IMO Editorial Assistant

The International Maritime Organization (IMO), a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for regulating international shipping, has opened an exciting opportunity for skilled language and editorial professionals through its Editorial Assistant (Conference Division) temporary roster. This vacancy is designed for highly detail-oriented candidates who thrive in fast-paced, multilingual environments and who are passionate about contributing to the smooth functioning of international conferences and documentation processes.

Issued under Vacancy Announcement STA 25-06 (Roster), this opportunity allows IMO to build a pool of qualified Editorial Assistants who can be called upon throughout the year to support its six official language units:
English, French, Spanish, Arabic, Chinese, and Russian
. The application window is open until 31 December 2026
, offering ample time for eligible candidates to prepare and submit a strong application.

The IMO plays a critical role in ensuring the safety, security, and environmental performance of international shipping. One of its core functions is to support meetings of Member States, committees, and technical bodies through the timely production of accurate, high-quality documentation in multiple languages.

Within this framework, the Conference Division is responsible for document processing, editing, formatting, and linguistic quality assurance. Editorial Assistants are an essential part of this process, ensuring that official IMO documents meet the highest editorial, linguistic, and technical standards before they are issued.

This role is a temporary roster position
, meaning successful candidates will be placed on a roster and offered assignments as operational needs arise. Key contract details include:

• Contract duration: Up to one year
  , issued on a quarterly basis
• Renewal: Subject to funding, performance, and operational requirements
• Conversion: No expectation of conversion to a fixed-term or permanent contract
• Working arrangement: Hybrid working options are available
• Availability: Candidates should be immediately available or have a short notice period

It is important to note that these temporary positions are only open to candidates who already have the legal right to work in the United Kingdom
. Applicants are strongly encouraged to verify their eligibility before applying.

The position offers a competitive remuneration package for a temporary UN-system role:

• Tax status: Free of UK income tax

This makes the role particularly attractive for professionals seeking international experience while benefiting from tax-free income in the UK.

The main objective of this recruitment is to establish a reliable roster of Editorial Assistants who can provide full-time linguistic and editorial support across the IMO’s six language units throughout the year.

Successful candidates will be assigned to a specific language unit based on their mother-tongue-level fluency and will work under the direct guidance of the Supervisor of the Document Processing Unit for that language, as well as the overall management of the relevant Head of Translation
.

Editorial Assistants play a hands-on role in ensuring the accuracy, consistency, and presentation quality of IMO documentation. Core responsibilities include:

• Proofreading texts to ensure accuracy, quality, and conformity with established editorial standards and IMO policies
• Verifying grammar, syntax, punctuation, spelling, references, and overall consistency with the original source text
• Ensuring that translations accurately reflect the source text in style, tone, and meaning, in line with IMO and in‑house editorial guidelines

• Editing, formatting, and preparing documents, including those with complex tables, layouts, and merging or collating requirements
• Adapting documents to technological developments, particularly in computer-assisted translation (CAT) tools such as eLUNa
• Converting documents into various formats (e.g., MS Office, PDF) and verifying the accuracy of the converted versions