The Institute for Human Rights and Business (IHRB) is the leading international think tank on business and human rights. IHRB’s mission is to shape policy, advance practice, and strengthen accountability in order to make respect for human rights part of everyday business.

Overview

Project: Rebuilding with Dignity: Maximising Social Outcomes in Ukraine's Regenerative Reconstruction

Contract Type: Part-Time Consultancy (Fixed-term)

Budget: £40,000 (all-inclusive)

Time commitment: 2 days a week

Duration: December 2026 - May 2028 (18 months)

Reporting to: Head of Responsible Building & Value Chains, IHRB

Location: Ukraine

Application Deadline: 22 November 2026, 23:59 UK time

Ukraine's recovery and reconstruction needs are estimated at USD 588 billion over ten years, and the private sector will play a crucial role. The need to build back better from a climate perspective has been well recognised, but there has been less focus on the social dimension. Critical questions remain about what gets rebuilt first, how internally displaced people are consulted, which companies are commissioned, whose labour is used, how veterans are integrated, and whether Ukrainian firms and supply chains recover or get bypassed. As past reconstruction efforts have demonstrated, this is a process with huge risks for rightsholders but also for businesses.

Guidance exists, from the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights to Guidance on Heightened Human Rights Due Diligence for Business in Conflict-Affected Contexts and IHRB’s Dignity by Design Framework. UNDP and the Ukrainian Ministry for Economy are developing guidelines for responsible business conduct across key sectors, which should be published in the coming months. These provide a solid theoretical framework, but there is a pressing need to (a) disseminate them to relevant stakeholders and (b) operationalise them on tangible projects.

That’s where this project comes in: over a period of 18 months, the consultant will work with IHRB, Ramboll Foundation, and a range of additional partners to develop a pathway for businesses to support a reconstruction effort that respects human rights and maximises social outcomes.

Role Overview

The Consultant will be the driving force for this project: owning the project plan, holding the relationships, making the events happen, coordinating the pilot, and making sure the project produces something practical for businesses and impactful for rightsholders.

The successful candidate will have a deep understanding of Ukraine and the relevant stakeholders for its reconstruction. They will also have extensive experience working with construction businesses on issues relating to social sustainability and human rights. They will need to be strong conveners and bridge-builders, trusted by civil society organisations, businesses, governments and international institutions.

We welcome applications from individuals and from two people applying as a job share (splitting the budget between themselves), particularly given travel restrictions and the need to have presence both within Ukraine and internationally.

The consultant will report to IHRB's Head of Built Environment and work alongside the project's steering group.

Key Responsibilities

Owning the project plan and its delivery

Draft and own the detailed workplan across the project's four phases: set-up, development of the output, testing and refinement, and launch. Track progress against milestones, flag risks and slippage early, manage the activity budget, and provide brief monthly updates to IHRB. Contribute to reporting to the Ramboll Foundation and to the project's monitoring and evaluation.

Strategic relationships

Own the relations with the two key bodies that carry the work:

• a steering group of 4-8 senior experts, meeting every four months to provide strategic direction and protect the credibility of the output;

• a working group of 25-30 senior practitioners spanning investors, international engineering, architecture and construction firms, Ukrainian national and municipal officials, Ukrainian businesses and practices, and civil society organisations.

The consultant will liaise with partners bilaterally and multilaterally, organising regular convenings (including interpretation, managing funded travel), driving the agenda and ensuring Ukrainian participants shape the content.

Technical delivery

Lead the substance of the project across all four phases, bringing both a business and human rights and a built environment perspective, ensuring the project results in outputs that are sound and ready for implementation:

• Set-up: map the institutions and individuals shaping reconstruction decisions in Ukraine, and conduct scoping interviews to inform a concise baseline report setting and the project’s workplan.

• Development: work with IHRB, Ramboll and the working group to turn existing guidance into something usable on a live Ukrainian project. This entails knowing what practitioners will actually adopt, avoiding abstraction, and ensuring applicability by the engineers, officials and companies meant to use it.

• Testing and refinement: work with Ramboll to identify a suitable reconstruction projects and coordinate the pilot: arranging access, interviewing project teams and affected residents, and documenting impact. On this basis, work with partners to refine the output.

Events and representation

Deliver the project's convenings, beginning with a workshop held alongside the Ukraine Recovery Conference in Tallinn in January 2027, followed by online convenings and the launch at the 2028 Ukraine Recovery Conference. Represent the project in Ukrainian and international fora, and build its profile with the audiences that need to adopt the output.

Dissemination

Oversee the Ukrainian translation of relevant outputs, brief partners, and support presentations and media work (with IHRB colleagues) so that the project reaches Ukrainian practitioners and the international audience.

About You Skills and Experience

Essential Experience & Knowledge

• Based in a government-controlled area of Ukraine and able to travel internationally (through a job share, where relevant)

• Native or near-native Ukrainian, and excellent written and spoken English

• 7+ years working on reconstruction, the built environment, infrastructure, or business & human rights in Ukraine

• A track record of managing projects to deadline with multiple partners, including convening senior stakeholders and delivering events

• Established relationships across at least two of the following: Ukrainian national government, agencies, municipalities and oblast authorities; Ukrainian engineering, architecture or construction firms; Ukrainian civil society

• Comfortable with technical built environment content and able to hold a credible conversation with engineers and project teams rather than only with policy specialists

• Knowledge of business & human rights frameworks, guidance, and approaches

• Able to work from a blank page in a small and geographically dispersed team

• Delivering and reporting for international organisations or donors

** This is a specialised role. The criteria above are necessary requirements. If you don't meet them, then this is not the right opportunity for you, but we'd encourage you to follow IHRB's work as it develops and to look out for future opportunities.

Desirable Experience & Knowledge

• Relationships with global stakeholders involved in reconstruction projects: multi-lateral development banks, governments, global businesses

• Knowledge of Ukraine’s decentralisation reform; emerging mandatory due diligence law; and how infrastructure and planning decisions are made

• Familiarity with Ukraine’s recovery architecture

• Public procurement, construction contracting and project finance

• The work of IHRB, including the Dignity by Design framework

Attitude

• Bridge builder - reliable, impartial, and discreet; trusted by a wide range of stakeholders who would not usually sit at the same table.

• Astute and agile - able to understand where decisions are made, where leverage lies and adjust the approach accordingly.

• Collaborative and responsive - willing to work as a genuine thought partner with a small team, adapting the approach as the project develops.

• Rigorous and accessible - committed to work that is both analytically credible and practically usable, without sacrificing one for the other.

• Self-directing - able to find a way forward without being told, and to seize opportunities as they arise, with clear communication about progress, risks, and dependencies.

Timeline & Process

Timeframe and hours:

• The consultancy will run from December 2026 to May 2028 (18 months), with a one-month notice period.

• It is expected to average 2 days a week, with higher workloads around key milestones.

• For a job share, the time commitment and budget apply to the role as a whole rather than to each person. Applicants should propose how they would divide the work.

Location:

• A presence in Ukraine is essential. The role is likely to require domestic and international travel, subject to safety. IHRB will not ask the consultant to travel to areas assessed as unsafe.

• Candidates must already be legally entitled to provide services as a self-employed consultant in their countries of residence and must provide their own laptop and reliable internet connection.

Compensation:

The total budget for this consultancy is £40,000 (all-inclusive). Where the role is filled as a job share, this budget covers both individuals. Travel expenses for business trips will be available.

Contracting

The successful candidate or candidates will be engaged through a consultancy agreement subject to UK law. They will need to be registered as self-employed and will be responsible for their own taxes, insurance, and other legal or financial obligations. Any offer will be subject to two satisfactory references.

Application Process

When you apply, there will follow three yes/no questions which are intended to help you identify whether you are qualified and well-positioned for this role. Please answer honestly. We list these minimum criteria and constraints for a reason. If you do not qualify this time, there will certainly be other opportunities in the future. Answering dishonestly only takes away from our capacity to consider other applicants that are well suited for this particular role. So please note that if you answer "yes" to an answer and we find that to be untrue, your name will be added to a black list and you won't be considered for any roles at IHRB

IHRB is an equal opportunities employer and encourages applications from all individuals regardless of age, disability, sex, gender reassignment, sexual orientation, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief and marriage and civil partnerships. This means we will not discriminate against candidates or employees based on their protected characteristics.

Applications from unsuccessful candidates will be held on file for 6 months after the end of the recruitment process.