Corporate Innovation Specialist

The Individual contractor services will help ESCAP innovate its work culture, boost the Innovation Team's work, and enhance the impact of ESCAP's work in the region.

Remote

9 months

Background: The Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) is the most inclusive intergovernmental platform in the Asia-Pacific region. The ESCAP secretariat supports inclusive, resilient and sustainable development in the region by generating action-oriented knowledge, and by providing technical assistance and capacity-building services in support of national development objectives, regional agreements and the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. ESCAP also provides support to partners at the national level. To deliver on its mandate, easily adapt to change, and increase the impact of its work, ESCAP seeks to continuously innovate its knowledge products, culture, and internal processes. ESCAP's corporate innovation efforts are led by an inter-divisional team that promotes internal innovation activities to shape the organization's culture, help reshape ESCAP's products and services, promote greater cross-collaboration among Divisions, and expose personnel to digital tools, Human Centered Design (HCD) and Design Thinking methodologies. The team is staff-driven, flat, non- hierarchical, cross-collaborative. This position is located in the Division of Administration and operates at the organization-wide level under the supervision of the Office of the Executive Secretary. The incumbent reports directly to the Innovation Team members. Responsibilities: In close collaboration with the Innovation Team and ESCAP divisions, and under the supervision of the Innovation Team, the Corporate Innovation Specialist will support: a. The design and implementation of innovation activities and training programmes that target ESCAP personnel, foster a culture of innovation, build capacities in innovation methodologies, and support the delivery of new and improved products and services. b. The Innovation Team in coaching project teams to apply Design Thinking, Human-Centered Design, and futures methodologies in product development and strategic planning. c. ESCAP personnel in innovating their products and services using digital tools to enhance usability, user-centricity, and satisfaction. This includes assignment of licenses and management of digital innovation tools across ESCAP, including user onboarding, and offering tutorials and training on specific tools, as required. d. Supervision and collaboration with the Business Automation Specialist and key ITS colleagues to develop and implement automation solutions that enhance ESCAP’s business processes, providing specific support on workflow mapping. e. The preparation, launch, implementation, review and follow ups of the annual Seed Funding exercise that provides funding for innovative projects at ESCAP. f. The preparation work for the annual ESCAP Innovation Mapping Exercise, and the Innovation Awards, including innovation events and recognition activities. g. The organization of innovation events, labs, training sessions, brainstorming exercises, and related team activities. h. Enhancing engagement and outreach through implementing the team's Communication and Outreach Strategy with content writing for the different communication channels. i. The development and maintenance of a knowledge management system to organize the Innovation Team’s resources, outputs, and lessons learned. j. Innovation monitoring and evaluation activities to track performance against KPIs through data collection, analysis, and report generation in close collaboration with other team members. k. The management of administrative operations for the Innovation Team, including procurement, coordination, and general functions. l. The recruitment and mentorship of interns within the Innovation Team, where applicable. m. Any other strategic initiatives and activities as identified by the Innovation team. Expected duration: From 01 November 2026 to 31 July 2027 (total of 9 months). Travel Details: The Contractor can either work from remote or be based in Bangkok, depending on the contractor's personal preference. If working from remote, Bangkok time zone's working hours need to be respected to allow for team collaboration. If relocation to Bangkok is the desired option by the Contractor, the ESCAP team will facilitate visa procedures for the duration of the contract. No travel provisions are included as part of this contract. The contractor may relocate to Bangkok at their own expense.

• University degree in Innovation, Economics, Information Technology, Communications, or other related field or other relevant subjects is required. • Certificate course/Masters in Innovation methodologies and approaches is an advantage. • At lease 2 years of professional experience in the corporate innovation field is required. • Proven experience in organizing innovation events and/or training programmes (hackathons-like events, open innovation challenges or similar) is required. • Experience in implementing/supporting the implementation of design thinking and human centered methodologies is required.

Excellent communication skills (written and oral) in English are required.

Not available.