Direct from WFP careers
Risk Officer
Full job description
DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS
24 September 2026-23:59-GMT+01:00 Central European Time (Rome)WFP celebrates and embraces diversity. It is committed to the principle of equal employment opportunity for all its employees and encourages qualified candidates to apply irrespective of race, colour, national origin, ethnic or social background, genetic information, gender, gender identity and/or expression, sexual orientation, religion or belief, HIV status or disability.
ABOUT WFP
The World Food Programme is the world’s largest humanitarian organization saving lives in emergencies and using food assistance to build a pathway to peace, stability and prosperity, for people recovering from conflict, disasters and the impact of climate change.
At WFP, people are at the heart of everything we do and the vision of the future WFP workforce is one of diverse, committed, skilled, and high performing teams, selected on merit, operating in a healthy and inclusive work environment, living WFP's values (Integrity, Collaboration, Commitment, Humanity, and Inclusion) and working with partners to save and change the lives of those WFP serves.
To learn more about WFP, visit our website: https://www.wfp.org and follow us on social media to keep up with our latest news: YouTube, LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok.
WHY JOIN WFP?
WFP is a 2020 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate.
WFP offers a highly inclusive, diverse, and multicultural working environment.
WFP invests in the personal & professional development of its employees through a range of training, accreditation, coaching, mentorship, and other programs as well as through internal mobility opportunities.
A career path in WFP provides an exciting opportunity to work across the various country, regional and global offices around the world, and with passionate colleagues who work tirelessly to ensure that effective humanitarian assistance reaches millions of people across the globe.
We offer an attractive compensation package (please refer to the Terms and Conditions section of this vacancy announcement).
ORGANIZATIONAL CONTEXT:
This position is located in Country Offices. Job holders report to the Country Director or designate, with functional support and oversight from the Risk Management Division. Job holders operate individually or may be part of a risk team.
JOB PURPOSE:
Provide advice and specialized support with donor assurance, risk reporting, risk assessments, incident management, application of controls and compliance with policies and procedures, and overall risk-informed decision-making.
KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES (not all-inclusive, within delegated authority):
- Support Country Offices in identifying, assessing, monitoring and escalating operational, fiduciary, programmatic, safeguarding and contextual risks, ensuring risk registers remain current and aligned with corporate risk management requirements
- Develop, review and improve country Risk Assessment and Management Plans, including risk categorization, mitigation measures, risk treatment actions, escalation mechanisms and donor reporting requirements.
- Provide technical support to Country Offices in meeting donor requirements related to proposal development, donor assurance, oversight, accountability, transparency, risk mitigation, compliance monitoring and performance reporting.
- Support implementation of controls related to beneficiary targeting, partner oversight, commodity and cash tracking, community feedback mechanisms, safeguarding, anti-fraud measures, and anti-diversion measures.
- Support the establishment and implementation of incident reporting, investigation follow-up, root cause analysis, corrective action tracking, and escalation processes for operational, safeguarding, fraud and compliance-related incidents.
- Facilitate and support fraud risk assessment to proactively identify fraud and corruption related vulnerabilities and follow up on recommended mitigation measures.
- Deploy to support emergency responses, sudden-onset crises, or operational scale-ups by conducting rapid risk assessments and advising management on mitigation strategies, controls and priority actions.
- Support risk monitoring, assurance reviews, control assessments, partner oversight activities, third party monitoring arrangements, and implementation of corrective actions arising from audits, reviews and oversight exercises, including field office oversight.
- Advise Country Offices on integrating safeguarding, PSEA, accountability to affected populations (AAP), community feedback mechanisms and protection considerations into programme implementation and risk management processes.
- Contribute to inter-agency coordination mechanisms, including Food Security Clusters, Cash Working Groups, OCHA-led platforms and humanitarian coordination structures, ensuring risk considerations are integrated into response planning and implementation.
- Provide coaching, training and technical guidance to Risk Officers, Risk Focal Points and Country office teams on enterprise risk management, donor assurance requirements, monitoring frameworks, risk reporting and mitigation planning, , while also contributing to strengthening country office risk management capabilities, including risk ownership and risk-informed decision-making.
- Support rapid needs assessments, early warning analysis, contingency planning and activation processes for sudden onset disasters and escalating emergencies, ensuring risk considerations are integrated into response planning and decision making.
- Support the analysis and use of risk, monitoring, assessment and operational data to identify emerging risks, inform management decisions and strengthen accountability and assurance processes.
OTHER SPECIFIC JOB REQUIREMENTS (details to be determined by Post Managers):
This section is optional to describe other duties, skills & knowledge required for the specific job.
Leads by Example with Integrity
Upholds WFP Values, principles, and standards
Demonstrates and encourages others to uphold the WFP values, principles and standards
Respects others and values diversity
Values diversity using respectful and inclusive language, and encourages others to do the same
Stays focused and calm under pressure
Stays focused and calm when under pressure, encourages others to do the same, and offers guidance and support to manage difficult situations
Demonstrates humility and a willingness to learn
Demonstrates humility and a willingness to learn and share knowledge, frequently seeking and acting on feedback, and pursuing opportunities to develop
Drives Results and Delivers on Commitments
Delivers results for maximum impact
Identifies and aligns objectives to the required outcomes, holding self and/or others accountable for the delivery of results for maximum impact
Delegates appropriately
Delegates responsibly and provides appropriate support empowering others to deliver results
Adapts readily to change
Responds readily to change in different contexts and adapts accordingly
Fosters Inclusive and Collaborative
Is inclusive and collaborative
Promotes inclusive teamwork and psychological safety by encouraging colleagues to collaborate by sharing ideas and openly raising issues
Gives timely and constructive feedback
Supports development for others by giving timely and constructive feedback
Builds and shares new perspectives
Seeks out, trusts and listens attentively to diverse views to capture, learn, build and share new perspectives
Applies Strategic Thinking
Communicates and fulfils WFP’s vision
Communicates and fulfils WFP’s vision and operational outcomes to deliver meaningful solutions
Embraces curiosity and new ways of doing things
Demonstrates curiosity, designs and implements new ways of doing things when relevant
Analyses and evaluates data
Gathers data and different perspectives, shares knowledge and uses evidence to inform decision making
Considers the impact of decisions
Implements decisions, considering the risks and implications of actions for teams, projects and other initiatives
Builds and Maintains Sustainable Partnerships
Builds partnerships
Initiates and builds partnerships by identifying and promoting opportunities for mutual areas of interest and benefit
Collaborates to deliver common objectives
Collaborates with partners to deliver common objectives by sharing information and cocreating innovative solutions with beneficiaries when appropriate
DESIRED EXPERIENCES FOR ENTRY INTO THE ROLE:
- Experience in enterprise risk management, internal controls, compliance, audit follow-up, or assurance functions.
- Experience supporting humanitarian field operations.
- Experience working with monitoring systems, community feedback mechanisms, incident management processes, or investigations follow up. Knowledge of risk assessments, risk registers, incident management, and accountability frameworks.
- Familiarity with cash-based transfers, partner management, safeguarding/PSEA, fraud and anti-corruption controls, and donor compliance requirements.
- Strong stakeholder management, analytical, facilitation, and reporting skills.
- Ability to deploy rapidly and work in multicultural and high-pressure operational environments.
STANDARD MINIMUM ACADEMIC QUALIFICATIONS:
Education: Advanced University degree in business/public administration, finance, accounting, international development, audit or other relevant field, or First University degree with additional years of relevant work experience and/or training/courses in audit, performance and risk management or other related fields.
Experience: Relevant postgraduate professional experience in risk management, audit, monitoring and/or related fields, with a background and interest in international humanitarian development.
Language: Fluency (level C) in English language. Intermediate knowledge (level B) of a second official UN language: Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian, Spanish, and/or Portuguese (a WFP working language).
WFP LEADERSHIP FRAMEWORK
WFP Leadership Framework guides to the common standards of behavior that guide HOW we work together to accomplish our mission.
Click here to access WFP Leadership Framework
REASONABLE ACCOMMODATION
WFP is committed to supporting individuals with disabilities by providing reasonable accommodations throughout the recruitment process. If you require a reasonable accommodation, please contact: global.inclusion@wfp.org
NO FEE DISCLAIMER
The United Nations does not charge any application, processing, training, interviewing, testing or other fee in connection with the application or recruitment process. Should you receive a solicitation for the payment of a fee, please disregard it. Furthermore, please note that emblems, logos, names and addresses are easily copied and reproduced. Therefore, you are advised to apply particular care when submitting personal information on the web.
REMINDERS BEFORE YOU SUBMIT YOUR APPLICATION
All applications must be submitted exclusively through our online recruiting system. We do not consider CVs or applications sent by email, LinkedIn, or any other channel.
We strongly recommend that your Workday profile is accurate and complete, and that all sections are filled in, including your employment history, academic qualifications, language skills, and UN grade (if applicable). Once your profile is completed, please apply, and submit your application.
If you experience technical issues while submitting your application, you may contact us at global.hrerecruitment@wfp.org. Please note that this email is only for technical issues with an application - unsolicited applications or documents sent to this inbox will not receive a reply.
At the application stage, the only required documents are your CV and Cover Letter. Additional documents (passport, certificates, recommendation letters, etc.) may be requested later in the process.
Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and invited to proceed to the next stage of the recruitment process.
All employment decisions are made on the basis of organizational needs, job requirements, merit, and individual qualifications. WFP is committed to providing an inclusive work environment free of sexual exploitation and abuse, all forms of discrimination, any kind of harassment, sexual harassment, and abuse of authority. Therefore, all selected candidates will undergo rigorous reference and background checks.
No appointment under any kind of contract will be offered to members of the UN Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ), International Civil Service Commission (ICSC), FAO Finance Committee, WFP External Auditor, WFP Audit Committee, Joint Inspection Unit (JIU) and other similar bodies within the United Nations system with oversight responsibilities over WFP, both during their service and within three years of ceasing that service.
Listing sourced from WFP careers. Applications are handled entirely by the employer.