Human Resources Associate (Open to Tier 1 & 2 applicants)

Tiered Approach

In line with the commitment to safeguard capacity and support personnel already in the Organization, a majority of UNDP UNCDF/UNV vacancies are advertised using a tiered application process whereby:

• Tier 0: UNDP/UNCDF/UNV IP staff holding permanent (PA) and fixed-term (FTA) appointments, whose posts will be abolished, or contracts will be terminated or not renewed during 2026.
• Tier 1: Other UNDP/UNCDF/UNV staff holding permanent (PA) and fixed-term (FTA) appointments
• Tier 2: UNDP/UNCDF/UNV staff holding temporary appointments (TA), personnel on regular PSA contracts, and Expert and Specialist UN Volunteers
• Tier 3 or no tier indicated: All other contract types from UNDP/UNCDF/UNV and other agencies, and other external candidates

Please make note of the Tier(s) indicated in the vacancy title, if any, and ensure that you satisfy the eligibility to apply.

Background

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is the knowledge frontier organization for sustainable development in the UN Development System and serves as the integrator for collective action to realize the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). UNDP is the leading United Nations organization fighting to end the injustice of poverty, inequality, and climate change. Working with our broad network of experts and partners in 170 countries, we help nations to build integrated, lasting solutions for people and planet. The Fiji multi-country office covers ten countries including Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Kiribati, Republic of the Marshall Islands, Nauru, Palau, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu as well as provides support to regional initiatives. 

UNDP in the Pacific has developed its multi-country programme document (MCPD, 2023-2027) to guide its interventions in the next five years in full alignment and directly to contribute to the United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF, 2023–27). The Office covers 10 countries in the Pacific with an extensive portfolio which has grown over time. The UNSDCF and UNDP MCPD are designed in full alignment with the 2030 agenda, Samoa Pathway, and 2050 Blue Content Strategy, which is endorsed by the Pacific Island Countries (PICs) among others. The UNDP Pacific Office next five-year plan strategic priorities are encapsulated under three outcome areas: (i) Planet, (ii) Prosperity, and (iii) Peace. Following a strategic review process which was completed in June 2022, UNDP Pacific office structure is aligned to the emerging priorities of the office. In this regard, the programme portfolio will include mutually reinforcing work streams crafted around two clusters (i) Resilience and Climate Change; and ii) Inclusive growth and Effective governance, supported by a policy and innovation team, Operations team, Management and Oversight team that provides strategic guidance on  results Management  and compliance entrusted with the corporate alignment, programme finance management and quality assurance,  and strategic communications  team that provides knowledge management and communication support to all programme interventions. 

Within the Pacific Office Multi-Country Office (MCO), the Operations Team provides programme with backbone support and services related to finance, procurement, human resources, digital services, travel, and logistics, as well as common services and CO transactions support. The team further provides demand driven Common services to the UN agencies (per agreed procedures). In addition, the team will provide administrative support to UNDP Staff including project personnel on areas such as protocol, visa facilitation, travel, and others.

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the guidance of the Operations Manager and direct supervision of the Human Resources Analyst, the Human Resources (HR) Associate provides leadership in the execution of the full range of CO HR services ensuring their transparency and integrity. The HR Associate promotes a collaborative, client-oriented approach and promotes the maintenance of high staff morale. The key results have an impact on the overall efficiency of the MCO, including improved business results and client services.

UNDP adopts a portfolio approach to accommodate changing business needs and leverage linkages across interventions to achieve its strategic goals. Therefore, UNDP personnel are expected to work across units, functions, teams, and projects in multidisciplinary teams in order to enhance and enable horizontal collaboration.

• Administration and implementation of HR strategies and policies
• Administration of benefits and entitlements
• Performance management and career development
• UN-related Surveys
• Data Trend Analysis for Reporting 
• Knowledge building and sharing

Ensures administration and implementation of HR strategies and policies, adapts processes and procedures

• Full compliance of HR recording and reporting systems with UN rules and regulations, UNDP policies, procedures and strategies; effective implementation of the internal control framework, proper functioning of the HR management system.
•  Provision of advice and information on corporate strategies, changes in rules and regulations, implementation of personnel rules, strategic use of contractual modalities, application of entitlements, and change management processes. 
• MCO HR business processes mapping and elaboration of the content of internal Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) in HR management, where needed in MCO to supplement SOPs issued by GSSC/OHR
• Coordinate and provide HR support to the UN system.
• Advise on the risk management of MCO HR activities, to proactively manage and mitigate the risk.

Ensures effective administration of human resources  

• Organization of recruitment processes in coordination with GSSC and Hiring Managers including drafting the job description, provision of input to job classification process, vacancy announcement, screening of candidates, and participation in interview panels. 
• Provision of advice on recruitment in UNDP projects.
• Facilitate creation/update of positions, the association of positions to chart fields (COAs), update of COA information, performing the functions of Admin. HR, Position Administrator and Absence Processor in ERP. 
• In consultation with GSSC, coordinate the monthly payroll including update of the labour schedule, checking compliance of COAs and funding distribution against budget, and timely follow up with finance personnel and projects on global payroll issues. 
• Monitoring and tracking of all transactions related to positions, recruitment, benefits, earnings/deductions, retroactivity, recoveries, adjustments, and separations.
• Maintenance of the MCO staffing table.
• Administration of international staff entitlements and position funding delegated to MCO offices. 
• Administration of the MCO rosters including e-rosters.
• Validation of cost-recovery charges for HR services provided by UNDP to other Agencies.
• Weekly update and administration of UNDP/UN agency personnel into UNDP agency warden groups. Management of the personnel  composition in agency warden groups, and monthly reporting of personnel changes to UNDSS

Ensures proper staff performance management and career development.

• Facilitation of the performance appraisal process and maintenance of the related data; acting as alternate  Secretary of Talent Management Review Group.
• Support to the preparation of the Office Learning Plan and individual learning plans in consultation with the Senior Management and the HR Analyst. 

Ensures conduct of UN-related surveys

• Collect information and provide support to UNDP’s participation in UN Inter Agency exercises and surveys, such as comprehensive and interim local salary, hardship, and place-to-place surveys, in coordination with the direct supervisor.

Ensures facilitation of knowledge building and knowledge sharing

• Supports HR Analyst in assessing and determining the appropriate response to HR needs among MCO personnel including relating to counselling, advice and other support needs. 
• Organization of trainings for the operations/ projects personnel on HR issues.
• Synthesis of lessons learnt and best practices in HR.
• Share information with personnel on corporate learning and development initiatives, systems, and platforms in coordination with the Talent Development Manager
• Make sound contributions to knowledge networks and communities of practice.

The Incumbent performs other duties within the functional profile as assigned or deemed necessary for the efficient functioning of the office and the organisation.

Supervisory/Managerial Responsibilities: The HR Associate may coordinate work and will be responsible for supervision, performance management and development of staff at G6 and NPSA 5 levels

Competencies

Core Competencies:

• Achieve Results: LEVEL 2: Scale up solutions and simplifies processes, balances speed and accuracy in doing work
• Think Innovatively: LEVEL 2: Offer new ideas/open to new approaches, demonstrate systemic/integrated thinking
• Learn Continuously: LEVEL 2: Go outside comfort zone, learn from others and support their learning
• Adapt with Agility:  LEVEL 2: Adapt processes/approaches to new situations, involve others in change process
• Act with Determination: LEVEL 2: Able to persevere and deal with multiple sources of pressure simultaneously
• Engage and Partner: LEVEL 2: Is facilitator/integrator, bring people together, build/maintain coalitions/partnerships
• Enable Diversity and Inclusion: LEVEL 2: Facilitate conversations to bridge differences, considers in decision making 

Cross-Functional & Technical Competencies:

Business Management

• Customer Satisfaction/Client Management: Ability to respond timely and appropriately with a sense of urgency, provide consistent solutions, and deliver timely and quality results and/or solutions to fulfil and understand the real customers' needs. Provide inputs to the development of customer service strategy. Look for ways to add value beyond clients' immediate requests. Ability to anticipate client's upcoming needs and concerns.

Strategic Thinking

• Business Direction and Strategy: Develop effective strategies and prioritised plans in
  line with UNDP’s mission and objectives, based on the systemic analysis of challenges, opportunities and potential risks; link the general vision to reality on the ground to create tangible targeted solutions. learn from a variety of sources to anticipate and
  effectively respond to both current and future trends; demonstrate foresight.

HR - Compensation/remuneration

• Payroll Management: Knowledge of and ability to apply mechanisms and
  tools to collect payroll data, process payroll, and manage payroll reports.

HR - Recruitment

• Recruitment design and management: Knowledge of, ability to design and manage end-to-end recruitment processes

HR - Talent acquisition

• L&D planning: Knowledge of and ability to develop and implement strategies, mechanisms and platforms to ensure effective outreach to the relevant segments of the labour market, active and passive candidates internally and externally.

HR- Talent management

• Performance management: Knowledge of and ability to guide the application of performance management theory, systems and tools, incl. articulation of expectations, setting objectives and performance standards; conducting performance related discussions and performance coaching; ability to develop performance management and appraisal processes that minimize biases.

HR - People strategy and planning

• People analytics: Ability to generate and align people data with business intelligence data to inform strategic decision making, knowledge of databases, their architecture, integration and landscape; ability to create and use data models; knowledge of 
  visualization techniques. Gathering and using data and information to provide insights into people issues and guide decision-making

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• Secondary Education is required or
• Bachelor’s Degree in HR, Business or Public Administration, Social Sciences and relevant fields will be given due consideration.

Experience:

• Minimum of 7 years with Secondary education or 4 years with bachelor’s degree of progressively responsible HR management at the national or international level is required. 
• Experience in other areas of human resource management such as administering benefits and entitlements is required.
• Experience in the usage of computers and office software packages (MS Word, Excel, etc) and advanced knowledge of web-based management systems such as enterprise resource planning (ERP), is required.
• Knowledge of the Human Resources management practice in an organization of the United Nations system of UN/UNDP is desirable. 
• Experience with extracting and analyzing HR data to identify trends is desirable.
• Demonstrated knowledge of Integrated HRM systems would be an asset. 
• Familiarity with interpretation and application of UNDP policies and guidelines is an advantage 

Required Langauges:

• Fluency in English is required.
• Working knowledge of local languages Fiji Hindi or iTaukei will be considered as desired.

Equal opportunity

As an equal opportunity employer, UNDP values diversity as an expression of the multiplicity of nations and cultures where we operate and, as such, we encourage qualified applicants from all backgrounds to apply for roles in the organization. Our employment decisions are based on merit and suitability for the role, without discrimination. 

UNDP is also committed to creating an inclusive workplace where all personnel are empowered to contribute to our mission, are valued, can thrive, and benefit from career opportunities that are open to all.

Sexual harassment, exploitation, and abuse of authority

UNDP does not tolerate harassment, sexual harassment, exploitation, discrimination and abuse of authority. All selected candidates, therefore, undergo relevant checks and are expected to adhere to the respective standards and principles. 

Probation

For all new UNDP fixed term appointments (FTA), including for staff members being transferred or seconded to UNDP under the Inter-Organization Agreement concerning Transfer, Secondment or Loan of Staff, on an appointment of more than one year, continuation of the appointment beyond the initial 12 months is contingent upon the successful completion of a probationary period.

Right to select multiple candidates

UNDP reserves the right to select one or more candidates from this vacancy announcement.  We may also retain applications and consider candidates applying to this post for other similar positions with UNDP at the same grade level and with similar job description, experience and educational requirements.

Use of AI by candidates

Applicants are invited to read UNDP’s guidance for candidates on using AI responsibly in UNDP recruitment and selection

Scam alert

UNDP does not charge a fee at any stage of its recruitment process. For further information, please see www.undp.org/scam-alert.