UNICEF works in some of the world’s toughest places, to reach the world’s most disadvantaged children. To save their lives. To defend their rights. To help them fulfill their potential.

Across 190 countries and territories, we work for every child, everywhere, every day, to build a better world for everyone.

And we never give up.

For every child, results.

UNICEF’s Global Shared Services Centre (GSSC) in Budapest, Hungary provides services to UNICEF offices globally in the areas of Finance, Human Resources, Payroll and Information Technology.

GSSC has won the 2019 Business Services Firm of the Year in Hungary, one of 26 regional awards announced at the Central and Eastern European Business Services Summit & Awards held in Warsaw, Poland.

How can you make a difference?

The Senior HR Associate (Subject Matter Expert), HR Administration, GS-7 reports to the Human Resources Officer at NO-2 level. Under the supervision of the Chief Human Resources (HR Administration), acts as the subject matter expert across the streams, in both technical and process/functional areas. This role will be responsible for business process improvement, knowledge sharing, technical and process training, and engagement with key stakeholders.

Subject Matter Expertise

• Act as the subject matter expert for the Section in both technical and process/functional areas.
• Work closely with the streams to constantly stay abreast of current policies and procedures and ensure that relevant changes to SOP, workflows, process instructions and procedures are implemented.
• Support with designing system changes and HR products to support continuous improvement initiatives in the HR Administration section.

Projects & Technical Support

• Partner technology developments and ensure the alignment of business systems and standard operating procedures with the expected transaction outputs.
• Create technical documentation for systems used by HR Administration including SAP, TMS, Service Gateway etc. with specific emphasis on the United Nations modalities for HR Administration and interrelated modules.
• Drive continuous improvement projects which results in efficiencies for the GSSC and effectiveness for UNICEF staff members.
• Translate business needs to business requirement documents, create change requests, develop user testing criteria, perform/coordinate user acceptance testing, and recommend system change signoff to the functional managers.

Knowledge Sharing, Training and Updates

• Provide ongoing knowledge sharing sessions, training system changes to team members and overview as part of inducting newcomers to HR Administration.

Partnership with Stakeholders

• Act as the point of contact for any system issues to be coordinated or channeled across the respective streams and support with system fixes.

Additional duties, as required

• Support the SME function at Human Resources (Administration) and the overall section as required.
• Special projects as assigned.

To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have…

• Completion of secondary education (i.e. high school diploma) is a minimum requirement.
• University level courses in human resources and/or business administration is desirable.
• Minimum of seven (7) years of relevant work experience in human resources is required. A completed university degree from an accredited institution will be counted towards the work experience requirements.
• Minimum 4 years of relevant experience is required for candidates holding bachelor’s degree in relevant fields. A relevant master’s degree may replace additional two years.
• Advanced knowledge in the Microsoft Suite of Products (including MS Word, MS Excel & MS PowerPoint) is required.
• Strong working knowledge of SAP HR module is required.
• Advanced knowledge of Service Gateway and/or TMS is an asset.
• Demonstrates a continuous learning mindset, with a focus on expanding reporting expertise and adapting to new tools and systems as needed.
• Previous hands-on experience in creating business requirements, user testing, and implementing system enhancements is highly desirable.
• Experience in project planning and collaboration with project stakeholders is highly desirable.
• Prior work experience with any development organization is an asset.
• Knowledge of UN/UNICEF’S rules, regulations and procedures is considered an asset.
• Fluency in English (verbal and written) is required. Knowledge of an additional UN Language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian, Spanish) is considered an asset.
• Knowledge of the local language of the duty station is an asset.

Applicants must be nationals of Hungary or other EU/Schengen country OR in the possession of a valid long-term Hungarian residency and work permit. Temporary and/or sponsored visas are not accepted.

UNICEF GSSC does not facilitate MFA accreditation for locally recruited staff, applicants must be holders of acceptable permits already at the time of application. Please attach a copy of your work permit (if applicable). UNICEF shall not accept responsibility or liability to act as a sponsor or to otherwise facilitate the issuance, maintenance, renewal, extension, or conversion of the candidate’s residency and/or work permit for employment purposes.

Requirement for internal applicants 

Internal applicants from the GSSC must have their Learning Paths completed already at the time of application otherwise they cannot be considered. Additionally, they must attach a snapshot/copy of the completed path at their current grade to their applications.

Please visit the Learning and Development portal for more information.

For every Child, you demonstrate…

UNICEF’s Core Values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, Accountability and Sustainability (CRITAS) underpin everything we do and how we do it. Get acquainted with Our Values Charter: https://www.unicef.org/careers/get-prepared#Values

UNICEF competencies required for this post are…

(1) Builds and maintains partnerships (2) Demonstrates self-awareness and ethical awareness (3) Drive to achieve results for impact (4) Innovates and embraces change (5) Manages ambiguity and complexity (6) Thinks and acts strategically (7) Works collaboratively with others.

During the recruitment process, we test candidates following the competency framework. Familiarize yourself with our competency framework and its different levels: competency framework here

UNICEF is here to serve the world’s most disadvantaged children and our global workforce must reflect the diversity of those children. The UNICEF family is committed to include everyone, irrespective of their race/ethnicity, age, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, socio-economic background, or any other personal characteristic.

We offer a wide range of benefits to our staff, including paid parental leave, breastfeeding breaks and reasonable accommodation for persons with disabilities. UNICEF strongly encourages the use of flexible working arrangements.

UNICEF has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UNICEF, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. UNICEF is committed to promote the protection and safeguarding of all children. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks, and will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles. Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check.

UNICEF appointments are subject to medical clearance. Appointments may also be subject to inoculation (vaccination) requirements, including against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid). Government employees that are considered for employment with UNICEF are normally required to resign from their government before taking up an assignment with UNICEF. UNICEF reserves the right to withdraw an offer of appointment, without compensation, if a visa or medical clearance is not obtained, or necessary inoculation requirements are not met, within a reasonable period for any reason.

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process.