Senior Legal Officer / Coordinator (Temporary)

About the role

The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights is seeking a Senior Legal Officer / Coordinator to lead the Sri Lanka accountability project within the Human Rights Inquiries Branch. This temporary, full‑time position is based in Geneva and reports to the Chief of the Investigation Support Section.

Key responsibilities

• Lead and coordinate the overall direction of the Sri Lanka accountability project, handling complex legal matters in international humanitarian, human rights and international criminal law, as well as criminal, public, private and administrative law.
• Supervise and guide teams of legal officers, organise workload, and ensure high‑quality legal output.
• Provide legal research, analysis and advice on novel substantive and procedural questions, and draft legal opinions, briefs, reports and indictments.
• Oversee the collection, consolidation, analysis and preservation of evidence related to gross human‑rights violations.
• Advise on and draft institutional and operational legal documents, developing new legal modalities as needed.
• Support diplomatic conferences, commissions and expert groups by preparing background material, summaries and meeting reports.
• Represent the organization in meetings, boards, committees and task forces, promoting UN work.

Required profile

• Extensive experience in international law, including humanitarian, human‑rights and international criminal law.
• Strong background in criminal, public, private and administrative law.
• Proven ability to lead and supervise legal teams and manage complex, sensitive projects.
• Excellent analytical, research and drafting skills.

Required skills

What we offer

• Opportunity to work on high‑impact human‑rights investigations at a leading UN institution.
• Collaborative environment with senior UN officials and international experts.