Senior Sustainable Development Officer, New York, United States

Organizational Setting and Reporting

This position is located in the Division for Sustainable Development Goals (DSDG) of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA), in the Integrated Policy Analysis Branch. The Division provides leadership in promoting and coordinating implementation of the sustainable development agenda of the United Nations and serves as the global secretariat for the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and provides substantive inputs to the High‑level Political Forum on Sustainable Development.

For more information, please visit our website at (Use the "Apply for this Job" box below). The Senior Sustainable Development Officer reports to the Chief of Integrated Policy Analysis Branch. The focus of this job is to lead or direct implementation, monitoring and evaluation of programmes, operations, policy development and other activities helping to accelerate SDG implementation over the final years to 2030, while also contributing to a coordinated, reflective and evidence‑based approach to inform Member States’ preparations for negotiations on a global sustainable development agenda beyond 2030.

Within delegated authority, the Senior Sustainable Development Officer will be responsible for the following duties:

• Leads the development, implementation and evaluation of assigned programmes/projects on sustainable development issues; notably related to research and analysis to help organize policy discussions to identify challenges and opportunities for the preparations for the 2027 SDG Summit, including the accelerated implementation of the SDGs and a global sustainable development agenda beyond 2030;
  Leads review of relevant documents and reports; identifies priorities, problems and issues to be addressed and proposes corrective actions; liaises with relevant parties; identifies and initiates follow‑up actions.
• Leads research on the identification of new and emerging sustainable development issues and presents analysis of information gathered and reviewed from diverse sources with plausible recommendations.
• Coordinates policy development; reviews the assessments of sustainable development issues and trends, preparation of evaluations or research activities and studies. Undertakes survey initiatives; guides design of data collection instruments; reviews, analyzes and interprets responses, identifies problems/issues and prepares conclusions.
• Leads in the preparation of various written outputs, including background papers, analysis, substantial sections of reports and studies, and inputs to publications on sustainable development issues.
• Provides direct substantive support to consultative and intergovernmental meetings, where Member States will prepare consultations and negotiations on a future agenda; including conferences, by offering strategic advice, giving technical guidance and assisting in developing a consensus, including proposing agenda topics, identifying participants, preparation of documents, analytical reports and presentations on sustainable development issues.
• Prepares speeches for senior staff and make presentations on sustainable development issues at various forums of intergovernmental, governmental, inter‑agency, expert or multi‑stakeholder nature.
• Manages and leads outreach activities to gather views, perspectives, and priorities from a broad cross‑section at national and regional levels.
• Oversees web contents and structure for the areas of his/her responsibilities.
• Provide guidance to external consultants, government officials and other parties on sustainable development issues.
• Develops and maintains relations with senior officials of member governments and ensures a response to request for advice and/or capacity development on sustainable development issues and policies.
• Coordinates activities related to budget and funding (programme/project preparation and submissions, progress reports, financial statements, etc.) and ensures preparation of related documents/reports (pledging, work programme, programme budget, etc.) on sustainable development issues.
• Serves as an effective spokesperson and establishes…