COMMUNICATIONS OFFICER

Org. Setting and ReportingThis position is located within the Communications and Results Reporting Section (CRRS) of the United Nations Development Coordination Office (DCO) in New York. In its resolution A/RES/72/279 (https://docs.un.org/en/A/RES/72/279), the United Nations General Assembly endorsed the transformation of DCO as a stand-alone coordination office within the UN Secretariat to strengthen the coherence, accountability, and effectiveness of the UN development system. DCO serves as the Secretariat for the United Nations Sustainable Development Group (UNSDG) and supports the strategic positioning and operational effectiveness of the Resident Coordinator System (RCS). To learn more about the activities of the UNSDG and DCO, visit https://unsdg.un.org and https://https://un-dco.org, respectively. CRRS leads communications, editorial coordination, digital engagement, and results visibility for the RCS. The Section plays a central role in translating the UN Country Team (UNCT) 's impact into compelling narratives that build trust, drive transparency, and mobilise support for the 2030 Agenda, the Pact for the Future, climate action, and other global priorities. The incumbent reports directly to a Digitization Officer and is under the overall supervision of the Chief of CRRS. The work implies frequent interaction with editorial, media, regional, and policy teams within DCO and the wider UNSDG. It also involves working hand in hand with communication focal points across the UN system, including the Department of Global Communications (DGC), the Office of the Spokesperson for the Secretary-General, etc., to ensure coherence, amplification, and strategic alignment across the UN’s digital communications ecosystem. The incumbent supports the design, production, and digital promotion of key flagship products, including the e-Report of the Chair of the UNSDG, ensuring they are visually engaging, user-friendly, and optimised for maximum visibility and impact. She or he also supports the strategic repositioning of DCO’s content and digital platforms as an integrated suite with distinct entry points but a shared architecture, messaging approach, and user experience. In this context, the incumbent contributes to the editorial coordination across these platforms as part of a highly collaborative team, ensuring coherence, timeliness, and quality of content that showcases UN team results backed by the RCS, positioning the value of multilateral cooperation, while contributing to capacity-building efforts that enhance digital communications in support of DCO 2.0 priorities. The role also consists of driving results-focused storytelling that integrates visual and data-driven content, supporting the development of performance benchmarks and analytics to improve user engagement, guiding editorial strategies across digital channels and ensuring a digital presence that reflects the ambition of UN 2.0 related to innovation, digital transformation and data-informed communication. It contributes to training and capacity-building initiatives for the global network of communications officers across the RCS to strengthen digital storytelling, responsible and ethical use of AI tools for communications and strategic content planning at the country level. ResponsibilitiesWithin delegated authority, the incumbent will perform the following duties: General • Contribute to the development and implementation of communications strategies that raise awareness, drive engagement, build support and have measurable impact with target audiences. • Draft compelling narratives and messaging on the work of the UN that engage target audiences across different channels and platforms. • Create compelling content that is optimized to reach target audiences across a range of platforms and channels. • Draft and produce communications products, such as press releases, press statements, web stories, reports, and infographics. • Participate in the creation of compelling communications campaigns that engage and have measurable impact with target audiences through appropriate channels and platforms. • Contribute to the creation and updating of policy guidance and/or training related to strategic communications, in consultation with all relevant stakeholders. • Serve as focal point on policy and reporting and prepare inputs for strategic communications in the context of regular reporting to governmental bodies. • Keep abreast of the latest trends in communications and maintain expertise in relevant and emerging technologies. • Maintain confidentiality, integrity, and discreet handling of sensitive information in compliance with the UN data privacy, security requirements, and standards. • Collect and analyse data to identify trends or patterns and provide insights through graphs, charts, tables, and report using data visualization methods to enable data-driven planning, decision-making, presentation, and reporting. • Manage required resources to implement the responsibilities, projects, and activities. Crisis Communications • Provide analysis and contribute to advising senior management, the Crisis Management Team and/or UN colleagues on crisis communications and reputational risk issues within the scope of UN policy and guidance. • Contribute to advising on public narratives to support senior management decision-making and to steer the communications strategy • Provide insights and analysis based on the monitoring of traditional, social, and digital media, including on risks to information integrity such as trends in mis and disinformation. Digital Communications • Participate in the creation and management of compelling and relevant content for websites, create and moderate engaging and platform-optimized content for social media channels, including live content, tailored for digital platforms to advance digital communications priorities and campaigns work. • Participate in the development of approaches to analyse, monitor, and report social media, web, and other digital content to measure results, inform content creation, and adjust ongoing initiatives. • Develop strategic partnerships with social media influencers to elicit support for and maximize impact of digital campaigns and promotional objectives. • Oversee development and maintenance of the organization’s website, ensuring it remains up-to-date, user-friendly, and accessible • Collaborate with web developers to enhance functionality and user experience and manage the architecture of the site and its features in line with the existing UN web guidelines. • Contribute to the generation or update of guidance related to digital communications in consultation with all relevant stakeholders. Digital Media Analytics • Contribute to the development and implementation of UN’s digital communications policies, strategies, and guidelines. • Contribute to the drafting of clear, concise business intelligence and insights reports on communications outcomes and trends for key stakeholders, including on reputational risks and crisis communications. • Contribute to identifying trends and patterns in media engagement and content performance through strategic analytics. • Design and implement communications measurement, evaluation programmes, and processes, including standards, methods, and tools for communications measurement. • Provide training and support to team members on communications measurement, digital media analytics tools, techniques, and best practices. Internal Communications • Prepare communications plans for keeping staff informed and engaged in organization objectives and initiatives, including change management, business continuity processes and during times of crisis. • Participate in organizing regular meetings and events, in cooperation with internal and system-wide stakeholders, such as management and subject matter experts, to keep staff informed and engaged with internal initiatives; moderate and present as required. Outreach and Advocacy • Contribute to the coordination and collaboration with internal and external stakeholders to develop and deliver joint outreach and advocacy activities to advance UN priorities. CompetenciesPROFESSIONALISM: Ability to draft and tailor clear messages for diverse audiences. Knowledge of strategic communications principles and practices. Knowledge of crisis communications and reputational risk management. Knowledge of media landscape and trends. Ability to develop and deliver tailored training and workshops. Knowledge of data analysis concepts, methodologies, and tools. Planning, organizing and coordination skills in a large multi-stakeholder environment. Takes responsibility for incorporating gender perspectives and ensuring the equal participation of women and men in all areas of work. 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. COMMUNICATION: Speaks and writes clearly and effectively; listens to others, correctly interprets messages from others and responds appropriately; asks questions to clarify and exhibits interest in having two-way communication; tailors language, tone, style and format to match audience; demonstrates openness in sharing information and keeping people informed. TECHNOLOGICAL AWARENESS: Keeps abreast of available technology; understands applicability and limitations of technology to the work of the office; actively seeks to apply technology to appropriate tasks; shows willingness to learn new technology. EducationAdvanced university degree (Master’s degree or equivalent) in communication, journalism, international relations, digital communications or related field. A first-level university degree in combination with qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree. Job - Specific QualificationNot available. Work ExperienceA minimum of five (5) years of progressively responsible experience in communications, international relations, or other relevant areas is required. Demonstrated knowledge of current and emerging digital media platforms, their principles and technologies is required. Demonstrated ability to apply policy and guidance in strategic communications is required. Demonstrated ability to write for digital platforms, such as social media or websites, for an international organization is required. Demonstrated knowledge of risks to information integrity - misinformation, disinformation, hate speech, and threats in fragile, post-conflict, and crisis environments is desirable. Demonstrated skills in collecting, processing, and analysing large volumes of unstructured and structured data is desirable. Demonstrated knowledge of multimedia production and tools is desirable. Demonstrated skills in data visualization tools to create charts, graphs, and visual outputs is desirable. LanguagesEnglish and French are the working languages of the United Nations Secretariat. For this job opening, English is required. The table below shows the minimum required level for each skill in these languages, according to the UN Language Framework (please consult https://languages.un.org for details).