Chief of Staff [temporary] at Office of the Special Envoy of the Secretary

Competencies

Professionalism: Ability to provide seasoned effective specialized advice in a broad range of human resources, financial, logistical, and administrative areas to the Head of Mission, and to Headquarters and Senior Mission Staff; ability to ensure adequate preparation of reports or rationale with respect to key logistic and administrative decisions; strong negotiation and conflict-resolution skills. Shows pride in work and achievements; demonstrates professional competence and mastery of subject matter; is conscientious and efficient in meeting commitments, observing deadlines, and achieving results; is motivated by professional rather than personal concerns; shows persistence when faced with difficult problems or challenges; remains calm in stressful situations. Provides leadership and takes responsibility for incorporating gender perspectives and ensuring the equal participation of women and men in all areas of work; demonstrates knowledge of strategies and commitment to the goal of gender balance in staffing.

Communication: Speaks and writes clearly and effectively; Listens to others, correctly interprets messages from others and responds appropriately; Asks questions to clarify and exhibits interest in having two-way communication; Tailors language, tone, style and format to match the audience; Demonstrates openness in sharing information and keeping people informed.

Planning and Organizing: Develops clear goals that are consistent with agreed strategies; Identifies priority activities and assignments and adjusts priorities as required; Allocates appropriate amount of time and resources for completing work; Foresees risks and allows for contingencies when planning; Monitors and adjusts plans and actions as necessary; Uses time efficiently.

Managing Performance: Delegates the appropriate responsibility, accountability and decision making authority; Makes sure that roles, responsibilities and reporting lines are clear to each staff member; Accurately judges the amount of time and resources needed to accomplish a task and matches task to skills; Monitors progress against milestones and deadlines; Regularly discusses performance and provides feedback and coaching to staff; Encourages risk-taking and supports creativity and initiative; Actively supports the development and career aspirations of staff; Appraises performance fairly.

Judgement/ Decision-making: Identifies the key issues in a complex situation, and comes to the heart of the problem quickly; Gathers relevant information before making a decision; Considers positive and negative impacts of decisions prior to making them; Takes decisions with an eye to the impact on others and on the Organization; Proposes a course of action or makes a recommendation based on all available information; Checks assumptions against facts; Determines that the actions proposed will satisfy the expressed and underlying needs for the decision; Makes tough decisions when necessary.

Education

• Advanced university degree (Master's degree or equivalent) in one of the following disciplines: international relations, political science, business administration, public administration, management, law, or military studies is required. A first-level university degree in combination with two additional years qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.

Work Experience

• A minimum of 15 years of progressively responsible experience in areas such as: management and administration; political, social, civil, military or legal affairs is required.
• Experience in both inter-agency and operational programme management and/or planning and analysis is required.
• Experience in preparing documents for the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ) and Fifth Committee or similar bodies in a comparable international organization is required.
• A minimum of seven years' experience in the United Nations system or a comparable international organization is required.
• A proven track record of leadership and management in multicultural settings, including coordination of interdisciplinary teams is desirable.
• Experience serving in a senior advisory or managerial capacity in support of or in a field operation of the United Nations is desirable.

Languages

• English and French are the working languages of the United Nations Secretariat. For the position advertised, fluency in English and French, oral and written, is required.

Assessment

• Evaluation of qualified candidates may include an assessment exercise which may be followed by competency-based interview.