KDT Joint Undertaking

Publication of a vacancy for the function of Executive Director

(Temporary Agent – Grade AD 14)

COM/2022/20081

(2022/C 221 A/02)

 

We are

Key Digital Technologies Joint Undertaking (KDT Joint Undertaking) is a public-private European Partnership aimed at leveraging investments in the electronics sector in Europe to research and develop innovative key digital technologies. The KDT Joint Undertaking fosters research and innovation collaboration between stakeholders such as industry, public authorities, academia, and research and technology organisations, pulling together and focusing efforts. The KDT Joint Undertaking’s strategy is aligned with the Horizon Europe Framework Programme and the programmes of Participating States to attract private investments and contribute to the effectiveness of public support by avoiding unnecessary duplication and fragmentation of efforts, thus contributing to the development of a strong and globally competitive industry in the European Union. The KDT Joint Undertaking is based in Brussels, Belgium.

As part of the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) for 2021-2027 and in line with the Horizon Europe Framework Programme, the KDT Joint Undertaking is one of the nine Joint Undertakings established under the Council Regulation (EU) 2021/2085 (1). The KDT Joint Undertaking is the successor to the former ECSEL Joint Undertaking (2) and supports the latter’s ongoing projects, being the legal and universal successor in respect of all contracts, including employment contracts and grant agreements, liabilities and acquired property of the ECSEL Joint Undertaking.

The KDT Joint Undertaking addresses clearly defined topics that will reinforce the Union’s technological autonomy in electronic components and systems, establishes the Union’s scientific excellence and innovation leadership in emerging components and systems technologies, and ensures that components and systems will address Europe’s societal and environmental challenges.

During the lifetime of the KDT Joint Undertaking, from 2021 to 2031, the maximum financial contribution from the European Union to the KDT Joint Undertaking, will be EUR 1,8 billion. At the same time, the KDT Participating States will make a total contribution that is commensurate with the amount of the Union contribution. The private members of the KDT Joint Undertaking, which are the same as in the ECSEL Joint Undertaking (the industrial associations ‘AENEAS’, ‘INSIDE’ (former ARTEMISIA) and ‘EPoSS’ or their constituent and affiliated entities), will make a contribution of at least EUR 2,5 billion. The administrative costs of the KDT Joint Undertaking’s Office during its lifetime will be in the range of EUR 50 million. These administrative costs will be divided equally between the Union and the private members.

The KDT Joint Undertaking is currently composed of 30 staff. For further information, please consult the website of the KDT JU, available at https://www.kdt-ju.europa.eu/

On 8 February 2022, the Commission proposed the ‘European Chips Act’, a comprehensive set of measures to ensure the EU’s security of supply, resilience and technological leadership in semiconductor technologies and applications (3). As part of the Chips Act, the Regulation (EU) 2021/2085 is proposed to be amended (4) so as to increase the scope of the activities of the current KDT Joint Undertaking, proposed to be renamed ‘Chips Joint Undertaking’. The renamed Chips Joint Undertaking would start its additional activities once the Chips Act regulation has entered into force. It would continue to implement the activities of the KDT Joint Undertaking as well as the largest part of the ‘Chips for Europe Initiative’ established under the Chips Act. This would include investments into innovation and capacity building activities, such as pilot lines, design infrastructures, and competence centres.

The proposed maximum financial contribution from the European Union to the Chips Joint Undertaking, would be in total EUR 4,175 billion (during its lifetime until 2031), with a commensurate contribution from the Participating States. The administrative costs of the Chips Joint Undertaking’s Office during its lifetime are proposed to be in the range of EUR 80 million.

Consequently, the personnel of the renamed Chips Joint Undertaking is proposed to be increased to 50 staff by 2026.

We propose

The Executive Director is the legal representative of the Joint Undertaking. S/he represents the Joint Undertaking towards the KDT community. S/he shall perform her/his tasks with independence and shall be accountable to the Governing Board.

The Executive Director will lead and manage the Joint Undertaking and take overall responsibility for its operations including budget implementation, as well as ensure the achievement of its objectives.

Based on Article 19 of the Regulation (EU) 2021/2085, the Executive Director's responsibilities and tasks will include:

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Act as the chief executive responsible for the day-to-day management of the Joint Undertaking in accordance with the decisions of the Governing Board. S/he shall provide the Governing Board with all information necessary for the performance of its functions. Without prejudice to the respective competencies of the Union institutions and the Governing Board, the Executive Director shall neither seek nor take instructions from any government or from any other body.

—	Act as the legal representative of the Joint Undertaking. S/he shall be accountable to the Governing Board of the Joint Undertaking.

—	Implement the budget of the Joint Undertaking.

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Carry out the following tasks for the Joint Undertaking: — ensure sustainable and efficient management of the Joint Undertaking; — prepare and submit for adoption to the Governing Board the draft annual budget and the staff establishment plan; — prepare and submit for adoption to the Governing Board the work programme and the corresponding expenditure estimates for the Joint Undertaking, to implement the Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda; — submit for opinion to the Governing Board the annual accounts for the Joint Undertaking; — prepare and submit for assessment and approval to the Governing Board the consolidated annual activity report; — monitor the contributions referred to in points (a) and (b) of Article 11(1) of the Regulation (EU) 2021/2085 report to the Governing Board regularly on the progress in achieving the targets and propose remedial or corrective measures, where necessary; — establish a formal and regular collaboration with the European partnerships identified in the Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda and in accordance with the strategic orientation provided by the Governing Board; — represent the Joint Undertaking in meetings within the scope of the Horizon Europe governance; — submit for approval to the Public Authorities Board the list of actions to be selected for funding by the Joint Undertaking; — assess applications for associated members to the Joint Undertaking following an open call for expression of interest and submitting proposals for associated members to the Governing Board; — inform regularly the other bodies of the Joint Undertaking on all matters relevant to their role; — sign individual grant agreements and decisions in her or his remit on behalf of the Joint Undertaking; — sign procurement contracts on behalf of the Joint Undertaking; — implement the communications policy of the Joint Undertaking; — organise, direct and supervise the operations and the staff of the Joint Undertaking within the limits of the delegations by the Governing Board; — establish and ensure the functioning of an effective and efficient internal control system and report any significant change to it to the Governing Board; — protect the financial interests of the Union by applying preventive measures against fraud, corruption and any other illegal activities by means of effective checks and, if irregularities are detected, by recovering amounts that were wrongly paid and, where appropriate, imposing effective, proportionate and dissuasive administrative and financial penalties; — ensure the carrying out of risk assessments and risk management for the Joint Undertaking; — take any other measures necessary for assessing the progress of the Joint Undertaking towards achieving its objectives; — prepare and submit for adoption to the Governing Board a plan for the phasing out of the Joint Undertaking from Horizon Europe funding; — perform any other tasks entrusted or delegated to her or him by the Governing Board or as may be required by the Regulation (EU) 2021/2085; — have the power to delegate her or his powers to other staff members subject to rules to be adopted in accordance with the last paragraph of Article 17(4) of the Regulation (EU) 2021/2085.

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Set up a programme office for the execution under her or his responsibility, of all support tasks of the Joint Undertaking deriving from the Regulation (EU) 2021/2085. The programme office shall be composed of the staff of the Joint Undertaking and shall in particular carry out the following tasks: — provide support in establishing and managing an appropriate accounting system in accordance with the financial rules for the Joint Undertaking; — manage the implementation of the work programme of the Joint Undertaking throughout the implementation cycle; — provide to the members and the bodies of the Joint Undertaking all relevant information and support necessary for them to perform their duties; — act as the secretariat of the bodies of the Joint Undertaking and providing support to advisory groups set up by the Governing Board.

The Executive Director will also be subject to the specific rules set out in Articles 126-141 of Regulation (EU) 2021/2085 concerning the KDT Joint Undertaking.

We look for (selection criteria)

The ideal candidate should fulfil the following selection criteria:

(a)    Management skills :

—	Ability to lead and motivate a team including administrative, financial and technical staff, in a European, multicultural and multilingual environment.

—	Sound experience in the management of significant financial resources in a national, European and/or international environment and involving funding from public sources.

—	Sound experience in the implementation and management of Quality Assurance and Control procedures as well as risk management methodologies.

(b)    Specialist skills and experience :

—	Very good knowledge of the European Union political priorities and policies.

—	Thorough understanding of the EU institutions, their functioning and interaction as well as international activities of relevance to the activities of the Joint Undertaking.

(c)    Personal qualities :

—	Excellent communication skills in order to liaise, communicate and collaborate effectively, efficiently and fluently in writing and orally with internal and external international stakeholders and to represent the Joint Undertaking in external fora.

—	Ability to build effective working relations with all relevant stakeholders, to ensure that the activities of the Joint Undertaking form a coherent part of the industrial strategy for electronics components and systems.

—	Team player.

Candidates must (eligibility requirements)

Candidates will only be considered for the selection phase on the basis of the following formal requirements to be fulfilled by the deadline for applications:

—	Nationality: candidates must be a citizen of one of the Member States of the European Union.

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University degree or diploma: candidates must have: — 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 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 (this one year’s professional experience cannot be included in the postgraduate professional experience required below).

—	Professional experience: candidates must have at least 15 years’ postgraduate professional experience (5) at a level to which the qualifications referred to above give admission. At least 5 years of that professional experience must be in the area of the activities of the Joint Undertaking.

—	Management experience: at least 5 years of the post-graduate professional experience must have been gained in a high–level management function (6) in a field relevant for this position.

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Languages: candidates must have a thorough knowledge of one of the official languages of the European Union (7) and a satisfactory knowledge of another of these official languages. Selection panels will verify during the interview(s) whether candidates comply with the requirement of a satisfactory knowledge of another official EU language. This may include (part of) the interview being conducted in this other language.

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Age limit: candidates must be able to complete, at the deadline for application, the full mandate of four years before reaching the retirement age. For temporary staff of the European Union, the retirement age is defined as being the end of the month in which the person reaches the age of 66 years (see Article 47 of the Conditions of Employment of other Servants of the European Union (8)).

Selection and appointment

The Executive Director will be appointed by the Governing Board of the KDT Joint Undertaking on the basis of a shortlist provided by the European Commission. To establish this shortlist, the European Commission organises a selection in accordance with its selection and recruitment procedures (see the Document on Senior Officials Policy (9)).

As part of this selection procedure, the European Commission sets up a pre-selection panel. This panel analyses all applications, proceeds with a first eligibility verification and identifies candidates having the best profile in view of the selection criteria mentioned above, and who may be invited for an interview with the pre-selection panel. In accordance with the Regulation (EU) 2021/2085, this pre-selection panel will include a representative appointed by each type of members other than the Union (10) of the Joint Undertaking and an observer appointed by the Governing Board.

Following these interviews, the pre-selection panel draws up its conclusions and proposes a list of candidates for further interviews with the European Commission's Consultative Committee on Appointments (CCA). The CCA, taking into consideration the conclusions of the pre-selection panel, will decide on the candidates to be invited for an interview.

Candidates who are called for an interview with the CCA participate in a full-day management assessment centre run by external recruitment consultants. Taking account of the results of the interview and the report of the assessment centre, the CCA establishes a shortlist of candidates it considers suitable to exercise the function of Executive Director of the Joint Undertaking.

Candidates on the CCA shortlist will be interviewed by the Member(s) of the Commission responsible for the Directorate-General in charge of the relations with the Joint Undertaking (11).

Following these interviews, the European Commission adopts a shortlist of the most suitable candidates, which will be communicated to the Governing Board of the Joint Undertaking. The latter may decide to interview the candidates before appointing the Executive Director from among the candidates on the Commission shortlist. Inclusion on this shortlist does not guarantee appointment.

Candidates may be required to undergo further interviews and/or tests in addition to those indicated above. They could also be required to deliver a statement before the relevant committee(s) of the European Parliament.

The selected candidate should hold, or be in the position to obtain, a valid security clearance certificate from his/her national security authority. A personal security clearance is an administrative decision following completion of a security screening conducted by the individual's competent national security authority in accordance with applicable national security laws and regulations, and certifying that an individual may be allowed to access classified information up to a specified level. (Note that the necessary procedure for obtaining a security clearance can be initiated on request of the employer only, and not by the individual candidate).

Until the personal security clearance has been granted by the Member State concerned and the clearance procedure completed with the legally required briefing from the European Commission’s Security Directorate, the candidate will not be able to access EU Classified Information (EUCI) at the level of CONFIDENTIEL UE/EU CONFIDENTIAL or above, nor attend any meetings at which such EUCI is discussed.

Equal opportunities

The European Commission and the Joint Undertaking apply a policy of equal opportunities and non-discrimination in accordance with Article 1d of the Staff Regulations (12).

Regulation (EU) 2021/2085 highlights that the selection procedure shall respect the principle of gender balance. In this line, the Commission and the KDT Joint Undertaking recognise that a healthy work-life balance is an important motivational factor for many people and that flexible working is increasingly expected to be part of a modern working environment. Therefore, the Commission and the KDT Joint Undertaking commit to welcoming and managing diversity, gender equality and inclusion, and welcome applications from all candidates independently of their gender, race, colour, ethnic or social origin, language, religion or belief, age or sexual orientation, including from candidates with disabilities. The Commission and the KDT Joint Undertaking actively welcome applications from all qualified candidates from diverse backgrounds, across all abilities and from the broadest possible geographical basis amongst the EU Member States. To promote gender equality, the Commission and the KDT Joint Undertaking encourage applications in particular from women. Assistance can be provided to persons with disabilities during the recruitment procedure.

Conditions of employment

The salaries and conditions of employment are laid down in the Conditions of Employment of Other Servants.

The successful candidate will be engaged by the Joint Undertaking as a Temporary Agent at grade AD 14. S/he will be classified depending on the length of her/his previous professional experience in step 1 or step 2 within that grade.

The successful candidate will be appointed for an initial mandate of four years. The Governing Board of the Joint Undertaking may extend the term of office once, for a period of not more than three years.

Applicants should note the requirement under the Conditions of Employment of Other Servants for all new staff to complete successfully a nine-month probationary period.

The place of employment is Brussels, Belgium.

The post is available from 1 November 2022.

Independence and declaration of interests

Before taking up her/his duties, the Executive Director will be required to make a declaration of commitment to act independently in the public interest and to declare any interests, which might be considered prejudicial to her/his independence.

Application procedure

Before submitting your application, you should carefully check whether you meet all eligibility requirements (‘Candidates must’), particularly concerning the types of diploma, high-level professional experience as well as linguistic capacity 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 on the following website and follow the instructions concerning the various stages of the procedure:

https://ec.europa.eu/dgs/human-resources/seniormanagementvacancies/

You must have a valid email address. This will be used to confirm your registration as well as to remain in contact with you during the different stages of the procedure. Therefore, please keep the European Commission informed about any change in your email address.

To complete your application, you need to upload a CV in PDF format, preferably using the Europass CV format (13), and to fill out, online, a letter of motivation (maximum 8 000 characters). Your CV and your letter of motivation may be submitted in any of the official languages of the European Union.

Once you have finished your online registration, you will receive an electronic mail confirming that your application has been registered. If you do not receive a confirmation mail, 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 European Commission regarding the status of your application.

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

Closing date

The closing date for registration is 6 September 2022, 12.00 noon Brussels time, following which registration is no longer possible.

It is your responsibility to complete your online registration in time. 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. Late registrations are not accepted.

Important information for candidates

Candidates are reminded that the work of the different selection panels is confidential. It is forbidden for candidates to make direct or indirect contact with their individual members or for anybody to do so on their behalf. All queries must be addressed to the secretariat of the relevant panel.

Protection of personal data

The Commission will ensure that candidates’ personal data are processed as required by Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 of the European Parliament and of the Council (14). This applies in particular to the confidentiality and security of such data.

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(1)  Council Regulation (EU) 2021/2085 of 19 November 2021 establishing the Joint Undertakings under Horizon Europe and repealing Regulations (EC) No 219/2007, (EU) No 557/2014, (EU) No 558/2014, (EU) No 559/2014, (EU) No 560/2014, (EU) No 561/2014 and (EU) No 642/2014 (OJ L 427, 30.11.2021, p. 17).

(2)  Council Regulation (EU) No 561/2014 of 6 May 2014 establishing the ECSEL Joint Undertaking (OJ L 169, 7.6.2014, p. 152) (ECSEL Council Regulation).

(3)  https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/IP_22_729

(4)  https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:52022PC0047

(5)  Professional experience is only taken into consideration if it represents an actual work relationship defined as real, genuine work, on a paid basis and as employee (any type of contract) or provider of a service. Professional activities pursued part-time shall be calculated pro rata, on the basis of the certified percentage of full-time hours worked. Maternity leave / parental leave / leave for adoption is taken into consideration if it is in the framework of a work contract. PhDs are assimilated to professional experience, even when unpaid, but for a duration of three years maximum, provided that the PhD has been successfully completed. A given period may be counted only once.

(6)  In their curriculum vitae, candidates should clearly indicate for all years during which 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; (4) numbers of hierarchical layers above and below; and (5) number of peers.

(7)  https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A01958R0001-20130701

(8)  https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A01962R0031-20140701

(9)  https://ec.europa.eu/info/sites/info/files/compilation-of-the-senior-official-policy-at-the-european-commission_en.pdf (only exists in English)

(10)  ‘Members other than the Union’ means any participating state, private member or international organisation that is a member of a joint undertaking.

(11)  Unless the Member of the Commission concerned, in line with the Commission Decision of 5 December 2007 (PV(2007) 1811) and 30 September 2020 (PV(2020) 2351), has delegated this task.

(12)  https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A01962R0031-20140701

(13)  You can find information on how to create your Europass CV online at: https://europa.eu/europass/en/create-europass-cv

(14)  Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2018 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data by the Union institutions, bodies, offices and agencies and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Regulation (EC) No 45/2001 and Decision No 1247/2002/EC (OJ L 295, 21.11.2018, p. 39).