Policy officer – Medical Counter Measures intelligence and innovation

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•

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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, the Czech

Republic, Denmark, the Netherlands, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Latvia, Luxembourg,
Malta, Poland, 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.

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

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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.

(Reference: Call for interest EC/2026/HERA/401421)

Policy officer

in DG HERA of the European Commission

Job title: Policy officer – Medical Counter Measures intelligence and innovation
Domain: Health
Where: Unit HERA.04, Threats & MCM Intelligence, Innovation & Funding, Brussels
Function Group: FG IV
Contract Type: 3b
Express your interest until: 09.06.2026 – 12.00 (noon, 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:

·

·

·

·
·
·

relevant

threats and

intelligence gathering

assessment of health
countermeasures;
promoting advanced research and development of medical countermeasures and related
technologies;
addressing market challenges and boosting the Union’s open strategic autonomy in medical
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.

to medical

HERA.04 is the Unit in charge of Intelligence Gathering, Innovation and Funding. The unit lays the
foundations for structured and targeted pandemic preparedness and response planning in area of
medical countermeasures (MCM) by developing and strengthening intelligence gathering systems
and activities, including identifying, assessing and addressing serious cross-border health threats.

(Reference: Call for interest EC/2026/HERA/401421)

To this end, this unit aims to promote research, innovation and development of medical
countermeasures able to prevent, detect, and rapidly respond to health emergencies.

HERA’s website: https://ec.europa.eu/health/hera/overview_en

WE PROPOSE

The job is about strengthening of the intelligence gathering activities and supporting innovation
with regard to medical countermeasures, in particular diagnostics. This includes contributing to the
identification of early warning signals of health threats and relevant MCM either on the market and
in the pipeline that, analysis of potential scenarios, including with artificial intelligence, where HERA
would need to prepare or respond and designing of interventions that strengthen MCM availability
and accessibility. These tasks will be exercised by actively seeking and assessing information
received from stakeholders on health threats, innovative or existing products as well as researching
how innovation and access to MCM is supported in HERA-like organisations within the EU and global
level. The job will be focused in high priority threats for HERA namely respiratory diseases such as
avian flu and vector borne diseases, but also support other related areas such as biosecurity.

WE LOOK FOR

We are looking for a highly motivated and skilled colleague to join our team. As a policy officer, you
will play a critical role in supporting the intelligence gathering and innovation functions ensuring
that MCM relevant, and in particular diagnostics for preparedness and response to health crisis can
be available and accessible. The job requires ideally a combination of scientific and policy
background and experience. Excellent communication skills both oral and written in English are
essential. It will be key to have the ability to understand the health crisis and preparedness domain
related to the priority threats of HERA and biosecurity and translate MCM needs into policy
recommendations for decision making to support availability and accessibility of MCM including in
relation to funding.

The candidate should have the following skills:

• Prior experience and/or sound understanding of health threats and/or biosecurity
• Prior experience on MCM path to market, including vaccines, therapeutics, diagnostics,

medical devices and personal protective equipment.

• Understanding the processes of data collection and analysis in relation to health threats

and medical countermeasures, including through the use of AI

• Excellent organizational and time management skills, with the ability to handle multiple

tasks and priorities.

• Problem solving and an ability to get things done, as well as a good eye for detail.
• Communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to work collaboratively in a team

environment.

HOW TO EXPRESS YOUR INTEREST?

(Reference: Call for interest EC/2026/HERA/401421)

With a view to guaranteeing equal access to all, the Commission recruits from an open database of
spontaneous applications. The present call for interests aims at helping the recruiters to identify
potentially interested candidates within this database.

In practice, to express your interest, please follow the subsequent two steps:

1.

If you are not registered yet in the open EPSO database, please do so at the following
address: CAST Permanent. Please select under selection procedures for contract agent the
CAST permanent profile that best suits your education and experience.
2. You should send your documents in a single pdf in the following order:

2. completed application form.
these documents by

1. your CV
Please send
to Ana.BURGOS-
[email protected] and [email protected] indicating the call
for interest reference EC/2026/HERA/401421 and your CAST Number in the subject.

the publication deadline

No applications will be accepted after the publication deadline.

(Reference: Call for interest EC/2026/HERA/401421)

ANNEX

1. Selection

 Am I eligible to apply?

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

Our rules provide that you can only be recruited as a contract 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 position;
• Produce the appropriate character references as to suitability for the performance of the

duties.

• Have passed an EPSO CAST in the relevant Function Group for this position. At the stage of

the application, it is sufficient to be registered in the EPSO CAST data base.

Qualifications:

(a) Have a level of education which corresponds to completed university studies of at least

three 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.

Languages:

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

EU2

• AND have a satisfactory knowledge (minimum level B2)3 of a second official language of

the EU, to the extent necessary for the performance of the duties.

 What about the selection steps?

The selecting unit chooses from the EPSO database4 candidates with the appropriate profile and
invites them to an interview. For the interview a selection panel is set-up to assess the best

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).
3 For details on language levels, please see the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages
(https://europass.cedefop.europa.eu/en/resources/european-language-levels-cefr).

(Reference: Call for interest EC/2026/HERA/401421)

candidates. Due to the large volume of applications that we may receive only candidates
selected for the interview 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 a second official language.

4 Therefore, candidates who did not pass already a CAST on the level Function Group [IV], should register their
profile at this address: https://eu-careers.europa.eu/en/Cast-Permanent

(Reference: Call for interest EC/2026/HERA/401421)

2. Recruitment

The candidate selected for recruitment will be requested to provide documentary evidence in
support of the statements made in the database and, where relevant, the call for interest.

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 in Brussels.

The successful candidate will be engaged as a contract agent under Article 3(b) of the
Conditions of Employment of Other Servants, in function group FG IV. General information on
Contract Agents can be found at this link.

The grade or proposed grade range, as well as the step in that grade, will be defined on the basis
of the candidates’ previous professional experience, in accordance with Commission Decision
C(2017)6760 laying down the criteria applicable to classification in step on engagement.

The duration of the first contract will be 1 year. Subject to the interest of the service, the
contract may be renewed one or more times up to a maximum duration of 6 years.

The duration of the renewal(s) will be defined according to the General Implementing Rules in force
at that moment (currently, Commission Decision C(2017)6760 on policies for the engagement and
use of contract agents).

Contract agents recruited in Function Group IV 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.

(Reference: Call for interest EC/2026/HERA/401421)

For information related to Data Protection, please see the Specific Privacy Statement under “7.
Information to data subjects on their rights”, to find your rights and how to exercise them in
addition to the privacy statement, which summarises the processing of your data.

(Reference: Call for interest EC/2026/HERA/401421)