Vacancy notice CONS/AD/183/22

(2022/C 433 A/01)

GENERAL INFORMATION

Department	LEGAL SERVICE
Place of work	Brussels, Justus Lipsius Building
Title of post	Director-General
Function group and grade	AD 15
Security clearance required	SECRET UE/EU SECRET
DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS	2 December 2022 – 12:00 (noon) Brussels time

We are

The General Secretariat of the Council (GSC) assists the European Council and the Council of the EU and their preparatory bodies in all fields of their activities. Under the authority of the Secretary-General, it provides advice and support to the European Council, the Council and their Presidencies in all areas of activity, including policy and legal advice, coordination with other institutions, elaboration of compromises, supervising as well as attending to all the practicalities that are necessary for the good preparation and running of the European Council and the Council.

The Legal Service is the legal adviser to the European Council and the Council, assisting the European Council, the Council and its preparatory bodies, the Presidency and the General Secretariat of the Council in order to ensure the legality and the drafting quality of acts. It contributes, by taking a creative approach where appropriate, to identifying legally correct and politically acceptable solutions, in cooperation with other Council departments. To that end, it gives opinions in complete impartiality — orally or in writing, at the request of the Council or on its own initiative — on any question of a legal nature. The Legal Service also represents the European Council and the Council in proceedings before the courts of the Union. It is responsible for checking the drafting quality of legal acts of the European Council and the Council and ensuring that they are legally and linguistically consistent in all of the Union’s official languages. The constant objective of the Legal Service is to provide timely contributions which are distinguished by their full respect for the law, their impartiality and their clarity.

The Legal Service comprises six thematic directorates that cover all of the Union’s areas of activity and one directorate which is responsible for the quality of legislation.

We propose

The post of Director-General of the Legal Service and Legal Counsel of the European Council and of the Council is challenging position in a multicultural and politically complex environment, leading a team of around 330 highly-qualified staff.

You will provide advice at the highest level, at your own initiative or upon request, to the European Council and the Council and their Presidencies as well as to the Secretary-General. You will provide written or oral opinions at high level on legal and institutional questions on all aspects of files in order to identify legally correct and politically acceptable solutions.

You will also be required to assist and represent the European Council and the Council in disputes and, where appropriate, represent them in cases before the EU’s courts, as well as represent them in public fora and in negotiations with other EU institutions, agencies and other bodies in the areas within the Directorate-General’s remit.

Under the authority of the Secretary-General and in cooperation with your Directors, you will manage and coordinate your Directorate-General and its resources in a professional manner, organise its activities and support and motivate staff in their work. You will define the objectives of the Directorate-General and ensure their achievement according to required deadlines and quality standards. You will foster a culture of effective communication and cooperation both within the Directorate-General and with the other Directorates-General, as well as with other GSC services and external stakeholders.

You will ensure overall strategic coordination, including with other Directorates-General, on policy and objectives to be met by the GSC.

Occasional missions abroad, usually within the EU, are required.

We look for

We are looking for a lawyer with professional experience at a very high level and a strong political sense, who also has senior management experience in the EU legal domain and the ability to lead and motivate a large multidisciplinary team. Extensive knowledge of EU law is a key competence for this post. Extensive knowledge of the functioning and procedures of the EU as well as knowledge of the role of the European Council and Council and of their decision-making process are also required.

All GSC managers are expected to advise their hierarchy and stakeholders, manage their staff and financial resources, and represent the GSC. These expectations are set out in the GSC horizontal manager’s profile (1).

Furthermore, the jobholder will need to possess:

—	the ability to think and plan strategically, to anticipate and identify potential problems and to propose workable solutions and compromises;

—	excellent communication skills, including interpersonal communication skills;

—	the ability to maintain good working relationships with a range of internal and external interlocutors and the ability to demonstrate diplomacy;

—	leadership skills and the ability to promote a strong team spirit and to give guidance, and the ability to motivate and empower staff in a multicultural and diverse environment, with a strong emphasis on staff development;

—	the ability to plan and organise the overall work of the Directorate-General so as to meet critical deadlines and ensure a fair distribution of workload within the team, as well as the ability to manage change and support staff through change;

—	the ability to reach agreements, ensure impact and pursue common goals, by providing targeted advice to stakeholders and by effectively and constructively facilitating discussions.

RECRUITMENT POLICY

Applicants must meet the following requirements at the time of applying:

General conditions

—	be nationals of one of the Member States of the European Union;

—	enjoy their full rights as citizens;

—	have fulfilled any obligations imposed by the laws concerning military service.

Specific conditions

—	hold a high-level university degree in law giving access to doctoral studies in law or have an equivalent professional qualification (2);

—	have at least 15 years of professional experience providing legal advice with a very high level of responsibility;

—	have substantial management experience of which at least three years should be in a senior management role in the legal domain;

—	given that English and French are used extensively for communication within the GSC and with other institutions, an excellent knowledge of one of the two languages and a good knowledge of the other is required. Knowledge of other official languages of the EU would be an asset.

NB:

(1)

This post requires security clearance allowing access to classified documents (SECRET UE/EU SECRET level). Candidates applying for the post must be prepared to undergo security screening under Council Decision 2013/488/EU (3). Appointment to the post will only take effect on condition that the selected candidate has obtained a valid security clearance certificate. A candidate without security clearance will be offered a temporary contract until the result of the security clearance procedure is obtained.

(2)	The successful candidate must be prepared to follow the GSC management training.

SELECTION PROCEDURE

In choosing the successful candidate the Appointing Authority shall be assisted by an advisory selection board. The advisory selection board will be supported by an assessment centre, run by external recruitment consultants. Reports established by the assessment centre for the same type of post will cease to be valid two years after the date on which the relevant exercises took place or upon termination of the framework contract between the GSC and the assessment centre in question — whichever date is the earliest.

The advisory selection board will initially evaluate and compare the qualifications, experience and motivation of all the applicants, on the basis of their applications. Based on that comparative assessment, the advisory selection board will shortlist those candidates who, in its opinion, are most suitable to be invited to the first interview. As this first selection is based on a comparative assessment of the applications, the fulfilment of the requirements of this vacancy notice does not guarantee an invitation to the first interview. From among the interviewed candidates, the advisory selection board will pre-select candidates to attend the assessment centre as well as a second interview with the advisory selection board.

The provisional planning of the selection is as follows:

—	it is expected that candidates selected for the interviews will be informed in the second half of December 2022;

—	the first interviews are foreseen to take place in the first half of January 2023;

—	the assessment centre is expected to take place by the end of January 2023;

—	the second round of interviews is foreseen for the first half of February 2023.

NB: The above schedule is purely indicative and can be modified.

LEGAL BASIS

This post is published in all institutions of the European Union and outside the institutions, in conformity with Article 29, paragraphs 1 and 2 of the Staff Regulations of Officials of the European Union (4).

HOW TO APPLY

The closing date for applications is 2 December 2022 at 12:00 (noon) Brussels time.

Applications will be only accepted by email and must be sent to applications.management@consilium.europa.eu (5) no later than the closing date and time. Late applications will not be considered.

The email address indicated above must be used for any correspondence concerning the selection procedure (the email must have the following reference in the subject line: CONS/AD/183/22 JUR).

Before submitting their application, candidates should carefully check whether they meet the requirements listed above, under ‘Recruitment policy’, in order to avoid automatic exclusion from the selection procedure.

To be valid, the application file must include the following documents in pdf (NB: locked, password protected or electronically signed documents will not be accepted):

(a)

the application form duly completed and dated (file to be named ‘XXX (YOUR FAMILY NAME) — Application form.pdf’); to download the electronic application form (EN or FR), click on the appropriate link below or copy and paste it into your browser (6):

https://www.consilium.europa.eu/media/53249/gsc-application_form_senior_management_en.docx

https://www.consilium.europa.eu/media/53248/gsc-application_form_senior_management_fr.docx

(b)

a detailed curriculum vitae in English or French (no photographs included), preferably in the Europass format (https://europa.eu/europass/en/create-europass-cv), covering the applicant’s entire career, listing, inter alia, the applicant’s qualifications, language knowledge, experience and current duties (file to be named ‘XXX (YOUR FAMILY NAME) — CV.pdf’);

(c)	a motivation letter, in English or French (file to be named ‘XXX (YOUR FAMILY NAME) — Motivation letter.pdf’);

(d)

copies of diplomas certifying education and copies of documents and certificates relating to professional experience grouped together in a single pdf document. It is not sufficient to send just the curriculum vitae mentioned under (b). Supporting documents must have been issued by a third party (file to be named ‘XXX (YOUR FAMILY NAME) — Supporting documents.pdf’).

Failure to include these documents will render the application invalid.

All the supporting documents referred to under (d), must be numbered (Annex 1, 2, etc.) and grouped as mentioned above.

Applications that arrive by post or via cloud-based data storage solutions or file-share platforms will not be considered.

The successful candidate will be asked to provide the originals of the above documents.

Candidates will receive an email acknowledging receipt of their application. However, technical difficulties affecting the sending of e-mails can occur. Therefore, if no email acknowledging receipt of the application is received, candidates are asked to contact applications.management@consilium.europa.eu. Since the advisory selection board will begin its work shortly after the closing date for applications, any correspondence about the receipt of the application should be made in the week following that date.

DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION

The GSC is committed to diversity and inclusion. For more information please see the relevant statement: https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/general-secretariat/jobs/diversity-and-inclusion/.

REEXAMINATION OF APPLICATIONS

For information about the procedures relating to requests for complaints, appeals and referrals to the European Ombudsman you may consult: https://www.consilium.europa.eu/media/56631/complaint-en.pdf.

DATA PROTECTION

The rules governing the processing of personal data in connection with this selection procedure are spelled out in the privacy statement: https://www.consilium.europa.eu/media/56660/jobs-data-protection-083r00-en.pdf.

(1) https://www.consilium.europa.eu/media/53279/gsc-manager-profile-en.pdf

(2) Article 5(3)(c) of the Staff Regulations of Officials of the European Union (the Staff Regulations) require applicants to have at least:

(i)	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) Council Decision 2013/488/EU of 23 September 2013 on the security rules for protecting EU classified information (OJ L 274, 15.10.2013, p. 1).

(4) Staff Regulations of Officials of the European Union and the Conditions of Employment of other servants of the European Union, laid down by Council Regulation (EEC, Euratom, ECSC) No 259/68, (OJ L 56, 4.3.1968, p. 1), consolidated text available at

https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A01962R0031-20220101

(5) This email address is linked to a functional mailbox and can only process messages with sensitivity option set to ‘Normal’; e-mails sent with other sensitivity options (e.g. ‘Personal’, ‘Private’, ‘Confidential’ or encrypted mails) cannot be processed. Please therefore select the ‘Normal’ sensitivity option. Your email must not be greater than 25MB. If your email, together with its attachments, exceeds this maximum size, please split your attachments over a number of e-mails.

(6) If you need more information and/or encounter technical problems, please send an email to: applications.management@consilium.europa.eu.