IMPORTANT NOTICE REGARDING APPLICATION DEADLINE: Please note that the closing date for submission of applications is indicated in local time as per the time zone of the applicant’s location.

Organizational Setting

The Department of Safeguards carries out the IAEA’s duties and responsibilities as the world’s nuclear inspectorate, supporting global efforts to stop the spread of nuclear weapons. The primary role of the Department is to develop and implement IAEA safeguards to ensure that there is no diversion of declared nuclear material from peaceful activities and no indications of undeclared nuclear material or activities in a State as a whole.

The Department comprises nuclear safeguards inspectors, responsible for carrying out inspections and verifications of all-safeguards relevant information for nuclear facilities in over 180 States; and technical staff responsible for a wide range of activities including: developing concepts and approaches for implementing safeguards; developing and maintaining safeguards equipment; providing analytical and laboratory services for sample analysis; collecting, evaluating and analysing safeguards-relevant information; providing information and communication technology infrastructure and services; and providing programme coordination support.

Operations Divisions, and the Office for Verification in Iran, perform and document safeguards verification activities and conduct analysis and evaluations aimed at providing assurances that States comply with their nuclear safeguards commitments. These teams implement a broad range of measures, including information analysis and in-field verification, to draw soundly based safeguards conclusions for States.

Main Purpose

Reporting to the Section Head, the Safeguards Technology Expert (Environmental Sampling Evaluator) contributes to the IAEA’s overall objective to maintain and further develop an effective and efficient verification system through the implementation and development of the environmental sampling programme for safeguards. He/she contributes directly to the IAEA’s ability to draw in a timely manner sound safeguards conclusions based on the analysis results from the safeguards verification activities versus the State’s declarations. He/she also provides expertise in his/her field, evaluates related information and advises on verification activities to be carried out in the field.

Role

The Safeguards Technology Expert (Environmental Sampling Evaluator) is: (1) a specialist, providing comprehensive advice on the most effective and efficient methods of conducting environmental sampling; (2) a team member of SGVI Technical Review Group on Nuclear Material Analysis and Evaluation (TRG-NMAE) to implement DA samples and Environmental Samples (ES) related techniques for the verification and monitoring of nuclear material (NM) and activities in the country, taking a leading role in the area of ES samples evaluation, and other material characterization; (3) a key contributor to the State Evaluation, in particular timely provide the relevant ES results inputs to support the preparation of the State Evaluation Report (SER); (4) an advisor to Senior Management on ES analysis arising from Ad hoc requests; and (5)a key player in developing and improving environmental sampling plans and in assessing the quality of the measurements and the effectiveness of the inspections results; (6) a liaison officer with other Safeguards divisions, in particular with SGIM and SGAS, and with the State authority or facility operators on ES analysis results issues.

Functions / Key Results Expected

The Safeguards Technology Expert (Environmental Sampling Evaluator):

• Performs complex evaluations of Network of Analytical Laboratories (NWAL) analytical results for forensic nuclear significance of material present on environmental samples collected by safeguards inspectors;
• Performs analytical evaluation reports for more than 200 environmental swipe samples/year in cooperation with SGIM from Iranian facilities, thus releasing the data to SGVI;
• Performs quality control of the results, follow up on any issues, and provides in-depth environmental sampling reports to SGVI, thereby contributing the SER;
• Supports the development of evaluation methodologies related to the early detection of undeclared activities or misuse of facilities;
• Reviews and evaluates the work of technical consultants on specific analytical projects, when necessary;
• Participates in the planning of environmental samples collections, contributes to improvements in sampling procedures and sample processing, as well as to the implementation of environmental sampling under the Additional Protocol and procedures related to illicit trafficking;
• Performs and reports on in-field verification activities, when appropriate;
• Designs, implements and utilizes nuclear fuel cycle modelling tools and contribute to the state evaluation and related activities;
• Serves as Task Officer for Member States Support Programmes to investigate, develop, and/or improve analytical methods, sampling procedures or strategies, QA/QC measures, and evaluation approaches;
• Subject to the approval of the Board of Governors, participates in safeguards inspections and complementary accesses and provide support to in-field verification activities;
• Participates as a lecturer in conferences, seminars and training courses for safeguards inspectors and state representatives.

The incumbent may perform his/her work in areas involving exposure to radioactive materials. Therefore, as an Occupationally Exposed Worker, he/she must be medically cleared by VIC Medical Service and is subject to an appropriate radiation and health monitoring programme, in accordance with the IAEA’s Radiation Safety Regulations.

Competencies and Expertise

Core Competencies(Competency Framework)

Functional Competencies

Required Expertise

Qualifications, Experience and Language skills

• Master’s Degree – Advanced university degree in Nuclear Science or physics, chemistry, or related engineering field supplemented by relatively good experience in areas relevant to safeguards.
• Bachelor’s Degree – A university degree in one of the specified fields with an additional two years of relevant experience may be considered in lieu of the advanced university degree.
• Minimum of seven years of experience in environmental sampling evaluation methodologies applied to safeguards;
• Demonstrated experience in evaluating analytical results and making analytical reports releasing data from multiple laboratories in order to corroborate observations and follow up on identified issues;
• Experience in the evaluation of the environmental sampling and an understanding of their implementation of the nuclear fuel cycle;
• Experience in performing uranium enrichment calculations, and in reactor fuel burn-up calculations for research reactors, plutonium production reactors, and light water reactors;
• Extensive knowledge of proliferation issues.
• Excellent oral and written command of English; knowledge of other language is an asset.
• Excellent oral and written command of English. Knowledge of other official IAEA languages (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian and Spanish) is an asset.

Remuneration

The IAEA offers an attractive remuneration package including a tax-free annual net base salary starting at US $77326 (subject to mandatory deductions for pension contributions and health insurance), a variable post adjustment which currently amounts to US $ 46937*, dependency benefits, rental subsidy, education grant, relocation and repatriation expenses; Other benefits include 6 weeks’ annual leave, home leave travel, pension plan and health insurance. More information on the conditions of employment can be found at: https://www.iaea.org/about/employment/professional-staff/conditions

General Information

• The IAEA’s paramount consideration in the recruitment of staff member is to secure employees of the highest standards of efficiency, technical competence and integrity.
• Staff Members shall be selected without any unfair treatment or arbitrary distinction based on a person’s race, sex, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, religion, nationality, ethnic origin, disability, age, language, social origin or other similar shared characteristic or trait.
• The IAEA is committed to gender equality and to promoting a diverse workforce. Applications from qualified women and candidates from developing countries are strongly encouraged.
• Applicants should be aware that IAEA staff members are international civil servants and may not accept instructions from any other authority. The IAEA is committed to applying the highest ethical standards in carrying out its mandate. As part of the United Nations common system, the IAEA subscribes to the following core ethical standards (or values): Integrity, Professionalism and Respect for diversity.
• The IAEA has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and the IAEA, including sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination.

Evaluation process

• The evaluation of applicants will be conducted on the basis of the information submitted in the application according to the selection criteria stated in the vacancy announcement. Applicants must provide complete and accurate information. Evaluation of qualified candidates may include an assessment exercise, which may be followed by a competency-based interview.
• Candidates under serious consideration for selection may be subject to reference and background checks as part of the recruitment process.

Appointment information

• Appointment is subject to a satisfactory medical report.
• Staff members may be assigned to any location.
• Candidates appointed to posts in the Professional and higher categories are subject to IAEA rotation policy and their maximum tour of service shall normally be seven years.
• The IAEA retains the discretion not to make any appointment to this vacancy, to make an appointment at a lower grade or with a different contract type, or to make an appointment with a modified job description or for shorter duration than indicated above.