DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS
13 June 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
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).
ABOUT PACKAGING SOLUTIONS OFFICER AT WFP
The position is based in Rome and reports to Food Safety and Quality Assurance Chief.
THE ROLE
The Packaging Solutions Officer leads research, development, and operational packaging initiatives at WFP globally, providing specialized technical support and troubleshooting to the field and manufacturers. The role drives packaging improvements and sustainability, developing and maintaining specifications, and representing WFP in technical partnerships and inter-agency forums to ensure safe, effective, and innovative packaging solutions for humanitarian supply chains.
KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES (not all-inclusive, within delegated authority):
Create, update and maintain the packaging specifications to ensure consistency, compliance with WFP standards, and support for operational efficiency.
Provide packaging development and troubleshooting support to the field and food manufacturers to ensure compliance with quality standards and resolve technical issues.
Act as the packaging technical support to the field – including assistance to incident –
solving and loss-reduction in topics that include packaging, ensuring timely and effective solutions to maintain product integrity and minimize operational risks and losses.
Lead all Research & Development (R&D) and operational packaging-related workstreams in Headquarters (HQ) to ensure innovative, cost-effective, and sustainable packaging solutions that meet WFP’s quality and safety standards.
Promote packaging improvements within WFP’s portfolio, aiming to withstand the supply chain conditions, maintain proper shelf-life and ensure food is safe for beneficiary consumption.
Lead packaging development as part of new projects initiated by WFP’s demand to ensure timely design, testing, and implementation of innovative, safe, and cost-effective packaging solutions that meet operational and quality standards.
Develop performance parameters to define packaging integrity in food specifications, as well as packaging integrity testing methods and parameters to be applied at manufacturing level and to be used during supplier audits.
Visit and support manufacturers and downstream operations to troubleshoot, guide and improve packaging.
Lead packaging-related technical partnerships – including development of scope, technical workstreams, governance, communication with partner and alignment with internally-related areas.
Co-lead technical partnership portfolio for SCOQ’s existing partners – both packaging and non-packaging related - by contributing to strategy building, communication to partners and support to technical discussions to strengthen collaboration and alignment.
Act as a member of the inter-agency working group (US, UNICEF, MSF, ICRC and ACF), promoting all packaging and sustainability-related workstreams and harmonization initiatives.
Serve as the WFP packaging expert in internal and external forums, to ensure knowledge sharing and representation in meetings and workshops organized by the humanitarian sector, private sector and government support.
Co-lead supply chain improvements projects that have a close link to packaging (e.g.: traceability, pest management).
Lead all packaging related knowledge management initiatives, including training content development and delivery to ensure capacity building and continuous improvement across WFP operations.
Lead sustainability initiatives related to packaging - Review WFP’s existing product range and evaluate the quality of the packaging materials used and assess their suitability for the challenging humanitarian supply chain.
QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE
Education: Advanced university degree in Packaging technology, Packaging Engineering or other related field, or First University degree with an additional years of related work experience and/or training/courses.
Experience: At least 8 years of progressively responsible work experience sin the area of flexible packaging and/or multiple materials. Proven project management experience is critical. Experience in Packaging R&D and operations within the food industry and humanitarian food packaging is required.
Desired experiences for entry into the role:
Sound theoretical understanding of food technology, especially in the field of packaging.
Ability to carry out financial and risk analysis as related to packaging.
Strong commercial knowledge with a good understanding of food commodity markets and supply chain practices.
Good communication skills with the ability to persuade, influence and adapt communication style to different situations and individuals.
Ability to supervise and coach staff.
Knowledge of common business principals and processes and the ability to quickly assimilate UN/WFP specific processes and systems.
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).
TERMS AND CONDITIONS
This position is classified as an International Professional role and is open to candidates of all nationalities.
Mobility is and continues to be a core contractual requirement in WFP. These positions are however classified as “non-rotational” which means the incumbents shall not be subject to the regular reassignment process unless the positions are reclassified as rotational. The selected candidates will be employed on a fixed-term contract with a probationary period of one year. These positions are 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 candidates 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.
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
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 [email protected]. 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.
