Technical Advisor - Energy Transition

Organizational Context

The Partnerships and Futures Group (PFG) strengthens UNOPS partnerships and builds knowledge, innovation, and foresight capabilities through non-programmatic missions, accelerating progress toward SDGs. PFG leads eight thematic missions, including energy transition. Technical Advisors, like this role, provide technical leadership and serve as principal focal points and thought leaders for their assigned mission(s), driving strategic alignment and impact.

Job Purpose

The Technical Advisor (Energy Transition) is accountable for significantly enhancing UNOPS' visibility and strategic positioning in the critical area of energy transition. This pivotal role drives the comprehensive integration of mission-led knowledge, innovation, and foresight across UNOPS' operational framework. This includes shaping partnership development, identifying and cultivating new opportunities, influencing policy framing, refining service offerings, and optimizing service delivery mechanisms. By embedding these forward-looking insights, the advisor strengthens UNOPS' overall mission readiness and accelerates tangible progress toward achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Furthermore, the role may extend its influence to other interconnected missions, such as just digital transformation, SIDS resilience and sustainability, food systems transformation, and the humanitarian, development, and peace nexus, based on organizational priorities and the incumbent's expertise. This ensures a holistic and strategically aligned approach to global challenges.

Responsibilities

The Technical Advisor provides comprehensive thematic leadership, serving as UNOPS' principal focal point and thought leader for the energy transition mission, thereby strengthening the organization's visibility and strategic positioning. This involves clearly defining UNOPS' expertise, comparative advantage, and value proposition within this critical area, and acting as a primary internal and external technical expert on related knowledge, innovation, and foresight. The role also entails developing, contributing to, and widely disseminating mission-aligned materials, including thought-leadership pieces and knowledge management products for both internal use and partner engagement. A core function is to infuse mission-led intent into partnership and opportunity development, reinforcing strategic alignment across UNOPS' portfolio. This includes providing expert technical input during high-level discussions with partners and colleagues, supporting partner-facing teams in project ideation, and offering strategic advice on the balance and value of UNOPS' portfolio across assigned missions. The advisor is responsible for driving the systematic integration of mission-driven knowledge, innovation, and foresight into UNOPS' policy framing, service offering refinement, and delivery mechanisms. This involves advising on mission-aligned outcomes and indicators for performance frameworks, providing essential business partnering support to HQ groups and geographic offices to foster coherence and learning, and collaborating to strengthen knowledge and innovation processes. The role also links internal learning with long-term external perspectives to generate new ideas and drive innovation. Finally, the position requires strong people leadership, fostering a culture of trust, empowerment, and accountability. This includes building engagement, promoting a diverse and inclusive work environment, ensuring the highest standards of conduct, and actively promoting teamwork and collaboration.

Work Experience

Required experience includes demonstrated technical advisory support on energy transition, encompassing social and economic dimensions of a just transition. Strong expertise in renewable energy, energy efficiency, grid modernization, and energy policy is essential. Experience in foresight, trend analysis, case study development, and facilitating stakeholder engagement in the energy sector is also required, along with working in multicultural environments. Desirable experience includes working on just digital transformation, SIDS resilience, food systems transformation, humanitarian-development-peace nexus, and within development/humanitarian contexts or UN system organizations.

Skills

Climate Change, Data Analysis, Energy Efficiency, Energy Policy, Knowledge Management, Proposal Writing, Stakeholder Management, Sustainable Development, Strategic Thinking

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