Strategic Foresight Analyst

Job Description

The incumbent will work under the supervision of the Strategic Foresight Officer and will be responsible for the following duties:

1. Coordination and Technical Support
2. Analysis and Strategic Development
3. Knowledge creation, capacity building and reporting
4. Communication and partnerships

1. Coordination and technical support

• Support to the management & coordination of strategic foresight experiments including elaboration of concepts and experiments with internal and external partners, planning, and facilitating co-creation sessions and implementation.

• Provide substantive inputs and technical expertise across the foresight value chain including data aggregation & scanning, analysis & sensemaking, insight generation and visualization.

• Provide support in various contractual procurement tasks as required;

2. Analysis and Strategic Development

• Support strategic integration of insight, carrying out analysis and research work independently and as a part of a broader team;

• Carry out research to monitor the needs, trends and developments within a broader strategic foresight ecosystem, to further development of the evolving workstream;

• Support foresight product roadmaps, and contextualization, sustainable uptake and continuous development of new foresight offerings and services ensuring their integration in the working level practices;

3. Knowledge creation, capacity building and reporting

• Support foresight capacity development tasks, including documentation of best practices, developing cross-network tools and resources, training, and providing inputs to guideline and policy development as required;

• Support Monitoring & Evaluation, Portfolio Impact Management and reporting;

4. Communication and Partnerships

• Contribute to strategic communications, partnerships development, resource mobilisation, and expert ecosystem development in the substantive area;

• Support events, workshops and conferences as required;

5. Perform other duties as may be reasonably required and in line with the incumbent’s scope of services above.

IV. Impact of Results

Support UN leadership, including country operations, in accessing futures and foresight capacity to identify emerging risks and opportunities, develop mitigation strategies, and inform strategic planning contributing to the overall vision and mission of the UN Global Pulse.

Education/Experience/Language requirements
* FEMALE CANDIDATES ARE STRONGLY ENCOURAGED TO APPLY
* CANDIDATES WITH NO UNITED NATIONS OR UNOPS EXPERIENCE ARE STRONGLY ENCOURAGED TO APPLY


Education:

• Advanced university degree (Master’s degree) preferably in international development, computational social sciences, social sciences, behavioural sciences, economics, interaction design, journalism, or another relevant discipline.
• A first-level university degree in combination with qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of an advanced university degree.

Experience:

Required

• At least two (2) years of relevant work experience in programme or product management, particularly in the areas of strategic foresight, innovation, data, development, innovation or design research, digital development or other related fields.
• At least one (1) year of experience on futures and foresight work in organisational settings.

Desirable (The following experience is optional. Candidates who do not have it are welcome to apply):

• Experience working in a developing country context.
• Experience working in the humanitarian and development sectors, including experience in international organisations or government contexts or sub-government entities, such as think tanks or innovation accelerators.
• Experience delivering high-quality research, analysis preferably covering quantitative and qualitative approaches, and communicating the insights through accessible multimedia formats for action and results.
• Ability to coordinate multi-stakeholder projects, including with government, universities, UN organisations, NGOs, and the private sector.
• Experience in strategic communication and community management.
• Experience working with agile project management and portfolio management.

Language Requirements:

• Fluency in English (read, write, speak) is required.
• Knowledge of another United Nations official language is an advantage.

About the Organization

Background Information - UNOPS

UNOPS is an operational arm of the United Nations, supporting the successful implementation of its partners’ peacebuilding, humanitarian and development projects around the world. Our mission is to help people build better lives and countries achieve sustainable development.

UNOPS areas of expertise cover infrastructure, procurement, project management, financial management and human resources.

Working with us

UNOPS offers short- and long-term work opportunities in diverse and challenging environments across the globe. We are looking for creative, results-focused professionals with skills in a range of disciplines.

Diversity

With over 4,000 UNOPS personnel and approximately 7,000 personnel recruited on behalf of UNOPS partners spread across 80 countries, our workforce represents a wide range of nationalities and cultures. We promote a balanced, diverse workforce — a strength that helps us better understand and address our partners’ needs, and continually strive to improve our gender balance through initiatives and policies that encourage recruitment of qualified female candidates.

Work life harmonization

UNOPS values its people and recognizes the importance of balancing professional and personal demands.

Background Information: Sustainable Development Cluster(SDC)

Based in New York, the Sustainable Development Cluster (SDC) supports diverse partners with their peacebuilding, humanitarian and development operations.

The SDC’s services include grants management, development and special initiatives support, and technology support to the UN and UN agencies.

The SDC is part of the New York Service Cluster that supports the United Nations Secretariat, as well as a broadening community of other New York-based United Nations organizations, bilateral and multilateral partners in the delivery of UNOPS mandate in project management, infrastructure management, and procurement management.