Current vacancies

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 innovate

UNICEF has a 70-year history of innovating for children. We believe that new approaches, partnerships and technologies that support realizing children’s rights are critical to improving their lives.

The Office of Innovation is a creative, interactive, and agile team in UNICEF. We sit at a unique intersection, where an organization that works on huge global issues meets the start-up thinking, the technology, and the partners that turn this energy into scalable solutions.

UNICEF's Office of Innovation creates opportunities for the world's children by focusing on where new markets can meet their vital needs. We do this by:

• Connecting youth communities (or more broadly -- anyone disconnected or under-served) to decision-makers, and to each other, to deliver informed, relevant and sustained programmes that build better, stronger futures for children.
• Provoking change for children through an entrepreneurial approach -- in a traditionally risk averse field -- to harness rapidly moving innovations and apply them to serve the needs of all children.
• Creating new models of partnership that leverage core business values across the public, private and academic sectors in order to deliver fast, and lasting results for children.

The Office of Innovation specifically looks to form partnerships around frontier technologies (like drones and UAVs, blockchain, 21st century skills, urban technologies, new banking tools, wearables and sensors, or 3D-Printing) that exist at the intersection of $100 billion business markets and 1 billion person needs – and to identify how they can grow and scale profitably and inclusively.

Our Team

How can you make a difference?

Under the guidance of the Innovation Manager, you will have the opportunity to shape the future of UNICEF climate programming in the following areas:

1. Climate Innovation Offer. Develop the climate innovation service offer together with the Children & Climate Center of Excellence (CoE) for 2026-2030, including innovation strategy, resource mobilization, implementation partnership plan and SoPs for country support in scaling innovations.
2. Climate Ventures. Lead programmatic and market fit analysis for the first Climate Venture cohort and coordinate the selection of country & innovator pairs for growth and transition to scale ventures that will receive UNICEF investment.
3. Financing for Climate Innovation. Develop an operational and partnership plan for the Climate Innovation Financing Facility (CIFF) concept to support pathways for long-term financing accessible to climate entrepreneurs in collaboration with UNICEF’s key internal and external stakeholders of innovative financing.
4. Country Outreach and Scaling Support. Develop an engagement plan for a community of practice for innovation under each climate-related strategic sub goal and organize a series of monthly and bi-monthly exchanges to support cross-country learning and synergies.

Your main responsibilities will be:

1. Climate Innovation Offer
   • Climate Innovation Offer draft completed, integrating:
   • Innovation strategy and vision 2026–2030
   • Resource mobilization and partnership framework
   • SoPs for country support in scaling innovations.
   • Summary presentation prepared for internal validation.
2. Climate Ventures
   • Market-fit and programmatic analysis criteria developed and validated.
   • Market-fit and programmatic analysis report finalized.
   • Country–innovator pairing criteria and readiness scoring tool validated.
   • Selection report for countries and ventures completed.
   • A package of technical and background briefs on cohort selection process and final outcome drafted for Climate Ventures communications
3. Financing for Climate Innovation
   • CIFF operational plan and UNICEF roles and responsibilities drafted
   • Partnership and investment roadmap for climate entrepreneur financing drafter
   • Presentation and feedback rounds on operational plan and partnership and investment roadmap scheduled and conducted
   • Donor-facing pitch deck and policy brief finalized
4. Country Outreach and Scaling Support
   • Country office engagement framework drafted jointly with Children & Climate CoE for 2026-2030
   • Presentation and feedback rounds from 5-10 country offices planned and conducted.
   • Country office engagement plan finalized
   • Minimum 4 virtual exchange sessions and 1 cross-country learning event held.
   • Synthesis report on lessons and cross-country synergies produced.

If you would like to know more about this position, please review the complete Job Description here:  ToR_Climate Innovation Specialist.pdf

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

Minimum requirements:

• Education: An advanced university degree (Master’s or higher) in social sciences, engineering, environmental science, business development or other relevant field to sustainability and climate action. *A first University Degree in a relevant field combined with 2 additional years of professional experience may be accepted in lieu of an Advanced University Degree.

• Work Experience: A minimum of 8 years of relevant professional experience in driving innovation initiatives in the development and humanitarian sector.
  • Knowledge of the UN system is required.
  • Developing country work experience and/or familiarity with emergency is required
• Language Requirements: Fluency in English ir required. 

Desirables:

• Relevant experience at country level, particularly in development, fragile settings and humanitarian contexts. 
• Knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish) is an asset.

Travel:

• The consultant is expected to travel to project countries 3 times over the course of the contract, for a stay of 5 working days.
• The consultant is responsible for arranging his/her own travel, including visa and travel insurance.

Payment details and further considerations
Payment of professional fees will be based on the submission of agreed deliverables. UNICEF reserves the right to withhold payment in case the deliverables submitted are not up to the required standard or in case of delays in submitting the deliverables on the part of the consultant.

How to apply:

• Interest applicant is required to submit a financial proposal with all-inclusive fee. Please see the financial proposal template.  Consultancy Financial Offer template.docx
• Financial proposal must include travel costs (economy class) and daily subsistence allowance, if travel is required as per TOR and any other estimated costs: visa, travel/health insurance
• Applications without a financial proposal will not be considered.

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

The 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 

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.

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.

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.