Background:

This position is open for secondment only and participating States are kindly reminded that all costs in relation to an assignment at the Secretariat must be borne by their authorities.

Candidates should, prior to applying, verify with their respective nominating authority to which extent financial remuneration and/or benefit packages will be offered. Seconded staff members in the OSCE Secretariat and Institutions are not entitled to a Board and Lodging Allowance payable by the Organization.

The OSCE has a comprehensive approach to security that encompasses politico-military, economic and environmental, and human aspects. It therefore addresses a wide range of security-related concerns, including arms control, confidence- and security-building measures, human rights, combating human trafficking, national minorities, democratization, policing strategies, counter-terrorism and economic and environmental activities. All 57 participating States enjoy equal status, and decisions are taken by consensus on a politically, but not legally binding basis.

The OSCE Secretariat in Vienna assists the Chairpersonship in its activities, and provides operational and administrative support to the field operations, and, as appropriate, to other institutions.

The work of OIO assures the adequacy of governance, risk management, and internal control, ensures compliance with the Organization's internal control framework, and enhances performance as well as the efficiency and effectiveness of operations. The Evaluation Unit aims to enhance the performance, efficiency and effectiveness of OSCE’s operations by conducting independent evaluations and promoting a culture of evaluation in the organization. In the OSCE, evaluation has three functions: to contribute to decision-making processes, to enhance learning and organizational development, and to ensure accountability for results.

The Evaluation Unit is part of the Office of Internal Oversight (OIO) within the OSCE Secretariat, in Vienna, Austria. It consists of one Head of Evaluation and three additional staff members. OIO is responsible for planning and delivering internal audits, investigations, and independent evaluations of the OSCE executive structures, including field operations.

Tasks and Responsibilities:

As Senior Evaluator, you will be responsible for: 1) planning, managing, leading and conducting Independent Evaluations, and 2) supporting Evaluation Network activities and providing evaluation technical assistance to decentralized evaluations as needed.

Within the Evaluation Unit, you will manage evaluation consultants, provide guidance to junior team members, and supervise interns. You will be expected to perform evaluation duties in line with international standards and principles for evaluation, as established by the United Nations Group Norms and Standards for Evaluation and the Organization’s Evaluation Policy.

You will report directly to the Deputy Director/Head of Evaluation of OIO, with the Director of OIO as your second-level supervisor.

More specifically, you will perform the following:

Conducting and/or managing independent evaluations that are impartial, independent and credible and that meet professional standards;

Carrying out evaluability assessments, developing TORs, inception reports, evaluation approaches and methodologies, and instruments for data collection and analysis to derive evidence-based findings and recommended actions;

Drafting evaluation reports and other knowledge products of evidence-based findings, lessons learned, and as appropriate, recommendations for improvement and ensure evaluation findings and recommendations are followed up;

Identifying appropriate external evaluators or teams and review their outputs, for example, proposals, inception reports, data collection instruments, evaluation progress, draft reports, final reports, and inputs to dissemination products;

Conducting peer reviews and provide guidance to other members of the OIO evaluation team as needed, including oversight of their work and review of their outputs to ensure that work is of high-quality and carried out within the planned timeline and in accordance with professional evaluation standards;

Promoting the evaluation function in the Organization, by providing evaluation technical assistance to the Secretariat, Institutions and Field Operations, proactively and upon request as needed;

Performing other duties as assigned.

For more detailed information on the structure and work of the OSCE Secretariat, please see https://www.osce.org/secretariat. For recent evaluation reports please see Evaluation reports | OSCE

Necessary Qualifications:

Second-level university degree in public policy, international affairs, evaluation or other social science, including training in evaluation-focused qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis skills. A first-level university degree in combination with two additional years of relevant experience will be accepted in lieu of the second-level university degree;
A minimum of seven years (nine years with a relevant first-level degree) of professional experience in evaluation or applied research, of which at least some at international level;
Established in-depth knowledge of professional evaluation designs, processes, approaches, and methodologies, including mixed-methods designs and innovative evaluation methodologies for data collection and analysis;
Proven experience to deliver high-quality reports and knowledge products in line with professional standards, and ability to communicate findings to different audiences;
Proven experience and expertise designing and leading complex evaluations and strategic assessments, developing realistic work plans, coordinating and supervising evaluation processes, and managing diverse stakeholders;
Excellent oral and written communication skills in English. Good command of other OSCE languages is an asset;
Computer literacy with practical experience using Microsoft applications as well as quantitative and qualitative data analysis software in an evaluation context;
Demonstrated gender awareness and sensitivity, and an ability to integrate a gender perspective into evaluation work;
Strong interpersonal skills, including facilitation skills, knowledge sharing skills, and communication skills;
Ability and willingness to work as a member of team, with people of different cultural, and religious backgrounds, different gender, and diverse political views, while maintaining impartiality and objectivity.

If your participating State does not provide the option to apply online for seconded positions, you are kindly requested to submit your offline application form available at https://jobs.osce.org/resources/document/offline-application-form to the respective OSCE delegation whose address can be found at https://www.osce.org/contacts/delegations.

The OSCE retains the discretion to re-advertise/re-post the vacancy, to cancel the recruitment, to offer an appointment with a modified job description or for a different duration.

Only those candidates who are selected to participate in the subsequent stages of recruitment will be contacted.

Please note that vacancies in the OSCE are open for competition only amongst nationals of participating States

The OSCE is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages the nomination of qualified female and male candidates from all religious, ethnic and social backgrounds.

The OSCE is a non-career organization committed to the principle of staff rotation; therefore, the maximum period of service in this post is 10 years.

Candidates should be aware that OSCE officials shall conduct themselves at all times in a manner befitting the status of an international civil servant. This includes avoiding any action which may adversely reflect on the integrity, independence and impartiality of their position and function as officials of the OSCE. The OSCE is committed to applying the highest ethical standards in carrying out its mandate. For more information on the values set out in OSCE Competency Model, please see https://jobs.osce.org/resources/document/our-competency-model.

Please apply to your relevant authorities well in advance of the deadline expiration to ensure timely processing of your application. Delayed nominations will not be considered. The OSCE can only process Secondment applications that have been nominated by participating States. For queries relating to your application, please refer to the respective delegation as listed here: https://www.osce.org/contacts/delegations.

Please be aware that OSCE appointments are subject to medical clearance.

Please be aware that the OSCE does not request payment at any stage of the application and review process.

Issued by: OSCE Secretariat
Requisition ID: SEC000843
Contract Type: International Secondment
Grade: S
Job Type: Seconded
Number of posts: 1
Location: SEC - OSCE Secretariat, Vienna
Issue Date: Jul 9, 2025
Closing Date: Aug 7, 2025
Employee Status: Fixed Term
Schedule: Full-time
Education Level: Master's Degree (Second-level university degree or equivalent)
Target Start Date: As soon as possible