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. 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 personal and professional development that will help them develop a fulfilling career while delivering on a rewarding mission. We pride ourselves on a culture that helps staff thrive, coupled with an attractive compensation and benefits package.

Visit our website to learn more about what we do at UNICEF.

The Social Policy and Social Protection (SP) team within UNICEF’s Programme Group plays a pivotal role in advancing global efforts to improve social policies for children. Focused on eradicating child poverty, strengthening social protection systems, delivering humanitarian cash assistance during emergencies, making finance systems work for children, and advocating for inclusive social policy, the SP team is instrumental to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This work aligns with UNICEF’s mandate under the Convention on the Rights of the Child and Goal Area 5 of its current Strategic Plan 2022–2025: “Every Child Has Access to Inclusive Social Protection and Lives Free of Poverty.”

Looking ahead, UNICEF’s Strategic Plan for 2026–2029 will prioritize addressing emerging global challenges, advancing children's rights, and implementing strategic shifts in high-impact areas. Emphasizing integrated programming, particularly in humanitarian and fragile contexts, it will adapt differentiated strategies to meet country-specific needs. The plan underscores scaling up efforts to end child poverty globally, integrating climate change considerations, and strengthening systems for long-term sustainability and impact. The SP team will play a central role in driving these efforts, including closing social protection coverage gaps for children, elevating the care and support agenda, and protecting and leveraging resources for children. Moreover, the team will focus on tackling structural inequalities and fostering progress in human capital development, economic empowerment, and resilience-building for children. Strategic discussions are underway, targeting the presentation of the plan at the UNICEF Executive Board session in September 2025.

For every child, a protection……

Join UNICEF’s Programme Group as a Senior Adviser – Social Policy and Social Protection, where you’ll collaborate with teams across New York, Geneva, and 454 staff globally, driving strategic priorities in child poverty, social protection, public finance, and humanitarian cash programming. This role offers the opportunity to lead impactful initiatives like the Finance for Children Framework, Child Poverty Advocacy Strategy, and climate-integrated poverty reduction strategies. You’ll provide intellectual, technical, and advocacy leadership, while building global partnerships to advance children’s rights and equity. Play a key role in shaping UNICEF’s social inclusion policies and strengthening global and regional collaboration, offering high-level support to senior management and country offices.

How can you make a difference?

The Senior Adviser will provide strategic leadership to ensure the successful delivery of 2025 workplans, focusing on global child poverty advocacy, scaling up social protection systems, and advancing the Financing for Children (F4C) framework. This includes identifying potential risks and proposing high-level solutions. The role involves strategically guiding global events, such as the G20 Leaders’ Summit, the Tax and Children Symposium, and the International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD-IV), to ensure alignment with UNICEF’s objectives and maximize their impact. Additionally, the Senior Adviser will lead the development of the next UNICEF Strategic Plan, represent the team in divisional and cross-divisional meetings, and foster alignment across the organization.

The role emphasizes promoting collaboration among Regional Social Policy Advisors, Country Office leads, and key stakeholders within the social policy sector. By offering tailored strategic guidance, the Senior Adviser will support the advancement of the social policy and social protection agenda. Furthermore, the role involves building and strengthening partnerships with external stakeholders, such as research institutions and civil society organizations, to enhance UNICEF’s global social policy efforts and foster impactful initiatives.

The Senior Adviser will contribute to the Programme Group’s Thought Leadership Agenda by identifying and publishing high-impact articles, analyzing macro-level themes, and supporting key initiatives such as field notes and the fellowship program. These efforts aim to amplify cross-sectoral engagement and elevate UNICEF’s visibility. Additionally, the Senior Adviser will assist the Director Programme in recruiting the new Chief Economist & Director of Social Policy and Social Protection, collaborating on talent identification, headhunting, and targeted outreach to secure top-tier candidates. Other recruitment and strategic support may be provided as needed.

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

Minimum requirements:

Education

An advanced university degree from an accredited institution in economics, Social Sciences, public policy or related fields is required.

Work Experience

A minimum of 10 years of professional experience that combines intellectual and managerial leadership in an international organization or corporation is required.

Desirables/Assets:

• Substantive experience in economic and social policy analysis, advocacy and technical assistance at the national and international levels. Experience with UNICEF field programmes an asset.
• Excellent knowledge of and familiarity with key issues in international development policy, economic and social policy and knowledge management as applicable to children’s and women’s rights.
• Excellent analytical, writing, public speaking and advocacy skills in social and economic policy fields.
• Proven competence in the management of teams oriented to the provision of technical support and analysis.
• Proven familiarity with the use and application of human rights-based approaches in development.

Language Requirements

• Fluency in English is required.  Knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish) or a local language is an asset.

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…

• Builds and maintains partnerships
• Demonstrates self-awareness and ethical awareness
• Drive to achieve results for impact
• Innovates and embraces change
• Manages ambiguity and complexity
• Thinks and acts strategically
• Works collaboratively with others 

Familiarize yourself with our competency framework and its different levels.

UNICEF is here to serve the world’s most disadvantaged children and our global workforce must reflect the diversity of those children. The UNICEF family is committed to include everyone, irrespective of their race/ethnicity, age, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, socio-economic background, or any other personal characteristic.

We offer a wide range of benefits to our staff, including paid parental leave, breastfeeding breaks, and reasonable accommodation for persons with disabilities. UNICEF strongly encourages the use of flexible working arrangements.

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. UNICEF is committed to promoting the protection and safeguarding of all children.

All selected candidates will 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.

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.

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.

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.