9.11.2011

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

CA 324/1

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JOINT RESEARCH CENTRE (JRC)

Publication of a vacancy for a Director (grade AD 14)

‘Institute for Environment and Sustainability’ in Ispra (JRC.H)

COM/2011/10320

(2011/C 324 A/01)

We are

The Joint Research Centre (JRC) provides scientific-technical advice and support, mainly to policymakers in other Directorates-General, from conception of policies to monitoring their implementation. It comprises seven research institutes spread across five sites in Europe; the headquarters are in Brussels. It has a staff of 2 750 and an operating budget of EUR 340 million per annum. The JRC operates major research facilities and is responsible for its own infrastructure.

The research activities of the JRC focus on seven thematic areas:

—	Towards an open and competitive economy,

—	Development of a low carbon society,

—	Sustainable management of natural resources,

—	Safety of food and consumer products,

—	Nuclear safety and security,

—	Security and crisis management,

—	Reference materials and measurements.

The mission of the Institute for Environment and Sustainability (IES, http://ies.jrc.ec.europa.eu) is to provide scientific-technical support to the European Union's policies for the protection and sustainable development of the European and global environment.

Its core areas of activities are:

—	Sustainable use of natural resources: water, soils, forests,

—	Sustainable agriculture and rural development,

—	Climate change mitigation and adaptation, air quality,

—	Environmental risks and natural hazards,

—	Environmental dimension of development cooperation,

—	Environmental monitoring and information systems: GMES and Inspire,

—	Sustainability assessment.

In addition to closely cooperating with a number of Commission services, the IES works closely with the European Environment Agency and the European Space Agency as well as with the European External Action Service.

With some 470 staff, IES has a budget of around EUR 40 million per year stemming from the European Commission's research budget and from competitive income.

We propose

We propose the position as Director of the Institute for the Environment and Sustainability. This challenging position combines the management of specialised research and service provision to EU policymakers. The Director will be expected to provide strategic orientation for and coordination of activities across the whole of the JRC related to environment and sustainability. There is an excellent working environment with a highly motivated team of scientists.

The Director is responsible for the overall management of the Institute, has delegated financial and recruitment responsibilities for the complete Institute budget and its staff. He/she is will work in close cooperation with the JRC senior management and contributes to the overall development and implementation of the JRC mission.

We look for (selection criteria)

Preference will be given to candidates who:

—	are motivated to lead a dynamic directorate,

—	have a scientific background and an excellent level of scientific/technical expertise in several of the core areas of the Institute, in particular environment and sustainability issues,

—	have proven experience to steer the programming and management of human, financial and scientific resources,

—	have the necessary leadership capacity to manage highly specialised research teams,

—	have a good knowledge of policies of the European Union in the fields of activity of the Institute, and of Union institutions,

—	have very good negotiation and communication skills.

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 four 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 one year when the normal period of university education is at least three years;

3.

have at least 15 years' postgraduate professional experience at a level to which the qualifications referred to above give admission. At least five 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(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 (2)). As part of this selection procedure, candidates who have been called for an interview by the Commission's Consultative Committee on Appointments (CCA) will have to pass, beforehand, an assessment centre run by external recruitment consultants. In addition, candidates who have been shortlisted by the CCA will also be interviewed by representatives of the JRC Board of Governors.

Salaries and conditions of employment are those laid down in the Staff Regulations for AD 14 grade officials of the European Union. Candidates should note the requirement under the Staff Regulations for all new staff to complete successfully a nine-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 not longer 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 European 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 your 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.

Correspondence with selection panels during this selection procedure will be carried out in English, French and/or German only (4);

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  (5) , 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 7 December 2011. Online registration will not be possible after 12 noon Brussels time.

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(1)  In their CVs applicants should indicate at least for these five 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)  http://ec.europa.eu/civil_service/docs/official_policy_en.pdf

(3)  No later than 12 noon, Brussels time, on 7 December 2011.

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

(5)  European Commission, Directorate-General Human Resources and Security, Unit for Executive Staff and CCA Secretariat, COM/2011/10320, SC11 08/066, 1049 Brussels, BELGIUM.

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