Regional People Partner

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.

About the People & Culture Group

The People and Culture Group (PCG) positions UNOPS as a people-centred, 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.

About the Role

The Regional People Partner reports to the Head of People Policy and is assigned to work as a trusted strategic advisor to the Regional Office on HR, people and culture matters.

As the most senior HR professional in the region, the Regional People Partner aligns people management in the region with organizational goals and objectives including the Integrated People Strategy (IPS). 

The role provides forward-looking, solutions-oriented advice that enables effective operations and delivery, organizational efficiency, and personnel engagement.  

Operating in close partnership with in-country HR practitioners, the Regional People Partner acts as a critical interface between HQ-based HR focal points/experts and regional/country operations - translating global policies into practical, context-sensitive solutions.

The Regional People Partner also facilitates and scales the implementation of UNOPS’ people and culture strategy as well as HR services across the countries covered by the region - leveraging their extensive knowledge of UNOPS’ people policies, processes and tools.   

Guided by high levels of professionalism, the Regional People Partner builds strong working relationships with regional and country leadership teams, enabling them to navigate complex people challenges, remove barriers, and enhance organizational capacity. 

The Regional People Partner may be required to travel across the region from time to time. 

Strategic HR Partnering 

• Advise Regional and Country Directors on people and culture priorities, ensuring alignment with UNOPS’ mission, Strategic Plan, Integrated People Strategy, and regional goals.

• Use workforce data and HR analytics to identify trends, risks and opportunities, providing evidence-based insights for strategic decision-making.

• Serve as the primary bridge between HQ and the region, adapting and scaling global HR policies, programmes and guidance to regional and country contexts.

• Coordinate and strengthen delivery of key HR cycles across the region, including workforce planning and performance management.

• Provide regional oversight of job evaluation and classification, ensuring fair, consistent and transparent application of policies and standards.

Talent and Performance Management 

• Identify critical skill gaps across projects and offices, partnering with Learning & Development to design and deliver targeted training and development solutions.

• Develop and implement innovative and inclusive strategies to attract, hire and onboard top talent aligned with country, regional and organizational priorities

• Provide guidance on effective performance management, including goal setting, mentoring, coaching, performance evaluations, and the development of high-potential personnel.

• Advise on optimizing organizational structures and role design to enhance productivity, efficiency, and overall organizational performance.

Project Advisory  

• Review and advise on HR aspects of project agreements (‘’engagement reviews’’), with a focus on identifying HR risks and opportunities in close collaboration with relevant stakeholders at global, regional and country levels.

• Contribute towards enterprise-wide awareness of high-risk engagements by escalating issues identified during engagement reviews to the attention of the Regional Director and relevant stakeholder functions in HQ.

• 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.

Policy Interpretation and Implementation

• Exercise delegated authorities to facilitate decision-making that is compliant with the UNOPS regulatory framework.

• Review requests for exceptions from policy, liaise with HQ-based People Policy team, and provide sound recommendations and constructive feedback to regional and country leaders.

• Provide guidance on HR related policies, processes and systems to ensure consistency with UNOPS rules and procedures.

• Provide advice and support on various HR matters to regional and country offices.

• Support institutional gender and diversity initiatives, providing education and advice on issues related to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI).

Culture and Engagement

• Lead the regional implementation, analysis and follow-up action planning of the annual culture and engagement survey.

• Advise senior leaders on managing the people side of major organizational changes, ensuring clear communication and minimizing impact on engagement and prodictivity.

• Partner with HQ to adapt and deliver DEI strategies that foster an inclusive, positive, and engaging regional work environment.

• Coordinate regional training and capacity-building initiatives on ethics, code of conduct, and PSEAH.

• Promote staff wellbeing through self-care capacity building, communication campaigns, and facilitation of access to wellbeing resources and support services.

Knowledge Management and Innovation 

• Contribute to the development and introduction of innovation to ensure UNOPS is continually incorporating best practice approaches.

• Contribute to the dissemination and sharing of best practices and lessons learned for HR planning and knowledge building.

• Plan, implement and organize strategic capacity building of personnel, partners and stakeholders

Required

• Bachelor’s degree (or equivalent) in any discipline with 9 years of relevant experience OR 

• Master’s degree (or equivalent) in any discipline with 7 years of relevant experience is required.

Required

• Relevant experience is work in providing strategic HR advice to senior leaders or implementing strategic HR initiatives, including talent and performance management, workforce planning, employee engagement, change 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.

• 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. 
• 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.

• 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.