Program Officer (Researcher), Africa Support Project

The Center on International Cooperation (CIC) at New York University is launching a two-year project to strengthen African member states’ engagement in multilateral negotiations at the United Nations. The project seeks to make available dedicated research, analytical, and convening capacity that will support African Member states, using the established framework of engagement within the Africa Group and the Permanent Observer Mission of the African Union. The focus for the first phase will be on three thematic areas: financing for development; global health governance; and AI and digital technologies. The Program Officer is the position responsible for driving this work day to day.

Purpose of the Position

The Program Officer will support the design and delivery of the project’s core activities — policy briefs, expert convenings, deep dives, and the sequencing of New York discussions with African Union processes in Addis Ababa — in close, sustained coordination with the AU Permanent Observer Mission and in service of the UN Africa Group’s negotiating priorities. The role combines substantive policy research with hands-on program management and diplomatic convening, and requires the judgment to operate effectively inside a sensitive, politically attentive multilateral environment.

Responsibilities

• Serve as CIC’s dedicated point of contact with the AU Permanent Observer Mission, Africa Group Member States Missions, and the African Union Commission building and maintaining the day-to-day working relationship on which the project depends.
• Support the research and drafting analytical policy briefs across the three thematic areas, timed to specific decision points on the UN negotiating calendar, in consultation with member states and experts.
• Design and organize convenings that bring Africa Group member state representatives together with subject-matter experts.
• Plan and facilitate expert deep dives on complex or emerging issues within each thematic area.
• Maintain a living map linking the New York negotiating calendar to the corresponding African Union policy calendar in Addis Ababa, and identify and sustain relationships with the relevant AU Commission department and contact person for each thematic area.
• Commission and manage inputs from short-term consultants and CIC’s broader expert network where specialized expertise is required.
• Track and report on project indicators, contribute to funder reporting, and support the quarterly advisory group process.
• Represent CIC professionally and diplomatically in UN and AU-related settings at expert level, exercising discretion appropriate to the sensitivity of the diplomatic environment.
• Contribute to CIC’s broader institutional knowledge on African multilateral engagement, including through occasional public-facing writing or events.

Deliverables

• 4–6 policy briefs per thematic area per year (12–18 total annually), delivered on schedule against the UN negotiating calendar.
• 8–10 expert convenings per year, each producing a talking points document.
• 3–4 expert deep dives per year across the three thematic areas.
• A maintained NY–AU linkage map, reviewed and updated quarterly.
• Quarterly updates to the project advisory group and contributions to annual funder reports.

Required Education

• A master’s degree with minimum 7 years of relevant experience. Experience in lieu of education may be considered.

Required Experience

• 7 or more years of relevant work experience, including within the government, non-government and multilateral sectors.

Required Knowledge, Skills and Abilities 

• Advanced degree (Master’s or equivalent) in international relations, public policy, economics, public health, law, or a related field.
• A minimum of 7 -10 years of relevant professional experience in multilateral diplomacy, international organizations, policy research, or a closely related field, ideally including direct experience with UN processes and/or African Union institutions.
• Strong substantive knowledge of at least one of the project’s three thematic areas (financing for development, global health governance, or AI/digital governance), with the ability to learn quickly across the other two.
• Excellent analytical writing skills, with demonstrated ability to produce concise, negotiation-ready policy material under deadline pressure.
• Demonstrated experience convening or facilitating multi-stakeholder dialogues involving government officials, diplomats, or senior policymakers.
• Sound diplomatic judgment and cultural fluency in working with African diplomatic missions and multilateral institutions.
• Fluency in English required; working proficiency in French and/or Arabic strongly preferred given the composition of the UN Africa Group.

Desired Qualifications

• Prior work experience with an African Union organ, a UN mission, a member state foreign ministry, or a research institution focused on African multilateral engagement.
• Existing professional networks among UN Africa Group missions, AU Commission departments, or relevant technical experts.
• Experience managing donor-funded programs and reporting to institutional or philanthropic funders.

Additional Information

In compliance with NYC’s Pay Transparency Act, the annual base salary range for this position is $80,000 – $95,000. New York University considers factors such as (but not limited to) the specific grant funding and the terms of the research grant when extending an offer.

For people in the EU, click here for information on your privacy rights under GDPR: www.nyu.edu/it/gdpr

NYU is an Equal Opportunity Employer and is committed to a policy of equal treatment and opportunity in every aspect of its recruitment and hiring process without regard to age, alienage, caregiver status, childbirth, citizenship status, color, creed, disability, domestic violence victim status, ethnicity, familial status, gender and/or gender identity or expression, marital status, military status, national origin, parental status, partnership status, predisposing genetic characteristics, pregnancy, race, religion, reproductive health decision making, sex, sexual orientation, unemployment status, veteran status, or any other legally protected basis. All interested persons are encouraged to apply for vacant positions at all levels.

Sustainability Statement 

NYU aims to be among the greenest urban campuses in the country and carbon neutral by 2040. Learn more at nyu.edu/sustainability

As an employee of New York University, you will have access to NYU’s comprehensive benefits package, including generous paid time off and retirement contributions.