Deputy Director

1.     Strategic Leadership and Representation

• Support the Director in high-level engagements with national authorities, including the President, Ministers, oversight bodies, legislators, ambassadors, private sector and academia.

• Support the Country Director in the coordination with national institutions, multilateral organizations, and international partners, reinforcing UNOPS' commitment to government priorities.

• Act as the principal backup to the Director, assuming leadership responsibilities as required and during absences to maintain operational continuity and mitigate risks.

• Provides strategic support to the Director in coordinating initiatives that strengthen institutional capacity and sustainable development, with a clear focus on transparency and corruption prevention.

2.  Programme & Portfolio Management

Provides strategic support to the Director on project and portfolio management, focusing on:

• Supervising the Programme Management Office (PMO) to uphold programme governance standards and ensure best practices in project management across all programmes and projects in Guatemala.

• Ensuring smooth operations in the Guatemala country office and facilitating coordination between programmes and support services areas, providing guidance and timely information to the Director on processes, products and results of the portfolio.

• Providing periodic reports on the implementation of the portfolio in Guatemala to selected partners and stakeholders. 

• Supervising the Infrastructure Unit (IU): to uphold technical excellence for all infrastructure projects in Guatemala and across all project stages.

• Supervising mid complexity projects / programmes: 

  • Develop and implement programme plans with clear objectives, performance metrics, and standards to ensure timely and client-focused delivery.

  • Monitor programme implementation, ensuring alignment with UNOPS goals, partner expectations, budgets, and signed Legal Agreements.

  • Proactively identify, assess, and mitigate programme and project risks.

  • Mentor Project Managers, promoting best practices for project planning, execution, and delivery.

  • Ensure accurate project tracking, output analysis, and reporting.

• Ensuring Guatemala Country Office financial sustainability and alignment with organizational strategies.  

• Planning and proposing required programme resources (human and financial).

• Monitoring and submitting revenue and expenditure forecasts aligned with financial goals.

• Overseeing the preparation of key programme documents, including business cases, plans, and risk assessments.

• Collaborating with internal and external stakeholders to ensure compliance with accountability standards.

3.  Portfolio Development through Partnership, networking and advocacy 

• Build and strengthen strategic partnerships through active networking, advocacy and effective communication of UNOPS competencies in project service delivery and management.

• Support the business development function by identifying and developing new business and partnership/customer opportunities. 

• Work closely with the Partnership & Communications unit to ensure and facilitate the capture of lessons learnt from programme and project implementation into new opportunities and engagement development, as well as the adequate identification of risks and mitigation measures.

• Contribute to current and future growth plans for the Country Office, ensuring alignment with the UNOPS Strategic Plan.

• Support Partnership & Communications Unit to develop communication strategies to maximise communication impact and outreach and build awareness of UNOPS goals and competencies to reinforce UNOPS competitive edge as a provider of sustainable projects results.

• At the request of the Country Director participate and/or represent the Country Office in inter-agency discussions and planning to ensure UNOPS position, interests and priorities are fully considered.  

• At the request of the Country Director represent UNOPS Guatemala in portfolio development meetings with national institutions, multilateral organizations, and international partners, ensuring UNOPS operations align with governmental priorities.

4.  Knowledge management and innovation 

• Keep abreast of and incorporate best practices, approaches and technology to enhance the programme delivery and results. 

• Operationalise and share best practices and lessons learned for corporate development planning and knowledge building.

• Draft policy papers and/or recommend policy changes to align operations with changing environments.

• Lead the planning, implementation and organization of strategic capacity building of personnel, clients and stakeholders within the programme.

Impact of Results
The effective and successful performance by the Deputy Director directly impacts on achievement of programme results and consequently reinforces the visibility and image of the UNOPS as an effective service provider in project services and management and strengthens its competitive position as a partner of choice in sustainable development and project services.