UNICEF’s Office of Innovation is looking for a dedicated Innovation Manager who serves as a critical link between UNICEF country offices, Regional Offices, and the Office of Innovation (OOI) at headquarters, facilitating a dynamic exchange of ideas, strategies and resources.

UNICEF works in over 190 countries and territories to save children’s lives, defend their rights, and help them fulfill their potential, from early childhood through adolescence.

At UNICEF, we are committed, passionate, and proud of what we do. Promoting the rights of every child is not just a job – it is a calling.

UNICEF is a place where careers are built: we offer our staff diverse opportunities for personal and professional development that will help them develop a fulfilling career while delivering on a rewarding mission. We pride ourselves on a culture that helps staff thrive, coupled with an attractive compensation and benefits package.

Visit our website to learn more about what we do at UNICEF.

For every child, innovate…

The Office of Innovation (OoI) works to catalyse UNICEF’s and all its partners’ expertise and resources against key children-outcomes bottlenecks to continuously ideate and scale the most effective solutions with transformational potential at scale to achieve the child-related SDGs. 

The office is doing this by continuously exploring new ways of accelerating results for children, investing across a range of early-stage solutions, harnessing internal and external expertise towards continuously iterating and finetuning the most promising solutions for children through a systematic portfolio management approach, and leveraging all stakeholders’ innovation energy, knowhow and resources from intergovernmental, multilateral, private sector and non-governmental fora (think tank, academia).

The Multiregional Innovation Manager is pivotal in proactively fostering and developing innovation ecosystems within UNICEF programming countries across the assigned regions. This position serves as a critical link between UNICEF country offices, Regional Offices, and the Office of Innovation (OOI) at headquarters, facilitating a dynamic exchange of ideas, strategies and resources. The manager collaborates with diverse stakeholders to align innovation initiatives with UNICEF’s Innovation Strategic Plan and regional priorities while building on country context. The role will provide support to RO and country offices on aspects of innovation, build capacity within country offices and provide technical support on key innovation portfolio initiatives in UNICEF’s priority programme areas, as agreed in the Global Innovation Board (May, 2024) and alignment with Regional Flagship initiatives and regional innovation portfolios. The role will help increase closer collaboration between UNICEF OOI, ROs, and the field.

How can you make a difference? 

The main purpose of the role is to enhance the capacity of ECAR and MENAR promote, nurture and scale-up innovation efforts in the regions.

Under the general direction of the Global Strategy and Capacity Building Innovation Manager (Portfolio, Culture and Scale) and the Deputy Regional Director(s) of ECARO and MENARO and working closely with T4D, the Multiregional Innovation Manager will support country offices with:

• Strategic innovation advisory and portfolio management
• Promoting innovation and provide technical assistance for the implementation of programmes
• Partnership & engagement
• Knowledge management & community development
• Planning & reporting

If you would like to know more about this position, please review the complete Job Description here:  JD_MultiRegion Innovation Manager .pdf

To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have…

Minimum requirements:

• Education: An advanced university degree (Masters or higher) in Social Sciences, Humanities, International Relations, Economics, Business or another relevant field. Experience in innovation strategy or related disciplines preferred.
  *A first degree plus an additional 2 years of experience may be accepted in lieu of a Master’s degree.

• Work Experience:
  • A minimum of 8 years of professional work experience in a relevant field, such as international development, innovation, social innovation or entrepreneurship.
  • A minimum of 3 years of experience in leading innovation projects/programmes in the child rights context.
  • Experience developing innovation strategies or business plans.
  • Experience in building and maintaining a network of stakeholders.
  • Experience in working with multiple countries and with multiple stakeholders.
  • Evidenced experience in fundraising for entrepreneurship and skills-building programmes.  
  • Familiarity with emerging technologies (e.g., AI, blockchain, IoT) and their potential applications in development contexts.
• Language Requirements: Fluency in English is required. Knowledge of another UN language is highly desirable.

Desirables:

• Developing country work experience and/or familiarity with emergency. 
• Experience in project management and coordination of global innovation projects within the UN desirable.
• Experience working in global NGO or multilateral organisations on innovation projects highly preferred, experience in a UN country office acceptable. 

For every Child, you demonstrate…

UNICEF’s Core Values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust and Accountability and Sustainability (CRITAS) underpin everything we do and how we do it. Get acquainted with Our Values Charter: UNICEF Values

The UNICEF competencies required for this post are…

(1) Builds and maintains partnerships (2)

(2) Demonstrates self-awareness and ethical awareness (2)

(3) Drive to achieve results for impact (2)

(4) Innovates and embraces change (2)

(5) Manages ambiguity and complexity (2)

(6) Thinks and acts strategically (2)

(7) Works collaboratively with others (2)

Familiarize yourself with our competency framework and its different levels.

UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages all candidates, irrespective of gender, nationality, religious or ethnic background, and persons with disabilities, to apply to become a part of the organization. To create a more inclusive workplace, UNICEF offers paid parental leave, breastfeeding breaks, and reasonable accommodation for persons with disabilities. UNICEF strongly encourages the use of flexible working arrangements. Click here to learn more about flexible work arrangements, well-being, and benefits.

According to the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), persons with disabilities include those who have long-term physical, mental, intellectual, or sensory impairments which, in interaction with various barriers, may hinder their full and effective participation in society on an equal basis with others. In its Disability Inclusion Policy and Strategy 2022-2030, UNICEF has committed to increase the number of employees with disabilities by 2030. At UNICEF, we provide reasonable accommodation for work-related support requirements of candidates and employees with disabilities. Also, UNICEF has launched a Global Accessibility Helpdesk to strengthen physical and digital accessibility. If you are an applicant with a disability who needs digital accessibility support in completing the online application, please submit your request through the accessibility email button on the UNICEF Careers webpage Accessibility | UNICEF.

UNICEF does not hire candidates who are married to children (persons under 18). UNICEF has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UNICEF, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination based on gender, nationality, age, race, sexual orientation, religious or ethnic background or disabilities. UNICEF is committed to promote the protection and safeguarding of all children. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks, and will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles. Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check, and selected candidates with disabilities may be requested to submit supporting documentation in relation to their disability confidentially.

UNICEF appointments are subject to medical clearance.  Issuance of a visa by the host country of the duty station is required for IP positions and will be facilitated by UNICEF. Appointments may also be subject to inoculation (vaccination) requirements, including against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid). Should you be selected for a position with UNICEF, you either must be inoculated as required or receive a medical exemption from the relevant department of the UN. Otherwise, the selection will be canceled.

Remarks:

As per Article 101, paragraph 3, of the Charter of the United Nations, the paramount consideration in the employment of the staff is the necessity of securing the highest standards of efficiency, competence, and integrity.

UNICEF’s active commitment to diversity and inclusion is critical to deliver the best results for children. 

Government employees who are considered for employment with UNICEF are normally required to resign from their government positions before taking up an assignment with UNICEF. UNICEF reserves the right to withdraw an offer of appointment, without compensation, if a visa or medical clearance is not obtained, or necessary inoculation requirements are not met, within a reasonable period for any reason. 

UNICEF does not charge a processing fee at any stage of its recruitment, selection, and hiring processes (i.e., application stage, interview stage, validation stage, or appointment and training). UNICEF will not ask for applicants’ bank account information.

All UNICEF positions are advertised, and only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process. An internal candidate performing at the level of the post in the relevant functional area, or an internal/external candidate in the corresponding Talent Group, may be selected, if suitable for the post, without assessment of other candidates.

Additional information about working for UNICEF can be found here.