Batch Recruitment of 2 positions: Programme Specialist (Portfolio Strategist), P-3, TA (364 days), #136457 #136458, Office of Innovation-Stockholm, Sweden

UNICEF works in over 190 countries and territories to save children’s lives, defend their rights, and help them fulfill their potential, from early childhood through adolescence.

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.

Visit our website to learn more about what we do at UNICEF.

For every child, the right to a Champion

How can you make a difference?

You, as the Programme Specialist (Portfolio Strategist), are responsible for strategically managing UNICEF Venture Fund’s investment portfolio to ensure funded companies achieve strong performance, growth, and measurable impact for children and their environment. You are accountable for developing and implementing portfolio management strategies, leading company selection and contracting processes, coordinating tailored technical assistance, tracking performance and ROI, and enabling follow‑on investment and partnerships to help scale solutions that ultimately improve outcomes for children.

The key responsibilities are:

1. Developing and executing the overall portfolio management strategy, including necessary systems, partnerships, and technical assistance, for companies receiving funding
2. Advising on sourcing and selection of companies, and leading on selection and contractual process of companies receiving seed and growth funding
3. Based on a robust needs assessment process, developing a technical assistance program for each portfolio company (with support from external partnerships, a network of mentors, engagement of technical leads) in seed and growth portfolios
4. Maintaining portfolio management systems and processes, including regular tracking of milestones and companies’ performance through KPIs, and applying data to guide portfolio management strategy
5. Identifying and managing growth strategies for portfolio companies

If you would like to know more about this position, please review the complete Job Description here: 2026_Specific JD Template_Portolio Strategist P3_final (1).docx

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

Minimum requirements:

• Education: An advanced university degree in finance, entrepreneurship, business administration or relevant field
• Work Experience: A minimum of five years of progressively responsible professional work experience in a relevant field. Seven years of experience in lieu of an advanced degree.
• Demonstrated management-level experience in managing portfolios of company investments ideally from venture capital and/or impact investment portfolios, from pre-seed to early growth stages is required, including demonstrated knowledge of specific challenges faced by seed stage companies and approaches to address them
• Experience in coordinating and monitoring complex projects, product development, business growth analysis including financial modelling required.
• Understanding of open-source and frontier technologies (such as AI and blockchain) and their possible applications to UNICEF strategic priorities required
• Experience in managing (technical) teams/advisors to set and reach ambitious goals required
• Demonstrated experience in developing partnerships and entrepreneurial strategies, providing acceleration programs or similar support
• Strong written and verbal communication skills required, including external representation and presentations, facilitation of networks of communities
• Ability to synthesize technical information and translate it into accessible products and systems
• Skills: impact investment, management, coordination, sourcing, strategizing.
• Language Requirements: Fluency in English is required.

Desirables:

• Language: Knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish) or a local language
• Relevant experience at country level, particularly in development, fragile settings and humanitarian contexts.
• Solutions leveraging frontier tech and open-source licensing desired.
• Experience in sourcing companies /stock picking is required, especially in emerging markets for investments in the 500k-1mn ticket range is desired.
• A strong understanding of UNICEF programmes, goals and principles is desired.
• Experience working in complex, resource poor contexts is a plus.

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

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 male candidates from programme countries 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.

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.

This appointment is for an initial period of 364 days, with the possibility of a one-year extension subject to satisfactory performance and availability of funds.