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At UNICEF, we are committed, passionate, and proud of what we do for as long as we are needed. 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 professional and personal development that will help them reinforce a sense of purpose while serving children and communities across the world. We welcome everyone who wants to belong and grow in a diverse and passionate culture, coupled with an attractive compensation and benefits package.

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For every child, the right to a Future

How can you make a difference

Strengthening the capacity of UNICEF, governments, and other partners in designing, implementing, and monitoring resilient and sustainable supply chains is essential in achieving equitable access to lifesaving supplies for children, their families, and communities. As part of the humanitarian-development-peace nexus, UNICEF remains a reliable partner in supporting governments and partners to improve their supply chains even in complex fragile, and humanitarian contexts.

The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the vulnerability of global, regional, and national supply chains to shocks and disruptions, and emphasized the need to invest in stronger and more resilient supply chain systems that are agile enough to meet increasing demand for essential products, vaccines and services. These shocks were evident across many supply chains, with global immunization programmes seeing a drop in coverage rates followed by a protracted stagnation as immunization services could not be effectively delivered. There is consensus on the importance and need to ensure countries have uninterrupted access to vaccines and medical supplies for which robust supply chains and related processes are imperative. The ability to forecast demand at both country and global level is fundamental in ensuring that vaccines and medical supplies are timely available where they are needed.

In order to build stronger demand forecasting capabilities at country level, it is critical that countries have the capacity to effectively manage and use data to support decision making and to formulate and establish the right supply chain processes that enable better demand forecasting. It is intended that this country level capacity is built by increasing the availability/quality of data systems and infrastructure to guide decision-making and accelerating the broader coordinated use of data systems across all levels.

Purpose of the Post

This position will contribute to the wider objective of strengthening data management and data use at country level as well as building capacity of national governments/immunization programmes to forecast demand and optimize supply chain processes as outlined above. Fundamentally, this position should accelerate,

1. An increase in the quality of supply chain data being reported to national and global stakeholders
2. Streamlining of the information flow across immunization stakeholders and
3. Support the establishment of processes to predict and communicate demand and facilitate pipeline adjustments at global and national levels.

Key functions, accountabilities and related duties/tasks:

Under the supervision and guidance of the Senior Supply Chain Advisor, Supply Financing Centre, the incumbent will work in close collaboration with the relevant UNICEF Supply Division Centres, Programme Division, and other stakeholders to ensure the attainment of the data management and forecasting goals outlined above. The incumbent will perform the following functions and duties;

• Development and deployment methodologies to support countries manage supply and demand levels and identify stock-risky situations (stockouts, excess) timeously to deploy preventive actions, inform decisions (e.g., shipment schedules) and global-level operations such as UNICEF's forecasting and supply planning processes.
• Development and deployment of guidance/methodologies to link health, programmatic and supply indicators together to identify correlations between health and supply chain performance indicators with a view to enabling countries to better inform forecasting and planning processes.
• Produce and disseminate supply chain gaps analysis and recommendations to bridge the identified bottlenecks e.g. JRF, WUENIC, etc. to identify trends and make correlations of supply chain/financial factors affecting coverage; this will support the capacity of countries to make targeted investments, leverage global resources and influence country-level planning processes (i.e., JAs, FPPs).
• Leading evidence generation efforts (e.g. UNICEF Maturity Model, System Design tools/SCANIT) across programmes and supply chains, in coordination with relevant internal and external stakeholders. This effort serves to inform the way forward for UNICEF and other partners to identify supply chain strengthening investment needs, deploy UNICEF’s technical expertise and coordinate cross-partner support.
• Leading UNICEF’s supply chain transformation and capacity‑building efforts by strengthening national supply chain systems, developing workforce capabilities, and enhancing governance/support the NLWGs functionality and maturity, resilience, and data‑driven decision‑making across counties,
• Support the design, development, and dissemination of immunization supply chain systems design practices and efforts.
• Representing UNICEF in the Gavi Immunization Supply Chain Committee (iSC2)/Gates Foundation meetings and other similar forums to report progress and advance the organization interests, influence/shape the global/regional agenda and align priorities and resources with other development partners to attain collective impact.
• Undertake lessons-learned reviews on successful and unsuccessful deployment practices and experience at the global level, and ensure they are shared as appropriate to improve system strengthening M&E function
• Ensure collaboration and coordination of inputs across relevant SD centres and PG
•  Performing other ad-hoc supply chain strengthening related activities as required or any other duties as requested by the supervisor.     

If you would like to know more about this position, please review the complete Job Description here:  JD_Supply Chain Specialist (Data)_P3

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

Minimum requirements:

• Education: Master or equivalent (Advanced University Degree) in one of the multiple areas of Public Health, Data Science, Business Administration, Logistics, Supply Chain Management, Operations Research, Economics, Industrial Engineering or other related fields is required. 
• Work Experience: At least 5 years of relevant work experience in logistics and supply chain management, preferably with strong experience in inventory management/sales & operations planning/demand planning in public or private sector supply chains, with at least four years being in developing countries is required. 
• Skills: Proven conceptual understanding of logistics and supply chain management including demand planning and inventory optimization required. A good understanding of data management/data science/evidence generation etc. Strong practical experience developing applying/disseminating/ globally developed tools and methods to support LMICs improve and transform their supply chains particularly around data management and demand planning. Proven experience working with developing country governments is required. 
• Language Requirements: Fluency in English is required.

Desirables:

• Knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish) or a local language is an asset.
• Private sector experience in FMCG/consulting optimizing supply chains/inventory is considered an asset.
• Proven experience working in public health supply chains in LMICs specifically in immunization is a distinct advantage
• Experience in humanitarian assistance and development programs, and a mix of field and regional or headquarters postings are advantageous 
• Experience working with UN agencies or any other international organization is an advantage 
• Relevant experience at country level, particularly in development, fragile settings and humanitarian contexts. 

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) Demonstrates self-awareness and ethical awareness

(3) Drive to achieve results for impact

(4) Innovates and embraces change

(5) Manages ambiguity and complexity

(6) Thinks and acts strategically

(7) Works collaboratively with others

Familiarize yourself with our competency framework and its different levels.

UNICEF promotes and advocates for the protection of the rights of every child, everywhere, in everything it does and is mandated to support the realization of the rights of every child, including those most disadvantaged, and our global workforce must reflect the diversity of those children. The UNICEF family is committed to include everyone, irrespective of their race/ethnicity, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, socio-economic background, minority, or any other status.

UNICEF encourages applications from all qualified candidates, regardless of gender, nationality, religious or ethnic backgrounds, and from people with disabilities, including neurodivergence. We offer a wide range of benefits to our staff, including paid parental leave, breastfeeding breaks and reasonable accommodation for persons with disabilities. UNICEF provides reasonable accommodation throughout the recruitment process. If you require any accommodation, please submit your request through the accessibility email button on the UNICEF Careers webpage Accessibility | UNICEF. Should you be shortlisted, please get in touch with the recruiter directly to share further details, enabling us to make the necessary arrangements in advance.

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 is committed to fostering an inclusive, representative, and welcoming workforce. For this position, eligible and suitable candidates are encouraged to apply.

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.

Mobility is a condition of international professional employment with UNICEF and an underlying premise of the international civil service.

Humanitarian action is a cross-cutting priority within UNICEF's Strategic Plan. UNICEF is committed to stay and deliver in humanitarian contexts. Therefore, all staff, at all levels across all functional areas, can be called upon to be deployed to support humanitarian response, contributing to both strengthening resilience of communities and capacity of national authorities.

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.