Tiered Approach

In line with the commitment to safeguard capacity and support personnel already in the Organization, a majority of UNDP UNCDF/UNV vacancies are advertised using a tiered application process whereby:

• Tier 0: UNDP/UNCDF/UNV IP staff holding permanent (PA) and fixed-term (FTA) appointments, whose posts will be abolished, or contracts will be terminated or not renewed during 2026.
• Tier 1: Other UNDP/UNCDF/UNV staff holding permanent (PA) and fixed-term (FTA) appointments
• Tier 2: UNDP/UNCDF/UNV staff holding temporary appointments (TA), personnel on regular PSA contracts, and Expert and Specialist UN Volunteers
• Tier 3 or no tier indicated: All other contract types from UNDP/UNCDF/UNV and other agencies, and other external candidates

Please make note of the Tier(s) indicated in the vacancy title, if any, and ensure that you satisfy the eligibility to apply.

Background

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) works in about 170 countries and territories, helping to eradicate poverty, reduce inequalities and exclusion, and build resilience so that countries can sustain progress. As the United Nations’ development agency, UNDP plays a critical role in helping countries achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
In Ukraine, UNDP operates in five programmatic areas of support: government capacities for crisis response and management; sustaining provision of public services; emergency works facilitating return and reconstruction; incomes, livelihoods and the private sector response; and civil society and maintenance of nothe social fabric.
The war in Ukraine has resulted in significant loss of life, widespread displacement, and devastating destruction of infrastructure, placing recent socio-economic achievements at risk. In this context, UNDP’s core engagement in Ukraine prioritizes safeguarding development gains, supporting the restoration of critical functions, and facilitating the country’s pathway back toward achieving the SDGs as quickly as possible.
The ongoing war has inflicted profound damage on Ukraine’s economy, infrastructure, and social fabric, creating unprecedented humanitarian and environmental challenges. According to the latest Rapid Damage and Needs Assessment (RDNA4), released in February 2025, the total cost of reconstruction and recovery amounts to USD 524 billion over the next decade. For 2025, recovery and reconstruction priorities total USD 17.32 billion across public investment projects and non-investment programmes, identified through the Public Investment Management (PIM) system introduced by the Government of Ukraine in 2024. These priorities feed into a nationally coordinated pipeline of recovery interventions, relevant to the European Investment Bank (EIB)-funded Ukraine Early Recovery Programme (UERP), Ukraine Recovery Programme (URP), and Ukraine Recovery Programme III (URP-III).
The EIB-funded recovery programmes supported by UNDP Technical Assistance (TA) focus on five recovery priority areas: education facilities, healthcare infrastructure, housing, water and sewage systems, and public/administrative buildings. Since early 2017, UNDP in partnership with the EU and EIB has been providing TA to both UERP and URP with the implementation of 438 sub-projects in more than 170 communities, contributing to the successful completion of 117 sub-projects in 12 oblasts and benefiting around 4 million Ukrainians, including more than 460,000 internally displaced persons and other vulnerable groups.
Building on the successful implementation of previous EIB-financed recovery programmes – the UERP and URP – the new URP III aims at further supporting investments in critical public infrastructure in regions and communities affected by the RF’s military aggression and providing basic public services to affected populations. The UNDP Technical Assistance for the Ukraine Recovery Programme (URP and URP-III) is a 24-month initiative, funded by the EIB. It ensures that EIB-financed recovery investments are delivered efficiently and transparently, in full compliance with the EIB Environmental and Social Standards and the EIB Guide to Procurement, while applying “Build Back Better” principles and ensuring that no one is left behind.
The UNDP TA team will support the Ministry for Development of Communities and Territories of Ukraine (MDCT) and local authorities in planning, preparation, procurement, implementation, and monitoring of recovery sub-projects across multiple oblasts in Ukraine, with priority given to war-affected communities, addressing critical capacity gaps and operational bottlenecks. UNDP provides integrated technical assistance throughout the sub-project cycle, including engineering and procurement monitoring, environmental and social risk management, financial management support, integrity and anti-corruption measures, and stakeholder engagement. By combining UNDP’s national presence and technical expertise, the UNDP project is expected to accelerate the implementation of over 300 EIB-funded sub-projects, contributing to the restoration of essential public services, strengthening of infrastructure resilience, and improved living conditions for conflict-affected populations, including IDPs and vulnerable groups.
In this regard, UNDP Ukraine invites applications from highly qualified and experienced Ukrainian professionals for the post of the Project Operations Analyst. 
The overall objective of this assignment is to ensure the overall strategic administrative, finance and human resources project management, efficient project procurement and logistical services, and consistency with UNDP rules and regulations within the project ensuring high quality and accuracy of work. The Project Operations Analyst will work under the direct supervision of Project Manager and in close coordination with UNDP Programme Specialist, Inclusive Growth (Team Leader), as well as with all project’s and Inclusive Growth projects’ personnel and  UNDP Country Office (CO) team to ensure relevant requirements are fulfilled in a timely manner with required quality, following the highest standards in line with UNDP guidelines and procedures.

The incumbent will promote UNDP’s mandate as a gender-responsive organization with zero tolerance to any kind of discriminatory and abusive behaviour, including sexual harassment, sexual exploitation and abuse.

Duties and Responsibilities

1) Ensures effective and accurate financial services:
•     Implementation of proper planning, expenditure tracking and audit of financial resources in accordance with UNDP rules and regulations;
•     Provide day-to-day financial management, and financial operations support to the project in accordance with UNDP rules and regulations and relevant Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs);
•     Elaborate the internal expenditures control system which ensures that all financial actions for project are properly reviewed and made on a timely basis, payments processed and completed, transactions are correctly recorded in ERP system; travel claims and other entitlements are duly processed, receipting of goods and services are properly done in compliance with UNDP policies and procedures on a timely basis;
•     Preparation of financial reports and forecasts, including monthly and quarterly disbursement reports and financial reports for donors; ensure the reports are prepared in accurate manner, in compliance with applicable requirements and UNDP policies and procedures;
•     Preparation of budget modifications and revisions, monitor budgets and prepare analysis of variances reports in coordination with the Project Manager and relevant project team members;
•     Control and monitoring of use of funds and other resources and maintenance of necessary budgetary controls and records;
•     Timely response to requests to resolve financial data issues, timely accounts closure;
•     Follow-up with partners on any financial issues and resolve them in proper and timely manner;
•     Assuring smooth operation of the project by following established operational rules and procedures, including preparation of the supporting documentation for contracts and payments;
•     Contribution to the project annual and quarter detailed implementation work plans preparation in a timely and quality manner based on the requirements of the UNDP and project donors;
•     Assistance with the project audit, monitoring, and evaluation;
•     Coordination, review and verification of payment requests and supporting documentation for all project-related expenditures, ensuring compliance with applicable rules, policies and procedures;
•     Participation in data collection, analysis and maintenance of projects related database and files;
•     Provide guidance and day-to-day oversight to relevant administrative and operations staff, ensuring timely follow-up on operational and financial actions;
•     Provide guidance and, as needed, support the delivery of briefings/trainings to final beneficiaries and other relevant counterparts on UNDP financial rules, documentation and reporting requirements, including proper preparation and verification of payment requests and supporting documentation, in line with UNDP applicable rules, policies and procedures.

2) Ensures effective procurement services:
•     In collaboration with the project operations and programme teams, and CO elaborate and oversee the overall procurement strategy for proper project implementation;
•     Provide operational oversight and guidance for development and implementation of the procurement plan for works, goods and services related to project activities ensuring it is fair, competitive, transparent, ethical and provides best value for money;
•     Ensuring full compliance of procurement activities with UN/UNDP rules, regulations, policies and strategies;
•     Coordinate and oversee procurement processes implemented by the Procurement Associate, ensuring appropriate planning, timeliness, quality control and compliance with applicable UNDP rules, policies and procedures;
•     Monitor progress of procurement processes, identify risks and bottlenecks, and escalate complex or sensitive procurement cases to the Project Manager and CO Procurement as required.

3) Ensures effective human resources activities:
•     In coordination with the Project Manager and relevant project team members, support recruitment processes of project personnel in accordance with UNDP rules and regulations, including appropriate use of different contractual modalities and contracts management;
•     Ensure the preparation of required documentation to initiate recruitments, processing of competitive selection processes and administration of contracts as per UNDP rules, as well as support to contract extensions, promotions, separations and other related functions;
•     Act as a focal point for the on-boarding process; ensure staff are provided with all necessary office tools to facilitate rapid start-up of their work, including staff registration in the HR system, UNDSS passes, IT access (including Quantum and SharePoint), workstations, laptops and email accounts, and follow up on timelines with relevant colleagues to ensure timely completion of on-boarding actions.

4)  Other:
•     Participate in knowledge building and knowledge sharing
•     Ensuring effective coordination and supervisory oversight of administrative support functions for the implementation of project activities, including personnel administration, travel and mission support, office services, registry, inventory and related logistics, through relevant project administrative staff;
•     Ensure technical support and guidance in establishing a project cycle profile with simple milestones for each phase of a project;
•     Support the project team with effective coordination and working relations with relevant internal and external clients and partners, including final beneficiaries/government counterparts, donors and other project stakeholders;
•     Participate in relevant meetings and share information with the project team and project stakeholders where needed;
•     Participate in project activities (meetings, roundtables, conferences, other public activities) preparation;
•     Synthesis of lessons learned and best practices in operations areas;
•     Organise and deliver training to new project staff within operations-related areas;
•     Closely liaise with UNDP Operations team to ensure proper coordination of actions and activities related to finance, procurement, administration, IT and human resources;
•     Provide supervisory oversight of project operations workflows, ensuring effective division of responsibilities among operations and administrative staff, quality control of operational deliverables, and timely resolution of operational and fiduciary issues.

The incumbent performs other duties within their functional profile as deemed necessary for the efficient functioning of the Office and the Organisation.
 
  Institutional Arrangement 
Under the direct supervision of the Project Manager, the Project Operations Analyst provides overall strategic administrative, finance and human resources management, efficient procurement and logistical guidance, ensuring high quality and accuracy of work and coordination of project operations team. 

Competencies

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• Advanced university degree (Master’s degree or equivalent) in finance, accounting, economics, public administration, business administration, management, human resources, social sciences or related fields is required, or
• A first-level university degree (Bachelor`s degree) in the areas mentioned above in combination with additional two years of qualifying experience will be given due consideration in lieu of Master’s degree. 

Experience:

• Applicants with a Master’s degree (or equivalent) in a relevant field of study are not required to have professional work experience.
• Applicants with a Bachelor’s degree (or equivalent) are required to have a minimum of two (2) years of relevant professional experience at the national or international level in the field of administration, finance, procurement or other relevant fields 

Desirable Criteria:

• Experience of programme operations in complex and large-scale crisis response/recovery will be considered as an advantage.
• Previous working experience in UN system/ development sector will be considered as an asset.
• Familiarity with UN/UNDP procedures will be considered as an asset.
• Experience with ERP systems will be considered as an asset.
• Professional certification in finance, procurement, project management or internal controls (e.g. CIPS, ACCA, CPA, PMP or equivalent) will be considered as an asset.

Required Language(s):    

• Fluency in English and Ukrainian is required.

Equal opportunity

As an equal opportunity employer, UNDP values diversity as an expression of the multiplicity of nations and cultures where we operate and, as such, we encourage qualified applicants from all backgrounds to apply for roles in the organization. Our employment decisions are based on merit and suitability for the role, without discrimination. 

UNDP is also committed to creating an inclusive workplace where all personnel are empowered to contribute to our mission, are valued, can thrive, and benefit from career opportunities that are open to all.

Sexual harassment, exploitation, and abuse of authority

UNDP does not tolerate harassment, sexual harassment, exploitation, discrimination and abuse of authority. All selected candidates, therefore, undergo relevant checks and are expected to adhere to the respective standards and principles. 

Right to select multiple candidates

UNDP reserves the right to select one or more candidates from this vacancy announcement.  We may also retain applications and consider candidates applying to this post for other similar positions with UNDP at the same grade level and with similar job description, experience and educational requirements.

Scam alert

UNDP does not charge a fee at any stage of its recruitment process. For further information, please see www.undp.org/scam-alert.