Internal Controls Specialist, Quality Management Unit (QMU), Division for Management Services (DMS), New York, P-4

The Position:

The Internal Controls Specialist is located in the Quality Management Unit (QMU) in the UNFPA Division for Management Services (DMS) and reports directly to the Chief of QMU.

How you can make a difference:

UNFPA is the lead United Nations agency for delivering a world where every pregnancy is intended, every childbirth is safe, and every young person's potential is fulfilled. The UNFPA Strategic Plan for 2026-2029 articulates the organization’s response to a complex global environment, providing a roadmap for resilience and renewal. It is designed to accelerate the implementation of the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) and the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. This mandate is pursued through a focus on four interconnected outcomes: ending the unmet need for family planning; ending preventable maternal deaths; ending gender-based violence and harmful practices; and adapting to demographic change through evidence and rights-based policies. 

In a world where fundamental human rights are at risk, we need principled and ethical staff, who embody these international norms and standards and who will defend them courageously and with full conviction.

UNFPA is seeking candidates who transform, inspire, and deliver high-impact and sustained results and ensure effective external relations, communications, and partnership-building and resource mobilization in a rapidly changing development and funding landscape. We need staff who are transparent, exceptional in how they manage the resources entrusted to them, and who commit to delivering excellence in programme results.

Job Purpose:

QMU leads UNFPA in strategic operational areas such as implementing partner (IP) assurance and risk management; fraud risk management and the Internal Control Framework (ICF). The unit contributes to the implementation of Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) and Risk Appetite. 

QMU provides strategic guidance by developing risk-based and value-adding policies, processes and systems; technical support to all offices by building capacity through adaptive learning and differentiated support; and management oversight at the global level by monitoring performance to ensure compliance and accountability. 

The Internal Controls Specialist is responsible for assessing, developing, implementing, and monitoring UNFPA’s internal control policies, procedures and systems to ensure effective risk mitigation, including fraud risks, enhance operational efficiency and agility, and strengthen compliance with regulatory frameworks. The incumbent collaborates with colleagues across UNFPA HQ, ROs and COs to identify control weaknesses, recommend improvements, and support a culture of accountability and integrity. The Internal Controls Specialist actively engages with other UN agencies to promote UN coherence, and with external parties as necessary.

You would be responsible for:

1. Developing and maintaining processes, procedures and systems

• Keep updated, fit for purpose policies, guidance and tools for the Internal Control Framework, system access and segregation of duties controls, Anti-Fraud, and other related policies.
• Monitor and assess the usability and effectiveness of policies and systems and oversee timely improvements. 
• Guide policy owners on the design of effective, risk-based and necessary internal controls in policies and ensure solid risk control matrices that document first and second line controls in response to clearly identified, relevant risks. 
• Ensure controls are properly integrated into ERP and other systems.
• Contribute to the development and implementation of transaction monitoring tools (e.g. GRC risk cloud). 

2. Leading centralised controls testing, improvements and attestation

• Test and monitor key controls and processes to assess their effectiveness and identify gaps and redundancies.
• Prepare clear reports on control testing results, deficiencies, redundancies and recommendations for improvements to relevant process owners, management and committees.
• Develop and maintain a corporate controls register ensuring it is up-to-date and accurately reflects the control environment. Coordinate integration of control registers with the broader ERM processes to create a coherent organisational risk control matrix. 
• Lead the preparation of statements of internal control by drafting risk control matrices for key business processes, guiding and coordinating process owners. Take responsibility for updating statement text and questionnaires as this work evolves. 

3. Leading centralised fraud risk assessment

• Regularly assess fraud risks at al