Job Description

Please note that this vacancy is only open to eligible staff members who have been individually notified of their eligibility to apply for positions advertised in the Accelerated Posting Compendium.

June 12, 2026

A (least hardship)

Family

PR5

Professional

Reason

Regular > Regular Assignment

2026-05-26

Senior Management Support Coordinator

Organizational Setting and Work Relationships

The Senior Management Support Coordinator plays a critical leadership role in overseeing the effective and strategic delivery of management support services across human resources, finance, supply chain, and administration. The incumbent is responsible for ensuring the integration of operational practices with corporate policies and objectives, driving continuous improvement initiatives, and providing high-level coordination across departments. This role requires advanced technical expertise and the ability to influence key stakeholders to ensure the successful delivery of programmatic results at a regional or global level.

All UNHCR staff members are accountable to perform their duties as reflected in their job description. They do so within their delegated authorities, in line with the regulatory framework of UNHCR which includes the UN Charter, UN Staff Regulations and Rules, UNHCR Policies and Administrative Instructions as well as relevant accountability frameworks. In addition, staff members are required to discharge their responsibilities in a manner consistent with the core, functional, cross-functional and managerial competencies and UNHCR’s core values of professionalism, integrity and respect for diversity.

Duties

Strategic Leadership and Oversight

• Provide strategic guidance on operational planning and implementation of management support activities, ensuring alignment with organizational objectives, rules, and standards.
• Lead the development of integrated service delivery models, promoting synergies across human resources, finance, supply, and administration.
• Advise on policy and procedural improvements based on management support challenges and lessons learned.
• Provide direct supervision to managers or senior officers in the areas of administration, finance, supply chain, and human resources, ensuring effective coordination, planning, and delivery of integrated management support services. Exercise functional oversight over management support teams across the office or region, setting performance standards, monitoring results, and promoting a culture of accountability and continuous improvement.

Human Resources

• Lead the implementation of human resources strategies, workforce planning, and recruitment processes.
• Monitor staffing trends, contract management, and compliance with HR policies and procedures.
• Provide guidance on staff entitlements, benefits, and personnel administration matters.

Financial Management

• Oversee budget implementation and financial reporting in line with donor and organizational requirements.
• Lead the preparation of budgets, including expenditure forecasts.
• Conduct financial analysis, ensuring appropriate use of resources and identifying cost-saving opportunities.

Supply Chain and Procurement

• Lead procurement planning and execution in accordance with UNHCR’s procurement policies and ethical standards.
• Monitor supply chain performance, ensuring timely delivery of goods and services.
• Oversee asset management, inventory control, and logistical operations.

General Administration

• Manage administrative functions such as facilities management, travel, fleet, and office support.
• Ensure proper management of service contracts and administrative suppliers.
• Support implementation of IT and digital solutions for operations when relevant.

Coordination, Capacity Building, and Client Support

• Foster close collaboration with programme teams and external partners to ensure efficient management support.
• Lead training and capacity-building initiatives for national staff across functional areas.
• Act as a focal point for resolving cross-functional operational issues and providing technical advice to field offices or sub-units.

• Lead risk assessments and discussions with team(s) to proactively manage risks and seize opportunities impacting objectives. Ensure that risk management principles are integrated in decision-making both at strategic and operational levels. Allocate resources for planned treatments with resource requirements in Strategic Plans. Ensure that risks are managed to acceptable levels and escalate, as needed. If a Risk Owner, designate the Risk Focal Point and certify that the annual risk review is completed and ensure that the risk register is updated during the year, as needed.

• Perform other related duties as required.

Minimum Qualifications

Years of Experience / Degree Level

For P5 - 12 years relevant experience with Undergraduate degree; or 11 years relevant experience with Graduate degree; or 10 years relevant experience with Doctorate degree

Field(s) of Education

Business Administration Finance Human Resources

Supply Chain Management or other relevant field.

Certificates and/or Licenses

Not specified.

(Certificates and Licenses marked with an asterisk* are essential)

Relevant Job Experience

Essential

Progressively responsible experience in management support or oversight of cross-functional services, including at least 5 years in a supervisory capacity. Experience in an international or intergovernmental organization is required.

Desirable

Field experience and work in a humanitarian setting are highly desirable.

Functional Skills

FI-General Financial Management

HR-Performance management methodologies and practices

SC-Supply Chain planning and strategy development

MG-Stakeholder Management

MG-Change Management

DM-Data governance, quality assurance and preservation

CL-Strategy Development and Monitoring

MG-Key Performance Indicator Development and Oversight

MG-Management Planning

HR-Strategic Workforce Planning

RM-Risk Management

(Functional Skills marked with an asterisk* are essential)

Language Requirements

For International Professional and Field Service jobs: Knowledge of English and UN working language of the duty station if not English

For National Professional jobs: Knowledge of English and UN working language of the duty station if not English and local language

For General Service jobs: Knowledge of English and/or UN working language of the duty station if not English

Competency Requirements

All jobs at UNHCR require six core competencies and may also require managerial competencies and/or cross-functional competencies. The six core competencies are listed below.

Core Competencies

Accountability

Communication

Organizational Awareness

Teamwork & Collaboration

Commitment to Continuous Learning

Client & Result Orientation

Managerial Competencies

Empowering & Building Trust

Judgement & Decision Making

Leadership

Managing Performance

Managing Resource

Strategic Planning & Vision

Cross-Functional Competencies

Stakeholder Management

Political Awareness

Policy Development &Research

All UNHCR workforce members must individually and collectively, contribute towards a working environment where each person feels safe, and empowered to perform their duties. This includes by demonstrating no tolerance for sexual exploitation and abuse, harassment including sexual harassment, sexism, gender inequality, discrimination, and abuse of power.

As individuals and as managers, all must be proactive in preventing and responding to inappropriate conduct, support ongoing dialogue on these matters and speaking up and seeking guidance and support from relevant UNHCR resources when these issues arise.

This is a Standard Job Description for all UNHCR jobs with this job title and grade level. The Operational Context may contain additional essential and/or desirable qualifications relating to the specific operation and/or position. Any such requirements are incorporated by reference in this Job Description and will be considered for the screening, shortlisting and selection of candidates.

Essential Attributes
• Professional expertise in monitoring and evaluation (M&E) and results-based management (RBM).
• Demonstrated technical expertise in Data analysis, Indicator development, Production of high-quality analytical reports to support evidence-based decision-making
• Proven experience in designing and implementing monitoring systems, including the use of data collection tools and appropriate digital platforms.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills in both French and English.

Desirable Attributes
• Experience in emergency or complex operational contexts.
• Familiarity with advanced analytical approaches, including Data visualization tools and Large-scale data processing techniques
• Exposure to or experience with innovative data approaches.
• Experience in multi-country or regional coordination environments.

French

,

,

,

,

Operational context

Occupational Safety and Health Considerations:

To view occupational safety and health considerations for this duty station, please visit: https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel

Nature of Position:

The Regional Bureau for West and Central Africa (RBWCA), based in Dakar, oversees UNHCR operations in eight countries with an established presence: Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic (CAR), Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Mali, Niger, and Nigeria.

As part of a regional realignment, the Multi-Country Offices (MCOs) in Côte d’Ivoire and Senegal were closed on 31 December 2025. Five standalone National Offices – Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Senegal and Togo, – became fully operational on 1 October 2025. The Multi-Country Office (MCO) Cameroon covers Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Sao Tome et Principe and the Republic of Congo, which was integrated within the WCA region on 1 October, along with the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The Bureau is accredited to regional intergovernmental bodies, including ECOWAS and ECCAS, and engages closely with UN regional entities. With both Anglophone and Francophone countries, the region requires bilingual, context-specific engagement across diverse political and operational environments.

The West and Central Africa region is currently home to over 21.9 million forcibly displaced and stateless persons, including IDPs, refugees, asylum-seekers, and returnees. Major concentrations are found in Chad, Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, and the DRC, where conflict, intercommunal violence, and human rights violations continue to drive new displacement.

Humanitarian needs continue to rise due to expanding armed conflict in the Sahel, political instability, and the regional impact of the Sudan crisis, which has generated large refugee inflows into Chad and CAR. The region is also a major crossroads for mixed movements, requiring a route-based approach (RBA) along the central and western Mediterranean routes and the Sahel–North Africa axis.

While some voluntary repatriation and spontaneous returns occur, large-scale solutions remain limited. UNHCR prioritizes long-term solutions beyond return – including socio-economic inclusion, transition to national systems, and strengthened access to services – in protracted and fragile contexts.

Chad and the Central African Republic (CAR) together illustrate the growing convergence between humanitarian response, national system-strengthening, and development in West and Central Africa. Chad hosts more than 1.3 million refugees and operating at the limits of humanitarian capacity, making it a defining test case for UNHCR’s shift toward inclusion in national systems, development-anchored solutions, and reduced parallel structures. CAR, meanwhile, sits at the crossroads of the Sahel, the Great Lakes, and the Sudan regional crisis, with cyclical displacement and volatile border zones continuing to strain the absorption capacity of its institutions. Through the CAR Solutions Support Platform and cross-border coordination with Chad, Cameroon, DRC, ROC, Sudan and South Sudan, UNHCR is helping shape a more predictable framework for voluntary returns, community-based reintegration, and stabilization in areas of repeated displacement, in addition to advancing on local inclusion and integration in neighbouring asylum countries. Together, Chad and CAR underline the Bureau’s strategic move toward situation-based engagement, reinforced regional cooperation, and investment in national systems as the foundation for long-term solutions.

The Sahel continues to face violence, challenges to humanitarian access, and limited essential services, while the spill over into the Coastal States has transformed the crisis into a broader regional challenge. Despite this volatility, governments have demonstrated renewed political will through the Sahel+ strategy and the Lomé Dialogue, creating opportunities for coordinated approaches to asylum, border governance, protection data, and mixed movement management. UNHCR’s situational approach in the Sahel centres on delivering life-saving emergency assistance, strengthening protection and advancing solutions, and social and economic inclusion for the forcibly displaced, supported by a route-based framework that links countries of origin, transit, and destination. The Sahel thus represents both one of the deepest protection crises in the region and a critical entry point for state-led, regionally anchored solutions that reinforce resilience, inclusion, and social cohesion.

The DRC, recent addition to the RBWCA’s remit and immediately a regional priority, represents one of the most complex additions to the Bureau’s portfolio, with nearly 6 million IDPs and over 1.2 million Congolese refugees hosted in neighbouring states (primarily Uganda, Burundi, Rwanda and Tanzania). The country also hosts over 510,000 refugees from the region.

UNHCR’s role in the DRC extends beyond humanitarian response to support key regional peace processes, and the Tripartite framework between DRC, Rwanda and UNHCR.

Against a backdrop of expanding needs and constrained resources, the global funding landscape is accelerating a shift from broad programme-based models towards more projectized, donor-aligned delivery. The Bureau is implementing strengthened project-based management approaches, with new SOPs defining roles along the project cycle, strengthened accountability mechanisms and contribution-tracking, and enhanced monitoring and evaluation to demonstrate results and manage risk.

Capacity building on project management, proposal writing, donor compliance, and risk management will be rolled out. A regional oversight mechanism, standardized templates, and regional proposal packs will support quality and alignment. Strategic prioritisation of proposals will be essential to avoid overload.

The Bureau will also diversify partnerships – including national partners, development actors, ECOWAS, and emerging donors – to reinforce sustainability and avoid overly ambitious or politically sensitive commitments, particularly in complex contexts such as the DRC.

The Senior Management Support Coordinator is one of five P5 senior managers in the Bureau and a member of the Regional Senior Management Team. Reporting to the Deputy Regional Bureau Director / Head of Operations, the incumbent oversees regional support and quality assurance functions related to Administration, Finance, Budget, Project Control, ICT, and Supply.

The position plays a critical role in strengthening financial discipline, internal controls, risk management, and operational efficiency across a complex and geographically dispersed portfolio. The incumbent will have frequent field missions to operations covered by RBWCA. S/he supports country operations directly through follow-up on audit recommendations, supervision of project control, monitoring of budget implementation, and reinforcement of compliance frameworks—while ensuring that oversight functions translate into practical, field-oriented support.

In an environment characterized by operational volatility, funding pressures, and increased accountability expectations, the role contributes to promoting value-for-money, risk-informed decision-making, and coherent cross-functional collaboration between the Bureau and country operations.

Living and Working Conditions:

It is planned that the entire United Nations system in Dakar will relocate to a common UN house in Diamniadio, approximately 40 km from the main city. Candidates applying for positions based in Dakar should consider this move. Arrangements are being made for staff transportation and teleworking schedules to ensure acceptable working conditions.

As the capital of Senegal, Dakar has a population of over one million and offers reasonable medical facilities, providing both general and specialist care in line with international standards. Dakar is classified by the United Nations as an "A" family duty station, indicating access to all basic services and most recreational activities and facilities.

Living conditions are comfortable, and essential services are readily available.

While the asylum practices in West Africa are generally generous, the operational and political environments present unique challenges for the UN, and particularly for UNHCR. The region hosts a variety of political and UN coordination mechanisms, requiring significant time and effort to ensure that UNHCR remains relevant. Key structures include the United Nations Office for West Africa and the Sahel, led by a Special Representative of the Secretary-General (SRSG), the Regional UNDG, and regional offices for WFP, UNICEF, OCHA, UN Women, FAO, among others. Donors also have regional platforms in West Africa.

Additional Qualifications

Skills

Bachelor of Arts: Business Administration, Bachelor of Arts: Finance, Bachelor of Arts: Human Resources, Bachelor of Arts: Supply Chain Management

Certifications

Competencies

Accountability, Client & results orientation, Commitment to continuous learning, Communication, Empowering & building trust, Judgement & decision making, Leadership, Managing performance, Managing resource, Organizational awareness, Policy research & development, Political awareness, Stakeholder management, Strategic planning & visions, Teamwork & collaboration

https://icsc.un.org/Home/SalaryScales

Compendium

Accelerated Posting Compendium 2026 - Part B

Additional Information

This position doesn't require a functional clearance