Translation Centre for the Bodies of the European Union (Luxembourg)

Publication of a vacancy for the function of Director

(Temporary Agent — Grade AD 14)

COM/2021/20056

(2021/C 65 A/01)

 

We are

The Translation Centre for the Bodies of the European Union (‘Centre’) is an agency of the European Union (EU) based in Luxembourg. It was established in 1994 by Council Regulation (EC) No 2965/94 (1) amended by Regulations (EC) No 2610/95 (2) in 1995 and (EC) No 1645/2003 (3) in 2003 with the mission to provide translation services to the other decentralised EU agencies. It performs and charges these services on the basis of a cooperation agreement signed with each client. Today it translates for over 60 EU agencies, institutions and other bodies.

The Centre’s second mission is to actively participate in the cooperation between the EU’s translation services. This interinstitutional cooperation has the objective of rationalising working methods, of harmonising procedures and of making overall savings in the field of EU translation. In the coming years, the Centre will continue to implement its digital transformation strategy.

The Centre currently employs approximately 200 staff and has an annual budget of about EUR 47 million.

The Centre strives to deliver a high-quality service and to maintain a strong client relationship so as to effectively contribute to meeting the translation needs of its clients while implementing the EU’s strategic framework for multilingualism. Working with the Centre means having a single, reliable partner offering a multitude of language services covering all EU language combinations

To find out more about the Centre and what we do, please go to: http://www.cdt.europa.eu

We propose

The Director is the legal representative of the Centre and is accountable to the Management Board.

The Director’s role and responsibilities will include the following:

—	managing the Centre in line with the guidelines and decisions of the Management Board and the applicable legal acts in force,

—	drawing up the Centre’s Strategy and Work Programmes, and reporting on their implementation to the Management Board by means of Annual Activity Reports and other reporting instruments,

—	taking general responsibility for the overall performance of the tasks assigned to the Centre including supervising the quality of the internal control and management systems of the Centre,

—	taking general responsibility for managing the Centre’s staff and fostering a good team spirit and working environment,

—	preparing and executing the Centre’s budget and ensuring that it is managed efficiently and in accordance with the principles of sound financial management,

—	taking general responsibility for the financial matters of the Centre including, inter alia, the final accounts and financing decisions,

—	implementing a technology-driven transformation of the Centre based on latest technological advances in the field of translation,

—	representing the Centre in the context of interinstitutional and international cooperation and communicating with the general public on all matters within the Centre’s remit.

We look for (selection criteria)

The ideal candidate will be an outstanding and dynamic professional who should fulfil the following selection criteria:

a)

Management experience, and in particular: — Proven ability to manage a large agency, both at strategic and at operational management level. — Excellent capacity to lead and motivate a large team in a multicultural and multilingual environment. — Hands-on experience of budgetary, financial and human resources management in a national, European and/or international context.

b)

Technical knowledge and experience, and in particular: — Ability to interact and negotiate at the highest level of management with the EU institutions and bodies as well as public authorities. — Thorough understanding of the EU institutions and how they operate and interact, and of EU administrative and financial procedures as well as of EU policies and international activities of relevance to the activities of the Centre.

c)

Communication/negotiation skills, and in particular: — Ability to communicate efficiently to the public and cooperate with stakeholders (European, international, national and local authorities, international organisations, etc.). — Excellent written and oral communication and negotiation skills. — A crucial part of the Director’s tasks is to represent the agency in international fora and to interact with stakeholders in an international context where a good spoken and written knowledge of English or French is necessary. To be able to enter into the tasks of Director immediately, the successful candidate must have a good knowledge of at least one of these languages.

d)	Assets: — Professional contacts in the language sector.

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).

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 1 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 (4) at a level to which the qualifications referred to above give admission. At least 5 years of that professional experience must be in a field relevant for this position.

—	Management experience: at least 5 years of the postgraduate professional experience must have been gained in a high-level management function (5).

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Languages: candidates must have a thorough knowledge of one of the official languages of the European Union (6) 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 5 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 (7)).

In addition, candidates have to have fulfilled any obligations imposed by law concerning military service; produce appropriate character references as to their suitability for the performance of their duties and be physically fit to perform their duties.

Selection and appointment

The Director will be appointed by the Management Board of the Centre 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 (8)).

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.

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 Director of the Centre.

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 Centre (9).

Following these interviews, the European Commission adopts a shortlist of the most suitable candidates, which will be communicated to the Management Board of the Centre. The latter may decide to interview the candidates before appointing the 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.

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.

For functional reasons and in order to complete the selection procedure as quickly as possible in the interest of the candidates as well as that of the agency, the selection procedure will mainly be carried out in English and/or French (10).

Equal opportunities

The European Commission and the Centre apply a policy of equal opportunities and non-discrimination in accordance with Article 1d of the Staff Regulations (11).

Given the low representation of women in management functions, applications from women are particularly welcome.

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 Centre as a Temporary Agent at grade AD 14. He/she will be classified depending on the length of his/her previous professional experience in step 1 or step 2 within that grade.

He/she will be appointed for an initial mandate of 5 years, with a possible extension for a maximum period of 5 years according to the Regulation establishing the Centre, as applicable at the time of extension.

Applicants should note the requirement under the Conditions of Employment of Other Servants for all new staff to successfully complete a 9-month probationary period.

The place of employment is Luxembourg, where the Centre is based.

Independence and declaration of interests

Before taking up his/her duties, the Director will be required to make a declaration of his/her commitment to act independently in the public interest and to declare any interests, which might be considered prejudicial to his/her 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 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 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 on-line. 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 25 March 2021, 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 (12). This applies in particular to the confidentiality and security of such data.

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(1)  OJ L 314, 7.12.1994, p. 1.

(2)  OJ L 268, 10.11.1995, p. 1.

(3)  OJ L 245, 29.9.2003, p. 13.

(4)  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 3 years maximum, provided that the PhD has been successfully completed. A given period may be counted only once.

(5)  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.

(6)  https://europa.eu/european-union/about-eu/eu-languages_en

(7)  https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:01962R0031-20210101

(8)  https://ec.europa.eu/info/sites/info/files/compilation-of-the-senior-official-policy-at-the-european-commission_en.pdf

(9)  Unless the Member of the Commission concerned, in line with the Commission Decision of 5 December 2007 (PV(2007) 1811), has delegated this task to another Member of the Commission.

(10)  Selection panels will ensure that no undue advantage is given to native speakers of these languages.

(11)  https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:01962R0031-20210101

(12)  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).