Lead Change Where It Matters Most – South Sudan: In one of the world’s most complex humanitarian settings, UNICEF delivers critical support to children facing conflict, climate shocks, and displacement. Join as People & Culture Manager (Juba) and play a key leadership role in shaping a resilient, high-performing workforce. You will drive talent strategy, champion staff wellbeing, advise senior leadership, and ensure effective HR delivery across challenging field environments. Make a real impact—build the team that delivers for every child.
UNICEF works in over 190 countries and territories to save children’s lives, defend their rights, and help them fulfill their potential, from early childhood through adolescence.
At UNICEF, we are committed, passionate, and proud of what we do for as long as we are needed. Promoting the rights of every child is not just a job – it is a calling.
UNICEF is a place where careers are built: we offer our staff diverse opportunities for professional and personal development that will help them reinforce a sense of purpose while serving children and communities across the world. We welcome everyone who wants to belong and grow in a diverse and passionate culture, coupled with an attractive compensation and benefits package.
Visit our website to learn more about what we do at UNICEF.
For every child, the right to Care
South Sudan continues to face a highly complex humanitarian and development context marked by recurrent conflict, public health emergencies, climate-related shocks, and large-scale population displacement. In this challenging environment, UNICEF delivers lifesaving and resilience-building programmes for children and vulnerable communities across the country. Effective human resources management is essential to sustain UNICEF’s operational footprint, ensuring timely programme delivery, and reaching children in the most hard-to-access and high-risk locations. At the same time, the context presents sensitive and multifaceted people management challenges that directly influence the organization’s ability to achieve results for children.
How can you make a difference?
Within this setting, the People & Culture Manager plays a critical strategic and operational leadership role. Based in Juba, the position oversees forward-looking workforce planning, talent acquisition, staff wellbeing, performance management, and organizational culture to sustain a high-performing, diverse, and agile workforce. The role provides expert advice to senior leadership on people and culture matters and ensures effective HR service delivery across multiple field offices. Leading a team of HR professionals, the People & Culture Manager balances strategic priorities with operational demands in a dynamic and high-pressure environment. The position also contributes to inter-agency collaboration and supports UNICEF’s commitment to advancing UN80 initiatives as well as the Business Operations Strategy.
The People and Culture function oversees all People and Culture (P&C) related activities and staff across the South Sudan Country Office, ensuring alignment with the People and Culture strategy, the Country Programme Management Plan, and organizational priorities. Specifically:
- Manages the unit by setting priorities, monitoring progress, and guiding staff performance to meet established objectives and timelines.
- Provides technical HR/P&C leadership, develops and implements policies, and ensures compliance with HR principles, policies, and regulations.
- Acts as a strategic advisor to senior management on workforce planning and organizational effectiveness, offering evidence-based people solutions.
- Coordinates recruitment, talent management, learning and capacity development, and HR analytics to attract, retain, and motivate high-caliber staff.
- Leads change management initiatives, fosters a respectful, inclusive workplace culture, and strengthens emergency workforce readiness.
- Drives organizational transformation, staff engagement, wellbeing, and leadership effectiveness, promoting diversity and inclusion in line with UNICEF’s values.
- Implements innovative HR strategies and best practices to ensure the workforce is equipped for both current and future organizational needs.
- Leverages HR data and analytics to inform strategic decision-making, optimize organizational effectiveness, and identify talent risks and workforce trends.
If you would like to know more about this position, please review the complete Job Description here: 
People and Culture Manager Level 4 (South Sudan).pdf
To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have…
Minimum requirements
-
-
-
- Education: Master or equivalent (Advanced University Degree) in Human Resources Management, Business Administration, Management, Psychology, Social Science, Social Services, human resources, business, management, international relations, psychology, public administration and any other related fields.
- Work Experience: At least 8 years of relevant work experience in Human Resources ,Operations, Administration, human resources management, talent management, recruitment, workforce planning, organizational development, performance management, learning and development, human resources business partnering, people analytics, employee relations, HR in emergencies. and any other related fields.
- Skills: Strong HR business partnering and stakeholder management skills. Excellent knowledge of HR policies, regulations and best practices, ability to analyze complex HR issues and provide practical solutions, strong communication, leadership and influencing skills. Experience using HR information systems and HR analytics.
- Language Requirements: Fluency in English is required.
-
-
Desirables
- Language: Knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish) or a local language
- Strong track record in advising senior managers, applying HR policies, and supporting leaders and teams through change with professionalism, confidentiality, and a people-centered approach. Previous experience with data and analytics, succession management and workforce planning is an asset.
- Relevant experience at country level, particularly in development, fragile settings and humanitarian contexts.
For every Child, you demonstrate...
UNICEF's Core Values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust and Accountability and Sustainability (CRITAS) underpin everything we do and how we do it. Get acquainted with Our Values Charter: UNICEF Values
UNICEF competencies required for this post are…
(1) Builds and maintains partnerships
(2) Demonstrates self-awareness and ethical awareness
(3) Drive to achieve results for impact
(4) Innovates and embraces change
(5) Manages ambiguity and complexity
(6) Thinks and acts strategically
(7) Works collaboratively with others
(8) Nurtures, leads and manages people
Familiarize yourself with our competency framework and its different levels.
UNICEF promotes and advocates for the protection of the rights of every child, everywhere, in everything it does and is mandated to support the realization of the rights of every child, including those most disadvantaged, and our global workforce must reflect the diversity of those children. The UNICEF family is committed to include everyone, irrespective of their race/ethnicity, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, socio-economic background, minority, or any other status.
UNICEF encourages applications from all qualified candidates, regardless of gender, nationality, religious or ethnic backgrounds, and from people with disabilities, including neurodivergence. We offer a wide range of benefits to our staff, including paid parental leave, breastfeeding breaks and reasonable accommodation for persons with disabilities. UNICEF provides reasonable accommodation throughout the recruitment process. If you require any accommodation, please submit your request through the accessibility email button on the UNICEF Careers webpage Accessibility | UNICEF. Should you be shortlisted, please get in touch with the recruiter directly to share further details, enabling us to make the necessary arrangements in advance.
UNICEF does not hire candidates who are married to children (persons under 18). UNICEF has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UNICEF, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination based on gender, nationality, age, race, sexual orientation, religious or ethnic background or disabilities. UNICEF is committed to promote the protection and safeguarding of all children. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks, and will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles. Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check, and selected candidates with disabilities may be requested to submit supporting documentation in relation to their disability confidentially.
UNICEF appointments are subject to medical clearance. Issuance of a visa by the host country of the duty station is required for IP positions and will be facilitated by UNICEF. Appointments may also be subject to inoculation (vaccination) requirements, including against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid). Should you be selected for a position with UNICEF, you either must be inoculated as required or receive a medical exemption from the relevant department of the UN. Otherwise, the selection will be canceled.
Remarks:
As per Article 101, paragraph 3, of the Charter of the United Nations, the paramount consideration in the employment of the staff is the necessity of securing the highest standards of efficiency, competence, and integrity.
UNICEF is committed to fostering an inclusive, representative, and welcoming workforce. For this position, eligible and suitable female candidates and candidates from underrepresented regions (High Income, MENA, ECA, EARP, ROSA, LACR, WCAR) are particularly encouraged to apply.
Government employees who are considered for employment with UNICEF are normally required to resign from their government positions before taking up an assignment with UNICEF. UNICEF reserves the right to withdraw an offer of appointment, without compensation, if a visa or medical clearance is not obtained, or necessary inoculation requirements are not met, within a reasonable period for any reason.
UNICEF does not charge a processing fee at any stage of its recruitment, selection, and hiring processes (i.e., application stage, interview stage, validation stage, or appointment and training). UNICEF will not ask for applicants' bank account information.
Mobility is a condition of international professional employment with UNICEF and an underlying premise of the international civil service.
Humanitarian action is a cross-cutting priority within UNICEF's Strategic Plan. UNICEF is committed to stay and deliver in humanitarian contexts. Therefore, all staff, at all levels across all functional areas, can be called upon to be deployed to support humanitarian response, contributing to both strengthening resilience of communities and capacity of national authorities.
All UNICEF positions are advertised, and only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process. An internal candidate performing at the level of the post in the relevant functional area, or an internal/external candidate in the corresponding Talent Group, may be selected, if suitable for the post, without assessment of other candidates.
Additional information about working for UNICEF can be found here.