JOB DESCRIPTION

DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS

11 September 2025-23:59-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

The position is based in HQ, Rome within the Technology Division (TEC) and reports to Head of Cybersecurity Operations in the Cybersecurity Operations Branch (TECI).

The information security landscape is rapidly evolving, making cybersecurity a top priority for WFP. With a global presence and a decentralized decision-making structure, WFP is committed to fostering proactive IT operations to minimize risk exposure, detect and respond to advanced threats, ensure ongoing compliance, and optimize security operations costs.

THE ROLE

To partner with the business to understand operating environments in order to be able to carry out activities related to monitoring, analyzing, and responding to cyber threats affecting WFP’s global operations. Additionally, the position drives cyber threat detection and hunting, advanced security analytics, and continuous improvement of detection and response capabilities, leveraging deep expertise in security telemetry, query languages, and cross security platform analysis and correlations.

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES:

• Oversee the daily operations of the Threat Detection and Response team, managing monitoring, investigation, and incident response activities while leading and developing team specialists.
• Monitor and oversee the environment for potential cyber threats and incidents, and in case of response needed, communicate to business counterparts, for a shared understanding of the issues and effective implementation of mitigation and recovery strategies/plans.
• Conduct Tier-3 analysis and assessments of potential cyber incidents and threats, leveraging security telemetry, advanced query techniques, and correlation analysis to improve detection accuracy.
• Optimize security operations workflows, onboarding, fine-tuning, and automating detection and response capabilities across platforms.
• Coordinate with other cybersecurity teams on intelligence, hunting, and vulnerabilities, to enhance detection strategies, ensuring alignment with emerging attack techniques and evolving threat landscapes.
• Report on cyber incidents, vulnerabilities, and security risks, providing technical insights and recommendations to strengthen defences.
• Test, analyse, onboard and document new solutions, integrations, automations and enrichments that support cybersecurity operations workflows, and capabilities.
• Establish and maintain close partnerships with business counterparts to effectively identify, respond to, and recover from cyber incidents.
• Maintain adherence to WFP’s policies, processes, and frameworks, ensuring consistency, compliance, and operational excellence.
• Perform additional cybersecurity-related duties as required to support WFP’s global mission.

QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE

EDUCATION:

First university degree in Computer Science, Information Security, Engineering or other relevant field.

EXPERIENCE:

• Minimum of 5 years of experience in technology-related roles, with a focus on cybersecurity threat detection & response and management of Microsoft cybersecurity platforms.
• Strong technical skills, and in-depth knowledge and hands-on experience on cybersecurity operations areas, particularly security operations monitoring, incident tracking/case management, threat detection & response platforms’ administration, identity & access security, and threat hunting.

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).

MORE ABOUT YOU:

• Deep understanding of cybersecurity operations, including identification, analysis, and response to major cyber incidents in large-scale global organizations with a similar number of endpoints and users as WFP.
• Ability to conduct cyber incident research, post-mortem analysis and formulate recommendations to strengthening preventative and detective security controls.
• Solid knowledge of email security, including threat detection, phishing analysis, and secure configuration of email security policies for anti- spam, anti-phishing, and safe links and safe attachments.
• Hands-on technical expertise with Microsoft Security tools such Sentinel, Defender for Endpoint/O365/Cloud Apps/XDR/etc.
• Ability to manage and utilize cybersecurity case management systems for incident tracking, coordination and documentation of incidents.
• Knowledge of cloud security operations, including secure configuration, logging and monitoring, and threat detection on multi-cloud environments.
• Expertise in at least one of the following areas: Cyber Threat Hunting, Cybersecurity Platforms Management, or Cyber Incident Response.

Desirable skills:

• Experience working globally distributed international organization.
• Knowledge of WFP operations and global infrastructure.
• Recognized relevant certifications are considered an asset.
• Advanced University degree in Computer Science, Information Security, Engineering or other relevant field.

TERMS AND CONDITIONS

• This is an International Professional position and is open to all nationalities.
• Mobility is and continues to be a core contractual requirement in WFP. This position is however classified as “non-rotational” which means the incumbent shall not be subject to the regular reassignment process unless the position is reclassified as rotational. The selected candidate will be employed on a fixed-term contract with a probationary period of one year. This position is open to both internal and external candidates.
• WFP offers an attractive compensation and benefits package in line with ICSC standards (http://icsc.un.org) including basic salary, post adjustment, relocation entitlement, visa, travel and shipment allowances, 30 days’ annual leave, home leave, an education grant for dependent children, a pension plan, and medical insurance.
• The selected candidate will be required to relocate to Rome, Italy to take up this assignment.

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:  [email protected]

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

• We strongly recommend that your profile is accurate, complete, and includes your employment records, academic qualifications, language skills and UN Grade (if applicable).
• Once your profile is completed, please apply, and submit your application.
• Please make sure you upload your professional CV in the English language
• Kindly note the only documents you will need to submit at this time are your CV and Cover Letter
• Additional documents such as passport, recommendation letters, academic certificates, etc. may potentially be requested at a future time
• Please contact us at [email protected] in case you face any challenges with submitting your application
• Only shortlisted candidates will be notified

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.

Level of Education: Bachelor Degree

Work Hours: 8

Experience in Months: No requirements