Photo Editor – Photography, P3, Geneva

Organizational Setting and Work Relationships

The Photo Unit sits within the Multimedia Content Section of UNHCR¿s Division of External Relations, alongside the Video Unit, and the Editing Unit. The Photo Editor is responsible for ensuring the timely production, distribution, and preservation of high-quality, high-impact photographs for UNHCR’s global audiences. As head of the Photo Unit, s/he is thus responsible for ensuring a smooth workflow for photographs shot in the field, uploaded to Refugees Media (http://media.unhcr.org), published on UNHCR websites and social media platforms, distributed to news organizations and other external clients, and archived for future use.

The Photo Editor manages a small team in Geneva tasked with processing photos, key wording, caption editing and related activities. S/he also coordinates with the Video Unit to ensure the smooth operation of the Refugees Media site and related archival activities, and supervises relevant staff and consultants, including photographers in various field locations and photo editing personnel in headquarters.

The incumbent must have extensive and current contacts with professional media, including photo editors and online content editors. The job requires extensive knowledge of UNHCR’s operations around the world as well as its global strategic priorities. The staff member works closely with colleagues in Geneva, Copenhagen, and the field to produce accurate and compelling photo content depicting UNHCR’s work on behalf of refugees, internally displaced people, and stateless people.

The job may involve travel, potentially to challenging environments.

All UNHCR staff members are accountable to perform their duties as reflected in their job description. They do so within their delegated authorities, in line with the regulatory framework of UNHCR which includes the UN Charter, UN Staff Regulations and Rules, UNHCR Policies and Administrative Instructions as well as relevant accountability frameworks. In addition, staff members are required to discharge their responsibilities in a manner consistent with the core, functional, cross-functional and managerial competencies and UNHCR¿s core values of professionalism, integrity and respect for diversity.

Duties

• Supervise UNHCR’s global photo production and overall work of the Photo Unit, working closely with Content Production colleagues as well as media officers at headquarters and in the field, desk officers in the regional bureaux, etc.
• Supervise the work of the Photo Unit personnel at headquarters engaged in photo production, curation, and distribution and archiving.
• Develop and continuously update strategies for raising UNHCR’s public profile through photo production and dissemination, thus enhancing UNHCR overall global visibility, including products tailored especially for web, social media and mobile platforms.
• Refine and promote UNHCR¿s photo guidelines and policies, with an eye to maximizing impact and minimizing risks to people of concern as well as personnel.
• Cultivate a diverse, global network of skilled, qualified photographers who can be called on to undertake photo missions on UNHCR¿s behalf, including local and regional photographers and female photographers.
• Develop and maintain a wide-ranging network of contacts with photo editors and decision-makers at news/media organizations to direct their attention to activities and achievements of UNHCR that are of interest to the public.
• Ensure that requests from media, NGO and UN partners, educational institutions, new media partners and artists seeking photographs from our collection are responded to in a timely and appropriate manner, largely via Refugees Media (http://media.unhcr.org).
• Work with the UNHCR web editors and social media team to ensure that content for these platforms is well illustrated with newly commissioned images, images from our library or images licensed from agencies. Conceive and package photo sets for use on UNHCR platforms and for external placement.
• Work with the video unit to incorporate photographic material in videos as needed, including the possibility of videos composed largely or entirely from photos.
• Mine archival photos for new social media and web content.
• Provide technical support and training to relevant staff in the field concerning hiring photographers, taking photographs (including with smartphones), purchasing equipment and using tools like Refugees Media.
• Ensure safe preservation of UNHCR¿s digital and paper and negative collections, including the creation and implementation of a plan to digitize older parts of the photo archive. Oversee the scanning of the archive by an outside agency, ensuring quality control and compatibility with UNHCR systems. Make sure all digital photo material is colour-managed, retouched, resized, captioned and key worded properly.
• Negotiate partnerships with, and ¿photo donations¿ from, prominent photographers as well as negotiate image licensing fees with photo agencies.
• Manage bespoke photo projects, such as photo workshops with refugees and photo exhibitions featuring refugees, as needed.
• Work with all parts of the house in providing images for digital communications and print publications ¿ including the Global Report, Global Appeal, brochures, fundraising materials, donor reports, policy reports, etc.
• Serve as in-house photographer as needed for events at HQ and the Palais.
• Assess the impact of, and public reaction to, UNHCR photos based on information gathered from media contacts, Refugees Media reports, and web and social media analytics.
• Perform other related duties as required.

Minimum Qualifications

Education & Professional Work Experience
Years of Experience / Degree Level
For P3/NOC – 6 years relevant experience with Undergraduate degree; or 5 years relevant experience with Graduate degree; or 4 years relevant experience with Doctorate degree

Field(s) of Education
Journalism; International Relations; Political Science;
Communications; Public Information; Media;
or other relevant field.;
(Field(s) of Education marked with an asterisk* are essential)

Certificates and/or Licenses
Not specified.

Relevant Job Experience
Essential
Minimum 6 years of previous job experience relevant to the function, including wide-ranging knowledge of the profession of photojournalism (including foreign correspondents and international media) and documentary photography. Working knowledge of Adobe Bridge and Adobe Photoshop, clear understanding of relevant file formats, etc. Experience supervising photographers in a field setting, including news, campaign, and celebrity missions. Experience using the back end of a digital asset management system, such as the Orange Logic system used to power Refugees Media. Demonstrated experience in digital photo production.
Desirable
Knowledge of French.