Wanted: Tech thought leader, clean as a whistle, preferably a woman.
The United Nations has launched its search for a new technology envoy, who would champion the organization’s tech goals and cement the U.N.’s role as a global platform for digital diplomacy.
The job listing comes as the organization is struggling to conclude a months-long case into U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres’s first pick for the $200,000 plus job.
Guterres’s office has granted a one-month extension to Chilean diplomat Fabrizio Hochschild Drummond, the U.N.’s first-ever Envoy on Technology, who is slated to leave his position early next year following the conclusion of a probe into claims of harassment and discrimination, according to a document from the United Nations Dispute Tribunal.
Hochschild was expected to leave his job at the end of December, but he was granted a one-month extension on his work contract after he appealed to the United Nations Dispute Tribunal, the document shows.
In February 2021, Hochschild was placed on leave five days after being appointed to the role amid the allegations, but has continued to receive his annual salary of over $200,000 while being on leave for most of the year.
POLITICO reported in May that Hochschild — who’d been named the U.N.’s Envoy on Technology in January — was facing an investigation into claims of discrimination, harassment, sexual harassment and abuse of authority brought by current and former staffers. The formal inquiry into the allegations was concluded in early August, according to another U.N. document seen by POLITICO.
When contacted by POLITICO in May, Hochschild denied the allegations, but declined to comment further while the inquiry is underway. He called the allegations “unfounded.”