Principal Administrative Officer Job at UNON

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• Job Opening ID: 260625
• Job Network : Political, Peace and Humanitarian
• Job Family : Political Affairs
• Category and Level : Professional and Higher Categories, D-1
• Duty Station : NAIROBI
• Department/Office : United Nations Office at Nairobi
• Date Posted : Jul 7, 2025
• Deadline : Aug 20, 2025

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Org. Setting and Reporting

The United Nations Office at Nairobi (UNON) is the UN headquarters in Africa and serves as the representative office of the Secretary-General. UNON performs representation and liaison functions with permanent missions, the host country and other governments, as well as intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations based in Nairobi. It also coordinates with other organizations of the United Nations system operating in Kenya. UNON supports the programme implementation of the Resident Coordinator System (RCS), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), and the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) globally. Additionally, it provides administrative, conference, security and safety, and public information services to United Nations staff and facilities at the United Nations Office at Nairobi.

This position is located in the Office of the Director-General, UNON. The incumbent supports the Director-General by managing the Office of the Director-General and assisting him/her in fulfilling responsibilities as the Representative of the Secretary-General in Kenya. Under the overall supervision of the Director-General, the incumbent will be responsible for the following functions:

Responsibilities

1. Provision of Strategic Advisory Support:

• Assists the Director-General in the overall direction and management of the United Nations Office at Nairobi (UNON), and in coordinating functions within the Office of the Director-General.

2. Management of the Office of the Director-General:

• Manages the operations of the Office of the Director-General by supervising outputs and organizing workflow and communications.
• Reviews, prepares, and clears correspondence, official statements, and reports.
• Manages the team of Special Assistant and other office staff as determined by the Director-General.

3. Liaison with Member States and Stakeholders:

• Maintains liaison with heads of missions and other high-ranking representatives of Member States, organizations, donors, and partners in the region on protocol and procedural matters.
• Performs protocol and liaison functions with the host country authorities.
• Represents the Director-General, as required, at UN meetings, during high-level official visits, and at conferences held in Nairobi.

4. Internal UN coordination:

• Assists the Director-General in coordinating among UNON’s divisions and ensuring that decisions from the Senior Management Team meetings are implemented and followed up.
• Supports the Director-General in coordinating with other UN entities based in Nairobi, including close cooperation with UN Secretariat entities—particularly Senior Leadership at UNEP and UN-Habitat—as well as at the inter-agency level with the Senior Management of the Agencies, Funds, and Programmes present in the country.
• Represents and assists the Director-General, as required, in coordinating with UN Secretariat headquarters departments and offices across the UN Secretariat.
• Coordinates monitoring, evaluation, reporting, and oversight functions for the United Nations Office at Nairobi.
• Leads team members efforts to collect and analyze data and provide insight to identify trends or patterns for data-driven planning, decision-making, presentation and reporting. Ensure that all stakeholders can discover, access, integrate and utilize the data they need as appropriate.

5. Other duties:

• Undertakes other assignments as requested by the Director-General.

Competencies

PROFESSIONALISM: Demonstrated in-depth knowledge and understanding of the UN system, including UN Offices away from headquarters; Substantial knowledge of management, policy, coordination, protocol, general administration matters; Strong analytical skills and proven ability to review and edit the work of others as well as diplomacy and tact; The ability to analyze and interpret data in support of decision-making and convey resulting information to management; Ability to establish priorities and make timely decisions; Demonstrated ability to establish and maintain contacts at all levels; Excellent knowledge of United Nations Policies, Inter Agency Coordination, sound political judgement; remains calm in stressful situations; Shows pride in work and in achievements; Demonstrates professional competence and mastery of subject matter; Is conscientious and efficient in meeting commitments, observing deadlines and achieving results; Is motivated by professional rather than personal concerns; Shows persistence when faced with difficult problems or challenges; Remains calm in stressful situations; Takes responsibility for incorporating gender perspectives and ensuring the equal participation of women and men in all areas of work.

COMMUNICATION: Speaks and writes clearly and effective; Listens to others, correctly interprets messages from others and responds appropriately; Demonstrates openness in sharing information and keeping people informed.

LEADERSHIP: Serves as a role model that other people want to follow; Anticipates and resolves conflict by pursuing mutually agreeable solutions; Establishes and maintains relationships with a broad range of people to understand needs and gain support; Provides leadership and takes responsibility for incorporating gender perspectives and ensuring the equal participations of women and men in all areas of work; Demonstrated knowledge of strategies and commitment to the goal of gender balance in staffing.

VISION: Identifies strategic issues, opportunities and risks; Clearly communicates links between the Organization’s strategy and the work unit’s goals; Generates and communicates broad and compelling organizational direction, inspiring others to pursue that same direction.

JUDGEMENT/DECISION MAKING: Identifies the key issues in a complex situation and comes to the heart of the problem quickly; Considers positive and negative impacts of decisions prior to making them; Takes decisions with an eye to the impact on others and on the Organization; determines that the actions proposed will satisfy the expressed and underlying needs for the decision.

Education

• Advanced university degree (Master’s degree or equivalent) in public administration, management, social sciences, international relations or a related area is required.
• A first-level university degree in combination with two additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.
• Successful completion of both degree and non-degree programs in data analytics, business analytics or data science programs is desirable.

Work Experience

• A minimum of fifteen (15) years of experience in public administration and management in a large international organization such as the UN at the international level is required.
• A minimum of ten (10) years of experience in advising senior leadership on complex cooperation and coordination of inter-agency issues is required.
• A minimum of ten (10) years of experience in negotiations with senior-level officials at the intergovernmental level is required.
• A minimum of five (5) years of experience supervising complex and multifunctional teams is required.
• A proven track record of at least five (5) years in the coordination of service delivery at the inter-agency level is required.
• A proven track record of at least ten (10) years in supporting senior staff in the implementation of complex plans of work/compacts is desirable.
• Experience in data analytics or related area is desirable.

Languages

• English and French are the working languages of the United Nations Secretariat. For the post advertised, fluency in oral and written English is required. Knowledge of another UN language is desirable.
• NOTE: “fluency equals a rating of “fluent” in all four areas (read, write, speak, understand) and ” Knowledge of” equals a rating of ” confident” in two of the four areas.

Assessment

• Evaluation of qualified candidates for this position may include a substantive assessment which will be followed by a competency-based interview.

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