The Europe and Central Asia Regional Office (ECR), based in Geneva, is responsible for the effective management, coordination and oversight of UNOPS operations across the region. The ECR region spans the Western Balkans, Ukraine and Eastern Europe, Central Asia, South Caucasus, and Türkiye, where UNOPS works with partners to achieve sustainable impact in health, education, environmental management, housing, rule of law, good governance, economic development, and social inclusion. With a wealth of experience in procurement, infrastructure, project and grant management, UNOPS in the region directly implements projects, provides technical advisory services and capacity building to advance the Sustainable Development Goals in support of national governments.

The UNOPS South East Europe Multi-Country Office (SEEMCO) supports sustainable development in Serbia, North Macedonia, Montenegro, and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Based in Belgrade with strong field teams, SEEMCO delivers project management, procurement, infrastructure, HR, and technical assistance to governments, donors, and international financial institutions. Partnering with national institutions, local authorities, civil society, and media, it contributes to sectors such as infrastructure, socio-economic development, social cohesion, rule of law, environment, healthcare, education, digitalisation, energy transition, and governance. Since 2000, SEEMCO has advanced the EU integration agenda, national priorities, and the Sustainable Development Goals. It also provides emergency response, recovery support, and capacity building for institutions. Funders include the EU, European Investment Bank, governments of Switzerland, Sweden, Norway, Serbia, North Macedonia, and Montenegro, as well as UN agencies such as UNHCR and UNEP.

The Project “Support to European Integration of North Macedonia” supports North Macedonia’s EU accession negotiations and strengthens the country’s capacity to manage the overall European Union (EU) integration process. The Project is funded by Sweden through the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), and the Ministry for European Affairs, and is implemented by United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS).

The Project’s goal is to enhance the country’s preparedness for EU membership by strengthening institutional capacities, coordination mechanisms, good governance, and public engagement in the EU reform process. In this context, the Project supports the Government to further strengthen its institutional, technical, and administrative capacity to advance EU accession priorities.

The Project will reinforce structured coordination among institutions responsible for the National Programme for the Adoption of the Acquis (NPAA) and promote the consistent and effective use of key law-approximation instruments, including the Table of Concordance and the Statement of Compliance. It will address institutional, procedural, and human-resource constraints that limit the quality and pace of approximation of national legislation with EU law, as well as the administrative capacity needed for effective implementation and enforcement. While the legal and institutional framework for approximation is in place, persistent challenges remain - particularly in analytical capacity for planning and sequencing legal acts within the NPAA, and in the accurate and consistent application of approximation instruments across institutions.

Under the direct supervision of the Project Manager, the Capacity Building Specialist on harmonisation of legislation with the EU Acquis - retainer position will provide legal  and technical expertise  to the Legislation Secretariat (LS), Ministry for European Affairs and national authorities to strengthen the approximation, alignment, and transposition of national legislation with the EU acquis, ensuring consistency with EU standards and accession requirements.

The assignment will also support the operationalisation of transposition frameworks and tools and reinforce institutional capacity through hands-on coaching and targeted trainings/workshops, including practical application of key approximation instruments (e.g., tables of concordance and related compliance tools) and good practices from completed accession processes.

 Functions

1. Senior legal and strategic advisory support on approximation/transposition

• Provide subject-matter legal expertise to beneficiary institutions on approximation, alignment, and transposition of national legislation with the EU acquis, ensuring coherence and consistency with EU standards and accession requirements
• Review existing national transposition frameworks, methodologies, guidelines, and supporting tools; benchmark against best practices from completed EU accession processes; identify gaps and areas for improvement.
• Participate in development of concrete, actionable recommendations to improve the quality, clarity, coherence, and usability of transposition guidance and tools.

2. Hands-on support to approximation outputs and quality assurance

• Support the preparation, review, and quality assurance of key approximation outputs, including legal gap assessments, tables of concordance, draft legislation, and related policy documents
• Provide practical, on-the-job technical support to relevant counterparts in applying approximation instruments and verifying the level of compliance, and flag issues requiring further follow-up/assistance.

3. Capacity Building and Institutional Strengthening 

• Support beneficiary institutions to update/refine and operationalise transposition frameworks and guidance through tailored coaching and structured advisory support.
• Prepare and deliver targeted capacity-building activities (trainings, workshops, coaching sessions) for national institutions, using practical examples and applied learning.
• Promote integration of comparative accession experience into national practice, strengthening consistent application of transposition methodologies across sectors/institutions.

4. Coordination, documentation, and reporting

• Support coordination processes through technical meetings/consultations and structured follow-up, and prepare meeting records and concise progress updates.

Expected outputs

• Legal and strategic advisory inputs delivered to beneficiary institutions on the approximation, alignment, and transposition of national legislation with the EU acquis.
• Assessment reports reviewing existing national transposition frameworks, methodologies, guidelines, and supporting tools, including comparative analysis against best practices from completed EU accession processes.
• Recommendations package to improve the quality, coherence, and usability of transposition frameworks and guidance documents, aligned with EU standards and European Commission expectations.
• Updated and operationalised transposition frameworks and guidance materials, incorporating agreed recommendations and applied in practice by beneficiary institutions.
• Capacity-building activities delivered, including trainings, coaching sessions, and practical guidance materials, contributing to strengthened institutional capacity and consistent application of transposition methodologies across sectors.
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Required

• Advanced university degree (Master’s degree or equivalent) preferably in law, EU law, political science, public administration, European studies, or a related field, with 5 years of relevant experience is required.

Required

• Relevant experience is experience in EU law approximation, legal harmonisation, and transposition of EU acquis at national and international level.

• Proven experience working on EU accession or pre-accession processes, including hands-on involvement in legal approximation in countries that have successfully completed EU accession negotiations is also required.

Desired

• Extensive experience in legal drafting aligned with EU acquis, preparation and review of Tables of Concordance and gap assessments.

• Demonstrated experience in EU-funded and other international donor-funded projects, providing technical assistance to government institutions.

• Please note that UNOPS does not accept unsolicited resumes. 
• Please note that UNOPS will at no stage of the recruitment process request candidates to make payments of any kind.
• Applications to vacancies must be received before midnight Copenhagen time (CET) on the closing date of the announcement. Applications received after the closing date will not be considered. 
• Please note that only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process, which involves various assessments. 
• UNOPS embraces diversity and is committed to equal employment opportunity. Our workforce consists of many diverse nationalities, cultures, languages, races, gender identities, sexual orientations, and abilities. UNOPS seeks to sustain and strengthen this diversity to ensure equal opportunities as well as an inclusive working environment for its entire workforce. 
• UNOPS evaluates all applications based on the skills, qualifications and experience requirements outlined in the vacancy announcement. We are committed to considering all candidates in a fair and transparent manner, and we value diverse perspectives and experiences, including those of women, indigenous and racialized communities, individuals with diverse gender identities and sexual orientations, and people with disabilities.
• We would like to ensure all candidates perform at their best during the assessment process. If you are shortlisted and require additional assistance to complete any assessment, including reasonable accommodation, please inform our human resources team when you receive an invitation.

• For staff positions only, UNOPS reserves the right to appoint a candidate at a lower level than the advertised level of the post. 
• For retainer contracts, you must complete a few mandatory courses (they take around 4 hours to complete) in your own time, before providing services to UNOPS. Refreshers or new mandatory courses may be required during your contract. Please note that you will not receive any compensation for taking courses and refreshers. For more information on a retainer contract here. 
• For more details about the contract types, please click here.
• All UNOPS personnel are responsible for performing their duties in accordance with the UN Charter and UNOPS Policies and Instructions, as well as other relevant accountability frameworks. In addition, all personnel must demonstrate an understanding of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in a manner consistent with UN core values and the UN Common Agenda. 
• It is the policy of UNOPS to conduct background checks on all potential personnel. Recruitment in UNOPS is contingent on the results of such checks.