The Europe and Central Asia Regional Office (ECR), based in Geneva, is responsible for the effective management, coordination and oversight of UNOPS operations across the region. The ECR region spans the Western Balkans, Ukraine and Eastern Europe, Central Asia, South Caucasus, and Türkiye, where UNOPS works with partners to achieve sustainable impact in health, education, environmental management, housing, rule of law, good governance, economic development, and social inclusion. With a wealth of experience in procurement, infrastructure, project and grant management, UNOPS in the region directly implements projects, provides technical advisory services and capacity building to advance the Sustainable Development Goals in support of national governments.

Since opening in 2019, the UNOPS Austria Multi-Country Office (AUMCO) in Vienna has served as a hub for operations across 12 countries in South-East Europe, Türkiye, the South Caucasus, and Central Asia. AUMCO delivers technical expertise, operational support, and sustainable infrastructure solutions for governments, donors, and international financial institutions. Flagship initiatives include Blueing the Black Sea—a GEF and World Bank partnership to reduce pollution and promote sustainable development—and Türkiye’s post-earthquake recovery programme, enhancing protective services for women and children. In Albania, projects revitalise cultural heritage and advance digital justice, while in Kosovo, new university infrastructure supports higher education. In Georgia, AUMCO facilitates the Eastern Partnership European School and strengthens rule of law and digital health access. Across Central Asia, activities range from health system strengthening in Uzbekistan to hazardous waste management in Tajikistan. AUMCO also supports UNOPS’ global Water, Environment, and Climate portfolio, reinforcing its role as a regional and thematic centre of excellence.

Established in 2020, the UNOPS Office in Albania supports national efforts to improve economic and social conditions in the wake of the November 2019 earthquake. Through its flagship initiatives, UNOPS is contributing to the rehabilitation of cultural heritage sites and the digital transformation of the justice sector. By combining project management, infrastructure development, and technical expertise, UNOPS aims to strengthen Albania’s resilience, enhance public services, and promote sustainable development. The Albania office also plays a role in fostering connectivity and advancing healthcare standards across the country.

The International Expert State Cadastre will provide technical advisory and support to the Senior Project Manager of the "EU for Property Rights" project in Albania. This project aims to enhance the land administration system, making it more transparent and digitized, while also increasing the country's capacity to implement an EU-compatible Land Parcel Identification System (LPIS). The expert will focus on assessing, optimizing, and strengthening the efficiency, transparency, and integrity of the State Cadastre Agency’s (SCA) business processes and service delivery mechanisms.

The International Expert State Cadastre will provide technical advisory and support to the Senior Project Manager on the key activities of the project, specifically focusing on assessing, optimizing, and strengthening the efficiency, transparency, and integrity of the State Cadastre Agency’s (SCA) business processes and service delivery mechanisms.

1. Conducting a comprehensive business process review (BPR) and service delivery mechanisms of the State Cadastre Agency:

• Mapping and validating major data flows related to public service delivery by SCA, including incoming requests, application types, data processing requirements, and data shared with other governmental or private partners
• Identify inefficiencies, bottlenecks, risks, and areas for improvement in current practices, including an assessment of service standards.
• Design and document improved business processes that incorporate digitalization opportunities, with consideration for emerging technologies such as blockchain where relevant.
• Assessing how existing processes align with anti-corruption safeguards and integrity objectives and actively integrating integrity measures into the redesigned processes, identifying vulnerabilities and recommending appropriate control mechanisms to mitigate corruption risks and enhance accountability, transparency, and efficiency.

2. Based on the review, contribute to the development  of the proposal for revising key business processes and procedures related to land transactions within the cadastral Business Value Chain (BVC), with a focus on improving SCA’s internal workflows. 

• Categorization of cadastral transaction processes and data flows and prioritisation of the key business processes.
• Enhance internal guidelines and operational manuals for priority procedures, and provide recommendations for aligning IT-related business processes with digital transformation efforts.
• Define a validation process with key stakeholders, and outline an action plan for implementation.

3. Contract Implementation Support: UNOPS will tender several activities through public procurement. The expert will be:

• Advising the PM in the preparation of Terms of References,participating in the evaluation of tenders and advising during the contracts execution related to digitisation of state cadastre maps; data improvement; quality control and first time registration.
• Defining proposal for quality assurance (QA) and quality control (QC) mechanisms for monitoring and implementing contracts under the project.

4. Monitoring, Evaluation and Performance Measurement. Advise SCA on performance assessment, monitoring and evaluation in the following areas:

• Developing a monitoring and evaluation (M&E) framework for the business process review and development of key performance indicators (KPIs) .
• Mapping data sources, responsibilities and reporting mechanisms for KPI tracking;
• Support integration of the M&E framework into the BPR Action Plan and implementation sequencing.
• Provide recommendations on the use of KPIs for ongoing performance monitoring and future reform phases.

5. Knowledge Management and Capacity Building

• Provide technical inputs to working groups set-up during the course of the project.
• Provide advice for the provision of targeted training and capacity building activities on business processes and internal procedures to effectively implement new technologies, procedures and digital workflows.
• Identify best practices at the EU level in view of knowledge transfer and study visits organisation.

Reporting to the Senior Project Manager, the Expert  is expected to work closely with the national Cadastre Expert and other experts (e.g. cadastre, GIS, legal, IT, outreach; national and international) and  State Cadastre Agency and relevant user groups. The international experts in this project are expected to travel to Albania, as well as work from home, depending on the needs of the project and as agreed with the Senior Project Manager. The level of effort will depend on the phase of the project, and will be agreed with the Senior Project Manager. 

Required

• Bachelor’s degree (or equivalent) preferably in Geospatial Science, Geography, Land Administration, Urban Planning, Engineering, or related fields with 9 years of relevant experience OR

• Master’s degree (or equivalent) in any of the above or related fields with 7 years of relevant experience is required.
  

Required

• Progressive experience in cadastral services, land administration services, property rights is required.
• Familiarity with EU policies, standards, and frameworks, such as the INSPIRE Directive and the Land Administration Domain Model (LADM) is required.
• Experience in the assessment of business processes in regards to property rights and land administration is required.

Desired

• Previous experience on digitising records/digital transformation
• Previous work on EU accession
• Experience in working with national authorities, government agencies, in particular international donors in EU accession countries
• Expertise in using GIS software (e.g., ArcGIS, QGIS) and remote sensing tools

• 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.