The Arctic Council is the pre-eminent high-level intergovernmental forum promoting cooperation, coordination, and interaction among Arctic states and its Indigenous communities. Established in 1996 by the Ottawa Declaration, it primarily focuses on sustainable development and environmental protection in the circumpolar North.
The Arctic Council Chairship rotates every two years among the Arctic States. The Kingdom of Denmark is the current Chair of the Council and Sweden will take over the Chairship in May 2027.
The ACS serves and supports the work of the Arctic Council, and particularly the successive Chairships of the Arctic Council. The ACS is currently composed of 15 employees from almost every Arctic state, and is based at the Fram Centre in Tromsø, Norway. Learn more at arctic-council.org
Director of the Secretariat
Under the direction of the Chair of the Arctic Council’s Senior Arctic Officials (SAO Chair), the Director coordinates the work of the Secretariat. The ACS Director reports to the SAOs and is responsible for the overall management and administration of the Secretariat’s activities, including finance, administration, communications and outreach, and human resources.
Responsibilities include:
• Leading and managing the overall work of the Secretariat.
• Managing the Secretariat’s human resources, including inter alia recruitment, performance management, dismissal, and professional development.
• Preparing and implementing a biennial budget and workplan and reporting on the activities of the Secretariat.
• Providing strategic advice, guidance and administrative support to rotating Chairships, and to the Council as a whole, in connection with Arctic Council affairs and meetings
• Overseeing the Secretariat’s communications efforts as directed by the Arctic Council Communications strategy and Communication and outreach Guidelines.
• Supporting the biennial Chairship transition process
• Liaising with Arctic States and Permanent Participants, Arctic Council subsidiary bodies and Observers, in order to facilitate coordination and coherence of Arctic Council activities.
• Performing such other functions as may be required by the Chair and SAOs.
Qualifications and key experience requirements:
A candidate for this position must:
• Be a national of an Arctic State.
• Hold an advanced university degree or have a combination of proven qualifications and experience relevant to the work of the Arctic Council Secretariat.
• Have considerable proven professional experience in human resources management that would be transferable to the position of the ACS Director.
• Demonstrate significant experience in financial administration and planning, including the preparation of budgets and the management of expenditures.
• Demonstrate significant and recent experience in providing strategic advice and recommendations to senior management on sensitive, high-profile issues
• Have excellent interpersonal skills and the ability to exercise sound judgement.
• Have experience in strategic planning and in leading organizations through change.
• Have the ability to manage and resolve conflicts and disagreements in a constructive manner and build consensus to achieve common goals.
• Have excellent written and oral communication skills in English (Working knowledge of another Arctic language will be considered an asset).
• Have substantial knowledge of the Arctic region’s politics, history, business and culture (Direct experience working in the Arctic / on Arctic issues will be considered an asset).
Other job requirements:
• Willingness and ability to work long and sometimes irregular hours under pressure.
• Willingness and ability to travel extensively, and to hold a valid passport for the duration of the appointment.