Partnerships and Communications Senior Advisor

In Latin America and the Caribbean, UNOPS operates across 23 countries, delivering high-impact solutions that drive sustainable development. UNOPS focuses on building and improving resilient infrastructure—including roads, bridges, public facilities, sanitation systems, and housing—to enhance quality of life and foster inclusive growth. UNOPS also supports public health by procuring essential medicines and medical equipment, ensuring broader access to healthcare services. By strengthening institutional capacities, UNOPS promotes transparent, efficient, and equitable public management. As a trusted partner to governments and development stakeholders, UNOPS aligns its interventions with national priorities, helping countries advance the Sustainable Development Goals through practical, results-driven support.

Based in Panama City, Panama, the UNOPS Office of the Regional Director (ORD) for Latin America and the Caribbean provides strategic leadership and coordination across the region, enabling effective delivery of UNOPS’ mandate. Through portfolio oversight, integrated risk management, and the mobilization of expertise and resources, the ORD ensures regional coherence and operational excellence. The office supports country teams in aligning activities with organizational goals, strengthening the impact and efficiency of development efforts. It also leads regional positioning and representation in high-level forums, advancing visibility and engagement with key stakeholders. In close collaboration with other regional offices and headquarters, the ODR fosters cross-regional learning, promotes innovation, and drives strategic initiatives that contribute to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The LCR Regional Office is establishing a dedicated portfolio development function to expand strategic regional partnerships, increase resources mobilised, and serve more countries. The function will strengthen market analysis, engagement with donors and international financial institutions, and the preparation of high-quality funding proposals, while supporting country offices to develop strong pipelines. This position reports directly to the Regional Director (RD) of LCR, and it will work closely with PLG and CG.

The Partnerships and Communications Advisor in LCR serves as the principal senior lead for strategic partnerships, resource mobilisation, and regional external positioning across the Latin America and the Caribbean (LCR) Region. Reporting directly to the Regional Director (D2), the incumbent is central to expanding strategic partnerships, driving resource mobilisation, and ensuring coherent external communications and visibility for organisational initiatives across regional, multi-country, and country levels. This role is the main function of its kind for the region and is responsible for developing and implementing integrated strategies, leading senior practitioners in both the partnerships and communications functions, and positioning the organization as a strategic partner of choice across the LCR landscape. The position requires a high level of strategic thinking, external collaboration, and leadership to positively shape the organisation's future and deliver sustainable development outcomes. 

The communications function under this role is strategic in nature, focused on external positioning, narrative coherence, and senior-level messaging. The incumbent provides strategic direction and quality assurance for communications and visibility efforts, rather than day-to-day content production. This includes ensuring consistent articulation of the UNOPS regional value proposition across high-level donor and government engagement, IFI dialogue, regional events, policy fora, and media.

1. Integrated Regional Strategy Development and Positioning

• Lead the development of a comprehensive regional partnerships development strategy in line with the Strategic Plan, regional strategy, and Office Plan.
• Coordinate the development and implementation of an LCR Portfolio Development Plan aligned with global regional priorities and country needs, including periodic updates to multi-country and country business plans.
• Advise the Regional Director and regional senior management on strategic positioning, portfolio focus, and entry points for co-financing and public-private partnerships (PPPs) to expand the regional pipeline and diversify funding.
• Lead donor and partner mapping and maintain a rolling calendar of priority funding opportunities across international financial institutions (IFIs), bilateral partners, vertical funds, foundations, and the private sector.
• Research and analyse specific donor strategies, programming priorities, and political situations to identify potential funding opportunities that align with the regional strategy and organisational mandate.
• Lead the development of a coherent regional external positioning and narrative framework that aligns partnerships, communications, and visibility efforts across regional, multi-country, and country levels in close coordination with PLG and CG.

2. Strategic Partnerships Development and Resource Mobilisation

• Lead the regional partnerships effort to develop, extend, and maintain strong senior-level relationships with selected key partners, including national governments, UN agencies, IFIs, donors, foundations, and the private sector across the LCR region.
• Lead and manage priority funding opportunities from identification through approval, ensuring compliance with internal processes.
• Coordinate and quality-assure concept notes and proposals in English and Spanish to convert qualified opportunities into signed agreements.
• Participate and lead in key regional partnership-building meetings and negotiations with donors and clients, ensuring cost-effective and mutually beneficial terms while ensuring systematic and timely follow-up.
• Participate, as delegated, in meetings and negotiations with senior government counterparts, inter-agency forums, donor coordination forums, and key international events.
• Lead early-stage partnership engagement and structuring with partners, including co-financing arrangements, complex multi-party partnerships, and public-private partnerships, in alignment with the regional strategy and UNOPS mandate.
• Regularly coordinate with PLG and other relevant HQ Groups to exchange partner information and intelligence and to ensure positioning is aligned with global priorities. 

3. Regional Communications, Outreach, and Visibility

• Provide strategic leadership, direction, and quality assurance for impactful regional communications and visibility, ensuring alignment with partnerships priorities and the regional strategy, while avoiding operationalisation of routine communications delivery.
• Lead the design and implementation of internal and external communication strategies to enhance the visibility, positioning, and impact of organisational and partner initiatives across the LCR region.
• Ensure that external positioning, messaging, and visibility activities are fully aligned with the Regional strategy, Partnerships Plan, and priority partner engagements, as well as UNOPS corporate priorities.
• Develop, implement, and monitor communication strategies and work plans aligned with organisational and regional priorities.
• Support reputational positioning by preparing briefs, talking points, and communication materials for senior leadership, ensuring consistent and compelling messaging aligned with corporate standards.
• Coordinate communication and visibility efforts for fundraising and donor engagement, and develop high-quality content such as web stories and success stories to showcase impact.

4. Management, Leadership, and Capacity Building

• Serve as the senior partnerships lead in the regional office, managing and guiding partnerships officers and related roles, and leading senior practitioners of both partnerships and communications in the region. This includes providing functional leadership and strategic direction to communications personnel at regional and country levels, whether through direct line management or matrix arrangements, as applicable.
• Coordinate, advise, mentor, and coach relevant partnerships and programme personnel at country, programme, and project levels to ensure aligned and coherent interactions with partners.
• Build partnership capacity and negotiation skills among Project Managers and regional personnel, enabling stronger engagement with stakeholders.
• Demonstrate strong leadership by focusing on impact and results for partners, modelling professional and personal ethics, and effectively managing complexity in fast-moving contexts.
• Actively contribute to capacity development on partnerships (coaching, mentoring, and clinics) for country and regional personnel.

5. Knowledge Management, Reporting, and Risk Mitigation

• Implement standards, tools, and templates provided by HQ to strengthen partnership and project development within the team.
• Develop and lead the setup of tracking systems for monitoring partnership development and progress, and ensure up-to-date, informative, and accurate reports are prepared and submitted on time.
• Identify and synthesise best practices and lessons learned from LCR and other regions; adapt proven approaches to the LCR context.
• In coordination with PLG, advise on policy and operational issues affecting partnerships and program development in LCR; translate market trends into practical engagement strategies.
• Translate regional partnership intelligence, donor trends, and external market analysis into strategic advice for senior leadership and practical engagement strategies for country offices.

Required

• An advanced university degree (Master’s or equivalent) in Business Administration, Political Science, International Relations, International Development, Social Sciences, Communications, or another relevant field is required.

• A First-Level University Degree (Bachelor's) in the above-mentioned areas or another relevant field, with 2 additional relevant years of experience, may be accepted instead of the advanced university degree.

Required

• Minimum 10 years of experience (or more, depending on academic credentials)  in strategic partnership and/or communications development, portfolio growth, international development, in the public sector, or global business environment.

• At least 7 years of experience in senior-level engagements and negotiations with partners such as governments, International Financial Institutions (including Multilateral Development Banks), as well as relevant experience with donors and development sectors, preferably in the Latin America and Caribbean context.

• At least 7 years of experience providing strategic oversight and direction for external positioning, high-level communications, or partner-facing narratives, ideally in senior roles supporting organisational positioning with governments, donors, and development partners.

Desired

• Experience working with UNOPS in development and/or humanitarian contexts is considered a strong advantage, particularly in senior roles with responsibilities related to partnership development, strategic positioning, or portfolio growth.

• 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. 
• UNOPS evaluates all applications based on the skills, qualifications and experience requirements outlined in the vacancy announcement. We are committed to considering all candidates in a fair and transparent manner, and we value diverse perspectives and experiences, including those of women, indigenous and racialized communities, individuals with diverse 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.