Coordinate design, testing and release of OHCHR human rights web platform

Host entity: OHCHR Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights

Areas of expertise: Administration, Information technology and telecommunications

Application deadline: 18/11/2026

Mission and objectives

The United Nations is an international organization founded in 1945 and committed to maintaining international peace and security; developing friendly relations among nations; promoting social progress, better living standards and human rights. Due to its unique international character, and the powers vested in its founding Charter, the Organization takes action on a wide range of issues, and provides a forum for its 193 Member States to express their views, through the General Assembly, the Security Council, the Economic and Social Council and other bodies and committees. The work of the United Nations touches every corner of the globe and focuses on a broad range of fundamental issues, like sustainable development, protection of the environment and refugees, disaster relief and mitigation, counter terrorism, as well as disarmament and non-proliferation.

Assignment context

This assignment supports three interconnected digital programmes delivered by IMTS:
• Complaint Submission Portal and Case Management System ("Petitions"). OHCHR's flagship tools for receiving and handling individual human rights complaints under the Treaty Bodies, Special Procedures and related mechanisms. The public Submission Portal allows anyone in the world to file a complaint online; the restricted Case Management System allows designated OHCHR staff to process cases. The system is now moving from user acceptance testing (UAT) into production, together with major new capabilities: the Urgent Actions mechanism, which handles time-critical cases where a person's life or integrity is at risk, and the State Portal, through which Member State representatives will log in to view and respond to complaints concerning their country.


Contribution to sustainable human development. The assignment contributes directly to SDG 16 – Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions, in particular target 16.3 (equal access to justice for all), 16.6 (effective, accountable and transparent institutions) and 16.10 (public access to information). A reliable, thoroughly tested and well-documented complaint system means that victims of human rights violations, wherever they are, can reach the UN human rights mechanisms and have their cases processed without loss or delay. A clear knowledge base and accessible, well-designed communications widen the participation of civil society, national institutions and States in the international human rights system.
The Online Volunteer will work remotely as an integral member of the IMTS project team – project coordinator, business analysts, developers, designers and business focal points in the substantive divisions – and will act as the team's focal point for test coordination, knowledge base content and design quality for the duration of the assignment. The role combines hands-on UX/visual design with quality assurance and stakeholder coordination, and offers first-hand exposure to the full delivery cycle of enterprise platforms used by people in every region of the world.

Task description

Under the overall guidance of the IMTS Project Coordinator and in close collaboration with the development team and the business focal points, the Online Volunteer will carry out the following tasks and deliver the listed outputs. Indicative shares of effort are given for each workstream.
1. User acceptance testing and release coordination – Petitions Submission Portal and Case Management System
• Review functional requirements and user stories for the production release and create or update end-to-end test cases and test scenarios covering the Submission Portal and the Case Management System.
• Execute functional, regression and cross-browser tests on the UAT and pre-production environments and record results per build/version and per environment.
• Log, classify (severity, environment, version) and track defects in the project backlog (Azure DevOps), re-test delivered fixes and maintain a consolidated defect register.
• Prepare the release-readiness checklist and consolidated test evidence supporting the go/no-go decision for production, and support post-deployment verification.
Deliverables: test case suite; test execution records per version and environment; defect register with status and ownership; release testing and readiness report.

2. Stakeholder coordination for the Urgent Actions (UA) release
• Act as the day-to-day coordination point between the development team and the Urgent Actions business unit for the UA flows of both the Submission Portal and the Case Management System.
• Prepare and document stakeholder meetings: agendas, concise minutes, decision and action logs, and written follow-up confirming what has been delivered, what has been changed as agreed and what remains open.
• Organize and run demonstrations of implemented functionality, collect structured feedback and translate it into clear change requests with acceptance criteria for the development team.
• Coordinate end-to-end UAT with the business unit and consolidate formal business acceptance of the complete UA mechanism as the condition for migration to production.
Deliverables: meeting minutes and action/decision log; UA end-to-end test package and execution results; change request log; business acceptance record and production readiness report.


Daily logistics
• Fully remote. Collaboration via Microsoft Teams (chat and calls), e-mail, Azure DevOps, Jira/Confluence. Access to the UAT environments, project documentation and branding assets will be provided at onboarding.
• A short written status update at the end of each working day in the team channel, and a 30-minute weekly planning call with the Project Coordinator.
• Participation in stakeholder meetings and demonstrations (typically two to four per week, 30–60 minutes each) scheduled during Geneva working hours; regular availability overlapping with 10:00–16:00 Geneva time (CET/CEST) on most working days is expected.
• Approximately 16–20 hours per week over 12 weeks. All deliverables are submitted online.
• The assignment is complete when the deliverables listed above have been accepted by the Project Coordinator and the respective business focal points.

Skills and experience

• Demonstrated experience in UX/UI or web design, with strong proficiency in Figma and a portfolio of delivered websites or web services.
• Hands-on experience in software or website testing and user acceptance testing: writing test cases, executing tests, recording results and tracking defects in a backlog tool (Azure DevOps, Jira or similar).
• Experience coordinating work between business users and technical teams: organizing meetings, writing precise minutes and follow-up e-mails, tracking actions to closure and presenting results to non-technical stakeholders.
• Excellent written and spoken English; precise, diplomatic and persistent written communication.
• Ability to work independently and remotely, organize own work across several parallel workstreams, meet deadlines and handle confidential information with discretion.
• Knowledge of business analysis and requirements documentation, and of Agile/Scrum delivery, is an asset. Working knowledge of another UN official language is an asset.
• Genuine interest in human rights and the work of the United Nations.

Full eligibility requirements, conditions of service and application instructions are available on the official UNV platform.