Chief of Section, Audit, P5, Internal Audit Division, Office of Internal Oversight Services, United Nations (Global locations)

Org. Setting and Reporting

These positions are located in the Internal Audit Division (IAD) in the Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS). Incumbents of these positions are located at UN Headquarters in New York, Global peacekeeping and special political missions and UN Offices at Geneva and Nairobi. The Chief of Section IAD/OIOS reports to the Chief of Service or Director of IAD. The Internal Audit Division provides assurance and advisory services to all entities of the United Nations under the Secretary-General’s authority. Clients comprise departments and offices within the United Nations Secretariat, regional commissions, peace operations, select funds and programmes and other United Nations entities.

Responsibilities

The incumbent will be responsible for the following duties: • Oversees annual risk assessment of a portfolio of clients and ensures risk registers are kept current; • Develops and implements the Section’s medium and long-term goals and objectives, and related annual audit work plans. • Plans, organizes, directs and coordinates the activities of teams conducting multiple concurrent engagements; • Manages the human and financial resources of the Section. • Defines the broad objectives and scope for each audit/advisory engagement. • Provides direction and leadership with respect to all phases of each audit/advisory engagement with a view to ensuring that OIOS and global internal audit standards are complied with and that engagement objectives are achieved within budget. • Reviews working papers and related engagement communications (e.g., audit and advisory reports). • Empowers/challenges staff to assume more responsibility. • Provides guidance to audit staff on technical and administrative matters. • Leads audits/advisory engagements of a sensitive and complex nature. • Analyses guidelines and standards for internal audit activities and ensures consistency of approach and adequacy of practice of subordinate auditors. • Leads team members efforts to collect and analyze data and provides insight to identify trends or patterns for data-driven planning, decision-making, presentation and reporting. Ensures that everyone can discover, access, integrate and share the data they need. • Comments on and recommends improvements in, or reviews proposed changes to, administrative issuances including the financial rules of the Organization. • Monitors the status of implementation of audit recommendations. • Liaises with internal audit functions of other United Nations organizations. • Establishes and maintains a positive relationship with auditees and other oversight bodies. • Carries out other tasks as may be assigned by the Chief of Service Work implies frequent interaction with the following: • Staff at all levels throughout the Organization • Senior management of other Organizations • Chief Technical Advisers, experts and consultants • Counterparts in sister organizations • Professional organizations (e.g., IIA, CISA) Results Expected: Independently responsible for overall planning, development, management and supervision of assurance and advisory engagements to a portfolio of clients and management of assigned staff.

Competencies

• PROFESSIONALISM: Knowledge of IIA auditing standards and practices, Ability to identify issues, formulate opinions and present conclusions and recommendations. The ability to analyze and interpret data in support of decision-making and convey resulting information to management. Shows pride in work and in achievements; demonstrates professional competence and mastery of subject matter; is conscientious and efficient in meeting commitments, observing deadlines and achieving results; is motivated by professional rather than personal concerns; shows persistence when faced with difficult problems or challenges; remains calm in stressful situations. • COMMUNICATION: Speaks and writes clearly and effectively; listens to others, correctly interprets messages from others and responds appropriately; asks questions to clarify, and exhibits interest in having two-way communication; tailors language, tone, style and format to match audience; demonstrates openness in sharing information and keeping people informed. • LEADERSHIP: Serves as a role model that other people want to follow: empowers others to translate vision into results; is proactive in developing strategies to accomplish objectives; establishes and maintains relationships with a broad range of people to understand needs and gain support; anticipates and resolves conflicts by pursuing mutually agreeable solutions; drives for change and improvements; does not accept the status quo; shows the courage to take unpopular stands. Provides leadership and takes responsibility for incorporating gender perspectives and ensuring the equal participation of women and men in all areas of work; demonstrates knowledge of strategies and commitment to the goal of gender balance in staffing. • JUDGEMENT/DECISION MAKING: Identifies the key issues in a complex situation, and comes to the heart of the problem quickly; gathers relevant information before making a decision; considers positive and negative impacts of decisions prior to making them; takes decisions with an eye to the impact on others and on the Organization; proposes a course of action or makes a recommendation based on all available information; checks assumptions against facts; determines the actions proposed will satisfy the expressed and underlying needs for the decision; makes tough decisions when necessary. • MANAGING PERFORMANCE: Delegates the appropriate responsibility, accountability and decision-making authority; makes sure that roles, responsibilities and reporting lines are clear to each staff member; accurately judges the amount of time and resources needed to accomplish a task and matches task to skills; monitors progress against milestones and deadlines; regularly discusses performance and provides feedback and coaching to staff; encourages risk-taking and supports creativity and initiative; actively supports the development and career aspirations of staff; appraises performance fairly.

Education

Advanced university degree (Master’s degree or equivalent) in business administration, finance, accounting or related field is required. A first-level university degree in combination with two additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.

Job – Specific Qualification

Certification such as a Certified Public Accountant (CPA), Chartered Accountant (CA), Certified Internal Auditor (CIA), Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA), Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE) or equivalent is required.

Work Experience

A minimum of ten years of progressively responsible professional experience in audit, finance, accounting, administration, statistics, computer science or related area is required. Five years’ experience in audit management is required. Five years’ experience of drafting audit reports is required. Three years’ experience reviewing audit reports is required. Five years’ experience in managing a diverse group of professionals is required. Experience in analysis of complete and complex sets of data to identify anomalies and trends using contemporary data analytics tools such as Excel, IDEA, Power BI, Python and Tableau is required.

Languages

English and French are the working languages of the UN Secretariat. For this post, fluency in English is required. Knowledge of another UN official language is desirable.

Assessment

Evaluation of qualified candidates may include an assessment exercise which may be followed by competency-based interview.

Special Notice

According to 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. Candidates will not be considered for employment with the United Nations if they have committed violations of international human rights law, violations of international humanitarian law, sexual exploitation, sexual abuse, or sexual harassment, or if there are reasonable grounds to believe that they have been involved in the commission of any of these acts. The term “sexual exploitation” means any actual or attempted abuse of a position of vulnerability, differential power, or trust, for sexual purposes, including, but not limited to, profiting monetarily, socially or politically from the sexual exploitation of another. The term “sexual abuse” means the actual or threatened physical intrusion of a sexual nature, whether by force or under unequal or coercive conditions. The term “sexual harassment” means any unwelcome conduct of a sexual nature that might reasonably be expected or be perceived to cause offence or humiliation, when such conduct interferes with work, is made a condition of employment or creates an intimidating, hostile or offensive work environment, and when the gravity of the conduct warrants the termination of the perpetrator’s working relationship. Candidates who have committed crimes other than minor traffic offences may not be considered for employment. Due regard will be paid to the importance of recruiting the staff on as wide a geographical basis as possible. The United Nations places no restrictions on the eligibility of men and women to participate in any capacity and under conditions of equality in its principal and subsidiary organs. The United Nations Secretariat is a non-smoking environment. Reasonable accommodation may be provided to applicants with disabilities upon request, to support their participation in the recruitment process. By accepting a letter of appointment, staff members are subject to the authority of the Secretary-General, who may assign them to any of the activities or offices of the United Nations in accordance with staff regulation 1.2 (c). Further, staff members in the Professional and higher category up to and including the D-2 level and the Field Service category are normally required to move periodically to discharge functions in different duty stations under conditions established in ST/AI/2023/3 on Mobility, as may be amended or revised. This condition of service applies to all position specific job openings and does not apply to temporary positions. Applicants are urged to carefully follow all instructions available in the online recruitment platform, inspira, and to refer to the Applicant Guide by clicking on “Manuals” in the “Help” tile of the inspira account-holder homepage. The evaluation of applicants will be conducted on the basis of the information submitted in the application according to the evaluation criteria of the job opening and the applicable internal legislations of the United Nations including the Charter of the United Nations, resolutions of the General Assembly, the Staff Regulations and Rules, administrative issuances and guidelines. Applicants must provide complete and accurate information pertaining to their personal profile and qualifications according to the instructions provided in inspira to be considered for the current job opening. No amendment, addition, deletion, revision or modification shall be made to applications that have been submitted. Candidates under serious consideration for selection will be subject to reference checks to verify the information provided in the application. Job openings advertised on the Careers Portal will be removed at 11:59 p.m. (New York time) on the deadline date.

No Fee

THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CHARGE A FEE AT ANY STAGE OF THE RECRUITMENT PROCESS (APPLICATION, INTERVIEW MEETING, PROCESSING, OR TRAINING). THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CONCERN ITSELF WITH INFORMATION ON A