UNICEF works in over 190 countries and territories to save children’s lives, defend their rights, and help them fulfill their potential, from early childhood through adolescence.

At UNICEF, we are committed, passionate, and proud of what we do for as long as we are needed. Promoting the rights of every child is not just a job – it is a calling.

UNICEF is a place where careers are built. We offer our staff diverse opportunities for professional and personal development that will help them reinforce a sense of purpose while serving children and communities across the world. We welcome everyone who wants to belong and grow in a diverse and passionate culture, coupled with an attractive compensation and benefits package.

Visit our website to learn more about what we do at UNICEF.

For every child, the right to education

TERMS OF REFERENCE

Purpose of Activity/Assignment:

Background

UNICEF works in over 190 countries and territories to save children’s lives, defend their rights, and help them fulfil their potential, from early childhood through adolescence.

At UNICEF, we are committed, passionate, and proud of what we do. Promoting the rights of every child is not just a job – it is a calling. UNICEF is a place where careers are built: we offer our staff diverse opportunities for personal and professional development that will help them develop a fulfilling career while delivering on a rewarding mission. We pride ourselves on a culture that helps staff thrive, coupled with an attractive compensation and benefits package.

UNICEF’s Global Shared Services Centre (GSSC) provides services to UNICEF offices around the world in the areas of Finance, Master Data Management, Human Resources Administration, Payroll, and IT Customer Care. Our mission is to be a Centre of Excellence for the global delivery of efficient services within a culture of customer service, continuous business improvement, knowledge-sharing and innovation to support the effective achievement of UNICEF's program results worldwide. New services of Recruitment Administration Services - RAS and Individual Consultant Services - ICS, and Travel have been added in 2026. Payroll & Offboarding were restructured and further streamlining and integration are in progress.

Assignment context and brief context of the project: RAS and ICS have successfully completed initial implementation and are now entering a critical phase where service stabilization, standardization, and optimization are required. International Travel is continuing to refine and scale the business model. Payroll & Offboarding (Offboarding) has identified essential streamlining and customer-experience lessons from the UNICEF Future Focused Initiative (FFI) process. While core service delivery capabilities are now in place, targeted investment is needed to rapidly strengthen service design, improve client experience, enhance operational efficiency, and embed industry-leading practices.

This initiative proposes a time-bound GSSC investment in dedicated implementation capacity to accelerate service maturity and deliver tangible improvements to service quality, productivity, client satisfaction, and business outcomes. Resources will be embedded within service teams and focused on delivering practical improvements, operational solutions, and sustainable capabilities.

Objective of the project: to accelerate the maturation of new services through dedicated delivery-oriented resources that

Stabilize and optimize service operations.
Improve client experience and service quality.
Strengthen standardization, automation, and process performance.
Identify and implement industry best practices and service management disciplines.
Build sustainable capabilities that can be maintained following project completion.
Generate measurable business value through enhanced efficiency, effectiveness, and user satisfaction.

Approach: the project will establish a coordinated 'sprint team' steered by Business Performance and Modernization (BPM) while embedding dedicated resources within priority service areas. Each resource will report to the relevant service line and will be accountable for implementing specific service improvements, business processes, tools, standards, and client-facing enhancements.

How can you make a difference?

If you would like to know more about this position, please review the Terms of Reference here: TOR Service Design Advisor ConsultantTMS Text.pdf

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

Minimum requirements:

Education:

Advanced university degree (Master's or equivalent) in Design, Business Administration, Public Administration, Organizational Development, Management, Industrial Engineering, Human-Centred Design, Information Systems, or a related field.
A first-level university degree (Bachelor's or equivalent) in a relevant field may be accepted in lieu of an advanced degree, provided the candidate has an additional two years of qualifying professional experience.

Work Experience:

At least seven years of relevant experience in service design, transformation, advisory, or operational excellence; nine years with a Bachelor’s degree.
Proven experience in Shared Services or Global Business Services benchmarking, senior advisory, and external stakeholder engagement.
Experience supporting service-design workshops and translating evidence into recommendations, plans, and executive products.
Experience in an international organization, public sector, or complex global environment is desirable.
Management consulting experience is considered an asset.

Language Requirements:

Fluency in English is required.

Knowledge/Expertise/Skills:

Strong knowledge of service design, customer experience, service management, and process improvement.
Excellent research, benchmarking, analytical, and systems-thinking skills.
Strong facilitation, stakeholder engagement, influencing, and executive communication skills.
Sound judgement and ability to provide practical advice and work effectively in multidisciplinary teams.

For every Child, you demonstrate Care

UNICEF’s Core Values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust and Accountability and Sustainability (CRITAS) underpin everything we do and how we do it. Get acquainted with Our Values Charter: UNICEF Values

UNICEF promotes and advocates for the protection of the rights of every child, everywhere, in everything it does and is mandated to support the realization of the rights of every child, including those most disadvantaged, and our global workforce must reflect the diversity of those children. The UNICEF family is committed to include everyone, irrespective of their race/ethnicity, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, socio-economic background, minority, or any other status.

UNICEF encourages applications from all qualified candidates, regardless of gender, nationality, religious or ethnic backgrounds, and from people with disabilities, including neurodivergence. We offer reasonable accommodation for persons with disabilities. throughout the recruitment process. If you require any accommodation, please submit your request through the accessibility email button on the UNICEF Careers webpage Accessibility UNICEF. Should you be shortlisted, please get in touch with the recruiter directly to share further details, enabling us to make the necessary arrangements in advance.

UNICEF does not hire candidates who are married to children (persons under 18). 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 based on gender, nationality, age, race, sexual orientation, religious or ethnic background or disabilities. 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, and selected candidates with disabilities may be requested to submit supporting documentation in relation to their disability confidentially.

Qualified candidates are invited to submit the following documents via the online recruitment portal (Talent Management System):

An up-to-date TMS profile and curriculum vitae (CV)
Cover letter (max. 2 pages) describing relevant experience.
A separate financial proposal Financial proposal Service Design Advisor.docx

Remarks:

UNICEF does not charge a processing fee at any stage of its recruitment, selection, and hiring processes (i.e., application stage, interview stage, validation stage, or appointment and training). UNICEF will not ask for applicants’ bank account information.

All UNICEF positions are advertised, and only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process.

Additional information about working for UNICEF can be found here.

Consultancy - Service Design Advisor Consultant, GSSC, Business Performance & Modernization (BPM) Budapest, Hungary, 12 Months (Remote)