Infrastructure Specialist

This is an excellent opportunity to make a meaningful impact in international development while advancing your career in a prestigious UN organisation. The position offers exposure to high-profile infrastructure projects, cross-cultural collaboration, and professional development opportunities in project management, technical advisory, and stakeholder engagement within the UN system

This position operates within a dynamic humanitarian and development environment supporting critical infrastructure projects across the Hub. The role is essential to providing technical expertise and oversight to ensure projects are delivered to UNOPS standards, quality requirements, and performance objectives. The Infrastructure Specialist will play a key role in supporting Project Managers across the full project lifecycle, from feasibility and design to construction and handover

The Infrastructure Specialist provides strategic technical advisory and coordination support to infrastructure Project Managers (PMs) across the full project lifecycle, ensuring compliance with corporate rules, procedures and standards; and provides technical advice and support to all infrastructure projects across the Hub

1. Infrastructure Project Technical Support

• Provide strategic technical advisory and coordination support to infrastructure Project Managers (PMs) across the full project lifecycle, from feasibility and design to construction and handover, ensuring compliance with UNOPS standards, quality requirements, and performance objectives.
• Advise PMs on planning, coordination, and monitoring of infrastructure activities to ensure timely, cost-effective, and high-quality project delivery.
• Support PMs in the implementation of their infrastructure projects with a focus on quality assurance and quality control.
• Provide guidance on the development, implementation, and oversight of infrastructure-related plans, ensuring alignment with UNOPS policies and international standards.
• Advise PMss in conducting feasibility studies, needs assessments, and preliminary investigations, including supervision of external consultants, and review recommendations to inform strategic decisions on project scope and prioritization.
• Provide technical oversight and guidance in the preparation of tender dossiers, ensuring the completeness and quality of technical documentation including drawings, Bills of Quantities (BoQs), specifications, and applicable standards.
• Provide strategic technical input to procurement and project teams during tender preparation and bid evaluation, ensuring alignment with project objectives, technical standards, and UNOPS best practices.

2. Design Management

• Support the PMs to outline design requirements for procurement of design services, including concept, preliminary and final stages, where applicable.
• Support the PMs in managing the design plan so that all associated deliverables are available on time, and to the required quality.
• Review designs for all infrastructure projects prior to submission to the HQ Design Review when needed.
• Liaise and coordinate with the Regional Infrastructure Advisor on any technical matters in relation to design management, as well as with other relevant stakeholders within the Amman Hub as needed.

3. Construction Supervision

• Provide strategic oversight and technical assurance for construction activities across infrastructure projects, ensuring alignment with approved scope, quality standards, cost parameters, and delivery schedules.
• Guide PMs to ensure that all infrastructure projects have effective quality control systems in place.
• Support PMs to ensure that the overall management of works implementation is completed on time, within budget and to quality standards.
• Support PM in reviewing needs assessment, organize preliminary studies/ assessments.
• Provide expertise and support in terms  of the implementation of standards and frameworks - including gender mainstreaming standards - procurement and contract modality selection and management, Quality Control, Health and Safety and Environmental Management System.
• Conduct regular spot checks/ field visits to infrastructure projects’ sites to follow up on the progress of works implementation and quality for on time delivery, and identify possible areas/issues of concern, including with regard to the gender-sensitivity of the work environment.
• Support PMs in reviewing variation orders and contractors’ invoices/claims in all phases of projects’ implementation and provide advice and guidance as needed.
• Seek advice from the Regional Infrastructure Advisor on any technical matters as well as with other stakeholders within the Amman Hub as needed.

4. Knowledge Management

• Provide infrastructure-related training to PMs, project teams and contractors’ personnel, and advise on engineering best practices, good environmental management practices, and appropriate health, safety, social and environmental (HSSE) standards, including gender-sensitive practices.
• Contribute to the dissemination and sharing of best practices and lessons learned for development planning and knowledge building within the area of infrastructure project management in coordination with the Regional Infrastructure Advisor and other stakeholders within and outside the Amman Hub.
• Provide recommendations on policy and tools to the Infrastructure Practice and contribute to the development of guidance material and tools in coordination with the Regional Infrastructure Advisor.

5. Compliance to Corporate Policies and Procedures

• Coordinate with the Programme Management Office in ensuring that all infrastructure projects are complying with relevant infrastructure-related Organisational Directives and Administrative Instructions, including those related to gender mainstreaming in infrastructure.
• Undertake regular visits to all projects in agreement with the Head of Programme and the relevant PMs.
• Based on field visits and/ or spot checks, report any issues of non-compliance and/ or critical deviations to the Head of Programme and/or the Hub Director, and provide necessary advice and guidance for undertaking corrective measures.
• Support the Head of Programme during the quarterly assurance, and any other reviews of  infrastructure projects.

6. Partnerships Support

• Review all proposals for infrastructure projects at UNOPS Amman Hub and provide technical input to proposals, including proposal writing and project planning (time, cost, scope and quality).
• Represent UNOPS in negotiations, meetings and conferences, as and when infrastructure expertise is required.
• Represent UNOPS at technical forums organised at national, regional or international levels, as and when requested.