Summary

​​Giga is building a Global Connectivity Marketplace. The marketplace is envisioned to operate at the intersection of a carbon credits market and a universal service/access fund, serving as a catalyst for incentivizing connectivity in individual countries by issuing tokens for companies connecting rural areas, underserved populations, and public facilities. This system is currently being piloted at a country level using existing financial incentives from national governments; the Connectivity Credits Marketplace seeks to create liquidity and attract further financing at a global level.

The effectiveness of the Contract Specialist in supporting the implementation of procurement strategies and managing contracts will directly impact Giga’s ability to help governments scale up the procurement of high-quality, affordable connectivity solutions for schools. This role will ensure that procurement processes are executed efficiently, transparently, and in alignment with UNICEF’s mission, contributing to improved educational outcomes and equitable access to digital resources for children.

Your responsibilities will be…

Under the general guidance of the Giga Procurement Section Contract Manager, and in alignment with UNICEF Supply Division’s Service Contracting Center, the Contract Specialist will be responsible for:

Support the development and implementation of procurement strategies at scale for connectivity solutions:

• Assist in the development and execution of global and regional procurement strategies for school connectivity solutions.
• Support the preparation and review of procurement requests, ensure that all procedural documents are up to date and coordinate with the different stakeholders to ensure timely revision, publication, and dissemination of these documents.
• Provide assistance and advice on contractual issues as well as procurement policy and procedures-related matters.

Assist the implementation of secondary bidding processes:

• Assist in the planning and execution of secondary bidding processes, ensuring transparency and competitiveness in line with UNICEF’s Financial Rules and Regulations.
• Support the integration of innovative procurement tools to make secondary bidding processes more dynamic, transparent and competitive.
• Support the evaluation of proposals and support the contracting process, ensuring the best value for money.

Support contract management:

• Provide support in the negotiation of contract terms and conditions, ensuring they are favorable to UNICEF and Giga’s mission.
• Support the finalization of contracting processes, ensuring that all contracts include clauses to monitor in real-time the connectivity that schools receive and that KPIs are clearly defined in Service Level Agreements.
• In collaboration with the Giga procurement team, provide support to ensure that the connectivity solutions are implemented on time, comply with the required technical specifications and quality assurances.
• In collaboration with the Giga tech team, provide technical guidance to ensure all contracts are managed through Giga’s open-source tools (e.g., Giga Counts) and that Giga receives real-time information of connectivity performance from providers.

Reporting and documentation:

• Support the preparation of detailed reports and presentations for senior management, highlighting procurement achievements and challenges.
• Maintain accurate and up-to-date records of all procurement and contract management activities.

To qualify for this position, you will have…

Education:

• An advanced university degree (master’s or higher) in Procurement, Contract / Commercial Law, Business Administration, Economics, Supply Chain Management, or a related field. *A first University Degree in a relevant field combined with 2 additional years of professional experience may be accepted in lieu of an Advanced University Degree

Work Experience:

• A minimum of 5 years of professional experience in procurement/contracting, with a focus on high-value, high-risk contracts for services.
• Previous experience in procuring internet connectivity services and managing contracts with internet service providers in developing (or LMIC/MIC) countries, preferably in Africa, will be considered a strong asset.
• Demonstrated experience in negotiation, procurement of connectivity services, implementation of competitive bidding processes, and contract management in the public and/or private sectors will be required for this role. The candidate must have a strong understanding of market dynamics and procurement strategies.
• Familiarity with UN procurement rules and regulations, and experience with UNICEF’s procurement processes, is an asset.

Skills:

• Proven ability to work collaboratively with teams across different locations, within various UNICEF country offices, and across different technical skills sets is essential.

Language Requirements:

• Fluency in English is required. Knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish) or a local language is an asset.

About our team

We are a fast-paced, multi-disciplinary team of software engineers, finance specialists, data scientists, policy experts, and much more. Our team is a distributed workforce and plans to remain distributed into the foreseeable future. We are growing fast. Our team has grown by over 400% in the last 6 months as we rapidly scale to meet our stated mission.