Regional People Operations Senior Officer

The People and Culture Group (PCG) positions UNOPS as a people-centered, high-performing organization by driving the development of HR policies, talent frameworks, and inclusive practices aligned with the strategic plan. Through the Integrated People Strategy, PCG empowers personnel, fosters an engaging and inclusive work culture, and enables the delivery of sustainable development solutions. Partnering closely with UNOPS leadership, PCG delivers on the organization’s People Goals—shaping culture, nurturing leaders, enabling flexibility and fairness, building future-ready teams, and setting people up for success. Core capabilities include strategic HR partnering, policy integration, and process simplification through digitization. PCG prioritizes leadership development, workforce diversity, personnel well-being, and innovation in HR practices. By focusing on culture transformation and talent excellence, PCG ensures that UNOPS remains agile, equitable, and capable of delivering results in complex operational environments.

UNOPS is transitioning to a service line-driven operating model, strengthening its ability to deliver high-quality, efficient, and scalable solutions to partners across diverse operational contexts. This model reinforces accountability for delivery and results; operational excellence and efficiency; scalable and sustainable project implementation; and, stronger alignment between strategy, resources, and impact

Within this context, Regional People Business Partners play a critical role in ensuring that workforce strategies directly enable service line performance, delivery capacity, and organizational effectiveness. The role operates as a core business partner, embedding people strategies into service line planning and execution, and ensuring that talent, structures, and culture support UNOPS’ mandate to deliver timely, cost-effective, and high-impact solutions.

People Business Partners further serve as the primary HR interface for regional and country leadership, partnering with  leaders to ensure that people strategies, practices and processes  are embedded in regional planning and execution. They facilitate the effective implementation of HR processes and decisions while integrating solutions from across PCG’s centres of expertise to deliver high-quality workforce solutions which enhance organizational agility, strengthen HR service-line excellence, and reinforce regional and cross-regional ownership of people-related decisions.

The Regional People Operations Senior Officer reports to the Regional People Partner and is responsible for effectively delivering delegated HR services, including advice and implementation, across the entire personnel lifecycle, leveraging data and technology to drive efficiency and quality.

The role collaborates closely with in-country HR practitioners and serves as the first point of escalation from countries to the regional office on HR and people issues. The role reviews and analyzes cases and requests for compliance with HR policies and regulatory frameworks, acting within delegated authority and escalating exceptions to the attention of the Regional People Partner as required.

The Regional People Operations Senior Officer is also responsible for sourcing, collecting, and analyzing data to generate policy-aligned, data-driven insights which enable the Regional People Partner to provide reliable and credible advice at both regional and country levels.

1. HR Case Management and Service Delivery

• Manage the regional HR ticketing system, ensuring timely intake, triage, resolution, escalation and closure of HR- and people-related cases in line with established service level agreements (SLAs)
• Review and process a broad range of HR cases, including terms of reference (ToRs), job classifications, temporary fee increases for specified contract modalities, contract terminations, performance management matters, and other global HR processes
• Provide recommendations and take actions that are compliant with HR policies, delegated authorities, and regulatory frameworks, escalating complex or high-risk cases for the attention of the Regional People Partner as required
• Maintain complete, accurate and audit-ready documentation within the ticketing system to uphold transparency and compliance standards
• Monitor and analyze case trends, volumes, and service metrics to identify systemic issues, inform decision-making, and enhance service delivery effectiveness
• Propose improvements to workflows, guidance materialism and knowledge resources to promote consistency, strengthen governance, and support in-country HR practitioners

2. HR Advice and Governance

• Contribute to HR policy development by providing data-driven insights on workforce trends, risks, opportunities, and region-specific best practices
• Assist the Regional People Partner in implementing approved organization design changes, restructurings, and rightsizing initiatives and personnel realignment processes
• Provide frontline guidance and advisory support on HR policies, processes and systems in accordance with the UNOPS regulatory framework.
• Review policy exception requests for compliance and risk implications, escalating to the Regional People Partner as mandated to ensure sound decision-making
• Communicate and support the implementation of HR policy updates and new initiatives at the regional and country levels
• Assist or participate in the evaluation and classification of positions

3. Project Advisory

• Review and advise the Regional People Partner on HR aspects of project agreements (‘’engagement reviews’’), with a focus on identifying HR risks and opportunities
• Contribute towards region-wide awareness of high-risk engagements by escalating issues identified during engagement reviews to the attention of the Regional People Partner
• Provide quality inputs on HR aspects in project proposals and holistic HR advice, based on the application, interpretation and adoption of corporate policy, guidance and best practices.
• Collect feedback on challenges, gaps and possible areas of improvement for HR components in project engagements, escalate issues and provide recommendations

4. Knowledge Building and Sharing

• Support the organization, facilitation and delivery of training and learning sessions on HR topics
• Participate in knowledge-sharing initiatives and Communities of Practice (CoPs), contributing insights and lessons learned from HR project implementation
• Conduct research on HR-related topics and contribute to the drafting of reports, summaries and briefing notes

Required

• Bachelor’s degree (or equivalent) in any discipline with 4 years of relevant experience OR

• Master’s degree (or equivalent) in any discipline with 2 years of relevant experience is required

Desired

• A globally or nationally recognized professional certificate in uman Resource Management (HRM)is desired.

Required

• Relevant experience is work in recruitment and selection, HR policies and processes, employee relations, performance management or related areas. 

Desired

• Experience of working in multicultural environments or UN system organizations in a developing country is desired.

• Experience in development or humanitarian contexts is desired.

• UNOPS does not accept unsolicited resumes. 
• 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. 
• Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and invited to proceed to the next stage of the selection process, which may include various assessments. 
• UNOPS embraces diversity and is committed to equal employment opportunity. Our workforce consists of a wide range of nationalities, cultures, languages, races, gender identities, sexual orientations, and abilities. We strive to sustain and strengthen this diversity, fostering an inclusive working environment where all personnel are treated with respect and have equal access to opportunities.
• UNOPS evaluates all applications based on the skills, qualifications and experience outlined in the vacancy announcement. We are committed to a fair and transparent selection process and welcome diverse perspectives, including those of women, indigenous and racialized communities, individuals of diverse gender identities and sexual orientations, and persons with disabilities.
• We are committed to enabling all candidates to perform at their best during the assessment process. If you are shortlisted and require support or reasonable accommodation to complete any assessment, please inform our human resources team upon receiving your invitation.
• UNOPS has zero tolerance for sexual exploitation and abuse (SEA), sexual harassment, and other forms of abusive conduct, including discrimination, abuse of authority, and harassment. To uphold these standards, background checks are conducted for all final candidates to help ensure that individuals with a history of such conduct are not hired. By applying for a position with UNOPS, candidates acknowledge and consent to these verification processes.
  

• 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.