Head Organisation Culture and Engagement

People and Culture Group

The People and Culture Group (PCG) drives the right culture and working environment in UNOPS by enabling UNOPS to deliver on its strategic intention through:

● embedding of UN core values and standards;

● develop P&C standards, policies, systems and platforms fit for purpose in order to attract,develop and retain the right people for the organization

● create an optimal working environment in which personnel are able to flourish andperform at the highest level to achieve UNOPS’ mission.

The Role

The Organisation Culture and Engagement Head serves as a thought partner to the organization in developing and implementing strategies that improve culture and engagement at scale.
Reporting to the People and Culture Group Director, they support leaders and managers in promoting an integrated culture and engagement strategy which empowers employees to adopt the new ways of working required to drive the transformation journey at UNOPS - simplifying and digitizing processes and workflows while maintaining a values-based, people-first culture and delivering UNOPS projects around the world.

Summary of Key Functions:

1. Culture Analysis and Diagnostics

2. Culture Change and Transformation

3. Employee Engagement and Experience

4. Knowledge Building and Sharing

5. People leadership

1. Culture Analysis and Diagnostics 

▪ Perform current and future-state assessments of UNOPS culture to generate insights which drive ongoing alignment to UN’s Core Values and support adoption and execution of transformative initiatives such as UN 2.0. 

▪ Apply relevant tools, techniques and frameworks to identify current gaps in UNOPS culture and articulate recommendations which can be reviewed and actioned for implementation. 

▪ Leverage an evidence-based approach to assess commitment levels to culture change and transformation initiatives across the organization and plan actions to drive higher levels of engagement among key stakeholders (individuals and groups). 

▪ Use data to measure the impact of culture-focused interventions at UNOPS and continuously evolve the organization’s approach to managing and scaling its culture.

2. Culture Change and Transformation 

▪ Lead and oversee all strategic organization-wide culture change programs and initiatives, ensuring effective project management. Facilitate stakeholder mapping and engagement, brainstorming, design, planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of these initiatives. 

▪ Support the digital transformation agenda at UNOPS by developing and integrating a culture road-map which focuses on managing the human aspects of the change. 

▪ Serve as internal consultant on culture to the HR community as well as functional and regional leadership teams. Provide advice on options and tactics for translating the organization’s culture and engagement strategy into function- and region-level action plans. 

▪ Catalyze culture change and transformation at UNOPS by facilitating the exchange of best practices and success stories among the functional and regional teams of the Organization.

3. Employee Engagement and Experience 

▪ Identify and deliver appropriate methods and tools for gathering employee feedback, including periodic employee engagement surveys, pulse surveys, and continuous listening technologies/ platforms. Build and share insightful reports with stakeholders to facilitate conversations that lead to the creation and implementation of action plans at the organizational, functional and regional levels.

▪ Partner with HQ- and region-based HR teams to develop, communicate and implement programs which foster positive workplace experiences across all touchpoints of the employee lifecycle, from outreach and recruitment to onboarding, learning and development, and offboarding. 

▪ Collaborate with the Gender, Diversity and Inclusion (GDI) and PSEAH teams on initiatives to attract, retain and promote a diverse workforce. Support GDI and PSEAH capability-building programs among leaders, managers and supervisors at UNOPS. 

▪ Partner with Talent Outreach on development and implementation of UNOPS employer brand and employee value proposition (EVP). 

▪ Work with the Communications team to improve and maintain HR/employee communication systems and channels which help disseminate and embed the desired culture and values of the organization. 

▪ Participate in the development of strategies, initiatives and programs which enable the UNOPS workforce to engage and align with the organization’s strategy while adopting the new ways of working required to deliver on the organization’s goals.

4. Knowledge Building and Sharing

▪ Continuously research, disseminate and apply fit-for-purpose standards and methodologies in culture management and employee engagement at UNOPS. 

▪ Maintain and share knowledge and subject matter expertise in areas of culture change and transformation, employee engagement, employee experience, GDI, and workforce Planning.

5. People leadership

▪ Lead the Organisation Culture and Engagement team, working in the areas of GDI, PSEAH, Support & Advocacy, Wellbeing, among others. 

▪ Create, foster and role model a culture of trust, empowerment and accountability within the stream and contribute to broader PCG and HR culture. 

▪ Build engagement and foster a diverse and inclusive work environment, respectful of all, and ensure that the highest standards of conduct are observed. 

▪ Create, foster and role model a culture of respect and zero tolerance for discrimination, abuse of authority, harassment, sexual harassment and sexual exploitation and abuse. Ensure accountability for actions and perform duties in accordance with protection mechanisms and action plans, as expected by UNOPS policies, standards and commitments. 

▪ Promote teamwork, collaboration and diversity, by providing timely guidance and supervision to the team, to enable them to perform their duties responsibly, effectively and efficiently. 

▪ Facilitate the development, set objectives, performance measures, monitor implementation and oversee progress, performance and results to ensure timely and client-focused services. 

▪ Plan, recruit, manage and develop a flexible and diverse workforce, with the skills and competencies needed to ensure optimum performance. 

▪ Plan and allocate resources within the workstream to achieve goals and ensure the cost effective and appropriate use of resources in accordance with UNOPS standards of ethics, integrity and accountability framework.

Educational Requirements

 A Master's degree, preferably in HR, Industrial and Organizational Psychology, or related field is required. 

 A Bachelor’s degree combined with 12 years’ of relevant work experience may be accepted in lieu of a Master’s degree. 

Experience

● Minimum of 10 years’ combined experience in the areas of Organization Development, Employee Engagement, and Culture Management roles in international organizations

● Demonstrable experience of successfully leading and fully implementing high-impact culture change programmes in large and complex organizations with globally distributed workforces. 

● Experience of leading culture change and employee engagement initiatives within UN organizations will be an added advantage.

Language Requirements

Fluency in written and oral English is required. 

Working knowledge of an additional UN language, in particular French and/or Spanish, is an asset.

• Please note that UNOPS does not accept unsolicited resumes.

• 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. 

• Qualified women and candidates from groups which are underrepresented in the UNOPS workforce are encouraged to apply. These include in particular candidates from racialized and/or indigenous groups, members of minority 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.

Terms and Conditions 

• For staff positions only, UNOPS reserves the right to appoint a candidate at a lower level than the advertised level of the post. 

• 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.