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 a Future

How can you make a difference?

The Office of Emergency Programmes (EMOPS) leads UNICEF’s global humanitarian preparedness and response efforts, supporting the organization to anticipate, prioritize, and respond to increasingly complex, climate-driven and protracted crises. The Risk Analysis and Preparedness (RAPS) unit within EMOPS plays a central role in strengthening UNICEF’s ability to translate forward-looking risk analysis into preparedness, anticipatory action, and risk-informed programming across Headquarters, Regional Offices, and Country Offices. It supports the contextual risk management and preparedness of UNICEF country offices, complementing the analysis coming from regional and country offices, and globally contributes to positioning preparedness both internally and at the inter-agency level as an organizational priority and an enabler of more effective and timely humanitarian action.

The Chief provides strategic leadership, high-level advisory support, and coordination to advance UNICEF’s global risk analysis, preparedness, anticipatory action, and disaster risk financing agenda. The position supports the Deputy Director in corporate decision-making and prioritization processes, ensuring that risks are systematically identified, analyzed, and translated into actionable recommendations for resource allocation, preparedness investment, and early action. The Chief, Risk Analysis and Preparedness also supervises the Risk and Preparedness Unit, a small team of professionals working on risk analysis and preparedness within EMOPS.

Innovative Risk Analysis and Foresight
Lead horizon scanning exercise and forward-looking humanitarian risk analysis for UNICEF.
Promote the use of predictive analytics, AI-enabled monitoring, and geospatial analysis in risk analysis.
Working closely with the Foresight team in the Office of Strategy and Evidence (OSE),strengthen scenario-based modelling and forward-looking methodologies for humanitarian risk analysis corporately, and at RO and CO level.
Ensure effective coordination with other risk-related parts of UNICEF to improve overall risk management, ensuring preparedness for humanitarian response is integrated into CO and RO risk management plans and systems.
Technical Leadership and Coordination for Anticipatory Action
Provide technical leadership and internal and external coordination for UNICEF’s engagement in anticipatory action, in close coordination with GPD/Climate COE.
Support development and operationalization of child-sensitive anticipatory action frameworks and trigger-based decision thresholds for UNICEF and at the inter-agency level.
Oversight and global coordination of emergency preparedness
Strengthen organizational ability to translate risk analysis and preparedness planning into operational action.
Ensure alignment across risk analysis, preparedness planning, and anticipatory action in country preparedness and planning tools, and corporate policies.
Strengthen institutional use of and compliance with platforms such as the Emergency Preparedness Platform (EPP) 2.0.
Strengthen links between HQ (including CoEs), ROs and COs for improved risk analysis and monitoring.
Provide quality assurance and capacity building to COs and ROs for risk analysis and emergency preparedness, including but not limited to the EPP process.
Working closely with the Global Programme Division and Regional Offices, support strategic and coordinated engagement with and capacity building of national disaster management authorities, line ministries, and regional bodies for emergency preparedness and response, ensuring localization and systems strengthening is embedded within UNICEF’s emergency preparedness and response work.
Inter-Agency Representation and Partnerships
Represent UNICEF in key global fora and inter-agency processes related to emergency preparedness, risk analysis, disaster risk financing, and anticipatory action.
Strengthen partnerships within and beyond the UN on risk analysis, preparedness, and anticipatory action.
Working closely with the Partnerships cone, provide expertise and technical leadership in innovative approaches to disaster risk financing, including expansion of pre-arranged financing mechanisms for humanitarian action.
Other
This position can be deployed as required to support Country Office / Regional Offices.
Performs any other duties and responsibilities appropriate to the purpose of this post, as assigned by the supervisor.

If you would like to know more about this position, please review the complete Job Description here: JD_Chief_P5

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

Minimum requirements:

This position can be deployed as required to support Country Office / Regional Offices.

Education: Master or equivalent (Advanced University Degree) in Economics, Social Sciences, International Relations and any other related fields.
Work Experience: At least 10 years of progressively responsible experience in humanitarian risk analysis, emergency preparedness, anticipatory action, or related areas, including experience supporting senior-level decision-making and inter-agency engagement.
Skills:
- Experience in leading humanitarian risk analysis initiatives
- Proven experience in strategic leadership
- Experience in building and maintaining strategic partnerships
Language Requirements: Fluency in English is required.

Desirables:

Language: Knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish).
Experience in predictive analytics, geospatial analysis and AI enabled monitoring.
Relevant experience at country level, particularly in development, fragile settings and humanitarian contexts.

For every Child, you demonstrate...

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 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
(8) Nurtures, leads and manages people

Familiarize yourself with our competency framework and its different levels.

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 a wide range of benefits to our staff, including paid parental leave, breastfeeding breaks and reasonable accommodation for persons with disabilities. UNICEF provides reasonable accommodation 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.

UNICEF appointments are subject to medical clearance.  Issuance of a visa by the host country of the duty station is required for IP positions and will be facilitated by UNICEF. Appointments may also be subject to inoculation (vaccination) requirements, including against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid). Should you be selected for a position with UNICEF, you either must be inoculated as required or receive a medical exemption from the relevant department of the UN. Otherwise, the selection will be canceled.

Remarks:

As per Article 101, paragraph 3, of the Charter of the United Nations, the paramount consideration in the employment of the staff is the necessity of securing the highest standards of efficiency, competence, and integrity.

UNICEF is committed to fostering an inclusive, representative, and welcoming workforce. For this position, eligible and suitable candidates are encouraged to apply.

Government employees who are considered for employment with UNICEF are normally required to resign from their government positions 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.

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.

Mobility is a condition of international professional employment with UNICEF and an underlying premise of the international civil service.

Humanitarian action is a cross-cutting priority within UNICEF's Strategic Plan. UNICEF is committed to stay and deliver in humanitarian contexts. Therefore, all staff, at all levels across all functional areas, can be called upon to be deployed to support humanitarian response, contributing to both strengthening resilience of communities and capacity of national authorities.

All UNICEF positions are advertised, and only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process. An internal candidate performing at the level of the post in the relevant functional area, or an internal/external candidate in the corresponding Talent Group, may be selected, if suitable for the post, without assessment of other candidates.

Additional information about working for UNICEF can be found here.

Chief (Risk Analysis and Preparedness), P-5, Fixed Term Position, #00107500, Office of Emergency Operations, Outposted to Rome, Italy