HR Specialist

The HR Specialist serves as the Office’s HR Lead, ensuring consistent application of UNOPS HR policies and delivering high-quality HR services including recruitment, contract management, and policy interpretation. The role supports workforce planning, talent acquisition, team management, and HR policy implementation in coordination with stakeholders and partners.

Responsibilities

• Contribute to HR policy development and corporate initiatives by providing data-driven insights on workforce trends, risks and opportunities, and sharing country-specific best practices
• Lead the implementation of corporate HR strategies and initiatives in consultation with management
• Design and lead HR projects and initiatives aligned with corporate HR strategy
• Collaborate with leadership to develop and implement workforce planning initiatives and monitor workforce status and trends
• Communicate changes in HR policies and rollout of new initiatives, offering guidance and support
• Maintain or oversee HR analytics and data parameters to support informed decision-making
• Provide strategic guidance on HR policies in people management and deliver consultative support to management
• Design, deliver and model HR services, programmes and communications to enhance personnel and partner experience
• Advise, support and mediate on sensitive and complex personnel relations issues including grievances and workplace disputes
• Promote line management accountability and provide coaching to strengthen supervisory capabilities
• Support continuous improvement and professional development by advising on learning and development activities
• Partner with leadership to advance institutional gender and diversity priorities
• Oversee implementation of talent acquisition and management policies including recruitment, onboarding, performance management, and contract administration
• Coordinate administration of contractual modalities such as loans, exchanges and secondments
• Lead personnel realignment exercises ensuring timely competency mapping, sourcing, selection, placement and transition of talent
• Identify critical talent needs and develop plans to attract, develop and retain key talent
• Oversee the Office’s HR team to ensure effective delivery of HR services across assigned countries/geographic areas
• Support organization and delivery of training and learning sessions on HR topics
• Participate in knowledge-sharing initiatives and Communities of Practice
• Conduct research on HR-related topics and contribute to reports and briefing notes

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree (or equivalent) in any discipline with 7 years of relevant experience OR Master’s degree (or equivalent) in any discipline with 5 years of relevant experience is required
• A globally or nationally recognized professional certificate in Human Resource Management (HRM) is desired
• Relevant experience in recruitment, HR contract administration, employee relations, organization design and development, or related areas
• Experience in the use of collaboration and productivity tools (e.g. MS Office, G-Suite, etc) and web-based management systems is required
• Experience of working in multicultural environments or UN system organizations in a developing country is desired
• Experience in development or humanitarian contexts is desired
• Experience leading HR teams
• Experience providing HR support and services to partner entities
• Fluent in English is required
• Fluent in French is desirable
• Fluent in Spanish is desirable

Skills

• Human Resources Management
• Recruitment
• HR Contract Management
• Employee Relations
• Organizational Design
• Organization Development
• Workforce Planning
• Talent Acquisition
• HR Policy Implementation
• Team Leadership
• HR Support
• Collaboration Tools
• Productivity Tools
• Microsoft Office Suite
• G-Suite
• Web-based Management Systems

Languages

English, French, Spanish