Staff Assistant

The Staff Assistant provides a full range of office management and administrative support functions within the Northern Africa Division of the Departments of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs and Peace Operations. The role supports the team by managing administrative processes, coordinating communication, preparing documents, and ensuring efficient office operations under minimal supervision.

Responsibilities

• Performs, under minimal supervision, a full range of office management and administrative support functions including leave plan coordination, meeting organization, reservations, office supply and equipment orders, and preparing/processing administrative requests/documents such as travel requests, expense claims, vouchers, visa applications.
• Provides administrative assistance to the Team.
• Monitors processes and schedules related to the Team’s outputs, products, tasks, etc.
• Ensures a smooth and efficient information flow within and outside the Division, including supporting communication with field missions supported by the Division; prepares, processes and submits unclassified and confidential information; assists in the development of office administrative systems and procedures.
• Researches, compiles and summarizes background materials for use in preparation of reports, briefs, speeches, etc.
• Prepares, processes and follows-up on administrative arrangements and forms related to the official travel of staff.
• Orients new staff to relevant administrative procedures and practices and provides general assistance to other office support staff, as required.
• Attends meetings, prepares minutes, monitors follow-up activities, including related to the Team’s and Division leadership’s meetings with Resident Coordinators (RCs), RC Offices, and field missions.
• Responds or drafts responses to a wide range of routine correspondence and other communications.
• Responds to complex information requests and inquiries such as answers requests requiring file search.
• Assists in the preparation of presentation materials using appropriate technology/software.
• Provides specialized support to the Team such as technology support, editing, desktop publishing.
• Coordinates extensively with service units and liaises frequently with internal team members both at Headquarters and in the field.
• Maintains files (both paper and electronic) of rules, regulations, administrative instructions and other related documentation and databases for the Team.
• Contributes to the effective functioning of the Division; acts as back-up for other assistants in the Division and provides general administrative support across the Division as required.
• Performs other duties as assigned, including operational travel programme; monitoring accounts and payment to vendors and individual contractors for services; physical space planning; identification of office technology needs and maintenance of equipment, software and systems; organizing and coordinating administrative arrangements for seminars, conferences and translations.

Requirements

• High school diploma or equivalent is required.
• A minimum of five years of experience in general office support or related area is required.
• The minimum years of relevant experience is reduced to three years for candidates who possess a first-level university degree or higher.
• Experience working in or with the United Nations Common System or similar international organization is desirable.
• Experience working with UN enterprise resource planning systems (UMOJA, Unite Docs, etc.), or similar database or ERP applications is desirable.
• Experience working with Special Political Missions, Peacekeeping Mission or another relevant field operation is desirable.
• Experience in a front office environment is desirable.
• English is required at UN Level III for reading, writing, listening, and speaking.
• Either Arabic or French is desirable at UN Level I (Arabic) or UN Level II (French) for reading, writing, listening, and speaking.

Skills

• Office Management
• Administrative Support
• Document Preparation
• Communication Coordination
• UN Enterprise Resource Planning
• Umoja
• Unite Docs
• Database Applications Knowledge
• ERP Applications
• Front Office Management
• Experience with UN Common System
• Experience with special political missions
• Experience with peacekeeping operations

Languages

English, Arabic, French