Quality Assurance Officer

Vacancy Announcement

Quality Assurance Officer, ISP (Individual Service Provider)

Project Funded Post

UNRWA is committed to achieving gender parity at all levels of staffing under the current UN-wide gender agenda and strongly encourages applications from qualified women.

UNRWA welcomes applications from qualified candidates with disabilities.

UNRWA, the largest United Nations operation in the Middle East with over 30,000 staff working across five areas of operation, is looking for professionals like you. 

UNRWA’s human development goals

UNRWA is funded almost entirely by voluntary contributions from UN member states, regional bodies, business foundations and individual contributions. UNRWA has identified four human development goals as the focus of the Agency’s operations in committing to fostering human development of Palestine refugees by helping them to: lead long and healthy lives, acquire knowledge and skills, achieve decent standards of living and enjoy human rights to the fullest possible extent.

How can you make a difference? 

You will be joining a team of around 4,000 staff in the West Bank Field Office working to foster the human development of some 800,000 registered Palestine refugees.   

The incumbent shall report to the Deputy Director for Programmes for the West Bank.

The main responsibilities include:

In accordance with Agency policy and procedures, the incumbent shall be responsible for providing West Bank Field Leadership (Director and deputies) with an independent quality review of all engineering projects in the West Bank Field, including major construction (both for the Agency and for third-party clients), maintenance of UNRWA premises, self-help shelter rehabilitation, and WASH construction and maintenance projects. This position is not a part of the hierarchy for direct management of major construction projects and thus does not have an approval role within ICIP for business or contractual issues.

Specific duties shall include:

• Conduct announced and unannounced site visits to construction and maintenance projects for the purposes of doing independent quality assurance checks.  Key elements shall include.

• Spot checking compliance of ongoing work against specifications contained in the technical drawings and BOQs provided by the Agency to contractors.
• Review daily reports by site engineers and other documentation to confirm that available records mirror completed and ongoing works onsite.  The Quality Assurance Officer will not directly provide information to site engineers except in exceptional cases approved by management.
• Review the results of any and all technical tests required from contractors and confirm that results are within acceptable parameters as per Agency standards and safety requirements.
• Confirm that materials being used onsite conform to both technical specifications in the BOQ and detailed drawings and any samples of said materials that have been approved by site engineers or other Agency personnel.  In addition, confirm that samples approved by Agency personnel are in-line with technical specifications.
• In addition to the main channel of communication held by the Infrastructure and Camp Improvement Programme (ICIP), solicit independent feedback from the contractor and, where relevant, programme staff and third-party clients regarding any outstanding issues requiring attention by the Agency.
• Confirm that basic site safety protocols are in place and being followed by Agency staff, contractor staff, and visitors.  In the case of maintenance projects where facilities may be in use, review protocols to ensure that maintenance work does not endanger the safety of beneficiaries, including girls and boys.
• Review documentation available onsite for both material and non-material variation orders to ensure that reasons for changes are clear.  Where appropriate, support ICIP leadership in providing feedback to the HQ Design Team (Jerusalem) regarding areas where the design required amendment onsite to ensure that such issues are addressed in future designs. At times this shall include visits to completed and already operational premises.
• Develop and use a simple reporting template for summarizing the findings of all site visits, focusing on irregularities and/or areas requiring capacity development of site engineers and other ICIP staff.  These reports should be sent directly to the DDUO/P and DUO with the Chief and Deputy Chief of ICIP in copy. Note: As a general rule, the Quality Assurance Officer should not provide direct feedback or instruction to the third-party clients, or ICIP personnel (site engineers, senior site engineers, field Project Managers). However, if there are serious concerns, these should be immediately conveyed to the DDUO/P for authorization to take immediate action to resolve.
• Work with the HQ Design Team (Jerusalem) and WBFO-ICIP to review Agency specifications against locally available materials to ensure that these are updated as required to represent Best Value for Money.
• Together with ICIP staff, review contractor invoices against the BOQ and technical specifications to check for deviations.  This will be particularly relevant at the time of final payments.
• On a quarterly basis, provide the PA Ministry of Labor with a list of all ongoing construction projects and solicit their support with spot checking site safety protocols.
• Review ICIP monthly progress reports for accuracy and completeness based on site visits and other reviews.
• Other duties as assigned.

Conditions of service  

• Gross Monthly Salary USD3,500.00 including transportation (where possible use UN car).
• ISP’s are fully responsible, at their expense, for insurance covering the period of their services with the agency.

جميع الحقوق محفوظة لموقع جوبس.

To qualify for this position, you will need:

Education

University degree in Civil Engineering, preferably with specific knowledge of both major construction and maintenance projects.

Work experience

15 Years of experience in major construction and maintenance projects management relevant to the post’s duties and responsibilities in addition to experience as technically in charge-of the overall planning, management and execution of construction maintenance projects.

Demonstrable experience in conducting quality checks for major construction projects.

Language(s)

Excellent command of written and spoken English and Arabic.

You will also need to demonstrate the following competencies:

• Solid experience/ability in involving the stakeholders in the planning and implementation of construction and maintenance projects;
• Demonstrable experience in quality checks for fire stop material systems and electromechanical systems for commercial buildings;
• Demonstrated ability to establish and maintain effective working relationships with others in a proactive  team environment;
• Ability to present information and data in a clear and constructive manner;
• Good analytical and numerical skills, including the use of MS Excel and other related computer proficiencies. Ability to produce sound professional judgment.
• Ability to work under stress and pressure.
• Demonstrated problem-solving skills.

Desirable qualifications:

• Specific experience in construction, upgrading, maintenance and/or rehabilitation projects in built environment similar to the camps.
• Specific experience with WASH construction projects.
• Ability to produce/review detailed plans for upgrading, maintenance and/or rehabilitation projects of buildings.

“Please ensure that the e-mail address and mobile phone number that you have written in your Personal History Form are accurate and active. Your statues in relation to the vacancy will be communicated to you via email listed on your Personal History Form.

It is the responsibility of the candidate to provide full, accurate and up to date information in his/her application form. Any missing and/or misleading data may lead to candidate disqualification.”

Equivalency: 

Candidates with an equivalent combination of relevant academic qualifications, professional training and progressive work experience may also be considered if there will not be enough qualified candidates.

For guidance on how to prepare for competency-based interviews: 

https://careers.un.org/lbw/home.aspx?viewtype=AYI

To start the application process, applicants are required to register at http://jobs.unrwa.org by creating a personal profile and completing UNRWA Personal History Form. Only applications received through http://jobs.unrwa.org will be considered. Due to the large number of applications received for UNRWA vacancies, only applicants short-listed for interview will be contacted. 

The United Nations does not charge fees at any stage of the recruitment process. The United Nations does not concern itself with information related to bank accounts.

General information

This vacancy notice is open to internal and external candidates. As an Area post, preference will be given to local candidates already based in the duty station of the post.

UNRWA is a United Nations organization whose staff are expected to uphold the highest standards of integrity, neutrality and impartiality. This includes respect for and commitment to human rights, diversity, and non-violent means of dealing with all kinds of conflict. UNRWA staff are expected to uphold these values at all times, both at work and outside. Only persons who fully and unconditionally commit to these values should consider applying for UNRWA jobs. UNRWA is a non-smoking work environment.

The Agency reserves the right not to make an appointment, to make an appointment at a lower grade, or to make an appointment with a modified job description.

On appointment, all individuals will be asked to sign a self-attestation, confirming that they have not committed, been convicted of, or prosecuted for, any criminal offence and that they have not been involved, by act or omission, in the commission of any violation of international human rights law or international humanitarian law.