Civil Engineer

The United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) is an operational arm of the United Nations, supporting the successful implementation of its partners' peacebuilding, humanitarian and development projects around the world.  Mandated as a central resource of the United Nations, UNOPS provides sustainable project management, procurement and infrastructure services to a wide range of governments, donors and United Nations organisations.  With over 6,000 personnel spread across 80 countries, UNOPS offers its partners the logistical, technical and management knowledge they need, where they need it.  By implementing around 1,000 projects for our partners at any given time, UNOPS makes significant contributions to results on the ground, often in the most challenging environments.

Background: AUMCO

The Austria Multi-Country Office (AUMCO) was set up in August 2019 as a part of the UNOPS Europe & Central Asia Region (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 Asia, focused on:

• Infrastructure

• Procurement 

• Project Management (full service, back on track)

• HR and Transactional Services

• Grant Management 

• Technical and Advisory Services

Background: Project

UNOPS, through ECR AUMCO, is partnering with the Government of Albania and the European Union, as well as with the UN system, to facilitate the post-earthquake rehabilitation and reconstruction of a large number of key cultural heritage sites, museums, and cultural hubs and to promote tourism and economic development of the sites. 

On 26 November 2019, Albania was hit by its most deadly earthquake in a century. The earthquake measured 6.4 on the Richter scale and caused significant casualties and property damage, resulting in 51 deaths, over 1000 injured, and nearly 14,000 people displaced. To measure and assess the economic damage, a Post Disaster Needs Assessment (PDNA) was conducted, estimating the total economic losses at nearly EUR 1Billion.  

The PDNA documented the destruction of public and private infrastructure. Of particular concern was the destruction of cultural heritage monuments and property, as 53 cultural heritage properties were significantly damaged by the earthquake. This project seeks to remediate the effect of the earthquake on Albania’s cultural heritage through the rehabilitation of monuments, as well as contribute to Albania’s socio-economic recovery through the construction and upgrade of these sites. It will be important also to support improvements in the capacity of institutions responsible for the management of these cultural monuments and sites to better accommodate tourism. A final outcome of the project is the effective communication of project results to the wider public and developing and implementing an advocacy platform resulting in better recognition of the important role of culture in the social and economic well-being of Albanian citizens.

Under the direct supervision of the Project Manager (Infrastructure), the Construction Management Engineer will provide day to day engineering supervision to the projects and provide quality and quantity control to all works. Following the schedule of works, the Construction Management Engineer will be responsible on-site and supervise the quality and progress of all works. S/he will provide daily updates to the Project Manager (Infrastructure) and will communicate and coordinate with the UNOPS infrastructure team, contractors and with internal and external entities for successful completion of the project. 

Incumbent will be responsible for the following duties and responsibilities;

Functional responsibilities:

• Technical Assistance

• Stakeholder Management

• Monitoring and Progress Controls

Technical Assistance:

• In coordination with the Project Manager (Infrastructure), identify existing risks and technical problems and suggest appropriate solutions.

• Provide oversight of the implementation of works for the specific project sites and monitoring of the progress of works according to contract schedules, specifications and project plans.

• Collect and document information on the contractor’s workforce, progress of work and any other related information, and report accordingly on a daily basis.

• Support in writing  Design Briefs for all planned infrastructure designs including: conceptual designs, detailed design, technical specifications, quality standards, bill of quantities, health and safety measures, preambles,  timeframes and strategies for execution, inclusive of gender considerations, people with disabilities and sustainability criteria;

• Ensure that approved concept and detailed designs by the Project Boards are all complete and to the UNOPS Design Review standard, and further coordinate the activities to obtain the Design Review Certificate issued by UNOPS Design Review team in Headquarters; 

• For all certified detailed designs ensure that  tender documents are finalized and complete, including: Scope of Works (SoW), site information, budget, technical specifications, schedules, Bill of Quantities (BoQ), calculations and construction drawings;

• Submit requisition for all approved infrastructure projects and coordinate with Procurement Unit to facilitate the competition of the procurement process, including: Development of relevant tender documents, evaluation of tenders, and issuing and management of works contracts;

• Implement quality controls (QC) and quality assurance (QA) procedures, to ensure all infrastructure projects are correctly initiated, managed, monitored, reported and closed in accordance with UNOPS policies and procedures;

• Undertake measurement of works in support of contractor payment requests.

• Enforce and supervise the implementation of HSSE at the project sites.

• Review the contractor’s work programmes, resource, schedule and project implementation plans and ensure that the contractors/site supervisors comply with their work plans and complete the work within the  specified time frame, and report accordingly.  

• Ensure all works, undertaken by the contractor and/or his agent, are of good quality, as per specifications and with approved quality materials.     

Stakeholder Management:

• Assist in the identification, evaluation, selection and supervision of building contractors for specified project work.

• Assist in the preparation of tender documents and evaluation of tenders and the preparation and finalization of contracts for construction.

• Coordinate with working groups from the beneficiary and the donor in achieving desired results for the design and construction works.

Files and Reports:

• Monitor and record appropriate field data to validate contractors’ compliance to cross-cutting issues (gender, environment, sustainability, health and safety on-site, etc.) as stipulated in the contract and detailed in the construction work program     .

• Responsible for formal document issues and registers such as drawings, bill of quantities, specifications, contractor instructions, engineering standards.

• Maintenance of the following project documentation as required including but not limited to payment register, variation register, site safety inspection register, site diary, instruction to contractor register, drawing register, visitor register, sample approval register, concrete test register, progress photos.

• Ensure that issues, risks and lessons learned are identified, managed and documented throughout the project stages (using UNOPS tools) and shared with the supervisor;

• Perform other related duties as may be assigned by the supervisor.

 Monitoring and Progress Controls

•  Report site work progress to the Project Manager (Infrastructure) on a daily basis.

• Supervise a team of Associate Engineers.

Education

• A Bachelor's degree in infrastructure-related fields such as civil or construction engineering, architecture, and/or construction management or a similar field is required.

• A Master’s Degree in an infrastructure-related field such as civil or construction engineering, architecture, and/or construction management or a similar field will be an asset.

Work Experience

• Minimum 2 years of working experience in engineering and construction supervision for buildings is required. 

• Relevant experience required in construction planning or construction management, in a public or private sector organization.

• Experience in implementing EU funded projects is an advantage.

• Supervision License issued by the Ministry of Infrastructure and Energy of Albania will be considered a strong  asset.

• Past work experience with the UN/UNOPS and/or similar international/multicultural organization will be considered a strong  asset.

• Expertise in projects involving tangible heritage buildings, places and monuments is highly desired.

Language

• Fluency in Albanian and English is  required.

Contract type: Regular, Local Individual Contract Agreement (IICA)
Contract level: ICS-8 / LICA-8

• Please note that the closing date is midnight Copenhagen time
• Applications received after the closing date will not be considered.
• Only those candidates that are short-listed for interviews will be notified.
• Qualified female candidates are strongly encouraged to apply.
• UNOPS seeks to reasonably accommodate candidates with special needs, upon request.
• Work life harmonization - UNOPS values its people and recognizes the importance of balancing professional and personal demands. We have a progressive policy on work-life harmonization and offer several flexible working options. This policy applies to UNOPS personnel on all contract types
• 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 (around 4 hours) in your own time, before providing services to UNOPS.
• The incumbent is responsible to abide by security policies, administrative instructions, plans and procedures of the UN Security Management System and that of UNOPS.  

It is the policy of UNOPS to conduct background checks on all potential recruits/interns. Recruitment/internship in UNOPS is contingent on the results of such checks.