Staff Assistant (Temporary)

About the role

This is a temporary, full-time Staff Assistant position in the eTrade Initiatives Section of the E-Commerce and Digital Economy Branch, Division on Technology and Logistics, within UNCTAD in Geneva. The post reports to the Chief of the eTrade Initiatives Section and covers a wide range of office management and administrative support functions. It is a project-funded position open until 30 April 2027, starting in January 2027.

Key responsibilities

• Perform, under minimal supervision, office management and administrative support, including consultancy contracts, travel arrangements for meeting participants and procurement.
• Maintain liaison with the Executive Office and senior officials on ongoing programmes and administrative matters, and monitor unit processes and schedules.
• Ensure smooth information flow in the Section, prepare and process confidential information, and help develop administrative systems and procedures.
• Support coordination of meetings, training, special projects and events, and orient new staff to administrative procedures.
• Attend meetings, prepare minutes and monitor follow-up; draft and respond to correspondence and reports.
• Manage internal databases, update the website and generate statistical and other reports.
• Carry out quality control on outgoing documents, proofread and edit texts, and assist with presentation materials and specialized support such as technology support, editing and desktop publishing.
• Maintain calendars and schedules, and handle administrative duties such as leave recording, meeting organization, reservations, office supplies, travel requests, expense claims, vouchers and visa applications.
• Maintain paper and electronic files and databases for the work unit.

Required profile

• High school diploma or equivalent.
• Five years of experience in general office support or a related area; experience in technical cooperation is desirable.
• English at UN Level III reading, writing and listening, and UN Level III speaking; either Arabic, Chinese (Mandarin), French, Russian or Spanish is desirable.
• Desirable: experience with ERP software such as UMOJA or similar, and with recruitment platforms such as Inspira or similar.

Candidates may be assessed through an exercise followed by a competency-based interview. The position is open to female candidates, and the UN Secretariat aims for 50/50 gender balance.