Chief Ethics Officer

Organizational Context

The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) serves as the Regional Office for the Americas of the World Health Organization (WHO).

Job Purpose

To serve as Chief Ethics Officer, leading PAHO's ethics framework to promote the highest standards of integrity, accountability, and professional conduct. The role involves fostering a culture of ethics, strengthening ethical leadership, supporting decision-making, preventing conflicts of interest, and ensuring policy coherence to enhance organizational trust and credibility.

Responsibilities

Provide independent, confidential, and impartial ethics advice and guidance to personnel on standards of conduct, conflicts of interest, and ethical dilemmas. Lead ethics risk assessments, identifying and mitigating systemic and emerging ethical risks. Promote ethical decision-making and values-based leadership through policy guidance, advisory services, training, outreach, and communication. Oversee the implementation of ethics-related policies, including conflict of interest disclosure and integrity screening. Collaborate with integrity and conflict-management systems to strengthen organizational governance, trust, and accountability. Represent PAHO in ethics-related peer networks and inter-organizational forums. Lead and manage the Ethics Office, including staff supervision, budget oversight, and strategic planning.

Work Experience

At least thirteen (13) years of combined national and international progressively responsible professional experience in the field of corporate or business ethics, including a minimum of ten (10) years in ethics, compliance, governance, organizational integrity, or related fields, preferably within international or multinational organizations. Demonstrated experience advising senior management on ethics, governance, and organizational integrity matters. Proven experience in policy development, training, and implementation of ethics or compliance programs. Proven experience in managing professional staff and operational budgets.

Skills

Ability to provide independent, confidential, and impartial ethics advice in complex and sensitive situations. Strong analytical capacity in ethics risk assessment, conflicts of interest, and misconduct prevention. Proven ability to design, implement, and evaluate ethics programs and integrity frameworks. Excellent written and oral communication skills for senior-level advisory and reporting. Ability to build trust, credibility, and collaborative relationships across the Organization. Strong leadership and people-management skills in a multicultural environment.

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