The Change Management Specialist enables UNOPS Transformation to achieve its goals through tailored and effective approaches for advancing behavioral change and change adoption. They do this by developing and implementing pragmatic, well-informed, and tailored change management plans. They are skilled at navigating fast-paced, international settings. They partner with multiple stakeholders, develop and facilitate workshops, provide advice and build organizational change maturity in managing and absorbing change. This ultimately contributes to UNOPS’ ability to fulfill our strategic objectives of scaling up and speeding up.
About UNOPS
UNOPS is an operational arm of the United Nations. We help people build a more peaceful, fair and sustainable world. We pursue a vision for the world where all people have access to human rights, peace and sustainable development, supported by sustainable, resilient and inclusive infrastructure and effective and transparent use of public resources in procurement and project management.
About Strategy and Transformation Group (STG)
STG comprises the Corporate Strategy and the Change and Transformation teams. The role of STG is to develop, review and report on the UNOPS strategic plan responding to the requirements of Member States, the needs of our partners and what we need to achieve as an organization. STG supports the design and implementation of transformation initiatives and other organizational changes, needed to drive implementation of the strategic plan.
About Change and Transformation team
The role of the Change and Transformation Team(CTT) is:
Internal Support: facilitating and co-creating organizational solutions that support UNOPS’s strategic priorities and their execution, e.g. root cause analysis, solution design and solution implementation.
Change Implementation: for transformation initiatives, providing hands on Change Management, building and implementing tailored plans and activities aimed at achieving desired changes in behaviours and sustaining them over time.
Change Capability development: supporting UNOPS in increasing our maturity in managing change. We are the custodian of the UNOPS Change Management approach and we offer guidance, easy-to-use tools, community-building opportunities, and training for change-critical roles, to embrace and enable change
Transformation Office: providing a holistic view of UNOPS Reforms, aiming to ensure that initiatives are aligned. Ultimately supporting UNOPS to speed up and scale up.
Process Innovation and Digitalization Programme (PID)
PID is a multi year transformation programme focused on modernizing UNOPS processes and systems. Key areas covered by PID are HR, Procurement, Finance, and Project Management
Job Specific Context
We are now recruiting for a Change Management Specialist role on a short-term basis, until the end of December 2026. This position can be located both home-based (incumbents are expected to work during core hours in the Copenhagen timezone) or in the office in Copenhagen. Only internal candidates can apply.
The Change Management Specialist will report to a Change Management / Organisational Development Advisor in the Change & Transformation team, who will provide board supervision and guidance. The role will also become embedded for a significant proportion of time, into an assigned PID project. The Change Management Specialist might also be flexibly deployed to provide advisory or active support to different transformation projects, based on organisational priorities. The position will play a key role in planning and implementing a change management approach for the assigned project, in alignment with the UNOPS change management framework. The role will also contribute to the success of UNOPS transformation including PID, via an active involvement in the change management capability development effort.
Change Management
Partner with key stakeholders to develop and roll out effective and tailored change management approaches, to realize the benefits of corporate change programmes.
Develop pragmatic solutions to accelerate the adoption of change initiatives, which are reflective of the needs and realities of UNOPS stakeholders at HQ, regional and country level.
Be responsible for the project’s change management work plan execution - focusing on behavioural change and enabling project’s outcomes, whilst procuring relevant, timely and quality outputs. Adopt a business partnering approach - combining hands on delivery and advisory approach
Conduct post-implementation monitoring and follow-up
Contribute to transformation wide change narrative and approaches that aim to enable better change management across the transformation portfolio.
Stakeholder engagement
Design and facilitate stakeholder workshops to deliver key change management products and increase the capacity for change management within project teams.
Establish solid working relationships with the project board and other key stakeholders, advising on issues that may impact the achievement of the desired change outcomes.
Advise internal clients on issues that may impact the achievement of the desired change outcomes.
Leverage the Regional Transformation Advisors network to understand readiness and tailor adoption management approaches as well as enable effective two-way feedback mechanisms.
Develop change networks at the appropriate and relevant levels for change initiatives
Mentor and advise project teams, as well as junior change management resources.
Change Management Capability Development
Shape the development and refinement of Change Management (CM) tools and practices, in the effort to mainstream the UNOPS Change Management Framework across the transformation and to facilitate exchange of good practices and knowledge..
Demonstrate ownership over evolving subsets of tools, leveraging own expertise and the understanding of the organisation, resulting in versatile tools that can be applied to UNOPS contexts by a variety of stakeholders supporting change effort.
Contribute to the ideas on how to drive the adoption of the change management standards and tools for UNOPS transformation
Shape the CM learning offerings and facilitate the learning sessions and workshops to support Change Management skills development
Actively contribute to engaging with the Change Management community hub, Change champions, and Regional Change and Transformation Advisors to build a strong network of change management support and drive adoption of tools and practices that enable change management for the UNOPS Transformation.
Actively contribute to developing the minimum standards of Change Management at UNOPS, socialize and implement them in the projects as necessary.
Project management
Develop business cases, communications materials, learning plans and project documentation, as part of a multi-disciplinary project approach.
Produce and update project documentation including plan, risk analysis, stakeholder analysis and communications plan.
Implement project plan and manage critical milestones for successful project delivery.
United Nations Office for Project Services
