EEA/AD/2010/8

The European Environment Agency (EEA) is organising an open competition with a view to recruiting a temporary agent to work as Project Manager – GMES Land monitoring services and further with a view to establishing a reserve list.

THE AGENCY:

The EEA is an Agency of the European Union (EU) and one of the decentralised Community bodies. The EEA aims to support sustainable development and to help achieve significant and measurable improvement in Europe’s environment, through the provision of timely, targeted, relevant and reliable information to policy-making agents and the public.

GMES (Global Monitoring for Environment and Security) is the European initiative to establish a European earth observation capacity and is Europe’s main contribution to GEOSS (Global Earth Observation System of Systems). GMES will create information services supporting public and private services for environment and security. Services for land, marine, emergency response, and atmosphere are currently in pilot phase.

An initial operational framework for GMES is set up by Regulation (911/2010) on the European Earth observation programme (GMES) and its initial operations (2011-2013). The Regulation provides for the creation of a GMES programme, associated governance frameworks, and the operational (ie not research – based) implementation of some elements of GMES, including an initial operational land service.

EEA has been identified as the organisation that should plan for the coordination role for the GMES initial operations land service. The implementation of this land service builds on the successful experience by EEA and Eionet with GMES land precursor services 2006-2009, especially Image2006, Corine change layer 2000-2006, and soil sealing. The primary objective of GMES is to meet user needs, thus scope of the land service focuses on priorities defined from consultation with user communities since 2005. The service will consist of four main components which will ensure the continued and improved delivery of key environmental information resources for these user communities. In the future, a user forum, consisting of GMES public sector users, supported by thematic facilitators will advise the Commission on the definition and validation of user requirements. Implementation of GMES services is required to be complementary and consistent with other relevant Community policies, instruments and actions such as Inspire and SEIS.

JOB DESCRIPTION:

Under the responsibility of the Head of GMES Group, reporting to the Head of SES Support Programme, the Project Manager shall coordinate overall GMES land service at EEA in close cooperation with Eionet. The focus of the role will balance the set up of the GMES land service at EEA with the broader coordination of GMES land service to support environmental policy information needs from a global to national perspective. Liaison with external stakeholders and coordinating longer term evolution is a key feature of this role.

The position will entail the following tasks:

• To oversee the initial set up of EEA activities related to the GMES initial operations on land monitoring;
• To organise related data and information services including quality assurance and quality control;
• To cooperate with Eionet, EU institutions and other international organisations in relation to the operation, use and evolution of GMES land services, particularly the Commission services such as DGs ENV, CLIMA, ENTR, REGIO, AGRI, JRC and REA;
• To secure access arrangements for the necessary satellite and in-situ input data;
• To support definition of user requirements as well as uptake of GMES land services by EEA, Eionet and other public bodies;
• To contribute to ensure coordination with and effective contribution to global initiatives, such as GEO-GEOSS;
• To support the evolution of the GIO land service implementation towards a full implementation from 2014 onwards.

ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA:

Candidates applying must satisfy the following eligibility criteria on the closing date for the submission of applications:

• Successful completion of university studies attested by a degree relevant to the field concerned, where the normal duration of university education is 4 years or more OR successful completion of university studies attested by a degree relevant to the field concerned, where the normal duration of university education is 3 years;
• A minimum of 9 years (with a 4 year diploma) OR 10 years (with a 3 year diploma) of relevant professional experience after award of the university degree.

In addition, in order to be eligible a candidate must:

• Be a national of one of the member countries of the EEA (Member States of the European Union plus Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Switzerland and Turkey);
• Enjoy full rights as a citizen;
• Have fulfilled any obligations imposed by law concerning military service;
• Have a thorough knowledge of one of the languages of the EEA member countries and a satisfactory knowledge of another of these languages to the extent necessary for the performance of the duties pertaining to the post;
• Meet the character requirements for the duties involved;
• Be physically fit to perform the duties linked to the post.

SELECTION CRITERIA:

Essential:

• Demonstrated ability to set up and deliver large scale projects in international frameworks;
• Extensive experience of international networking and stakeholder management;
• Experience of land monitoring services;
• Good understanding of GMES and Earth Observation related data handling;
• Excellent oral and written communication skills;
• Structured project management skills;
• Excellent knowledge of English;
• Excellent organisational and interpersonal skills;
• Highly IT literate (Microsoft Office package, GIS, image processing and web tools).

Advantageous:

• Coordination of international working groups;
• Professional experience in one of the fast-track or pilot GMES services;
• Experience of definition and validation of user requirements for environmental information for public bodies;
• Experience of working with Eionet or similar networks.

CONTRACTUAL CONDITIONS:

The successful candidate will be offered a Temporary Agent contract in accordance with the Conditions of Employment of Other Servants of the European Communities. The selected candidate will be employed for an initial time period of four years, renewable.

The basic monthly salary of a Temporary Agent AD8 (step 1), before any deductions or allowances, on 1 July 2009 amounts to EUR 6,181.38. To this basic salary a weighting factor is to be added (38.7%) for Denmark from 1 July 2009. The salaries of Temporary Agents are subject to a community tax deducted at source. They are exempt from national tax.

The place of work will be Copenhagen, Denmark.

It is brought to the particular attention of candidates that the provisions of Articles 11 to 26 of the Staff Regulations, concerning the rights and obligations of officials, shall apply by analogy to Temporary Agents. These rules specify that:

“An official shall carry out his duties and conduct himself solely with the interests of the Communities in mind; he shall neither seek nor take instructions from any government, authority, organization or person outside his institution. He shall carry out the duties assigned to him objectively, impartially and in keeping with his duty of loyalty to the Communities.

An official shall not without the permission of the appointing authority accept from any government or from any other source outside the institution to which he belongs any honour, decoration, favour, gift or payment of any kind whatever, except for services rendered either before his appointment or during special leave for military or other national service and in respect of such service.”

For further information on the Staff Regulations and the Conditions of Employment of Other Servants of the European Communities see:

http://ec.europa.eu/civil_service/docs/toc100_en.pdf

SELECTION PROCEDURE:

Eligibility of candidates will be assessed according to compliance with all eligibility criteria by the closing date for the submission of applications.

Eligible candidates whose application shows evidence of all required competences and skills listed under “Selection criteria” may be invited for an interview, which will be held for the most part in English. Candidates invited for an interview will be asked to undergo a written test in the area of expertise required for the post.

At the end of the interviews the Selection Committee will submit the list of suitable candidates to the Appointing Authority who will decide on the appointment of the successful candidate and the establishment of a reserve list for the post advertised. Candidates shall note that inclusion on the reserve list does not guarantee recruitment. Recruitment will be based on availability of posts and budget.

The reserve list for this post will be valid until 31 December 2012 and may be extended at the discretion of the Appointing Authority.

Prior to contract signature, the successful candidate will be asked:

• to provide original or certified copies of all relevant documents proving his/her eligibility, including an extract from his/her police file;
• to undergo a compulsory medical examination to establish that he/she meets the standard of physical fitness necessary to perform the duties involved.

PERSONAL DATA PROTECTION:

Any personal data provided by the applicant shall be processed pursuant to European Regulation related to personal data protection, in particular Regulation (EC) No 45/2001 on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data by the Community institutions and bodies and on the free movements of such data. Any personal data shall be processed solely for the purposes of this selection procedure. The applicant shall have the right of access to his/her personal data and the right to rectify any such data that is inaccurate or incomplete. Should the applicant have any queries concerning the processing of his/her personal data, s/he shall address them to the European Environment Agency.

EQUAL TREATMENT:

EEA is an equal opportunities employer and accepts applications without distinction on the grounds of sex, racial or ethnic origin, religion or belief, age or sexual orientation. Staff is recruited on the broadest possible geographical basis from among nationals of all EEA member countries.

APPLICATION PROCEDURE:

Interested candidates must apply by filling in electronically the application form below. To the application form must be attached:

• The European CV below duly filled in;
• A letter of motivation; and
• The eligibility and selection criteria grid below duly filled in.

Application Documents:

• Template Europass CV
  
• Instructions for Europass CV
  
• Eligibility and selection criteria grid
  

 NB: Failure to submit any of the required documents will lead to exclusion from the procedure.

Closing date for application: 19 January 2011 at 12.00 (Central European Time)

Applications sent after this date will be rejected.

Please ensure that you observe the following:

1. Remember to take time zones into consideration when sending your application.
2. Remember to fill in the application form below.
3. Include a CV using the Europass template attached, a letter of motivation and the duly filled in eligibility and selection criteria grid.
4. Ensure to specify in your CV exact starting and end dates of professional experiences (date/month/year) as well as percentage of work activity in case the experience is not full time.
5. Once your application has been submitted, you will receive an automatic reply.
6. It is your responsibility to keep the automatic reply message as proof of submission of your application.
7. Should you not receive an automatic reply message, please submit your application again.
8. Please do not leave it until the last minute to submit your application. Experience has shown that the system can become overloaded as the deadline for applications approaches and you may find it difficult to submit your application in time.
9. You may apply in any of the official languages of the European Union but the use of English is encouraged to facilitate the selection process.

REQUEST FOR REVIEW:

Candidates who have not been admitted to the selection procedure will be notified by letter. The candidate may ask to have his/her application reconsidered by sending a request for review to the Chairperson of the Selection Committee at the address indicated on the letter within 21 calendar days from the date of the letter of notification.