Senior HR Adviser (S, STA)

Background:

This position is open for secondment only and participating States are kindly reminded that all costs in relation to an assignment at the Secretariat must be borne by their authorities.

The duties and requirements of this seconded (S) position correspond to a P4-level role in the UN common system. Candidates should, prior to applying, verify with their respective nominating authority to which extent financial remuneration and/or benefit packages will be offered. Seconded staff members in the OSCE Secretariat and Institutions are not entitled to a Board and Lodging Allowance payable by the Organization.

Please note that this is a temporary assignment for the duration of 5 months 29 days with the possibility of extension.

The OSCE has a comprehensive approach to security that encompasses politico-military, economic and environmental, and human aspects. It therefore addresses a wide range of security-related concerns, including arms control, confidence- and security-building measures, human rights, combating human trafficking, national minorities, democratization, policing strategies, counter-terrorism and economic and environmental activities. All 57 participating States enjoy equal status, and decisions are taken by consensus on a politically, but not legally binding basis.

The OSCE Secretariat in Vienna assists the Chairpersonship in its activities, and provides operational and administrative support to the field operations, and, as appropriate, to other institutions.

The Department of Human Resources (DHR) is operating amid significant organizational transition within the OSCE. Structural change, resource constraints, evolving workforce demands, and a more complex geopolitical environment are increasing pressure on the Organization to adapt how it is structured, how work is delivered, and how it develops its people capabilities.

Against this backdrop, DHR is advancing broader People Priorities that position HR as an enabler of mandate delivery: maintaining disciplined and reliable HR services while building a more strategic, integrated, and forward-looking approach to talent, organizational capability, workforce planning, and people intelligence.

This requires DHR to modernize how it works and what it delivers. The Department is therefore moving towards greater organizational effectiveness, anticipatory workforce planning, data-informed decision-making, simpler processes, and practical use of digital tools, automation, and AI. The objective is not technology acquisition for its own sake, but better services, stronger workforce decisions and greater capacity for professionals to focus on judgment, relationships and strategy.

To support this agenda, DHR requires a dedicated Senior Adviser to work directly with the Director for Human Resources and provide senior-level capacity across a defined portfolio of cross-functional priorities. The Adviser will complement, rather than duplicate, existing functional responsibilities, bringing together work across different units and helping move priority initiatives from diagnosis and design through testing, implementation and handover.

Priority Areas:

1. Organizational Effectiveness and HR Operating Model
Support reviews of workflows and ways of working to assess whether they remain fit for purpose and aligned with organizational priorities. This may include operating-model improvements, opportunities for greater cross-functional working, and identifying where work can be simplified, consolidated, redesigned or delivered differently.

2. Strategic Workforce and Capability Planning
Strengthen the connection between organizational priorities and workforce decisions by supporting forward-looking workforce analysis, capability and skills assessments, workforce scenarios and consideration of the appropriate deployment of different workforce modalities.

3. Future of Work and Digital Enablement
Explore how AI, automation, digital tools, new skills and new ways of working can improve HR and the wider employee experience, beginning with the work to be done and how it can be redesigned rather than with technology acquisition. Support practical experimentation and pilots that reduce administrative burden, improve service quality and enable professionals to devote greater capacity to strategic, advisory and people-focused work.

4. HR Process Simplification and Service Modernization
Identify opportunities to simplify and improve priority HR processes and employee journeys, reducing unnecessary complexity, duplication and manual intervention while strengthening consistency, accountability and service standards.

5. People Intelligence and Strategic Decision Support
Help strengthen the use of workforce data, analytics, and evidence in organizational decision-making by translating information into actionable insights for the Director and senior leadership. This includes identifying emerging workforce trends, risks, and capability gaps and developing practical tools and approaches that enable more informed, forward-looking people decisions.

Tasks and Responsibilities:

The Short-Term Senior HR Adviser (S), under the direct supervision of the Director for Human Resources, will be responsible for the following:

1. Delivers a defined HR modernization portfolio: Supporting the Director in progressing a limited set of priority modernization initiatives with clear scope, milestones, and expected outcomes.

2. Drives process simplification and service redesign: Workiing with functional owners to identify unnecessarily complex, manual, or duplicative HR processes. Designing and testing simpler, more user-centered approaches that improve the employee experience and simplify administrative burden.

3. Advances the Future of Work and HR Innovation: Working across DHR to anticipate and translate Future of Work trends into practical improvements in how HR operates and delivers value. Identifying opportunities to redesign work, simplifying processes, strengthening digital ways of working, and responsibly leveraging automation and AI.

4. Provides cross-functional project capacity: Supporting modernization initiatives requiring co-ordination across several DHR functions by bringing together inputs, tracking interdependencies, resolving implementation bottlenecks, and maintaining delivery momentum.

5. Undertakes targeted workforce and organizational scenario analysis: Conducting specific analysis related to changing organizational, staffing, or resourcing requirements, including scenario modelling to support evidence-based decisions, in collaboration with the relevant functional leads.

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6. Brings in external practice and benchmarking: Identifying and assessing practical HR innovations from comparable international organizations, multilateral institutions and other relevant sectors. Translating relevant external practice into contextually appropriate options for DHR, focused on what is realistically adaptable to the OSCE environment.
   

For more detailed information on the structure and work of the OSCE Secretariat, please see https://www.osce.org/secretariat

Education
Second-level university degree in human resources management, business or public administration, organizational development, management, social sciences or a related field. A first-level university degree in combination with additional qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree, in accordance with applicable OSCE requirements.

Experience

• A minimum of seven years (nine years with a relevant first-level degree) of progressively responsible professional experience in HR modernization, HR transformation, HR service improvement, management consulting or closely related fields;
• Demonstrated track record of delivering time-bound improvement or modernization projects in complex, multi-stakeholder organizations;
• Experience in HR process simplification, service redesign and/or digital enablement, with evidence of moving from diagnosis to practical implementation;
• Good working knowledge of automation, AI and emerging HR technologies, with the ability to translate these into practical, proportionate organizational applications;
• Substantive experience in cross-functional project coordination and implementation planning, including managing interdependencies, risks and benefits realization;
• Experience working effectively through functional owners and multidisciplinary teams without formal authority.

Skills and Competencies

• Strong analytical capability, with the ability to diagnose organizational problems quickly, assess options and develop actionable recommendations;
• Ability to communicate complex HR and process issues clearly to senior stakeholders and functional practitioners alike;
• Structured project and programme management skills, including implementation planning, milestone tracking and risk management;
• Practical change-management capability, recognizing that implementation and adoption are as important as design;
• Strong interpersonal and relationship-building skills, with the ability to work collaboratively across organizational boundaries and build credibility rapidly.

Context

• Experience in international organizations, multilateral institutions or similarly complex public-sector environments is a significant asset;
• Familiarity with HR practices in regulated, multi-stakeholder environments is desirable;
• Excellent oral and written communication skills in English.

Required Values and Competencies
OSCE core values: Commitment. Diversity. Integrity. Accountability.
OSCE core competencies: Communication. Collaboration. Analysis & decision-making. Planning. Initiative-taking. Flexibility.

If you wish to apply for this position, please use the OSCE's online application link found under https://vacancies.osce.org/. If your participating State does not provide the option to apply online for seconded positions, you are kindly requested to submit your offline application form available at https://jobs.osce.org/resources/document/offline-application-form to the respective OSCE delegation whose address can be found at https://www.osce.org/contacts/delegations.

The OSCE retains the discretion to re-advertise/re-post the vacancy, to cancel the recruitment, to offer an appointment with a modified job description or for a different duration.

Only those candidates who are selected to participate in the subsequent stages of recruitment will be contacted.

Candidates interviewed and found suitable in the recruitment process for this vacancy notice will be placed on a roster of suitable candidates (valid for three years) for fixed-term posts open for secondment, should a suitable opportunity arise. The placement on a roster does not guarantee a future appointment or assignment.

Please note that vacancies in the OSCE are open for competition only amongst nationals of participating States, please see https://www.osce.org/participating-states.

The OSCE is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages the nomination of qualified female and male candidates from all religious, ethnic and social backgrounds.

Candidates should be aware that OSCE officials shall conduct themselves at all times in a manner befitting the status of an international civil servant. This includes avoiding any action which may adversely reflect on the integrity, independence and impartiality of their position and function as officials of the OSCE. The OSCE is committed to applying the highest ethical standards in carrying out its mandate. For more information on the values set out in OSCE Competency Model, please see https://jobs.osce.org/resources/document/our-competency-model.

Please apply to your relevant authorities well in advance of the deadline expiration to ensure timely processing of your application. Delayed nominations will not be considered. The OSCE can only process Secondment applications that have been nominated by participating States. For queries relating to your application, please refer to the respective delegation as listed here: https://www.osce.org/contacts/delegations.

Please be aware that OSCE appointments are subject to medical clearance.

Please be aware that the OSCE does not request payment at any stage of the application and review process.