Industrial Development Expert

​Requisition ID: 4368 
Grade: L3 
Country: Austria 
Duty Station: Vienna 
Category: Project-funded Professional and higher 
Type of Job Posting: Internal and External
Employment Type: Staff-Full-time
Appointment Type: Fixed Term – 200 series
Indicative Minimum Net Annual Salary: 102,081 USD 
Application Deadline: 27-Aug-2024, 11:59 PM (CEST)  

Vacancy Announcement
THE APPOINTMENT IS LIMITED TO THE SPECIFIED PROJECT(S) ONLY AND DOES NOT CARRY ANY EXPECTATION OF RENEWAL. 
Female candidates are particularly encouraged to apply.
Detailed information on the project can be found at UNIDO’s Open Data Platform: https://open.unido.org/

Organizational Context

The United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) is the specialized agency of the United Nations that promotes industrial development for poverty reduction, inclusive globalization and environmental sustainability. The mission of UNIDO, as described in the Lima Declaration adopted at the fifteenth session of the UNIDO General Conference in 2013 as well as the Abu Dhabi Declaration adopted at the eighteenth session of UNIDO General Conference in 2019, is to promote and accelerate inclusive and sustainable industrial development (ISID) in Member States. The relevance of ISID as an integrated approach to all three pillars of sustainable development is recognized by the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the related Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which will frame United Nations and country efforts towards sustainable development. UNIDO’s mandate is fully recognized in SDG-9, which calls to “Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation”. The relevance of ISID, however, applies in greater or lesser extent to all SDGs. Accordingly, the Organization’s programmatic focus is structured in four strategic priorities: Creating shared prosperity; Advancing economic competitiveness; Safeguarding the environment; and Strengthening knowledge and institutions.

Each of these programmatic fields of activity contains a number of individual programmes, which are implemented in a holistic manner to achieve effective outcomes and impacts through UNIDO’s four enabling functions: (i) technical cooperation; (ii) analytical and research functions and policy advisory services; (iii) normative functions and standards and quality-related activities; and (iv) convening and partnerships for knowledge transfer, networking and industrial cooperation. Such core functions are carried out in Divisions/Offices in its Headquarters, Regional Offices and Hubs and Country Offices.

The Directorate of Technical Cooperation and Sustainable Industrial Development (TCS) under the overall direction of the Director General, and in close collaboration with all relevant organizational entities within UNIDO, headed by a Managing Director, oversees the Organization’s development of capacities for industrial development as well as industrial policy advice, statistics and research activities and the Organization’s normative contribution to Member States and global development community in achieving the SDGs.

The Directorate also ensures the application of strategies and interventions for sustainable industrial development related to Environment, Energy, SMEs, Competitiveness and Job creation, as well as Digitalization and Artificial Intelligence.

Through coordination in-house and with Member States and industry stakeholders, it ensures that the services provided in these areas contribute toward effective and appropriate technical, business and policy solutions and are focused on results and on realizing any potential for scaling up and positioning UNIDO as a leading platform for industrial development in developing countries and global fora.

This position is located under the Climate and Technology partnerships division (IET/CTP). The CTP Division promotes and paves the road for the engagement with Member States, the private and finance sector, research, experts and innovation platforms, IGOs and other relevant entities and stakeholders, in the development of strategic partnerships on climate and technology. Through the collaboration with a wide range of external partners and organizational entities within UNIDO, the Division supports Member States in their pathway to net zero and accelerate economic transformation.

The focus of the Division is to identify, design, negotiate and coordinate innovative partnerships and support the elaboration and initiation of joint technical cooperation programmes and actions.

The Division coordinates UNIDO’s Global Partnership for Hydrogen in Industry and its related green hydrogen programme; and represent UNIDO in relevant high-level policy discussions and fora. Furthermore, the Division will facilitate knowledge management and exchange, support UNIDO’s global forum activities associated to climate and technology innovation; and coordinate high-level events.

At the L3 level, the incumbent is expected to deliver: (a) work from a seasoned analyst; (b) in creating an enabling environment for work which is solid and anchored to achieving results; (c) in building relationships which contributes to relationship management and (d) in achieving results within a professional team. The measure of success is in consistent and dependable delivery of results.

The UNIDO Staff Performance Management System reinforces the collaboration within formal units as well as among cross-functional teams. In this context, the incumbent collaborates with his/her supervisor and colleagues, within as well as outside the unit. Within the formal teams, the incumbent may be expected to backstop other team members as required.

Staff members are subject to the authority of the Director-General and in this context all staff are expected to serve in any assignment and duty station as determined by the needs of the Organization.

1. Project/Programme Context

Partnership for Net Zero Industry (SAP 230085)

In the fight against climate change, energy intensive industries such as steel and cement are the next frontier. Together these two sectors account for 15% of the global GHG emissions.

The demand for these commodities is expected to grow as cities and communities across the world are expanding. Achieving decarbonization of these sectors and sectors like chemicals will require a major transformation.

While some private sector companies and some of the leading developed countries have announced commitments to industrial decarbonization, the main challenge is how to deploy low carbon technologies across the globe and bring the developing countries into this debate. Currently there is a very limited market or demand for low-carbon industrial products, which is the main reason for the lack of progress in industry decarbonization.

There are a number of challenges to overcome at the company, national and global levels.

The Partnership for Net Zero Industry aims to provide technical assistance to first mover industrializing developing countries willing to leapfrog and switch to less-carbon intensive production methods of steel, cement and concrete to meet net zero target by 2050.

The Partnership will support the relevant ministries in partner countries in tackling the dual challenge of ensuring industrialization and economic growth while at the same time reducing industry related GHG emissions.

It will do so by working with wide range of national and international stakeholders, including government authorities, industry players, financing institutions, solution providers, thinktank and research institutions to address decarbonization challenges that exist at the global, national and company levels.

The ultimate goal of the programme is to trigger and enable substantial investment in decarbonization solutions through international collaboration and partnerships.

The Partnership for Net Zero Industry will work to:

Component 1 ‘Tailored Planning & Policy Support’: Support the development of national transformation pathways in developing countries and emerging economies to a climate neutral industry by 2050.

This entails an assessment of steel and cement industries, identification of technology options and decarbonization pathways, supporting the adoption of medium- and long-term targets for reducing GHG emissions and the development of specific policy instruments and incentive schemes to encourage uptake of decarbonization technologies.

This will also include providing support to policy makers with planning for necessary infrastructure as well as supporting the countries with setting up measurement, reporting and verification (MRV) frameworks for industrial sector GHG emissions to enable better policy planning and decision-making.

Component 2 ‘Technology Collaboration & Pipeline Development’: Facilitate technology collaboration and prepare a pipeline of feasible decarbonization solutions for deployment within steel, cement and concrete manufacturers in partner countries.

Following a call for proposals, companies will be supported to prepare pre-feasibility studies and they will be further linked to available financing opportunities.

The Programme will support technology solutions packages aiming to improve overall system efficiency, material efficiency, process change and improvements, use of renewable sources for heating, electrification of heating, the use of low-carbon hydrogen and carbon capture storage and/or utilization.

Component 3 ‘Global Convening, Coordination & Knowledge Sharing’: Foster dialogue, international collaboration and global industry-wide knowledge sharing on industry decarbonization solutions, experiences, and lessons learned. Governments and industries in developing countries need more information on the technology options available for decarbonization, including respective opportunities, processes, costs and other parameters.

The Partnership will work on developing and widely disseminating such targeted knowledge products as well as tools, guidelines, templates and methodologies through a dedicated knowledge-sharing platform. It will also facilitate North-South and South-South cooperation to foster accelerated diffusion and commercialization of applicable technologies.

Global Matchmaking Platform: The Global Matchmaking Platform for Industry Decarbonization will facilitate the alignment, coordination and matchmaking of existing international technical and financial assistance offers and private finance instruments to

This project is based on Component 2 ‘Technology Collaboration & Pipeline Development’ of the Partnership for Net Zero Industry, under the contribution of the UK Department of Energy Security and Net Zero.

The project aims to deliver support at the company level and to develop an initial list of feasible industry decarbonization technology solutions for chemicals, steel, cement and concrete industries, to develop bankable proposals for financing.

The decarbonization solutions that will be supported include, but are not limited to, technology solution packages aiming at improving overall systems efficiency, material efficiency, process change and improvements, use of renewable sources of energy for heating, electrification of heating and carbon capture storage and/or utilization. In addition, the project will further support use of low-carbon hydrogen technologies for the production and local application.

The project will increase awareness at global level on the potential role of low-carbon hydrogen in reducing carbon emissions to combat climate change and positioning hydrogen as a key component of the sustainable energy transition.

The project outcome is comprised of three outputs: preparing an initial pipeline of proposals for low-carbon hydrogen (Output 2.1); developing a pipeline of investment-ready proposals for low-carbon hydrogen through innovation and technology collaboration (Output 2.2); and mobilising and coordinating international assistance to support the production and utilization of low-carbon hydrogen. (Output 2.3).

The identified project outputs will contribute to establishing a hydrogen project implementation assistance facility and mobilizing international assistance to support the establishment of the UK-Brazil hydrogen hub.

This support entails knowledge transfer, identification and development of pilot projects and capacity building with the aim to contribute to accelerating the commercialization of clean hydrogen technologies in Brazil.

The development of global pipeline of industrial decarbonization projects, will be foreseen as an additional outcome this project and coordinate the project activities in line with UNIDO’s Global Programme for Hydrogen in Industry (GPHI). UNIDO launched the GPHI to stimulate and accelerate the uptake and deployment of clean hydrogen in industries of developing countries and transition economies.

Through enhancing technological readiness and institutional capacity, the Programme supports the increase of renewables, industrial decarbonization of the hard-to-abate sectors and the development of low-carbon industries through green hydrogen industrial clusters.

1. Responsibilities

The Hydrogen Development Expert works under the overall guidance of the Chief, Climate and Technology Partnership Division; the direct supervision of the Industrial Development Officer and in close collaboration with the colleagues to support the mandate of the Division.  She/he will be responsible for providing technical support to the execution of the project. 

Specific responsibilities include but are not limited to:

• Execute and monitor projects/ programme implementation activities and services, ensuring that assigned inputs are high quality, delivered on time and within the allocated budget.
• Coordinate the execution of the project, including as/if needed:

• Supervising and coordinating the work of project consultants, partners and sub-contractors.
• Preparing necessary inputs (work plans, consultant job descriptions, terms of reference, training arrangements, equipment specifications, coordination of global platforms etc).
• Monitoring progress and expenditures, preparing financial forecasts and budget revisions, including missions to project sites.
• Participating in oversight meetings in the field and at headquarters and assists the Evaluation Group in its evaluations of projects.
• Coordinate project communication and knowledge management activities.

• Oversee the development of a global pipeline of low-carbon hydrogen projects under Component 2 ‘Technology Collaboration & Pipeline Development’ of the Partnership for Net-Zero Industry.
• Manage external relations by maintaining close relationships with all stakeholders involved in the project, including government institutions and international entities, locally based donor institutions, international financial institutions and regional development banks, the private sector, civil society and academia to establish collaborations and synergies.
• In line with the guidelines and procedures governing the technical cooperation activities of UNIDO, contribute to planning funds mobilization strategies and cooperate with other units in-house in mobilizing the funds necessary for a follow up project and programme.
• Perform other related duties and assignments as required.

1. Core Values and Competencies

Core Values

WE LIVE AND ACT WITH INTEGRITY: work honestly, openly and impartially.

WE SHOW PROFESSIONALISM: work hard and competently in a committed and responsible manner.

WE RESPECT DIVERSITY: work together effectively, respectfully and inclusively, regardless of our differences in culture and perspective.

Key Competencies

WE FOCUS ON PEOPLE: cooperate to fully reach our potential –and this is true for our colleagues as well as our clients. Emotional intelligence and receptiveness are vital parts of our UNIDO identity.

WE FOCUS ON RESULTS AND RESPONSIBILITIES: focus on planning, organizing and managing our work effectively and efficiently. We are responsible and accountable for achieving our results and meeting our performance standards. This accountability does not end with our colleagues and supervisors, but we also owe it to those, we serve and who have trusted us to contribute to a better, safer and healthier world.

WE COMMUNICATE AND EARN TRUST: communicate effectively with one another and build an environment of trust where we can all excel in our work.

WE THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX AND INNOVATE: To stay relevant, we continuously improve, support innovation, share our knowledge and skills, and learn from one another.

1. Minimum requirements and desirable criteria

Education:

Advanced university degree (master’s or equivalent) in economics, international relations, engineering, sciences, environment, business administration or in a closely related field is required.

Experience, technical knowledge and functional expertise:

• A minimum of five (5) years of progressively responsible working experience, including some at the international level, in project execution or coordination, particularly in the areas of sustainable development and/or industry decarbonization and/or climate change mitigation is required.
• Experience in mobilizing funding for sustainable development projects is desirable.
• Experience evaluating needs, conditions and problems in developing countries, and in technical cooperation projects is desirable. 

Language Skills:

Fluency in written and oral English is required.  Fluency or working knowledge of another official language of the United Nations is desirable.

NOTE: UNIDO professional level applicants are required to have served at least one year in their current post if applying for a higher-level position. However, the seniority-in-grade requirements for applying for higher-level positions, as per paragraphs 18 and 78 of the HRMF, have been waived.

UNIDO General Service applicants are required to be at least at the GS-5 level; to have served in their current position for at least two years; and to have served in UNIDO for at least five years.

Employees of UNIDO are expected at all times to uphold the highest standards of integrity, professionalism and respect for diversity, both at work and outside. Only persons who fully and unconditionally commit to these values should consider applying for jobs at UNIDO.

All applications must be submitted online through the Online Recruitment System. Correspondence will be undertaken only with candidates who are being considered at an advanced phase of the selection process. Selected candidate(s) may be required to disclose to the Director General the nature and scope of financial and other personal interests and assets in respect of themselves, their spouses and dependents, under the procedures established by the Director General.