Policy Officer

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and
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WE OFFER GREAT JOBS AND GREAT WORKING CONDITIONS:

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Opportunities to move between different policy areas throughout your career
A package of flexible working conditions including the possibility of teleworking

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care about your work-life balance

A competitive financial package, including comprehensive healthcare, accident and

pension schemes

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strongly promoted

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We do not only recruit political scientists and lawyers but are also looking for all kinds of
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welcome applications from all qualified candidates. We actively seek to create a workplace where
each staff member feels valued and respected, can give their best and can develop to their full
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COM/2026/897

HERA.02_380984

To promote diversity and establish a geographically balanced pool of candidates, we strongly
encourage applicants from Member States which are currently underrepresented in the European
Commission workforce to apply. These Member States are currently Austria, Cyprus, the Czech
Republic, Denmark, the Netherlands, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Luxembourg, Malta,
Poland, Portugal, Slovakia and Sweden1. Recruitment will however remain strictly based on the
merits of all applicants and no positions will be reserved for nationals of any specific Member
State.

For more information ec.europa.eu/work-with-us

STAFF RECRUITED ON CONTRACTS

In addition to permanent officials, the European Commission offers non-permanent positions.
There are two categories of non-permanent staff:

temporary agents are recruited to fill vacant positions for a set amount of time or
to perform highly specialised tasks.

contract agents may provide additional capacity in specialised fields where an
insufficient number of officials is available or carry out a number of administrative or
manual tasks. They are generally recruited for fixed-term contracts (maximum 6 years in
any EU Institution), but in some cases they can be offered contracts for an indefinite
duration (in offices, agencies, delegations or representations).

For more information on different staff categories

1 Please note that the list of underrepresented Member States may be subject to future amendment based on potential
data changes over time.

2

Policy Officer – for stockpiling of

medical

Directorate-General – Health Emergency Preparedness and
Response Authority (DG HERA) of the European Commission

Selection reference: DG HERA/COM/2026/897
Domain*: Health;
Where: Unit HERA.02, Dual Use and Civil Military Cooperation, Brussels
Staff category and Function Group: Temporary agent 2b – Administrator
Grade range: AD5-7
Publication deadline: 27.07.2026 – 12.00 (Brussels time)

WE ARE

We are Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority (HERA) -a relatively new
Directorate-General of the European Commission. HERA ‘s mission is to assist the Commission to
improve preparedness and response to serious cross-border threats in the area of medical
countermeasures, in particular:

·

·

·

strengthening health security coordination within the Union involving all relevant actors
during preparedness and crisis response times and bringing together the EU Member States,
industry and relevant stakeholders in a common effort;
addressing vulnerabilities and strategic dependencies within the Union related to the
development, production, procurement, stockpiling and distribution of medical
countermeasures;
contributing to reinforcing the global health emergency response architecture.

HERA is responsible for the following tasks which shall be exercised in close cooperation with the
Member States:

·

·

·

·
·
·

assessment of health
countermeasures;
promoting advanced research and development of medical countermeasures and related
technologies;

intelligence gathering

threats and

to medical

relevant

countermeasures production;
swift procurement and distribution of medical countermeasures;
increasing stockpiling capacity of medical countermeasures;
strengthening knowledge and skills in preparedness and response related to medical
countermeasures.

HERA.02, dedicated to Dual Use Medical Countermeasures and Civil-Military Cooperation, is at the

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forefront of advancing the EU’s preparedness and resilience against increasing security risks and
threats, including Chemical Biological Radiological and Nuclear (CBRN) incidents. The Unit is
spearheading an evidence-based prioritisation of CBRN threats and quantification of corresponding
medical countermeasures based on scenarios and is investing in developing new CBRN medical
countermeasures and in specific strategic reserves of CBRN medical countermeasures. To further
strengthen Europe’s security landscape with medical countermeasures, the unit is fostering
comprehensive civil-military arrangements through strategic coordination and consultation with

civilian and military needs in case of conflict. To ensure effective and immediate response in case
of serious cross-borders health threats of natural, man-made or intentional origin, the Unit will
develop robust EU-level stockpiles of medical countermeasures by identifying the most relevant
MCM to be stockpiled, by ensuring the establishment of relevant stockpiles and their sustainable
management through innovation and cutting-edge solutions. By its actions, the Unit aims to bolster
public health and security, contributing to a resilient European Defence Union and ensuring
effective responses during crises.

https://ec.europa.eu/health/hera/overview_en

WE PROPOSE

We propose a policy officer position for a highly motivated and experienced colleague in the
stockpiling team in DG HERA. The person recruited will be responsible for developing and
identification of medical
counter measures for serious cross border health threats. This job will entail the conception,
development, coordination, preparation and monitoring of stockpiling policies, project management
and related activities. The assignment comprises frequent contacts with a large variety of different
stakeholders, with other Commission services, EU agencies, the European Centre for Disease
Prevention and Control (ECDC), the European Medicines Agency (EMA), Member States, and external
stakeholders such as WHO and NATO.

WE LOOK FOR

We look for a person, with a medical background, who shows genuine interest and ideally has
hands on experience and/or sound knowledge in one or more of the following domains: health
management, medical countermeasures for serious cross border health threats, CBRN, security,
policy work in the European institutions, public health, crisis management, stockpiling. The position
requires ability to think strategically and to drive forward work proactively with a keen eye on
political priorities and good EU institutional awareness. The person recruited will have the ability to
analyse and prioritise and to work cooperatively within diverse teams. The person should
demonstrate flexibility, adaptability and resilience. The job requires very good drafting and
communication skills including public speaking skills, the capacity to represent the Commission in
internal and international meetings and conferences. Good organisation skills, allowing channelling
of important information streams towards the different participants in the crisis management
processes is considered as essential for this position.
A very good Knowledge of English is needed.
HERA being a DG that ensures preparedness and response to Health crisis, the colleague recruited

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will have to show flexibility both in tasks and working hours. Some atypical working hours (evening,
weekend) may be requested.

HOW TO EXPRESS YOUR INTEREST?

You should send your documents in a single pdf in the following order:
1. your CV
Please send these documents by the publication deadline to [email protected] and
[email protected]
DG
HERA/COM/2026/897 in the subject.

2. completed application form.

indicating

reference

selection

the

No applications will be accepted after the publication deadline.

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1. Selection

Am I eligible to apply?

ANNEX

You must meet the following eligibility criteria when you validate your application:

Our rules provide that you can only be recruited as a temporary agent at the European Commission if you:

General criteria:

Are a citizen of a Member State of the EU and enjoy full rights as a citizen
Have fulfilled any obligations imposed by applicable laws concerning military service
Are physically fit to perform the duties linked to the post
Produce the appropriate character references as to suitability for the performance of the duties.

Qualifications:
In order to be recruited for this position, you must have at least a level of education which
corresponds to completed university studies of at least 3 years attested by a diploma.

Only qualifications issued or recognised as equivalent by EU Member State authorities (e.g. by the
Ministry of Education) will be accepted. Furthermore, before recruitment, you will be required to
provide the documents that corroborate the eligibility criteria (diplomas, certificates and other
supporting documents).

Languages:

have a thorough knowledge (minimum level C1) of one of the 24 official languages of the
EU2

AND a satisfactory knowledge (minimum level B2) of a second official language of the EU,

to the extent necessary for the performance of the duties.

What about the selection steps?

The post was published internally within the Commission, inter-institutionally, and brought to the
attention of competition laureates.

2 The official languages of the European Union are: BG (Bulgarian), CS (Czech), DA (Danish), DE (German), EL
(Greek), EN (English), ES (Spanish), ET (Estonian), FI (Finnish), FR (French), GA (Irish), HR (Croatian), HU
(Hungarian), IT (Italian), LT (Lithuanian), LV (Latvian), MT (Maltese), NL (Dutch), PL (Polish), PT (Portuguese), RO
(Romanian), SK (Slovak), SL (Slovenian), SV (Swedish).

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In accordance with Article 29 of the Staff Regulations, applications from Commission officials,
officials from other Institutions, and laureates of competitions have priority3. If these candidates do
not best fit the requirements for the position, the Commission can recruit a temporary agent.

For temporary agents under Article 2(a) of the Conditions of Employment of Other Servants, the
post is published directly on the EPSO website, without mandatory prior internal publication.

A selection panel will choose a limited number of candidates for interview, based on the CV and
application form that they submitted. Due to the large volume of applications, we may receive,
only candidates selected for the next step of the selection phase will be notified.

For operational reasons and in order to complete the selection procedure as quickly as possible in
the interest of the candidates and of the institution, the selection procedure will be carried out in
English and possibly in another language.

2. Recruitment

The candidate selected for recruitment will be requested to supply documentary evidence in
support of the statements made in their application.

The successful candidate will be required to undergo a mandatory pre-recruitment medical check-
up, carried out by the Commission.

Type of contract and working conditions

The place of employment will be Brussels.

In case the successful candidate is not an official or a competition laureate, they will be recruited
as a temporary agent under Article 2(b) of the Conditions of Employment of Other Servants,
in function group AD.

3 Officials from the Commission or other Institutions are invited to use the standard channels (Sysper or inter-
institutional vacancy portal).

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Grade

The recruitment grade, as well as the step in that grade, will be determined in accordance with
Commission Decision C(2025)4716 on policies for the engagement and use of temporary agents
and with Commission Decision C(2013)8970 laying down the criteria applicable to classification in
step on engagement.

The recruitment grade will be calculated based on the qualifications and the number of years of
professional experience, according to Art. 13 of the Commission Decision C(2025)4716. Higher grades
may be granted exceptionally.

The duration of the 1st contract will be up to 4 years. The contract might then be extended only
once for a maximum of 2 years and in the interest of service, in accordance with Commission
Decision C(2025)4716 on policies for the engagement and use of temporary agents.

All new staff have to successfully complete a 9-month probationary period.

The pay of staff members consists of a basic salary supplemented with specific allowances,
including, where applicable, expatriation and family allowances. The provisions guiding the
calculation of these allowances can be consulted in the Conditions of Employment of Other
Servants. As a member of staff of the European institutions, your pay is subject to a tax raised by
those institutions.

The European Commission applies a policy of equal opportunities and non-discrimination in
accordance with Article 1d of the Staff Regulations.

Should you need further information on working conditions, please refer to Working conditions and
benefits of EU Careers.

For information related to Data Protection, please see the Specific Privacy Statement

addition to the privacy statement, which summarises the processing of your data.

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