Duties and responsibilities

The temporary position is under the supervision of the Senior Advisor, Strategic Engagement and Initiatives and Giga ITU Lead, in the Office of the Secretary-General and Deputy Secretary-General. In close collaboration with the Giga BDT team, the role of the position is to lead the ITU’s activities in Barcelona, coordinate local activities with UNICEF and UN partners, and to engage with local stakeholders. 

• Manage the ITU team in Barcelona including overseeing project implementation, monitoring, provision of technical support, preparation of reports and administrative tasks.
• Represent ITU and establish core ITU presence in the Barcelona Giga Technology Centre; liaise, build, and maintain relationships with Spanish, Catalan, and City of Barcelona authorities, donors, local technical community and key stakeholder to build out Giga’s presence in Spain and position Spain, Catalonia, and the City of Barcelona as a key convening center that delivers on mapping, promotes open-source modelling of connectivity solutions, technological innovation, and global product development.
• Coordinate and co-lead with UNICEF to position Giga as a key convenor of open-source data, mapping, and modeling, managing a local team of technical experts, event planners, fund developers, and communications experts.
• Serve as primary ITU liaison with UNICEF Barcelona management and other UN partners to ensure joint alignment, coordination, and collaboration in all aspects of the Barcelona Center’s work and activities to ensure joint-team success.
• In close collaboration with the Giga BDT team and with all ITU Bureaus, ensure the implementation and delivery of all project activities and outcomes on time, within budget and of high standards and quality; ensure team applies a structured methodology; coordinate, assess and align risk mitigation tactics; monitor project activities progress; promote projects and support and engage stakeholders. In particular, ensure proper coordination and consultation with relevant ITU Bureaus, (e.g. Telecommunication Development Bureau) for effective implementation of GIGA project activities at the country level. 
• Coordinate and lead team to prepare project reports, monitoring project schedules and deadlines, and identifying potential issues or risks that could affect the progression of projects.
• Perform other related duties as assigned.

Qualifications required

Education:

• Advanced university degree in business administration, international development, engineering, programme/project management, or any relevant area of study to support knowledge in programme/project management or a related field OR education from a reputed college of advanced education with a diploma of equivalent standard to that of an advanced university degree in one of the fields above. For internal candidates, a first university degree in one of the fields above in combination with ten years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of an advanced university degree for promotion or rotation purposes.

Experience:

• At least seven years of progressively responsible experience in managing projects/programmes in the context of international development, including at least three at the international level. A Doctorate in a related field can be considered as a substitute for three years of working experience.
• Certification in project management (e.g. PMP, Prince, PMD) would be considered an advantage for this position.
• Strong experience in providing expertise and advice to senior management on a wide range of international.
  telecommunications/ICTs related issues and policies is required.
• Previous experience in managing and/or implementing donor-funded programmes/projects will be an asset.
  Experience within or coordinating with government bodies on ICT will also be an asset.

• Knowledge of one of the six official languages of the Union (Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian, Spanish) at advanced level and knowledge of a second official language at intermediate level. Knowledge of a third official language would be an advantage.

Additional information

Duty station may be transferred to Barcelona in the near future.

Information on recruitment process

Please note that all candidates must complete an on-line application and provide complete and accurate information. To apply, please visit the ITU Careers website. The evaluation of candidates is based on the criteria in the vacancy notice, and may include tests and/or assessments, as well as a competency-based interview. ITU uses communication technologies such as video or teleconference, e-mail correspondence, etc. for the assessment and evaluation of candidates. Please note that only selected candidates will be further contacted and candidates in the final selection step will be subject to reference checks based on the information provided. Messages originating from a non ITU e-mail account – @itu.int – should be disregarded. ITU does not charge a fee at any stage of the recruitment process.

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.