20.4.2011   

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

CA 122/1

Budget DG

Publication of a vacancy for a Director function (Grade AD 14)

Directorate ‘Budget Execution’

(Article 29(2) of the Staff Regulations)

COM/2011/10307

(2011/C 122 A/01)

We are …

… the Directorate-General for the Budget (Budget DG), which has the mission to secure from the budgetary authority — the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union — the resources needed to implement the Union's policies, to encourage sound management of Community funds and to account for the use of appropriations. It is made up of five directorates based in Brussels and has almost 590 staff (including external staff).

The budgetary role of the DG is to manage European Union expenditure in the medium-term financial perspective and at the same time to ensure that the annual budgetary procedure runs smoothly by promoting a constructive dialogue between the institutions.

Although the Budget DG is not involved in the management of appropriations, which is carried out by the Commission's operational departments, it is responsible for collecting the European Union's own resources from the Member States, who finance the Union budget.

The DG also includes the Commission's accounting department and prepares the rules governing the European Union's finances and, by offering advice and training, promotes sound financial management within Commission departments.

The Directorate for Budgetary Execution, Directorate C, works under the direct authority of the Accounting Officer, also Deputy Director General. It includes the Commission's accounting department which draws up the Union's financial statements (the Commission's accounts and the consolidated accounts of the European institutions) having as objective to keep a positive DAS (Declaration of Assurance) of the Court of Auditors. It also manages the treasury function and executes all payments and receives all income for both the Commission and the European Development Fund.

The Directorate deals with the recovery of debts due and liaises with the authorising DGs and the Legal Service to ensure the Commission's interests are protected. It also manages the central budgetary structure of the accounting system and carries out quality checks on all local financial information systems.

We propose …

… the position of Director to head up its Directorate C ‘Budget Execution’. The Director of Budget Execution will report directly to the Deputy Director General — Accounting Officer and will provide support of the highest standard to the DG to enable it to meet its policy objectives.

The Director of Budget Execution will provide the necessary leadership to focus work towards achievement of the overall objectives of the DG and will coordinate and supervise the work of the heads of unit. He/she will establish the work programme and the objectives of the Directorate in accordance with the work programme of the DG and will assure planning and management of the operational measures to achieve the work programme, of the milestones to check progress and of the expected outcomes.

The Director of Budget Execution will be in charge for keeping the accounts of the Commission and for preparing the consolidated financial statements of the whole of the Institutions of the European Union under the supervision of the Accounting Officer. The financial statements will be based on an accounting framework meeting the recognised international standards.

The continuation of the process of improving the Commission's reporting and management information systems is expected to be animated by the Director of Budget Execution.

He/she will also be in charge of the implementation of all the payments of the Institution, of the debt collections and of supervising the treasury. The treasury carried out 1,8 million payments in 2010 for a total amount of around EUR 122 billion.

He/she may be called to represent the Directorate or the DG in relevant inter-service or Commission meetings as well as in Parliament and the Council on matters in the Directorate's field of competence.

The Directorate includes around 130 permanent staff.

We look for (selection criteria):

Preference will be given to candidates who have:

—

excellent knowledge and experience in modern budgetary and public accounting,

—

a good knowledge and experience of financial and budgetary rules and procedures and of the rules on budget implementation,

—

a good knowledge of the issues and procedures linked to the discharge (the decision taken by the authority empowered (Parliament), releasing the executive (Commission) from its duty to implement the budget, thus marking the final closure of the budget cycle),

—

a good knowledge of the Commission's functioning and decision-making procedures,

—

excellent problem-solving skills and intellectual ability,

—

sound judgement and ability to work under pressure with tight deadlines,

—

strong communication, negotiation and inter-personal skills, enabling the candidate to lead discussions, communicate clearly, and facilitate solution of conflicts,

—

proven success in management positions, having shown extensive leadership skills as well as the ability to motivate and empower highly dedicated staff. A solid experience as a manager of a large finance and/or accounting department will be considered as a clear advantage,

—

the networking skills necessary to maintain contacts within and outside the DG and the Institution to meet various challenges of the Directorate,

—

a good working knowledge of English; other languages would be a clear asset.

Candidates must (eligibility criteria):

1.

Be a citizen of one of the Member States of the European Union.

2.

Have:

(i)

either a level of education which corresponds to completed university studies attested by a diploma when the normal period of university education is 4 years or more;

or

(ii)

a level of education which corresponds to completed university studies attested by a diploma and appropriate professional experience of at least 1 year when the normal period of university education is at least 3 years.

3.

Have at least 15 years' postgraduate professional experience at a level to which the qualifications referred to above give admission. At least 5 years of that professional experience must have been gained in a management function at high level (1) and should be in direct relation to a field relevant for this position.

4.

Have a thorough knowledge of one of the official languages of the European Union and an adequate knowledge of another of these official languages.

5.

Not yet have reached regular retirement age, which for officials of the European Union is defined as being the end of the month in which the person reaches the age of 65 years (see Article 52 lit (a) of the Staff Regulations).

Independence and declaration of interests:

Candidates are required to confirm their willingness to make a declaration of their commitment to act independently in the public interest and a declaration of any interests which might be considered prejudicial to their independence.

Appointment and conditions of employment:

The Director will be selected and appointed by the Commission according to its selection and recruitment procedures (see also the Compilation Document on Senior Officials Policy). As part of this selection procedure, candidates who have been called for an interview by the Commission's Consultative Committee on Appointments will have to pass, beforehand, an assessment centre run by external recruitment consultants.

Candidates should note that the selection procedures will be carried out in English and/or French only (2).

Salaries and conditions of employment are those laid down in the Staff Regulations for AD 14 grade officials of the European Union. Applicants should note the requirement under the Staff Regulations for all new staff to complete successfully a 9-month probationary period.

Equal opportunities:

The European Union applies an equal opportunities policy.

Application procedure:

Before submitting your application, you should carefully check whether you meet all the eligibility criteria (‘Candidates must’), particularly concerning the types of diploma and professional experience required. Failure to meet any of the eligibility requirements means an automatic exclusion from the selection procedure.

If you want to apply, you must register via the Internet by going to the website: https://ec.europa.eu/dgs/human-resources/seniormanagementvacancies/CV_Encadext, and follow the instructions there concerning the various stages of the procedure.

It is your responsibility to complete your online registration in time (3). We strongly advise you not to wait until the last few days before applying, since heavy Internet traffic or a fault with your Internet connection could lead to the online registration being terminated before you complete it, thereby obliging you to repeat the whole process. Once the deadline for the submission of registrations has passed, you will no longer be able to introduce any data. As a general rule, late registrations via normal e-mail will not be accepted.

You must have a valid e-mail address. This will be used to identify your registration as well as to inform you about the outcome of the procedure. Therefore, you will be required to inform the Commission about any change in your e-mail address.

To complete your application, you will need to upload a CV in WORD or PDF format and to fill out, online, a letter of motivation (maximum 8 000 characters). Both the CV and letter must be written in English, French or German.

Once you have finished your online registration, you will receive on-screen a registration number that you must write down and remember — this will be your reference number in all matters concerning your application. When you receive this number, the registration process is finished — it is confirmation that we have registered the data you entered. If you do not receive a number, your application has not been registered!

Please note that it is not possible to monitor the progress of your application online. You will be contacted directly by the recruiting DG regarding the status of your application.

If you have a disability that prevents you from registering online, you may submit your application (CV and letter of motivation) on paper by registered mail  (4) , postmarked no later than the closing date for registration. All subsequent communication between the Commission and you will be by post. In this case, you must enclose with your application a certificate attesting your disability, issued by a recognised body. You should also set out on a separate sheet of paper any special arrangements you think are needed to make it easier for you to take part in the selection.

If you require more information and/or encounter technical problems, please send an e-mail to: HR-A2-MANAGEMENT-ONLINE@ec.europa.eu.

Closing date:

The closing date for registration is 20 May 2011. Online registration will not be possible after 12.00, Brussels time.

(1)  In their CVs applicants should indicate at least for these 5 years during which high level management experience has been acquired: (1) title and role of management positions held; (2) numbers of staff overseen in these positions; (3) the size of budgets managed; and (4) numbers of hierarchical layers above and below and number of peers.

(2)  The selection panels will ensure that no undue advantage is given to native speakers of these languages.

(3)  No later than 12.00, Brussels time, on 20 May 2011.

(4)  European Commission, Directorate-General Human Resources and Security, Unit for Executive Staff and CCA Secretariat, COM/2011/10307, SC11 08/030, 1049 Bruxelles/Brussel, BELGIQUE/BELGIË.