Head of Chambers' Staff (P-5)

24519 | Judiciary

Deadline for Applications: 22/09/2026

Organizational Unit: Chambers, Judiciary [1]

Duty Station: The Hague - NL

Type of Appointment: Established Post

Post Number: E-9074

Minimum Net Annual Salary: €131,304.00

Contract Duration: For initial appointments, the Court offers a two-year appointment with the possibility of extension (six month probationary period).

A roster of suitable candidates may be established for this post as a result of this selection process for fixed-term appointments against both established posts and positions funded by general temporary assistance (GTA).

Organisational Context

Under articles 34(b) and 36(1) of the Rome Statute, the Chambers are composed of 18 judges, distributed between three Divisions: Pre-Trial, Trial and Appeals. The Presidency decides on the assignment of judges to the Judicial Divisions following consultation with them, assigns situations and cases to the Pre-Trial and Trial Divisions, and manages the overall budgetary and staffing requirements of the Judiciary as a whole.

Pre-Trial Division

The Pre-Trial Division handles the pre-trial stage of the proceedings, including by authorising the initiation of investigations, preserving the evidence during the investigation, the issuance of arrest warrants up to the confirmation of the charges following which the case against a person charged proceeds to trial.

Trial Division

The Trial Division is composed of the Trial Chambers, whose mandate is to conduct trials, following confirmation of charges by the Pre-Trial Chambers. The mandate continues until the conclusion of the reparation phase. In conducting the trials, the Chambers are required to ensure, in accordance with article 64 of the Rome Statute, that a trial is fair and expeditious and is conducted with full respect for the rights of the accused and due regard for the protection of victims and witnesses.

Appeals Division

The principal statutory function of the Appeals Chamber is to hear final appeals against decisions on acquittal or conviction and sentence, and potentially reparations at the end of a trial, as well as interlocutory appeals against certain decisions of the Pre-Trial and Trial Chambers made in the course of proceedings.

Performance Context

The primary responsibility of the Chambers as a whole is to ensure the conduct of fair, effective and transparent proceedings in accordance with the Statute and other relevant legal instruments, and in so doing to safeguard the rights of all parties and participants.

This position will serve to ensure the quality of legal support to Judges and Chambers and to effectively facilitate communication and provision of services between the Divisions, the Chambers, the Judges, the Divisional Legal Advisers and the legal and administrative staff of the three Divisions. The Head of Chambers’ Staff will report to the Presidency or the Chef de Cabinet, as delegated.

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the overall direction, authority and supervision of the Presidency, or the Chef de Cabinet, as delegated, the role of the Head of Chambers’ Staff is to coordinate the legal and administrative work carried out by staff of the Judiciary assigned to different Divisions and ensure its quality, to provide high level legal advice to Chambers and Judges, to facilitate communication within Chambers and the Divisions as well as to provide overall managerial advice and leadership and ensure adequate resources for Chambers legal staff and support, in particular by:

• Conducting periodic Chambers-wide reviews of staffing levels and providing to the Presidency recommendations on recruitment needs or other administrative matters, such as evaluation of staff performance;

• Undertaking and overseeing the proper and timely recruitment and allocation of Chambers legal and administrative staff, in consultation with the Presidents of Divisions and Presiding Judges and under the ultimate authority of the Presidency;

• Managing common processes and projects, such as the development of a common research platform of relevant Court and other jurisprudence;

• Establishing and managing internal working groups to promote information sharing and a common approach to issues of relevance to all Divisions, such as disclosure of evidence, redaction and other protective measures, participation of victims in the proceedings and detention matters;

• Conducting training needs analyses and establishing and organising specific training for Chambers’ staff;

• Providing reinforcement, where needed, to the Divisional Legal Advisers, including by providing high-level legal advice to Judges and Chambers, and ensuring the overall quality of legal support to Judges and Chambers; and

• Undertaking other tasks as may be assigned by the Presidency.

Essential Qualifications

Education:

Advanced university degree in law with specialisation in international criminal law, international law, criminal law or another relevant legal field. A first-level university degree, in combination with two additional years of qualifying experience is accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.

Experience:

A minimum of ten years (twelve years with a first-level university degree) of relevant work experience in international criminal law, international law, criminal law or another relevant legal field, including demonstrated experience in judicial institutions at the national or international level and demonstrated managerial and coordination experience in an organisational judicial context relevant to the Court.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:

• Strong, proven skills in the management and coordination of human resources in a complex organisational setting of national or international judicial institutions;

• Strong advisory skills in international criminal law;

• Excellent written and oral communications skills;

• Expertise in the management, strategic planning and coordination of staff and activities as evidenced through experience relevant to the Court and a proven track record of coordinating and delivering complex products and services in judicial institutions;

• Original and creative thinking, independent judgement and discretion; highly developed negotiating skills and ability to persuade and influence others to reach agreement; demonstrated planning, management and organisational skills and ability to coordinate the work of teams and individuals;

• Ability to build strong teams of individuals with complementary strengths backgrounds and perspectives; personal integrity, discretion, impartiality, and honesty in one's dealings with others, avoiding inter- personal conflicts and conflicts of interest involving oneself or one's work group;

• Ability to plan the means to achieve strategic objectives and to communicate accordingly;

• Coordination and management skills allowing for the consolidation of activities between stake-holding parties to create efficiencies.

Knowledge of Languages:

Proficiency in one of the working languages of the Court, French or English, is required. Working knowledge of the other is essential. Knowledge of another official language of the Court (Arabic, Chinese, Russian and Spanish) will be considered an asset.

[1] For the purposes of this Vacancy Announcement, the ‘Organizational Unit’ is for budgetary purposes only and does not impact on the reporting lines for the position

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General Information

- Candidates appointed to posts at a P-5 grade or in the Director category are subject to a maximum aggregate length of service of seven years. This is pursuant to a decision of the Assembly of States Parties (ASP Resolution ICC-ASP/23/Res.2 - ICC-ASP-23-Res.2-ENG) to implement a tenure policy at the Court as of 1 January 2025.

• The selected candidate will be subject to a Personnel Security Clearance (PSC) process in accordance with ICC policy. The PSC process will include but will not be limited to, verification of the information provided in the personal history form and a criminal record check.

• Applicants may check the status of vacancies on ICC E-Recruitment web-site.

- Post to be filled by a national of a State Party to the ICC Statute, or of a State which has signed and is engaged in the ratification process or which is engaged in the accession process. This is pursuant to a decision of the Assembly of States Parties (ASP Resolution ICC-ASP/23/Res.3 - ICC-ASP-23-Res.3-ENG) to introduce a moratorium on the recruitment by the ICC of staff of non-States Parties’ nationality.

• In accordance with the Rome Statute, the ICC aims to achieve fair representation of women and men for all positions, representation of the principal legal systems of the world for legal positions, and equitable geographical representation for positions in the professional category.

• Applications from female candidates are particularly encouraged.

• The International Criminal Court applies the Inter-Organization Mobility Accord and can support secondment of staff from organizations of the United Nations Common System.