Head, Jobs, Growth and Structural Transformation

Tiered Approach

In line with the commitment to safeguard capacity and support personnel already in the Organization, a majority of UNDP UNCDF/UNV vacancies are advertised using a tiered application process whereby:

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• Tier 0: UNDP/UNCDF/UNV IP staff holding permanent (PA) and fixed-term (FTA) appointments, whose posts will be abolished, or contracts will be terminated or not renewed during 2026.
• Tier 1: Other UNDP/UNCDF/UNV staff holding permanent (PA) and fixed-term (FTA) appointments
• Tier 2: UNDP/UNCDF/UNV staff holding temporary appointments (TA), personnel on regular PSA contracts, and Expert and Specialist UN Volunteers
• Tier 3 or no tier indicated: All other contract types from UNDP/UNCDF/UNV and other agencies, and other external candidates

Please make note of the Tier(s) indicated in the vacancy title, if any, and ensure that you satisfy the eligibility to apply.

Background

UNDP is the knowledge frontier organization for sustainable development in the UN Development System and serves as the integrator for collective action to realize the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). UNDP’s policy work carried out at HQ, Regional and Country Office levels, forms a contiguous spectrum of deep local knowledge to cutting-edge global perspectives and advocacy.

The Bureau for Policy and Programme Support (BPPS) has the responsibility for developing all relevant policy and guidance to support the results of UNDP’s Strategic Plan. BPPS’s staff provides technical advice to Country Offices; advocates for UNDP corporate messages, represents UNDP at multi-stakeholder fora including public-private dialogues, government and civil society dialogues, and engages in UN inter-agency coordination in specific thematic areas. BPPS works closely with UNDP’s Crisis Bureau (CB) to support emergency and crisis response. BPPS ensures that issues of risk are fully integrated into UNDP’s development programmes. BPPS assists UNDP and partners to achieve higher quality development results through an integrated approach that links results-based management and performance monitoring with more effective and new ways of working. BPPS supports UNDP and partners to be more innovative, knowledge and data driven including in its programme support efforts.

UNDP’s Strategic Plan 2026–2029 positions prosperity for all as one of four strategic objectives, alongside effective governance, crisis resilience and a healthy planet. The Strategic Plan frames UNDP’s contribution around integrated development solutions that support countries to advance human development in a fast-changing world, powered by three accelerators: digital and AI transformation, gender equality and sustainable finance. Within this framework, prosperity is understood as more than income growth. It is linked to expanded opportunities, decent jobs and livelihoods, access to productive assets, human capital, social protection, essential services, protection from shocks, and the removal of structural barriers that prevent people from participating fully in economic and social life.

Within BPPS, the Prosperity and Wellbeing Hub advances UNDP’s integrated prosperity agenda by supporting countries to move from poverty to prosperity through expanded opportunities, enhanced capabilities, stronger systems, and more resilient development pathways. The Hub is organized around three mutually reinforcing pillars / service lines: 1) Multi-dimensional Poverty, Inequalities and Capabilities; (2) Jobs, Growth, and Structural Transformation; and (3) HIV, Health and Inclusion.

Duties and Responsibilities

Based in Madrid, the Head, Jobs, Growth and Transformation will lead the Hub’s second service line, providing senior-level policy leadership, technical guidance and strategic positioning for UNDP’s work on jobs, livelihoods, inclusive growth and structural transformation. The Head will support the development and delivery of an integrated offer that helps countries translate economic transformation, private sector development and investment into concrete employment and livelihood outcomes.

This service line responds to increasing country demand for support on the systemic enablers of job-rich development, including productivity growth, trade, industrial and sectoral policy, MSME competitiveness, value-chain development, skills systems, local economic development, and transitions from informal to formal work. It will help countries identify and address barriers within labour markets and enterprise ecosystems, while supporting emerging opportunities associated with green, blue, digital and AI-driven transitions, including jobs of the future. Across this work, particular attention will be given to women, young people, informal workers, MSM