portfolio.

● Support the development, maintenance, and improvement of various dashboards, tools, templates,and trackers, while ensuring data integrity and accessibility across projects.

● Create data visualizations and charts using Google Looker Studio, or Google Sheets, contributing to PMO monitoring, assurance, and reporting.

● Help identify inconsistencies, missing data, or outdated entries, coordinating corrections with relevant focal points.

● Contribute ideas for improving data quality and automation, and PMO workflow optimization.

● Support pilot initiatives on automation and AI-assisted monitoring, reporting, coordination, and data management.

3. Monitoring, Reporting, and Portfolio Analytics

● Assist in consolidating data for portfolio-level reports (MCO dashboards, ORD/HQ reporting, and UNSDCF/UNINFO).

● Support PMO in tracking financial and operational performance indicators, helping ensure data accuracy and continuous target monitoring.

● Help compile visuals, charts, data analysis outputs and key highlights for internal presentations, briefings, reports, and portfolio reviews, including summarizing trends, identifying deviations, and highlighting issues that require management attention.

● Develop presentation briefs and summarize key information to support management decisions.

● Contribute to the improvement of templates, trackers, and workflows used in monitoring and reporting.

● Coordinate across the region to collect relevant data and insights from projects and programmes, and support its consolidation, ensuring reporting deadlines are met.

4. Knowledge Management, Learning, and Process Improvement

● Assist in gathering lessons learned and good practices from project reports or meetings.

● Support the analysis of lessons learned by identifying regional trends and common challenges,reviewing the outcomes of implemented solutions, and contributing to knowledge-sharing efforts thatstrengthen project management practices.

● Support the preparation of PMO guidance materials, templates, and training presentations.

● Maintain the PMO shared drive and knowledge library, ensuring key documents are accessible and up to date.

● Contribute to the organization of knowledge-sharing sessions, training activities, inductions, or team learning discussions.

● Actively participate in the implementation of good practices, innovative tools, and automation ideas to support continuous improvement.

● Support the roll-out, facilitation, and capacity building efforts on the usage of developed PMO tools, dashboards, templates, and processes.

● Coordinate with other relevant units or teams to support process and workflow enhancement,

cross-unit collaboration, automation, and propose solutions for improvement.

5. Coordination, Communication, and Administrative Support

● Provide administrative and logistical support to the PMO team and related activities as required.

● Draft professional documents, reports, infographics, visual summaries, and presentations (including management briefs and meeting summaries)

● Support coordination and communication between PMO and project teams, and other units (e.g., HR, Finance, SSU).

● Perform other tasks as required to support the Head of PMO and ensure smooth PMO operations.

Required:

•  Minimum First level university degree (Bachelor’s or equivalent) in Project Management, Business Administration, Data Analytics, Information Systems, Social Sciences, Engineering, International Development, or related field is required. 
• Must be enrolled in a university programme such as Bachelor’s, Master's or Ph.D. (or the equivalent) or have graduated from such studies within three (3) years prior to the application date of the internship. 

Desired:

• Master’s level qualification in engineering, data analytics, architecture, business administration or project management field is desirable. 
• Certification or coursework in project management (e.g., PRINCE2) is an asset.

  
  

Desired:

• Some professional experience in the field of engineering, data analytics, design, construction, project management and/or international development, secretarial services, operations, business analysis, budget and financial management, administration or any other relevant field is desirable.
• Strong computer literacy in Google Suite applications or similar application is required. 
• Demonstrated experience (academic or professional) in data analysis, or business analysis, or data visualization, or case study analysis, or reporting . 
• Strong computer literacy in Google Suite and spreadsheet modelling (Google Sheets/Excel). 
• Experience using data tools such as Looker Studio, Power BI, Tableau, BigQuery or similar is highly desirable. 
• Experience with AI-assisted tools for data cleaning, drafting, analysis, visualization or automation is desirable. 
• Experience in budgeting, financial analysis or monitoring processes is highly desirable. 
• Experience supporting project management, assurance, operations, or process improvement is an asset. 
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills and attention to details. 
• Must be tactful, discreet, diplomatic and possess the ability to communicate with individuals at all levels of an organization. 
• Flexibility and adaptability to work under pressure and able to manage multiple priorities. 
• Ability to work in an international/ multicultural environment.

• 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.