Eurostat — Vacancy notice for a Director-General function (AD 15) — Luxembourg — (Article 29(2) of the Staff Regulations) — COM/2016/10370
Date: 2016-11-08
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: Eurostat, administrator, competition (EU), job vacancy, managing director








CA2016411EN.01000101.xml










8.11.2016   


EN


Official Journal of the European Union


CA 411/1





EUROSTAT
Vacancy notice for a Director-General function (AD 15)
Luxembourg
(Article 29(2) of the Staff Regulations)
COM/2016/10370
(2016/C 411 A/01)
 

We are

Eurostat is a Directorate-General of the European Commission. It provides the European Union with a high quality statistical information service, serving the European Institutions, Member States, financial markets, the business community, media and the general public.
Eurostat is in charge of coordinating and strengthening the governance of the European Statistical System (ESS) with the objective of providing easy access to all users of timely, reliable and comparable statistics at EU level. It is responsible for proposing all EU statistical legislation. Eurostat also coordinates the improvement of statistical systems in candidate countries and in the wider international community.
The Director-General of Eurostat shall be regarded as the Chief Statistician of the European Union. He/she is appointed on the basis of his/her professional merits, in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council on European statistics (1), last amended by Regulation (EU) 2015/759 of the European Parliament and of the Council (2).
Eurostat has a Deputy Director-General and is divided into seven directorates. It has a staff of approximately 800 people (including non-permanent staff and trainees) and an overall operational yearly budget (own budget and budget sub-delegated from other directorates-general) of approximately EUR 100 million. The Offices of Eurostat are located in Luxembourg.

We propose

Under the authority of Commissioner THYSSEN, the Director-General is in charge of providing overall strategic guidance and management of Eurostat. His/her principal tasks are:






—


to formulate and implement the objectives of the mission statement and work programmes of Eurostat,










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to respond to policy needs and provide statistical support for new policy initiatives taking into account the principle of professional independence,










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to assist the development and modernisation of the European Statistical System and its integration in the global statistical system,










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to guarantee the implementation of the European Statistics Code of Practice,










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to improve the programming and evaluation of statistical products and services in support of European Union policies, in particular with respect to simplification and reduction of the burden of regulation,










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to ensure the implementation of high quality standards,










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to communicate with the major partners of Eurostat to enhance Eurostat’s understanding of user needs and ensure its effectiveness and efficiency,










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to ensure that Eurostat cooperates closely on statistical matters with the European Central Bank, the European Investment Bank and with other international organisations (UN, IMF, OECD, etc.) and non-EU countries (EEA, candidate countries).




The Director-General of Eurostat is in charge of the development, production and dissemination of European statistics within the Commission as a whole, and his/her responsibility for coordination of other statistics (3). The Director-General shall have sole responsibility for deciding on processes, statistical methods, standards and procedures, and on the content and timing of statistical releases and publications for all statistics produced by Eurostat. When carrying out those statistical tasks, the Director-General shall act in an independent manner and shall neither seek nor take instructions from the Union institutions or bodies, from any government or other institution, body, office or agency.

We look for

The successful candidate should have:






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excellent analytical skills, capacity to identify key issues, to develop and generate strategic goals and to translate them into practical proposals for action,










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strong managerial skills, leadership and charisma to direct and motivate a dynamic Directorate-General staffed with highly competent professionals,










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proven experience in effective planning and management of human and financial resources at senior management level,










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high level negotiating skills and experience being able to represent the European Commission at senior level,










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excellent communication and inter-personal relations skills as well as proven ability to develop and maintain excellent relationships with other services, institutions and European bodies,










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good knowledge and experience of the workings of the European Institutions, EU policies and programmes, preferably in a field relevant to the mission of Eurostat.





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:


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


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 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 at a level to which the qualifications referred to above give admission.


Management experience:
 at least 5 years of that professional experience must have been gained in a management function at high level (4) and should be in direct relation to a field relevant for this position.


Languages:
 have a thorough knowledge of one of the official languages of the European Union (5) and an adequate 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.


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(a) of the Staff Regulations) (6).

Independence and declaration of interests

Before taking up their duties, candidates are required to declare they will act independently in the public interest and have no interests, which might be considered prejudicial to their independence.

Appointment and conditions of employment

The European Commission will select and appoint the Director-General of Eurostat according to its selection and recruitment procedures (see also the Compilation Document on Senior Officials Policy (7)). As part of this selection procedure, candidates who have been invited for an interview by the Commission’s Consultative Committee on Appointments will participate, beforehand, in an assessment centre run by external recruitment consultants.
The Director-General of Eurostat shall appear immediately after appointment by the Commission, and annually thereafter, in the framework of the statistical dialogue before the relevant committee of the European Parliament to discuss matters pertaining to statistical governance, methodology and statistical innovation.
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 French only (8).
Salaries and conditions of employment are those laid down in the Staff Regulations for AD 15 grade officials of the European Union. Candidates should note the requirement under the Staff Regulations for all new staff to complete successfully a 9-month probationary period.
The Director-General of Eurostat is based in Luxembourg.

Equal opportunities

The European Commission applies an active policy of equal opportunities (in particular with regard to gender), with the aim of further increasing the share of women in management functions and it particularly encourages applications from women.

Application procedure

Before submitting your application, you should carefully check whether you meet all the eligibility criteria (‘Candidates must’), particularly concerning the required types of diploma and professional experience as well as your linguistic capacity. Failure to possess any of these 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 email address. This will be used to identify your registration as well as to remain in contact with you during the different stages of the selection process. Therefore, please keep the European Commission informed about any change in your email address.
To complete your application, you will need to upload a CV in PDF format and to fill out, online, a letter of motivation (maximum 8 000 characters). 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, both the CV and motivation letter must be written in English, French or German.
Once you have finished your online registration, you will receive an electronic mail confirming that your application has been registered. The mail also contains a registration number which will be your reference number in all matters concerning your application. 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 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 Senior Management and CCA, SC11 8/59, 1049 Bruxelles/Brussel, BELGIQUE/BELGIË, indicating clearly as a reference: Vacancy for Director-General of Eurostat (COM/2016/10370), 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 email to: HR-MANAGEMENT-ONLINE@ec.europa.eu

Closing date

The closing date for registration is 6 December 2016, 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 (9).


(1)  OJ L 87, 31.3.2009, p. 164.

(2)  OJ L 123, 19.5.2015, p. 90.

(3)  Article 8 of the Decision on Eurostat of 17 September 2012 (http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:32012D0504&rid=3)

(4)  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.

(5)  http://europa.eu/european-union/abouteuropa/language-policy_en

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

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

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

(9)  OJ L 8, 12.1.2001, p. 1.