Strategic Advisor: Office of the Resident Representative

Volunteering Admin

Overview

Support the Resident Representative as a strategic advisor and execution partner.

You have:

• Demonstrated experience providing strategic support to senior leadership - not administrative coordination.
• Experience in the African development or development finance context strongly preferred.
• Familiarity with United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) systems is an advantage but not a requirement.
• Exceptional analytical and critical thinking - able to synthesise complexity quickly and draw actionable conclusions.
• Strong written English - able to draft in a senior leader's voice across speeches, briefs, op-eds, and correspondence.
• High emotional intelligence and organizational awareness - reads rooms, understands dynamics, navigates with discretion.
• Digital fluency - proficient in artificial intelligence (AI) tools, data platforms, dashboards, and modern productivity systems.
• Confident, direct communication - offers a view, does not simply relay information.
• Proactive by default - does not wait to be asked; sees what needs to happen and moves toward it.
• High level of discretion and trustworthiness in handling sensitive information, internal dynamics, and matters of institutional consequence.

Contract

This is a UNV contract. More about UNV contracts.

This role supports the Resident Representative (RR) not as a traditional coordinator, but as a strategic advisor and execution partner. It combines strategic thinking, organizational intelligence, execution discipline, and digital capability to help the RR operate at maximum effectiveness.

The successful candidate will interpret the pulse of the organization, translate strategy into actionable priorities, anticipate risks before they escalate, and ensure the right decisions are made at the right time. This is a role for someone who leads with judgment, not just competence.

The Distinction That Defines This Role Below is not illustrative. It is the lens through which performance in this role will be evaluated. Candidates should read it carefully and self-assess honestly before applying.

Strategic Advisor - what this role requires: • Recommends what to prioritize and what to decline. • Provides a recommendation with the brief: here is what I think you should do, and why. • Anticipates problems and proposes solutions before they escalate. • Identifies which actions are stuck, who is blocking them, and what to do about it. • Curates information - filters noise, highlights risks, surfaces what matters. • Assesses which events are strategic and advises on trade-offs between commitments.

Coordinator - Insufficient for this role
• Tells the RR what is scheduled • Prepares background briefs • Flags problems when they escalate • Tracks actions • Manages information flow • Supports external events

1. Strategic Advisory • Provide the Representative (RR ) with concise, opinionated briefings - not just background information, but recommendations: here is what I think you should do, and why. • Proactively assess which meetings, events, and commitments are strategically valuable and advise on trade-offs. • Support positioning on key strategic issues across programme, partnerships, and policy. • Go beyond briefing to answer: what should we do, and why?
2. Organizational Intelligence • Maintain a continuous, firsthand understanding of programme pipelines, delivery bottlenecks, and internal dynamics through direct engagement with teams, not solely through reports. • Proactively meet with programme officers to understand their priorities and return with informed advice for the RR. • Surface emerging risks, tensions, and opportunities before they reach the RR as problems. • Identify which actions are stuck, analyze why, and recommend practical unblocking steps.
3. Information Curation • Filter and synthesize large volumes of information from internal and external sources. • Distinguish signal from noise - highlight what requires the RR's attention, what can wait, and what can be delegated. • Ensure the RR has what they need to act, not just everything that exists.
4. Execution and Delivery Tracking • Track key decisions and strategic priorities with a clear view of progress against objectives. • Go beyond tracking to analysis - identify what is behind schedule, why, and what the path forward is. • Flag risks to delivery before they become visible to external stakeholders. • Ensure clear tracking and follow-up on a defined set of priority actions agreed with the RR, with regular, structured updates on status and blockages.
5. External Engagement Support • Prepare targeted, recommendation-led briefing notes for high-level meetings and events. • Assess trade-offs between competing commitments and advise accordingly. • Manage sensitive correspondence and engagements with senior stakeholders on behalf of the RR.
6. Digital, Data, and Analytical Capability • Deploy modern digital and artificial intelligence (AI)-assisted tools to improve decision-making, track performance, and generate insights. • Build and maintain structured systems for tracking strategic priorities and follow-up actions. • Develop light analytical products - dashboards, summary briefs, visual trackers - that give the RR clarity at a glance. • Stay ahead of emerging tools relevant to development finance, communications, and organizational management.

Getting results; Innovative thinking; Continuous learning; Adapting with agility; Act with determination; Making commitments and establishing partnerships; Promoting diversity and inclusion.

• Demonstrated experience providing strategic support to senior leadership - not administrative coordination. • Experience in the African development or development finance context strongly preferred. • Familiarity with United Nations Development Programme (UNDP ) systems is an advantage but not a requirement. Skills • Exceptional analytical and critical thinking - able to synthesise complexity quickly and draw actionable conclusions. • Strong written English - able to draft in a senior leader's voice across speeches, briefs, op-eds, and correspondence. • High emotional intelligence and organizational awareness - reads rooms, understands dynamics, navigates with discretion. • Digital fluency - proficient in artificial intelligence (AI ) tools, data platforms, dashboards, and modern productivity systems. • Confident, direct communication - offers a view, does not simply relay information. • Proactive by default - does not wait to be asked; sees what needs to happen and moves toward it. • High level of discretion and trustworthiness in handling sensitive information, internal dynamics, and matters of institutional consequence.

Bigger cities in South Africa can be highly cosmopolitan. In Johannesburg and Pretoria, you will find an abundance of world class gyms, restaurants, bars, recreational classes, galleries, parks etc. The bigger shopping malls host a large selection of international brands. There is a plethora of international cuisine to be sampled, and quirky independent cinemas to be discovered. OR Tambo International Airport is a world class airport, offering highly sophisticated facilities. It is located just outside of Johannesburg, in Kempton Park. It has many international airlines that fly into this airport. Crime rates in South Africa are ranked on the high end, petty theft and opportunistic crimes are common, and armed robberies, smash & grabs and hijackings are also fairly frequent in certain areas. One needs to remain vigilant especially at night and at road intersections. There are usually sign posts that indicate such hot spots. Periodic security information updates are sent via email providing information at national level, with regards to circumstances such as incidents of civil unrest, transport security, computer and networking safety and trends in criminality. UNDSS sends weekly security updates via email. Updates from wardens are on an ad hoc basis, following security related events in your residential area. Updates from UNDSS are provided weekly.

UN Volunteers receives the below entitlements: • A Monthly Volunteer Living Allowance (VLA): R33 348,22 per month, • A once off entry lumpsum of $350 at the start of the assignment, • Medical insurance; Life cover, and annual leave, • Access to all learning platforms, • A once off exit lumpsum at the end of the assignment.

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Potential interview questions

Added 17 days ago - Updated 2 days ago - Source: unv.org