Vacancy notice for a Deputy Secretary-General function (AD 15) in the Secretariat-General of the European Commission — Brussels (Article 29 § 2 of the Staff Regulations) — COM/2015/10361
Date: 2015-07-03
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: European Commission, Secretary General of an Institution, administrator, competition (EU), job vacancy








CA2015218EN.01000501.xml










3.7.2015   


EN


Official Journal of the European Union


CA 218/5





Vacancy notice for a Deputy Secretary-General function (AD 15) in the Secretariat-General of the European Commission — Brussels
(Article 29 § 2 of the Staff Regulations)
COM/2015/10361
(2015/C 218 A/02)
 

We are

The Secretariat-General is one of the central services of the European Commission, facilitating its smooth and effective functioning. It is the President's department, at the service of the President, of the College, and of the European Commission's Directorates-General, managing the Collegial decision-making process and ensuring the alignment of EU policies with the political priorities of the European Commission. It provides a range of support services to the Vice Presidents in their co-ordinating roles.
It works proactively to ensure strategic planning and programming, up-stream policy co-ordination, continuous improvement in the quality of law-making, the evaluation of existing policies and collegial decision-making as well to co-ordinate the position of the European Commission with other Institutions.

We propose

The Deputy Secretary-General supports the overall activities of the Secretariat-General, with particular responsibility for the oversight of the European Commission’s relations with other Institutions (Council, European Parliament, European Ombudsman, the Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions) as well as for protocol matters.
He/she will represent the European Commission at CoRePer and the European Parliament and liaise with the Economic and Social Committee, the Committee of the Regions and national parliaments.
The Deputy Secretary-General is responsible for the overall management of the Directorate in charge of relations with other Institutions and the Protocol Service.

We look for

The successful candidate should:






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have a strong background and professional experience as a manager and as a communicator, being able to lead and motivate large teams, set priorities and take decisions;










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be an outstanding and dynamic professional of sound strategic judgment and high conceptual ability, with the capacity to think freshly and strategically;










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have excellent negotiation skills, preferably combined with direct experience of high-level international negotiations;










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have a very good capacity to organise, coordinate and manage tasks and work relations;










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possess good general knowledge of the European Union's activities, including its inter-institutional relations; as well as










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excellent oral and written communication skills in order to communicate efficiently and fluently with internal and external stakeholders.





Candidates must (eligibility criteria)

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






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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:






(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;










(ii)


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).














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Professional experience: candidates must have at least 15 years' postgraduate professional experience at a level to which the qualifications referred to above give admission.










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Management experience: 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.










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Languages: have a thorough knowledge of one of the official languages of the European Union (2) and an adequate knowledge of another of these official languages.










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Age limit: 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 66 years (see Article 52 lit (a) of the Staff Regulations) (3).




The selected candidate should hold, or be in the position to obtain, a valid security clearance certificate (TOP SECRET) 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. Please 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.
Appointment to the post shall only take effect on condition that the selected candidate has obtained a valid security clearance certificate.

Independence and declaration of interests

Before taking up their duties, candidates are required to make a declaration of their commitment to act independently in the public interest and of any interests, which might be considered prejudicial to their independence.

Appointment and conditions of employment

The European Commission will select and appoint the Deputy Secretary-General according to its selection and recruitment procedures (see also the Compilation Document on Senior Officials Policy (4)). As part of this selection procedure, candidates who have been invited for an interview by the Commission's Consultative Committee on Appointments will have to participate, beforehand, in an assessment centre run by external recruitment consultants.
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 institution, the selection procedure will be carried out in English and/or in French only (5).
Salaries and conditions of employment are those laid down in the Staff Regulations for AD15 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.
The Deputy Secretary-General is based in Brussels.

Equal opportunities

The European Union applies an equal opportunities policy.

Application procedure

Before submitting your application, you should carefully check whether you meet all eligibility criteria (‘Candidates must’), particularly concerning the types of diploma, professional and managerial 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 by going to the website:
https://ec.europa.eu/dgs/human-resources/seniormanagementvacancies/
and follow the instructions there concerning the various stages of the procedure.
You must have a valid e-mail address. This is used to identify your registration as well as to keep in contact with you all along the selection procedure. Therefore, please, keep the Commission informed about any change in your e-mail 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). Both CV and motivation letter must be written in English, French or German.
Once you have finished your online registration, you receive on-screen a registration number that you must write down and remember — this is your reference number in all matters concerning your application.
When you receive this number, the registration process is finished — it is confirmation that the data you entered is registered. 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 European Commission 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 to the following address: European Commission, Directorate-General for Human Resources and Security, Unit for Executive Staff and CCA Secretariat, SC11 8/59, B — 1049 Brussels, indicating clearly as a reference: Vacancy for a Deputy Secretary-General (COM/2015/10361), and 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 31/7/2015, 12.00 noon Brussels time, after which online registrations will not be possible anymore.
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 applicants

Applicants are reminded that the work of the selection committees is confidential. It is forbidden for applicants to make direct or indirect contact with members of these committees, or for anybody to do so, on their behalf.

Protection of personal data

The Commission will ensure that candidates' personal data are processed as required by Regulation (EC) No 45/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 December 2000 on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data by the EU institutions and bodies and on the free movement of such data (6).


(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)  http://ec.europa.eu/languages/policy/language-policy/official_languages_en.htm

(3)  http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CONSLEG:1962R0031:20140101:EN:PDF

(4)  http://ec.europa.eu/civil_service/docs/official_policy_en.pdf

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

(6)  OJ L 8, 12.1.2001, p. 1.