Digital Product Manager Open to all applicants - Home-Based

Digital Product Manager [Open to all applicants] - Based | UNDP - United Nations Development Programme

Digital Product Manager [Open to all applicants] - Based

UNDP - United Nations Development Programme Remote | Geneva National IPSA-11, International Personnel Services Agreement level Speaks English, French

Application deadline: April 03, 2026

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Summary by Impactpool

The Central African Forest Initiative (CAFI) is seeking a Digital Product Manager to enhance the development and deployment of its Payments for Environmental Services (PES) digital management tool. This role involves project management, coordination, and knowledge management to support CAFI's objectives in mitigating climate change and promoting sustainable development. The incumbent will work closely with technical teams and partners to ensure the effective implementation of digital tools that incentivize conservation efforts in the Central African region. The position requires strong communication skills and the ability to manage diverse stakeholders.

Candidate Requirements:

Advanced university degree in IT, Data Protection, or related field

Minimum 7 years of experience in project management or coordination in digital projects

Experience in managing digital system development at national or regional level

Experience with Payments for Environmental Services

Fluency in English and French

Tiered Approach

In line with the commitment to safeguard capacity and support personnel already in the Organization, a majority of UNDP UNCDF/UNV vacancies are advertised using a tiered application process whereby:

Tier 0 : UNDP/UNCDF/UNV IP staff holding permanent (PA) and fixed-term (FTA) appointments, whose posts will be abolished, or contracts will be terminated or not renewed during 2026.

Tier 1 : Other UNDP/UNCDF/UNV staff holding permanent (PA) and fixed-term (FTA) appointments

Tier 2 : UNDP/UNCDF/UNV staff holding temporary appointments (TA), personnel on regular PSA contracts, and Expert and Specialist UN Volunteers

Tier 3 or no tier indicated : All other contract types from UNDP/UNCDF/UNV and other agencies, and other external candidates

Please make note of the Tier(s) indicated in the vacancy title, if any, and ensure that you satisfy the eligibility to apply.

Background

The Central African region is home to the second largest tropical rainforest in the world, is sucking out about 1.5 billion tons of CO2 of the atmosphere or 4% of the world’s emissions every year and provides a habitat to more than 10,000 plant and animal species. Forest loss is accelerating despite ongoing efforts, as government action alone has not been enough to establish an effective balance between the interests of the forest and of economic development. On this basis, a coalition of donors – the European Union, the Federal Republic of Germany, the Kingdom of Norway, the Republic of France, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the Republic of Korea – together with Central African partner countries – Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Republic of Cameroon, the Republic of Congo, the Republic of Equatorial Guinea, and the Republic of Gabon – have decided to enter into a collaborative partnership to establish the Central African Forest Initiative (CAFI). 

CAFI’s objective is to recognize and preserve the value of the forests in the region to mitigate climate change, reduce poverty, and contribute to sustainable development. This objective will be attained through the implementation of country-led, national scale REDD+ and Low Emissions Development (LED) investment frameworks that include policy reforms and measures to address the drivers of deforestation and forest degradation and promote sustainable development. The CAFI Trust Fund is the principal means to implement the Central African Forest Initiative. It is administered by the MPTF-O, that also provides the Secretariat services. The Congo Basin, home to over 200 million hectares of tropical forest, represents one of the world’s most vital carbon sinks and biodiversity reservoirs. Sadly, the region continues to experience alarming rates of forest loss. Over one million hectares of forest is lost annually, driven by small-scale agriculture, infrastructure expansion, and unsustainable logging practices. Despite its ecological and climate significance, Central African forests receive only 11% of forest climate financing worldwide. This deforestation not only undermines global climate goals but also threatens the livelihoods of over 75 million forest-dependent communities.

In response, Payments for Environmental Services (PES) have emerged as a strategic and innovative performance-based financial instrument to incentivize conservation, enhance community resilience, and mobilize sustainable finance. PES schemes offer direct financial rewards to local actors (farmers, indigenous groups, and landowners) for maintaining or restoring ecosystem services such as carbon sequestration, watershed protection, and biodiversity conservation. These voluntary contract-based arrangements have proven effective in aligning economic incentives with environmental stewardship, especially in regions where traditional conservation funding is limited.

Governments of Congo Basin countries and the Central African Forest Initiative (CAFI) have designed a standardized regional PES programme and committed to scale it to address the drivers of forest loss while providing direct support to local actors. Groundbreaking digital tools tailored to the context of the Congo Basin countries have been developed to ensure unprecedented transparency, accountability, and measurable impact. The PES planning tool supports informed policy dialogue and decision-making. The PES management tool supports the management of the whole PES cycle, from setting parameters for operation in a country, to supporting the application, monitoring and verification process, and facilitating performance-based payments using digital payment solutions. After a successful piloting, deploying PES at scale using impact-driven digital tools, alongside building national PES institutions, is a game-changer for Central African forests and the population they support.

The CAFI Secretariat is seeking an IPSA to scale its ongoing work on the development and deployment at scale of the PES management tool, as well as of the PES planning tool.

Scope of Work:

This assignment aims to strengthen the CAFI Secretariat’s team in project management, coordination, and knowledge management regarding the development and deployment of CAFI’s PES digital management tool for Payments for Environmental Services (PES) with its partner countries, as well as part of the South-South cooperation. 

Duties and Responsibilities:

Product Strategy & Coordination:

Liaise with CAFI PES technical team and implementation partners to capture functional requirements.

Translate operational needs into clear technical specifications for developers.

Monitor and report on project progress, including regular updates to project partners and donors.

Raise any risks or issues to the project manager and task team for resolution.

Drive the functional vision and evolution of the products, leveraging emerging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, blockchain technology, biometric digital IDs and innovative digital payment systems.

Ensure integration with other digital tools used by CAFI, including CAFI’s PES Planning tool and CAFI’s portfolio management system.

Product delivery:

Develop the work plan for the developers (development phases and related sprints) and coordinate and monitor implementation.

Review prototypes, gather feedback from other team members and partners, and provide feedback to ensure usability and compliance with CAFI requirements.

Coordinate user acceptance testing and validation of system features.

Capacity Building & Deployment:

Facilitate/Coordinate training of CAFI colleagues, implementation partners and partner governments on system use.

Develop user guides and SOPs for PES digital workflows.

Quality Assurance:

Ensure data integrity, traceability, and compliance with CAFI’s monitoring & evaluation and data protection policies

Ensure the overall cyber security and integrity of the system.

Facilitate integration of independent verification processes into the system.

Stakeholder Engagement:

Maintain regular communication between CAFI Secretariat, IT teams, and field partners.

Document lessons learned and contribute to system improvement roadmap.

Knowledge management:

Facilitate knowledge-sharing and capacity-building activities for project partners and stakeholders, in priority within CAFI partner countries, as well as part of the South-South cooperation.

Identify opportunities for PES systems through collaboration with other technical teams and experts and follow through on meetings with country offices.

Plan and lead in-person workshops and side events.

Contribute to global Digital Public Infrastructure discussions, briefing notes, and concepts related to the PES systems.

Plan, design, and coordinate a Community of Practice.

The incumbent shall perform other duties within their functional profile as deemed necessary for the efficient functioning of the Office and the Organization.

Institutional Arrangement:

The incumbent will work under the direct supervision of the P4 Technical Expert, Programming PSE in the CAFI Secretariat.

Competencies

Core:

Achieve Results: LEVEL 3

Set and align challenging, achievable objectives for multiple projects, have lasting impact

Think Innovatively: LEVEL 3

Proactively mitigate potential risks, develop new ideas to solve complex problems

Learn Continuously: LEVEL 3

Create and act on opportunities to expand horizons, diversify experiences

Adapt with Agility: LEVEL 3

Proactively initiate and champion change, manage multiple competing demands

Act with Determination: LEVEL 3:

Think beyond immediate task/barriers and take action to achieve greater results

Engage and Partner: LEVEL 3

Political savvy, navigate complex landscape, champion inter-agency collaboration

Enable Diversity and Inclusion: LEVEL 3

Appreciate benefits of diverse workforce and champion inclusivity

Cross-Functional & Technical:

Business Management - Working with Evidence and Data:

Ability to inspect, cleanse, transform and model data with the goal of discovering useful information, informing conclusions and supporting decision-making.

Business Direction & Strategy - Entrepreneurial Thinking:

Identify and seize opportunities to service and add value to clients, create clarity around UNDP value proposition to beneficiaries and partners, develop clear service offers responding to client needs in line with UNDP’s organizational priorities and mandate.

Business development - Human-centered Design:

Ability to develop solutions to problems by involving the human perspective in all steps of the problem-solving process.  Knowledge and understanding of human centred design principles and practices.

Business management - Project management:

Ability to plan, organise, prioritise and control resources, procedures, and protocols to achieve specific goals.

Digital - Digital product management:

Ability to design and lead digital product development including testing, ongoing product iteration, product strategy and delivery.

2030 Agenda: Planet - Climate:

Circular economy and green economy

Business Direction & Strategy - System Thinking:

Ability to use objective problem analysis and judgement to understand how interrelated elements coexist within an overall process or system, and to consider how altering one element can impact on other parts of the system.

 

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

Advanced university degree (Master’s degree or equivalent) in Information Technology (IT), Data Protection, Digital Rights, or related is required Or

A first-level university degree (Bachelor’s degree) in the areas mentioned above, in combination with additional 2 years of qualifying experience will be given due consideration in lieu of the advanced university degree.

 

Experience:

Minimum 7 years (with master’s degree) or 9 years (with bachelor’s degree) of progressively responsible experience in project management or project coordination in digital projects or digital system fields.  

Previous experience in managing digital system development and implementation at the national or regional level.

Previous experience in working on Payments for Environmental Service.

Previous experience in working with countries from the Congo Basin.

Desired additional skills and competencies:

Previous experience working with the UN and/or in a developing country.

Previous experience in a product owner/product manager role.

Experience with the environmental conservation, forest management and/or sustainable agriculture programs.

Experience working on direct payment systems to beneficiaries.

Proven experience managing partner and stakeholder relationships at the national or international level

Experience in coordinating diverse teams, technical vendors, and senior stakeholders around complex challenges.

Proven experience with agile methodologies and related tools

Demonstrated experience of budget management, work planning, monitoring, and reporting.

Required Language(s):

Fluency in English and French languages is required.

 

Equal opportunity

As an equal opportunity employer, UNDP values diversity as an expression of the multiplicity of nations and cultures where we operate and, as such, we encourage qualified applicants from all backgrounds to apply for roles in the organization. Our employment decisions are based on merit and suitability for the role, without discrimination. 

UNDP is also committed to creating an inclusive workplace where all personnel are empowered to contribute to our mission, are valued, can thrive, and benefit from career opportunities that are open to all.

, exploitation, and abuse of authority

UNDP does not tolerate harassment, , exploitation, discrimination and abuse of authority. All selected candidates, therefore, undergo relevant checks and are expected to adhere to the respective standards and principles. 

Right to select multiple candidates

UNDP reserves the right to select one or more candidates from this vacancy announcement.  We may also retain applications and consider candidates applying to this post for other similar positions with UNDP at the same grade level and with similar job description, experience and educational requirements.

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Summary by Impactpool

The Central African Forest Initiative (CAFI) is seeking a Digital Product Manager to enhance the development and deployment of its Payments for Environmental Services (PES) digital management tool. This role involves project management, coordination, and knowledge management to support CAFI's objectives in mitigating climate change and promoting sustainable development. The incumbent will work closely with technical teams and partners to ensure the effective implementation of digital tools that incentivize conservation efforts in the Central African region. The position requires strong communication skills and the ability to manage diverse stakeholders.

Candidate Requirements:

Advanced university degree in IT, Data Protection, or related field

Minimum 7 years of experience in project management or coordination in digital projects

Experience in managing digital system development at national or regional level

Experience with Payments for Environmental Services

Fluency in English and French

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