Ethics Legal Advisor , Multiple positions

UNOPS is committed to fostering an organizational culture of ethics and a harmonious and inclusive work environment, anchored in the values of integrity, accountability, transparency, respect and professionalism. 

The Ethics Office (EO) is integral to this effort, and has an overall mandate to act as an independent office pursuant to its establishment as per ST/SGB/2007/11. Overall, the role of the EO is to cultivate and nurture an organizational  culture of ethics, integrity and accountability, and thereby enhance the trust in, and the credibility of UNOPS, both internally and externally.

More specifically, the EO is responsible for developing standards, training and education on ethics issues, providing independent, impartial and confidential ethics advice to individuals and management in ethics related dilemmas, identifying key ethical risks and developing, implementing and monitoring policies and procedures, for ethical risk management and prevention of unethical behavior as well as safeguarding personnel by providing protection against retaliation.

The Ethics Legal Advisor reports to the Director of the Ethics Office.

The Ethics Legal Advisor is instrumental to an effective running of the Ethics function, with the focus on review of cases in relation to protection against retaliation, advice on gifts- and awards taking, advice on conflicts of interest, advice on the financial disclosure programme and advice on overall ethics dilemmas. The Ethics Legal Advisor also builds and maintains productive relationships with the wider stakeholders of the Office, including but not limited to the Internal Audit and Investigations Group (IAIG), Internal Grievances (IG) and Legal Group (LG).

Summary of functions

1. Legal and Ethics related advice and case management

2. Policy and programme management

3. Partnering and building productive working relationships

4. Knowledge management

• A Master’s degree in a relevant field such as law, criminology, social sciences, administration, psychology, corporate ethics or related field is required.

• A combination of a Bachelor’s degree with an additional 2 years of relevant work experience may be accepted in lieu of the education requirements outlined above.

• Minimum 7 years of experience in organizational ethics, law, including analysis, research and writing, personnel  misconduct, investigations, employee relations or related areas is required.

• Please note that the closing date is midnight Copenhagen time
• Applications received after the closing date will not be considered.
• Only those candidates that are short-listed for interviews will be notified.
• Qualified female candidates are strongly encouraged to apply.
• UNOPS seeks to reasonably accommodate candidates with special needs, upon request.
• Work life harmonization - UNOPS values its people and recognizes the importance of balancing professional and personal demands. We have a progressive policy on work-life harmonization and offer several flexible working options. This policy applies to UNOPS personnel on all contract types
• 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 (around 4 hours) in your own time, before providing services to UNOPS.
• The incumbent is responsible to abide by security policies, administrative instructions, plans and procedures of the UN Security Management System and that of UNOPS.  

It is the policy of UNOPS to conduct background checks on all potential recruits/interns.
Recruitment/internship in UNOPS is contingent on the results of such checks.

UNOPS is an operational arm of the United Nations, supporting the successful
implementation of its partners’ peacebuilding, humanitarian and development projects
around the world. Our mission is to help people build better lives and countries achieve
peace and sustainable development.

UNOPS areas of expertise cover infrastructure, procurement, project management,
financial management and human resources.

Working with us

UNOPS offers short- and long-term work opportunities in diverse and challenging
environments across the globe. We are looking for creative, results-focused
professionals with skills in a range of disciplines.

Diversity

With over 5,000 UNOPS personnel and approximately 7,400 personnel recruited on
behalf of our partners, spread across 80 countries, our workforce represents a range of
nationalities and cultures. We promote a balanced and diverse labour force — a
strength that helps us better understand and address our partners’ needs. We
continually strive to improve our gender balance through initiatives and policies that
encourage the recruitment of qualified female candidates.

Work life harmonization

UNOPS values its people and recognizes the importance of balancing professional and
personal demands.