UN job grades explained: P, D, G, National Officer

UN job grades place each post in a category and a level: the Professional grades P-1 to P-5 and the Director levels D-1 and D-2, recruited internationally; the General Service grades, recruited locally; the National Professional Officer grades, for professional work that needs national knowledge; and seven Field Service grades, for peacekeeping missions and UN telecommunications. The grade tells you how much experience a post usually asks for and which salary scale pays it.

A UN job grade is the level at which a post is classified. Under the UN Secretariat’s Staff Rules, posts are classified by category and level against standards set by the International Civil Service Commission (ICSC) or by the Secretary-General. Every organisation in the UN common system applies the same Professional salary scale, and UNFPA says it uses the personnel categories employed across the UN system, so the letters mean much the same thing from one agency to the next.

What are the UN staff categories?

The ICSC describes two main categories, Professional and General Service, and two smaller ones, Field Service and National Professional Officers:

The two official sources sort National Professional Officers differently. The ICSC treats them as a category of their own, while the Secretariat’s Staff Rule 2.1 lists them among the “General Service and related categories”, together with Trades and Crafts and Security Service. In practice the label on the job opening is what you apply to.

What does each grade ask for?

The Secretariat’s UN Careers page on staff categories sets the minimum experience at 2 years for P-2, 5 for P-3, 7 for P-4, 10 for P-5, 15 for D-1 and more than 15 for D-2. UNFPA and WHO publish fuller tables that add the degree. UNFPA says it uses the personnel categories used across the UN system, and WHO calls its list indicative:

UNFPA adds that it generally requires an advanced university degree for P and D posts. WHO accepts an equivalent qualification for the degree and calls experience in developing countries an asset. The two tables agree from P-2 to D-1, and differ at P-1, at D-2 and on the degree, so read the job opening, which sets the rule for that post.

For General Service posts, UNFPA requires completed secondary education and runs from no experience at G1 to at least 7 years at G7. WHO runs from 2 years at G3 to 10 years at G7. For National Officer posts, UNFPA normally requires an advanced degree and asks for no experience at NOA, 2 years at NOB, 5 at NOC and 7 at NOD.

One entry route to P-1 and P-2 posts in the Secretariat is a competitive examination, described in young professionals programmes.

Who can apply for General Service and National Officer posts?

General Service posts are filled locally. Staff Rule 4.4 says General Service staff are recruited in the country or within commuting distance of each office, whatever their nationality and however long they have been in the country. UNFPA puts the condition plainly: you can be of any nationality, but you must be legally permitted to work in the country of the office. The ICSC adds that General Service staff serve at the duty station where they were recruited and do not move, though some skills, such as languages, may only be found further away.

National Professional Officers are recruited locally for professional work that needs national knowledge and experience. UNFPA says these jobs exist only in duty stations away from headquarters, and WHO says they are often employed for their knowledge of the country of their nationality.

Moving from General Service to Professional has its own rule. In the Secretariat, Staff Rule 4.16 says General Service staff move into the Professional category exclusively through a competitive examination, within limits the General Assembly sets. A guide that tells you to apply like any outside candidate is describing other organisations, not the Secretariat.

How is UN pay set for each grade?

Professional pay has two parts, both in US dollars: a base salary and a post adjustment. The ICSC’s salary page says the base scale, expressed as gross and net, is applied the same way worldwide by every organisation in the common system. The post adjustment is a cost-of-living element that keeps the purchasing power of pay at each duty station equal to pay in New York, and it is revised over time. The net base salary and the post adjustment together make up take-home pay.

The ICSC publishes each Professional scale with its effective date. In the scale effective 1 January 2026, the net base salary at step I, before post adjustment, is:

Within a grade, steps for P-1 to P-5 are granted every year up to step VII and every two years after that. Gross salary is derived from net by applying staff assessment, which the ICSC describes as a form of internal tax. Most member states exempt their nationals’ UN salaries from national income tax, but a few tax them. In most duty stations part of the salary is paid in local currency.

General Service pay works differently. There is normally one General Service scale per country, expressed in local currency by grade and step, and reviewed periodically through surveys of conditions of employment in that place. National Professional Officer scales are also set locally.

A worked example: reading a P-3 posting

Take an illustrative posting for a P-3 programme officer in a country office.

• Category. P means Professional, a post recruited internationally, subject to the posting’s own rules on who may apply.
• Experience. Both tables above put P-3 at five years. Count only the years the posting calls relevant.
• Pay. Start from the January 2026 net base at step I, 71,335 US dollars a year, then add the post adjustment for that duty station, which the ICSC publishes in its post adjustment memos.

If the same office posted an NO-B role, it would be recruited locally for national professional work, at about two years of experience on UNFPA’s table, and paid on the local scale. How to read a job posting covers the rest of the notice.

Questions people ask

What does P-3 mean at the UN?

P-3 is the third of five Professional grades. It is recruited internationally, and the UNFPA and WHO tables both put it at five years of relevant experience.

Can a General Service staff member move to a P post?

In the UN Secretariat, only by passing the competitive examination that Staff Rule 4.16 sets. Other organisations may set different rules.

Is a UN salary tax free?

For most staff, yes. The ICSC says most member states exempt UN salaries from national income tax, and a few tax their own nationals. Staff assessment is deducted inside the system instead.

What is the difference between a P post and an NO post?

A P post is recruited internationally and paid on the worldwide scale. An NO post is recruited locally for work that needs national knowledge and is paid on a local scale.

What we know and what we do not

The rules above come from the ICSC’s salary pages and its February 2025 booklet on salaries and allowances, the Secretariat’s Staff Rules on its policy portal, and the grade tables UNFPA and WHO publish. We read the UN Careers page on staff categories on 31 October 2026, and its experience figures match UNFPA’s table from P-2 to D-2. We did not read the staff selection instructions, which sit on a document host that does not allow automated reading. The labels of the seven Field Service grades were not on the pages we read, and our figures come from the January 2026 scale only.

Zorlya’s score does not read a UN grade. Its seniority signal comes from words in a job title, such as junior, senior, lead or director, so a title that says only “P-3” gives it no seniority to compare with your own. Read the grade yourself against the tables above. How Zorlya scores a job explains the parts of the score, and how it works shows the steps from resume to scored feed.

More on the UN system: UN internships, the UN Personal History Profile and UN consultancies and individual contracts.