Advisor - Innovative and Sustainable Finance

This is a unique opportunity to originate and implement innovative and sustainable financing solutions within a global portfolio. The role allows you to shape new financial instruments, influence policy, and drive transformative change across programmatic areas such as health, climate, energy, environment, food, nutrition, and water and sanitation. It offers the chance to blend financial expertise with development goals, engage high-level stakeholders, and contribute to sustainable impact through entrepreneurial design and strategic partnerships.

Under the direct supervision of the Geneva Head of Programme, this role provides expert advisory services to UNOPS Projects, Programmes and hosted entities, developing innovative  and sustainable financing mechanisms and return on investment (ROI) instruments primarily for Geneva and WEC portfolio. This role will also be part of UNOPS corporate retainer pool, may support UNOPS offices in other regions, depending on business needs. This role involves navigating the legal, operational, and financial complexities within the UNOPS framework and donor expectations.

UNOPS Corporate Retainer Pool

UNOPS is managing a pool of Corporate Retainers to meet the need for temporary, short-term ad-hoc support to UNOPS business units across the globe in several expertise areas identified by the HQ business units and in consultation with the regional offices. The Corporate Retainer Pool (CRP) covers a wide range of expertise areas. The CRP is coordinated by the Operational Support Unit in the Infrastructure and Project Management Group (IPMG) however, the Business Unit leading the expertise area supervises each position as relevant.

** IMPORTANT INFORMATION **

Retainer positions are not full-time positions. They constitute a contract whereby the Retainer may be requested to provide a specific output/deliverable within a specified period of time, on short notice. When holding a retainer contract, individuals may receive ad hoc requests from the UNOPS project teams or country offices, and the quantity of requests will vary depending on the current needs. UNOPS shall have no obligation to obtain any minimum quantity of services from the Individual Contractor during the duration of the retainer ICA. The Individual Contractor may have multiple consultancy contracts with or outside UNOPS, as long as they declare them to the UNOPS Ethics Office. Read more about the ICA retainer modality here. 

This retainer position falls under the UNOPS Corporate Retainer Pool (CRP), and the Technical Supervisor, i.e. the Head of Programme, Geneva Office will be responsible for the technical onboarding and overall supervision of the Advisor. During assignment implementation, the requesting unit (represented by its Assignment Supervisor) will be responsible for day-to-day supervision tasks and deliverables.

The functions/responsibilities/key results of this job description are generic and may not always be applicable, nor be comprehensive, for all missions under this job title. The specific tasks and deliverables for each retainer assignment may vary and will be detailed in the terms of reference developed for each assignment by the requesting office/unit, while the GPO/GVA will exercise an oversight function. Under this contract type, the assignments will vary in scope and duration - ranging from short-term assignments of a few hours at a time to longer blocks of time (e.g. several weeks or months full time, and up to a year). Work may also vary with regard to the time zone / location. Whilst most assignments can be delivered working from home, some may require presence in HQ and/or international travel on occasion, including to remote or post-conflict environments. Whilst the successful incumbent can be based in different time zones, s/he should be able and willing to ensure a degree of time overlap with the teams ordering the retainer’s services. 

All corporate retainers are invited to participate in a one-hour induction session (or two 30-minute sessions) where they are guided through the UNOPS retainer management tool, the retainer contract modality and their expertise area in the UNOPS context.

While the contract modality for this Vacancy Announcement is an ICA retainer contract on a project or assignment basis, UNOPS may offer, on a need basis, full-time employment for a specified consecutive period of time (up to one year maximum) - with the possibility to go back and forth between the two contract modalities, pending acceptance of the incumbent of the assignments proposed to him/her.

All retainer assignments will be managed through the UNOPS online retainer management tool, including requests for the retainer’s services and feedback on each assignment.

The Innovative and Sustainable Finance Advisor will conduct research, engage relevant stakeholders, assess the feasibility of various financing mechanisms, and provide practical recommendations for establishing a legally, operationally, and financially viable model(s) that aligns with UNOPS mission and donor expectations.

On an as-needed/on-call basis, initiated through formal Task Orders, the Innovative and Sustainable Finance Advisor will be responsible for the following functions:

1. Research and Landscape Analysis: 

• Conduct a comprehensive review of innovative and sustainable financing mechanisms, such as but not limited to: venture philanthropy models, accelerator programmes, venture funds, catalytic financing approaches, and blended finance mechanisms relevant to supported programmes
• Review comparable financing models used by multilateral organizations, development finance institutions, philanthropic organizations, and private sector investors.
• Assess lessons learned and best practices applicable to UNOPS projects, programmes, funds and hosted entities (including Geneva).

2. Stakeholder Consultation and Coordination: 

• Consult with relevant UNOPS departments, including the Legal Group, Infrastructure and Project Management Group (IPMG), Finance Group (FG), Procurement Group, and Partnerships and Futures Group, to assess institutional feasibility.
• Consult selected external experts in innovative and sustainable financing, including but not limited to accelerator, venture and impact investing, development finance, innovation, and global development, as appropriate.
• Facilitate discussions to validate findings and recommendations across key internal and external stakeholders.
• Consult the various hosted entities and funds to gauge their interest in potential collaboration or joint investments, when appropriate for joint programming.

3. Framework Integration: 

• Provide strategic guidance on embedding innovative and/or sustainable financing mechanisms into UNOPS corporate policies, operational strategies, and risk management frameworks.
• Thematic Scaling: Identify high-impact opportunities to scale financial models across core sectors, including climate action, global health, education, and humanitarian response.
• Institutional Impact: Assess the legal, fiduciary, governance, financial, and operational implications of introducing new financing mechanisms across UNOPS corporate structures, hosted entities, managed funds, and project and programme governance bodies.
• Risk Management: Identify sector-specific risks and mitigation measures.
• Mechanism Analysis: Define and evaluate Return on Investment (ROI) and impact-linked instruments, including green/blue bonds, recoverable grants, revenue-sharing arrangements, royalties, milestone-based repayments, and revolving funds.
• Comparative Assessment: Analyze the comparative advantages, limitations, risk profiles, and operational requirements of each financing mechanism.

4. Operational Implementation:

Develop comprehensive innovative and/or sustainable finance frameworks and policy recommendations, incorporating technical parameters. 

• Corporate Boundaries: Define policy limits and rules regarding holding, receiving, and recycling financial assets (e.g., equity, bonds, royalties, revolving facilities). Support the preparation of project/programme policy exception requests as needed.   Recommend policy strengthening language to IPMG and FG.
• Instrument Mapping: Identify and align financial tools with entity types and product/service maturity stages (e.g., health, technology, infrastructure, service delivery) with the project or programme impact goals.
• Jurisdictional Compliance: Evaluate cross-border regulatory constraints, including international sanctions, tax structures, withholding requirements, and legal compliance.
• Risk Management: Establish oversight requirements, and design concrete risk-mitigation measures. 
• Impact monitoring: Define impact measurement methodologies.
• Term-Sheet Architecture: Draft initial operational frameworks and term-sheet outlines for prioritized financial instruments.
• Personnel Support: Advise and train UNOPS personnel on designing, structuring, and managing robust financial architectures, including blended finance tools, green bonds, and impact metrics.

5. Reports and Presentation: 

• Develop executive summaries, presentations, and briefing materials summarizing key findings and recommendations.
• Present findings to leadership, teams, and external partners as requested.

6. Other Duties : 

• Ensure gender and social inclusion considerations, and the adoption of sustainable and environmentally responsible practices, are integrated into all aspects of project design and implementation.