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.

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.

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) ensures that the OSCE has the human resources capacity necessary to successfully implement its mandates. DHR sets the policies and provides services in the areas of talent acquisition, administration of benefits and entitlements, payroll, performance management, talent development, and policy and employee relations across the Organization.

The HR Policy and Employee Relations Unit, is responsible for policy development, the assessment of requests for exception to the HR aspects of the Common Regulatory Management System (CRMS) and employee relation issues throughout the OSCE. In the discharge of its functions, the Unit provides advisory and consultative support to the Secretariat, Institutions and Missions.

Tasks and Responsibilities:

Under the overall supervision of the HR Policy and Employee Relations Officer, the successful candidate will be tasked with the following duties:

1. Conducting research for preparation of HR policy papers, analyzing precedents and practice throughout the OSCE, and other international organizations, in order to propose or draft changes to the HR related CRMS and for consideration by the supervisor;
2. Drafting advice for the supervisor’s review to the Secretariat, Institutions and Missions on the interpretation and implementation of Staff Regulations, Rules and Instructions; providing advice and research on requests for exceptions to the Common Regulatory Management System covering human resources, which include providing recommendations to HR management on the creation of precedents under delegated authority, and proposing actions to be taken with regard to highly sensitive cases;
3. Drafting explanatory papers on the implementation of Staff Regulations, Rules and Instructions to ensure a clear understanding by staff and management and their correct and consistent application. Preparing draft papers to establish or clarify the procedures related to various aspects of human resource management;
4. Conducting research into the jurisprudence and precedents of international administrative labour tribunals, preparing briefs for the management of the Department of Human Resources (DHR) and Office of Legal Affairs (OLA), and providing advice on the course of action in the assigned staff cases by drafting papers and concepts of a procedural or technical nature;
5. Managing the assigned staff cases, which may involve grievance or disciplinary procedures, by reviewing submissions from the parties, preparing the analysis for DHR management, in consultation with OLA, and drafting the determination for the Director of DHR’s consideration;
6. Performing other related duties as assigned.

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

Necessary Qualifications:

• First-level university degree in human resource management, law or a closely related field;
• A minimum of four years (two years with a second-level university degree) of professional-level experience in human resource management or administrative law, such as dealing with staff grievances or disciplinary procedures, preferably in the context of international organizations;
• Legal or paralegal experience in drafting and analyzing documents of a procedural and technical issues;
• Professional fluency in English with excellent communication (both oral and written) skills;
• Demonstrated gender awareness and sensitivity, and an ability to integrate a gender perspective into tasks and activities;
• Ability and willingness to work as a member of team, with people of different cultural, and religious backgrounds, different gender, and diverse political views, while maintaining impartiality and objectivity;
• Computer literate with practical experience using Microsoft applications.

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.

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

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.