Civil Engineer (Designer)

UNOPS – an operational arm of the United Nations – supports the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by successfully implementing its partners’ peacebuilding, humanitarian, and development projects around the world. Our mission is to help people build better lives and countries achieve peace and sustainable development.
UNOPS areas of expertise cover infrastructure, procurement, project management, financial management, and human resources.


Working with us
We are proud of our people. With a wealth of knowledge and skills in various disciplines – engineering, finance, human resources, ICT, leadership, project management, procurement, and more – they help tackle some of the biggest challenges of our time. Their work around the world supports progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).


At UNOPS, we offer a range of short- and long-term opportunities in various environments and duty stations – from Denmark and Kenya to Mexico, Switzerland, Myanmar, Senegal, Uganda, and many more.


Diversity
With over 5,000 UNOPS personnel and approximately 7,400 personnel recruited on behalf of our partners, spread across 80 countries, our workforce represents a range of nationalities and cultures. We promote a balanced and diverse labor force — a strength that helps us better understand and address our partners’ needs. We continually strive to maintain our gender-balanced workplace. We encourage qualified underrepresented groups as per UNOPS Gender, Diversity, and Inclusion Strategy to apply for our vacancies.



Work life harmonization
UNOPS values its people and recognizes the importance of balancing professional and personal demands.

Project Information

Following the political turnaround in Afghanistan in August 2021, the subsequent economic collapse has led to an unprecedented humanitarian crisis putting over 24 million people in immediate need of aid. To provide immediate short-term livelihood opportunities and deliver urgent essential services in rural and urban areas, UNOPS is aspiring to implement a community resilience program to be funded through the Afghanistan Reconstruction Trust Fund (ARTF) and administered by the World Bank(WB).

It is estimated that 1.1 million households, or 7.5 million Afghans, will receive livelihoods and income

support through this project. In addition, 9 million Afghans in some 6,200 rural communities and 8 cities will benefit from improved access to essential social services through strengthening the capacity of community institutions in inclusive service delivery.

Job-Specific Information

Under the supervision of the design team leader, the Civil Engineer (Designer) works closely with the engineering team and provides support on the structural design / Drafting and calculations related to the project. The Civil Engineer (Designer) produces the structures design, including calculations, technical reports, drawings of any kind of structures and road projects and technical specifications as per the applicable design standards.

• Support in the development of the design, calculations, drawings, technical specifications and quantities of vertical and horizontal structures and support the review of designs and estimations of all drainage structures and road projects.

• Produce and support the review of calculation of quantities, estimation and preparation of Bill of Quantities for all drainage structures and road projects.

• Provide structural design support to Architect, mechanical, electrical and water design engineers, and confirm the coordination of different design details.

• Review and provide inputs on sub-soil investigations for design purposes, construction mix designs and material submissions as per the contract terms and conditions.

• Provide technical support on the implementation of works involving large scale vertical and horizontal drainage structures, and road projects.

• Produce drawings, technical documentation and BoQs for all drainage structures and road projects to ensure they are in accordance with established and applicable international standards.

• Oversight of QA/QC site visits and materials testing reports to ensure sampling, testing and inspection of materials are carried out regularly and works are implemented in compliance with the approved design technical specifications.

• Support the engineering design team for approval of design changes as deemed necessary.

• Provide capacity building and institutional strength to the engineering design team and/or other teams as requested.

• Provide technical advice and assistance to contractors to ensure that economical and quality materials are purchased.

• Perform and check as built drawings for all drainage structures and road projects. 

• Perform other related duties as required by the design team leader.

Impact of Results

The effective and successful achievement of results by the Civil Engineer directly impacts on the development and performance of the project. It confirms UNOPS’ role as a key and trusted partner to the World Bank, and UNOPS’ position as a critical service provider, in all challenging work environments. Given the current political and humanitarian situation in Afghanistan, this project would support the urgent repositioning of AFCO and strengthen UNOPS’ presence and visibility in Afghanistan, raising the profile of UNOPS in the global humanitarian context.

The monitoring and progress controls will be in accordance with work plans that the Supervisor and incumbent will prepare at the beginning of the assignment. 

a.  Education

• Bachelor degree in Civil Engineering or a relevant field is required.

b. Work Experience 

• A minimum of 2 years of experience as a structural design engineer is required.

• Previous experience working with the UN/UNOPS is an advantage.

• Experience mentoring and providing capacity building in technical aspects of structural engineering and construction is valued.

• Experience in design software such as SAP2000, SAFE, E-TABS, STAAD, CSiBridge, GEO5, TEKLA Connection Designer, AutoCAD, and other structural design software is highly valued.

• Working knowledge of cloud-based office software packages (Google Suite), MS Office programs, MS Project, and telecommunications equipment and systems is highly valued.

c.  Languages

• Proficiency in English required.

• Knowledge of Dari/Pashto is desirable.

• 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.
• UNOPS embraces diversity and it is committed to the principle of equal employment opportunity for all its employees and encourages qualified candidates to apply irrespective of race, colour, national origin, ethnic or social background, genetic information, gender, gender identity and/or expression, sexual orientation, religion or belief, or disability.
• 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.  
• All UNOPS personnel are responsible for performing their duties in accordance with the UN Charter, UN Staff Regulations and Rules, 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 recruits/interns. Recruitment/internship in UNOPS is contingent on the results of such checks.