Head of Office – UN Women China

The Head of Office leads and manages the UN Women China Country Office, overseeing strategic programme planning, partnerships, resource mobilization, and advocacy to advance gender equality and women's empowerment in alignment with national priorities and the UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework. The role involves managing a multicultural team, representing UN Women in intergovernmental forums, and ensuring compliance with UN policies and security standards.

Responsibilities

• Develop and implement strategic direction of the Country Office (CO).
• Lead the design, planning, formulation, preparation and development of the Country Strategic Note in collaboration with government, civil society, donors, UN system partners and other stakeholders.
• Identify planning and programme needs, opportunities and approaches to strengthen UN Women country presence and relevance.
• Provide strategic advice and leadership to UN Women’s Executive Director, Regional Director and Senior Management on regional and country direction.
• Manage and ensure quality of results-based and rights-based programming for the CO.
• Finalize the annual work plan and budget and lead monitoring of results-based management approach.
• Lead the CO in delivery of operational goals, oversee implementation, provide direction, guidance and technical support.
• Manage preparation of UN Women mandated country reports and audit review process.
• Provide managerial direction, guidance and leadership including workforce planning, recruitment, performance management and ensuring adherence to UN Women’s policies and standards of conduct.
• Promote teamwork and ensure a respectful, inclusive, safe and healthy work environment.
• Serve as member of the UN Country Team (UNCT), collaborate on programming and advocacy to integrate gender equality and women’s empowerment.
• Partner with UN Resident Coordinator and UN system partners to strengthen interagency coherence and harmonization.
• Represent UN Women in intergovernmental forums, public information events and policy dialogues.
• Build relations and partnerships with government officials, multilateral, bilateral agencies and NGOs.
• Lead and oversee resource mobilization strategies and manage implementation for the CO.
• Establish and maintain relationships with government, partners, stakeholders and donors to support programme development and resource mobilization.
• Manage knowledge management, innovation and capacity building including communication plans and staff training.
• Maintain and update CO’s security strategy and serve as member of the Security Management team.
• Perform other duties as necessary for efficient functioning of the Office and Organisation.

Requirements

• Master’s degree or equivalent in international development, public administration, public policy or other relevant social science fields is required.
• A first-level university degree in combination with two additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.
• A project/programme management certification (such as PMP®, PRINCE2®, or MSP®) would be an added advantage.
• At least 15 years of progressively responsible development experience that combines strategic and managerial leadership in development cooperation at the international level is required.
• Experience in gender and women’s issues programming, at the international level, preferably in developing countries within the UN system, Agencies, Funds or Programmes or UN Mission is required.
• Field based experience working with multi-cultural teams is required.
• Experience leading and coaching staff in international settings is required.
• Experience in the usage of computers and office software packages (MS Word, Excel, etc.) and spreadsheet and database packages, experience in handling of web-based management systems is required.
• Experience in the use of a modern web-based ERP System, preferably Oracle Cloud, is desirable.
• Fluency in English is required.
• Knowledge of another official UN language is desirable (French, Arabic, Chinese, Russian or Spanish).

Skills

• Project Management
• Programme Management
• Strategic Leadership
• Development Cooperation
• Gender Programming
• Women’s Issues Programming
• International Development
• Multicultural Team Leadership
• Team Coaching
• Resource Mobilization
• Advocacy
• UN System Experience
• Office Applications
• Spreadsheet Management
• Database Management
• Web-based Management Systems
• ERP System Experience
• Oracle Cloud
• Intergovernmental Representation
• Compliance Management

Languages

English