Head of People Business Partnering

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, reinforcing accountability for delivery, strengthening operational performance, and enabling scalable, high-impact service provision to partners. 

This shift requires a fundamental repositioning of HR - from a support function to a core driver of service line performance and organizational effectiveness. Within this model, Regional People Business Partners are embedded within service lines as strategic enablers of delivery; Centres of Expertise (CoEs) provide integrated, solution-oriented services aligned to business needs; and the Chief, People Business Partnering ensures coherence, consistency and performance across the partnering function globally.

The role is critical in ensuring that people strategies are not only aligned with business priorities but actively drive delivery capacity, efficiency, and sustainable growth across service lines.

*** The duty station for this position is currently Nairobi; however, the final duty station will be confirmed at the time of appointment based on organizational requirements and the profile of the selected candidate. ***

The Head of People Business Partnering leads the global People Business Partnering function, ensuring it operates as a high-performing, business-aligned capability that directly enables service line delivery, operational excellence, organizational impact and strategic human capital management.

In terms of service line delivery, the role acts as a critical integrator, ensuring that people strategies are embedded across the full lifecycle of services UNOPS provides to partners—from planning and pipeline development to execution. By establishing rigorous feedback loops and partner-facing insights, the role informs adjustments in service design and pricing, ensuring HR expertise directly supports the organization’s ability to deliver timely, cost-effective, and high-impact solutions.

Simultaneously, the role serves as a high-level architect for people partnering and talent management, acting as a trusted advisor to senior leadership to drive superior organizational performance. This involves developing strategies that enforce leadership accountability and depth, and translating global people policies into value-adding outcomes tailored to diverse operating contexts. The incumbent is accountable for positioning Regional People Partners as strategic advisors who enhance leadership effectiveness and organizational design, ensuring the global talent landscape is optimized for long-term impact.

As steward of the People Business Partnering function at UNOPS, the Head of People Business Partnering plays a critical role in coordinating with the wider PCG leadership team to translate global people policies, programmes and initiatives into practical, value-adding outcomes tailored to diverse operating contexts. 

The role may be required to travel from time to time.

1. Strategic Leadership 

• Define and drive the global strategy for People Business Partnering, positioning it as a core enabler of service line delivery, operational performance, and sustainable growth.
• Ensure alignment between people strategies and UNOPS strategic priorities, service line objectives, and delivery targets
• Establish a clear operating model for People Partnering which enables scalability, consistency and impact across regions. 
• Lead, guide and hold Regional People Partners accountable for delivering high-impact, business-aligned partnering which enables service line success.
• Build the capability of the People Partnering function to operate as strategic co-owners of organizational performance, not solely HR advisors
• Establish performance metrics for People Business Partnering that measure contribution to delivery outcomes, workforce effectiveness, and organizational impact.

2. Service Line Performance

• With service line owners, establish a formal service viability analysis process, providing robust analysis of technical skills and talent availability before agreements are finalized.
•  As a member of the Practice owner’s team, position the People Business Partnering team to proactively advise on optimal organizational structures, talent acquisition, contractual modalities, and realistic resourcing timelines to ensure service delivery remains on the agreed timetable.
• Lead on advising on and supporting the structured onboarding of new partners and service line personnel, ensuring alignment with organizational standards and specific partner expectations.
• Lead on identifying systemic workforce risks across service and ensure proactive mitigation to protect delivery timelines and quality
• Collaborate with global leadership to tailor and package HR service line offerings that align with specific regional demands, ensuring UNOPS services are fit-for-purpose and contextually relevant.

3. People Partnering and Talent Management

• Serve as a trusted advisor to senior leadership, architecting talent management strategies that enforce leadership accountability, build bench depth, and drive superior organizational performance
• Lead partnering with regional and country stakeholders on key talent management activities, including leadership development, talent acquisition, workforce planning, retention, performance management, and mobility, ensuring that People Partners deliver accurate, complete, and timely inputs in line with established standards and deadlines.
• Contribute practical advice and hands-on support to organizational change initiatives of varying scale, including workforce transitions and restructuring efforts, ensuring alignment with strategic priorities, sound governance, and effective change management
• Enhance Practice owners' understanding of the impact and effectiveness of corporate talent management policies and processes by providing cross-regional insights and synthesizing feedback gathered by People Partners on their practical application and outcomes.
• Ensure consistent application of people-related standards, tools and approaches across regions to strengthen delivery capability and operational efficiency.
• Lead collaboration with Practice owners to define key measures and develop dashboards to track and report on productivity, efficiency, and delivery outcomes.

4. Policy Application and Operational Excellence

• Exercise delegated authorities to facilitate decision-making that is compliant with the UNOPS regulatory framework.
• Ensure consistent and pragmatic application of HR policies which support efficient operations while maintaining compliance and integrity.
• Serve as a senior escalation point for complex or high-risk workforce issues impacting delivery or organizational performance.
• Mitigate relationship risks by acting as a senior-level escalation point for HR service delivery issues within the region.
• Ensure People Partners exercise delegated authorities to facilitate decision-making that is compliant with the UNOPS regulatory framework.
• Contribute towards continuous improvement of policies and practices to better align with operational realities and service line needs.

6. Culture, Leadership and Organizational Effectiveness

• Champion a culture of performance, accountability, integrity and inclusion, aligned with UNOPS values and strategic priorities. Position leadership and culture as key enablers of sustainable development impact.
• Support end-to-end planning and implementation of the annual culture and engagement survey, coordinating with People Partners at HQ and regional levels to drive strong participation and facilitate timely communication of results across the organization. 
• Ensure meaningful discussions and structured action-planning sessions are conducted across HQ and regions following communication of the culture and engagement survey results
• Use insights from the culture and engagement survey to identify systemic engagement risks and culture trends, and apply these insights to drive improvements in organizational effectiveness and delivery performance. 
• Champion a values-driven, ethical culture across the People Partnering function

7. Knowledge Management and Innovation

• Establish systems to capture and leverage cross-regional insights to strengthen People Business Partnering effectiveness and service line performance.
• Contribute to the development and introduction of innovation to ensure UNOPS is continuously incorporating best practice approaches which enhance efficiency, scalability and delivery impact. 
• 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
• Promote knowledge management and cross-regional learning among People Partners to strengthen organizational capacity

Required

• Bachelor’s degree (or equivalent) in Human Resources, Business Administration, Industrial-Organizational or Business Psychology, Behavioural Science, Organizational Development, Public Administration, or relevant social sciences with 12 years of relevant experience OR

• Master’s degree (or equivalent) in any of the above or related fields with 10 years of relevant experience is required

Desired

• Certification from a recognized coaching organization (e.g. ICF) is an asset.

Required

• Relevant experience  must include leading strategic HR Business Partnering functions in delivery-driven or complex, multi-stakeholder operational environments, providing strategic HR advice and coaching to senior leaders or implementing strategic HR initiatives, including talent and performance management, workforce planning, organization design and development, employee engagement, change managementor related areas.

• Experience with aligning workforce strategies with business performance, delivery outcomes and organizational priorities is required.

• Demonstrable track record of enabling organizational effectiveness and delivery through people strategies is required.

• Experience using analytics to drive enterprise-level decision-making and performance improvement is required.

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.