Background:
UN Women, grounded in the vision of equality enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, works for the elimination of discrimination against women and girls; the empowerment of women; and the achievement of equality between women and men as partners and beneficiaries of development, human rights, humanitarian action and peace and security.
In this context, the Communications and Advocacy Division at UN Women Headquarters in New York, supports the positioning of womenโs empowerment and gender equality as key issues on the international agenda and establishes UN Womenโs role as the global authority.ย
Under the guidance and direct supervision of Deputy Chief of Communication & Advocacy, the Editorial Managerย leads the strategic planning, development, and delivery of high-quality editorial content for both external and internal communications. The role ensures coherent narratives, strong editorial standards, and effective workflows across platforms, while integrating search engine optimization (SEO) and generative AI optimization to maximize reach, relevance, and impact.ย
The Editorial manager supervises and leads the internal communication analyst, and a number of editorial and internal communication consultants as well as temporary personnel. The Editorial Manager works in close coordination with the Digital Transformation Manager to ensure the continuous development of the corporate website, the Head of Media Relations on impactful messaging and the Head of Social Media and Head of Multimedia to ensure strong multi-channel delivery of campaigns and content for internal and external audiences.ย
The Editorial Manager holds direct accountability for the quality, timeliness, and strategic alignment of all editorial outputs across UN Women's global digital platforms. The position carries reputational risk responsibility as final editorial authority, with decisions impacting organizational positioning and stakeholder relationships.
Key Functions and Accountabilities:
1. Editorial Strategy, Planning and Concept Development
Leads editorial planning and concept development for the global website and the Intranet.ย Develops and maintains editorial calendars aligned with organizational priorities, flagship moments, and corporate narratives. Translates strategic objectives into compelling storylines and editorial content packages for diverse global audiences (internal and external). Provides expert leadership on editorial positioning, tone, and messaging. Contributes to the development of organization-wide communications policies, particularly regarding digital content standards, AI use in communications, and multilingual publishing guidelines. Provides expert input to corporate policy discussions affecting editorial operations. Champions editorial excellence and innovation within UN Women and across the UN system. Advocates for resource allocation, technology adoption, and process improvements that enhance editorial impact. Represents UN Women's editorial standards and practices in inter-agency forums and professional networks.2. Team Leadership and Supervision
Manages and supervises the editorial team and internal communications team, including staff members, consultants, and temporary personnel. Provides clear direction, performance management, mentoring, and capacity-building to ensure high editorial standards and timely delivery. Establishes efficient collaboration between editorial, media, social media, multimedia, and programme teams. Identifies and capitalizes on synergies between internal communication and external communication.ย3. Search Engine and Generative AI Optimization
Leads the integration of SEO best practices into editorial planning, writing, and publishing workflows. Oversees optimization of content for discoverability across search engines and digital platforms. Develops and applies standards for the responsible use of generative AI in content creation, editing, summarization, translation, and metadata development, in line with UN policies and ethical guidelines. Monitors emerging trends in digital publishing, AI-assisted editorial tools, and audience behavior to continuously improve performance and implements them consistently across editorial approaches.ย4. Content Review, Quality Control and Approval
Serves as final editorial authority for the global website and the intranet and other internal communication products, ensuring accuracy, consistency, clarity, inclusivity, and compliance with UN style guidelines and policies. Exercises editorial judgment on politically sensitive content, navigating complex stakeholder perspectives and inter-governmental communications. Clears high-profile content involving Member States, donors, or advocacy positions in coordination with senior leadership, ensuring alignment with UN Women's mandate while respecting diverse political contexts. Ensures adherence to editorial standards, brand voice, and corporate messaging across all channels.5. Editorial & Translation Management
Designs and manages end-to-end editorial workflows, from commissioning and drafting to review, clearance, publication, and archiving. Establishes standard operating procedures, editorial guidelines, and quality assurance processes. Oversees translation management for the global website, incl. quality control, increasing integration of AI-translation elements andย Coordinates production schedules and manages competing deadlines across multiple projects and stakeholders. Uses digital project management and content management systems to track progress and ensure transparency and efficiency.6. Commissioning and Field Content Coordination
Commissions editorial pieces from regional and country offices, field missions, and programme teams. Provides guidance to field communicators on story development, structure, tone, and editorial requirements for the global website and intranet. Edits and adapts field content for global audiences while preserving local perspectives and authenticity. Builds and maintains a global network of contributors to ensure regular, diverse, and high-impact storytelling from the field for both internal and external communication. Engages with external content partners, media organizations, and civil society contributors to expand storytelling reach. Manages relationships with freelance writers, photographers, and content creators globally. Represents editorial function in discussions with partner organizations and media outlets.7. Monitoring, Evaluation and Continuous Improvement
Analyzes performance metrics (web analytics, SEO indicators, engagement data for the corporate website and intranet) to assess editorial impact and inform future planning. Produces regular reports and recommendations to strengthen editorial effectiveness and audience reach. Contributes to innovation initiatives in digital communications and knowledge management. Works in close partnership with the digital team to drive continuous improvement and periodic revamping of the organizationโs website, intranet and digital platforms. Guides the development of new editorial formats to enhance usability, accessibility, and audience engagement. Ensures editorial requirements are fully integrated into website redesigns, CMS upgrades, and new feature development. ย Uses performance data and user behavior insights to recommend content improvements and structural changes that strengthen discoverability, clarity, and impact across global audiences.8. Collaboration on Digital Platforms and Continuous Website Improvement
Works in close partnership with the digital team to drive continuous improvement and periodic revamping of the organizationโs website, intranet and digital platforms. Guides the development of new editorial formats to enhance usability, accessibility, and audience engagement. Ensures editorial requirements are fully integrated into website redesigns, CMS upgrades, and new feature development. ย Uses performance data and user behavior insights to recommend content improvements and structural changes that strengthen discoverability, clarity, and impact across global audiences.9. The incumbent performs other duties within their functional profile as deemed necessary for the efficient functioning of the Office and the Organisation.
Competencies :
Core Values:
Integrity; Professionalism; Respect for Diversity.Core Competencies:
Awareness and Sensitivity Regarding Gender Issues; Accountability; Creative Problem Solving; Effective Communication; Inclusive Collaboration; Stakeholder Engagement; Leading by Example.Please visitย this linkย for more information on UN Womenโs Values and Competencies Framework:ย
Functional Competencies:
Strong knowledge of digital publishing, editorial standards, and multi-platform content strategies in international organizations. Proven ability to translate complex institutional and programmatic priorities into clear, engaging content for diverse global audiences. Expert knowledge of editorial strategy design and implementation, including content planning, workflow management, SEO, and responsible use of generative AI. Excellent writing, editing, and editorial judgment skills, ensuring accuracy, inclusivity, and compliance with UN style and brand standards. Ability to work under pressure, manage competing deadlines, and provide strategic editorial advice in sensitive or high-profile contexts. Demonstrated experience in leading hybrid teams.Recruitment Qualificationsย
Education and Certification:
At least an advanced degree (masterโs or equivalent) in communications, journalism, public relations, international relations, development studies or related field. A first-level university degree in combination with two additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of an advanced university degree.Experience:
At least 7 years of progressively responsible work experience in editorial management, digital communications and content publishing, in an international organization, the UN, or a comparable large institution at the global level is required. Experience managing editorial operations for high-traffic corporate websites, intranet platforms and/or complex digital platforms is required. Experience leading and managing personnel in multicultural and geographically dispersed settings is required. Experience in integrating search engine optimization (SEO) into digital content production and editorial workflows, and in the practical use of generative AI tools for content development, editing, translation, metadata creation, or analytics, in line with institutional policies, is required. Experience working with multilingual publishing environments and managing translation workflows in global organizations is required. Expert experience in the use of web-based content management, analytics, and collaboration systems is required, experience with Drupal considered a strong asset. Experience in producing editorial content on topics related to gender equality and womenโs rights considered a strong asset.Language:
Fluency in English is required. Knowledge of another official UN language is considered an asset (French, Arabic, Chinese, Russian or Spanish).Statements :
In July 2010, the United Nations General Assembly created UN Women, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women. The creation of UN Women came about as part of the UN reform agenda, bringing together resources and mandates for greater impact. It merges and builds on the important work of four previously distinct parts of the UN system (DAW, OSAGI, INSTRAW and UNIFEM), which focused exclusively on gender equality and women's empowerment.
Diversity and inclusion:
At UN Women, we are committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment of mutual respect. UN Women recruits, employs, trains, compensates,ย and promotes regardless of race, religion, color, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age,ย ability, national origin,ย or any other basis covered by appropriate law. All employment is decided on the basis of qualifications, competence, integrity and organizational need.
If you need any reasonable accommodation to support your participation in the recruitment and selection process, please include this information in your application.
UN Women has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UN Women, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere toย UN Womenโsย policiesย and proceduresย andย theย standardsย of conduct expected of UN Women personnelย and will therefore undergo rigorous reference and background checks. (Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check.)
Note: Applicants must ensure that all sections of the application form, including the sections on education and employment history, are completed. If all sections are not completed the application may be disqualified from the recruitment and selection process.
ย