Governance, Risk and Compliance Specialist, Supply Chain Management Unit, P-4, Copenhagen

The Position:

The Governance, Risk and Compliance Specialist (Manager) position is located in the Governance, Risk and Compliance (GRC) team within Pillar 3
- Quality management in the Supply Chain Management Unit (SCMU). The position reports directly to the Head of Pillar 3
- Quality Management Advisor.
The Governance, Risk and Compliance Specialist (Manager) will work closely with other SCMU colleagues, Office of the Executive Director, other HQ Business Units, the Regional Offices and the Country Offices and with a number of external partners.

The Governance, Risk and Compliance Specialist (Manager) will support the Head of Pillar 3
- Quality Management Advisor to lead and oversee the implementation of SCMU's governance, risk management, internal control and compliance framework, including its contribution to the UNFPA Supply Chain Quality Management System. This role is pivotal in fostering a culture of risk management and ensuring the integrity and quality of supplies and services within UNFPA's supply chain operations.

How you can make a difference:

UNFPA is the lead United Nations agency for delivering a world where every pregnancy is intended, every childbirth is safe, and every young person's potential is fulfilled. The UNFPA Strategic Plan for 2026-2029 articulates the organization’s response to a complex global environment, providing a roadmap for resilience and renewal. It is designed to accelerate the implementation of the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) and the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. This mandate is pursued through a focus on four interconnected outcomes: ending the unmet need for family planning; ending preventable maternal deaths; ending gender-based violence and harmful practices; and adapting to demographic change through evidence and rights-based policies.

In a world where fundamental human rights are at risk, we need principled and ethical staff who embody these international norms and standards and will defend them courageously and with full conviction.

UNFPA is seeking candidates who transform, inspire, and deliver high-impact sustained results, ensuring effective external relations, communications, partnership-building and resource mobilization in a rapidly changing development and funding landscape. We need staff who are transparent, exceptional in how they manage the resources entrusted to them, and who commit to delivering excellence in programme results.

UNFPA occupies a unique position in the sexual and reproductive health commodity ecosystem as a critical player in supply chain management, a leading public procurer of sexual and reproductive health commodities, a trusted partner to national governments, and one of the few organizations with the scale and partnerships necessary to build accountability for last mile delivery.

The UNFPA Supply Chain Management Unit (SCMU) is self-funded and was made operational in January 2022. It is tasked with ensuring that UNFPA is able to effectively and efficiently support the delivery of life-saving reproductive health products and other programme suppliesto the end user when and where they are needed. To achieve this, it is important to strengthen the capacity of governments and implementing partners to ensure coordination, end-to-end visibility and accountability on all supply chain and logistics management related activities, in particular for programme supplies, across all UNFPA programmes.

Job Purpose:

The Governance, Risk and Compliance Specialist (Manager) leads the GRC function within UNFPA’s Supply Chain Management operations, providing strategic advice to senior management on governance, risk, internal controls, compliance and organizational performance. The position ensures that GRC principles are embedded in decision-making and management processes and drives targeted initiatives to strengthen accountability, resilience, efficiency and continuous improvement across SCM.

Main Task and Responsibilities

The Governance, Risk and Compliance Specialist (Manager) is responsible for strengthening the quality, governance, risk management and control environment of SCMU, contributing to effective oversight and delivery of UNFPA operations and programs.

A. Supply Chain GRC Framework, Governance and Quality

• Maintain and continuously improve an integrated GRC framework for SCMU, including governance, enterprise risk management, internal controls, compliance, assurance and supply chain governance, and map the GRC tools required for effective operations.
• Define and maintain standards in the form of policies, procedures, guidelines and relevant tools to ensure consistent monitoring, evaluation, and improvement of the quality of products and services at every stage of UNFPA’s supply chain.
• Proactively detect supply chain-rela