Human Resources Officer

Organizational Setting
FAO's Human Resources Division (CSH) provides human resources (HR) strategies, policies, guidance and oversight to FAO Offices worldwide to ensure that the Organization attracts, develops and retains a diverse, skilled and highly motivated workforce, delivering on the mandate of the Organization. Over the next years, the Human Resources Division will focus on developing and implementing a people centered strategy, and positioning HR as a strategic partner contributing to the achievement of the mandate of FAO.

The position is located in the Human Resources Division (CSH) at FAO headquarters in Rome, Italy.

Reporting Lines
The Human Resources Officer reports to the Senior Human Resources Officer, under the overall guidance of the Director, HR Division.

Technical Focus
The Human Resources Officer, by ensuring compliance with HR policies and procedures, coordinates talent acquisition and management-related activities.

Key Results
Comprehensive HR expertise for the planning and delivery of multidisciplinary HR programmes, products and services, and development of related policies and specialized tools and systems.

Key Functions

• Leads projects and/or work teams; leads and/or participates in divisional teams; provides secretariat services and/or professional HR expertise on Organization-wide HR committees and working groups and represents FAO at interagency meetings.
• Plans and delivers HR programmes, products and services, including related policies, systems and tools to facilitate the effective recruitment, management, development and retirement of the FAO workforce.
• Analyses HR requirements, information, data, statistics, relativities, trends, problems and/or issues to support service delivery, new HR initiatives and the preparation of plans, strategies, reports, policies and/or other products.
• Provides specialist HR advice and expertise to designated business partners on specific or complex cases, staff requirements, policy interpretation issues, labor relations issues and/or best practices, etc.
• Manages special projects and provides guidance to consultants for the development and implementation of new HR products, tools and systems.
• Develops information, training materials and products to increase understanding of HR programmes, services and policies, promote capacity development and facilitate the introduction of Change across the Organization.
• Provides information and assistance to management and staff to resolve problems and/or reach agreement on complex issues.
• Develops relevant performance criteria and indicators to evaluate HR programmes, products and services.

Specific Functions

• Oversees the overall planning of talent acquisition and talent management processes of the Senior staff category (Directors and above, FAO Representatives and Deputy FAO Representatives) and other categories of staff, when required; ensures timeliness and quality control of activities, adherence to policies and procedures, including application of fast-track procedures for emergency positions as needed.
• Supervises the Talent Acquisition Team dedicated to the recruitment of Senior staff.
• Manages the full cycle of the recruitment operations from requisition requests to appointment decisions for Senior staff.
• If necessary, acts as Secretary of Selection Panels for Senior positions and supports selection Panels.
• Ensures communication messages and related confidential correspondence are prepared and circulated to the Core Leadership as appropriate.
• Liaises with Senior Management and Core Leadership on matters related to recruitment for Senior positions under their reporting lines.
• Keeps track of progress and provides regular reports to Senior HR management on the status of recruitment.
• Prepares analytical HR reports and statistics and interprets and analyses HR data to support strategic decision making on HR processes and strategies.
• Coordinates the process for contract extensions, in collaboration with other Offices, for all staff categories requiring approval from the Office of the Director-General,
• Contributes to the development and implementation of talent acquisition and talent management strategies, ensuring the timely provision of HR solutions to meet anticipated challenges. This involves participating in the definition of workforce plans and capacity needs assessments.
• Liaises with external recruitment sources to ensure supply of suitable and qualified candidates; develops best practice candidate sourcing techniques to enhance the candidate pool; reviews the effectiveness of recruitment sources and takes action for improvement; finalizes relevant analytic reports for monitoring and taking corrective actions.
• Researches relevant regulations, rules, policies and practices of other United Nations entities to identify needs for change; contributes to development of policies and procedures and introduces innovative approaches.
• Develops guidance documents, lessons learnt/best practices and Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) to support talent acquisition and talent management strategies and build HR capacity.
• Identifies training and learning needs, plans workshops/learning programmes to enhance HR capacity and shares best practices and lessons learnt among HR practitioners and other stakeholders.
• Keeps abreast of best practices and related technological tools in the private and public sectors and participates in the definition of revised or new business requirements for existing Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP).

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CANDIDATES WILL BE ASSESSED AGAINST THE FOLLOWING
Minimum Requirements

• Advanced university degree (Master's degree or equivalent) in human resources management, social sciences with relevance to human resources or related field.
• Seven years of relevant experience in human resources management, mainly focusing on the development and implementation of talent acquisition and/or talent management strategies.
• Working knowledge (proficiency - level C) of English and intermediate knowledge (intermediate proficiency - level B) of another FAO official language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish).

Competencies

• Results Focus
• Teamwork
• Communication
• Building Effective Relationships
• Knowledge Sharing and Continuous Improvement

Technical/Functional Skills

• Work experience in more than one location or area of work, particularly in field positions, is desirable.
• Extent and relevance of experience in human resources recruitment, planning and management as part of talent acquisition and outreach.
• Extend and relevance of experience in supervising the team of professionals with HR expertise.
• Extent and relevance of experience in development and implementation of human resources policies and procedures, including those pertaining to confidential and sensitive processes.
• Familiarity with automated human resources management systems; familiarity with ERP systems.
• Demonstrated experience and ability to analyse complex issues, formulate advice and make recommendations on HR-related matters.
• An HR professional certification is considered an asset.

Job Posting
17/Dec/2025

Closure Date
07/Jan/2026, 11:59:00 PM

Organizational Unit
CSH

Job Type
Staff position

Type of Requisition
Professional

Grade Level
P-4

Primary Location
Italy-Rome

Duration
Fixed-term: two years with possibility of extension

Post Number
1062310

CCOG Code
1A06

• IMPORTANT NOTICE: Please note that Closure Date and Time displayed above are based on date and time settings of your personal device The length of appointment for internal FAO candidates will be established in accordance with applicable policies pertaining to the extension of appointments.

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• FAO is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality, background and culture
• Qualified female applicants, qualified nationals of non-and under-represented Members and persons with disabilities are encouraged to apply
• Everyone who works for FAO is required to adhere to the highest standards of integrity and professional conduct, and to uphold FAO's values
• FAO, as a Specialized Agency of the United Nations, has a zero-tolerance policy for conduct that is incompatible with its status, objectives and mandate, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination
• All selected candidates will undergo rigorous reference and background checks
• All applications will be treated with the strictest confidentiality
• FAO staff are subject to the authority of the Director-General, who may assign them to any of the activities or offices of the Organization.

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