Project Officer – Horizon Energy and/or Innovation Fund

The European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency  (CINEA)

The European Climate, Environment and Infrastructure Executive Agency (CINEA) is the successor organization of the Innovation and Networks Executive Agency (INEA). Officially established on 15 February 2021, it has started its activities on 1 April 2021. Its mission is to support stakeholders in delivering the European Green Deal through high-quality programme management that helps to implement projects contributing to decarbonisation and sustainable growth. CINEA implements parts of EU funding programmes for transport, energy and climate action: for the financial perspectives 2021-2027 the Agency has expanded its portfolio of programmes with strong focus on contributing to the European Commission’s Green Deal priority.

The main programmes currently managed by CINEA are:

• The Connecting Europe Facility (CEF): supports high-performing, sustainable and interconnected Trans-European Networks.
• Horizon Europe: the EU’s Research and Innovation programme for which CINEA manages he areas of  cluster on Climate, Energy and Mobility (Cluster 5).
• The Innovation Fund: one of the world’s largest climate innovation funding programmes, which is likely to have €10 billion for demonstration of innovative low-carbon technologies between 2020-2030.
• LIFE Programme: entirely dedicated to environmental, climate and clean energy objectives.
• European Maritime, Aquaculture and Fisheries Fund: targets public support for the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP), the Union’s Maritime Policy and the EU’s agenda for international ocean governance.

In addition in 2021 the agency will start implementing the EU Renewable Energy Mechanism and the Just Transition Mechanism.

Working environment

CINEA is based in Brussels and has a multinational team of around 500 persons. The number of staff will grow further over the coming years with the Agency’s new portfolio and the purpose of this publication is therefore to set up a reserve list, which will be used to cover the growing needs of the Agency.

More information on CINEA

Website: https://cinea.ec.europa.eu/index_en

Twitter: @cinea_eu

LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/3wtAjwd

YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDic9AVxO1PP1SqoKbHMwrA

Description of the job

The project officer will be responsible for a portfolio of energy research and / or innovation projects either under the Horizon 2020 and Horizon Europe programmes, or for the Innovation Fund. For the Horizon Programmes, the projects can cover a range of development levels, from lab-based research, through demonstration to market uptake. For the Innovation Fund, the projects will be focused on demonstration. The project officer will work autonomously under the authority of a team leader. They will also collaborate fully with a wider team of colleagues in the Agency and the European Commission.

The project officer will perform tasks related to all stages of the project management cycle, from the evaluation of proposals, the preparation of grant agreements, the monitoring of projects, the assessment of technical and financial reports and reporting the feedback to policy-makers in the European Commission’s Directorate-Generals.

Core tasks:

+ SPECIFIC PROJECT/PROCESS MANAGEMENT – Project and process management

• Prepare, manage and monitor calls for proposals/ tenders, and the evaluation and selection of projects, including the selection of experts and allocation of experts to proposals.
• Contribute to the preparation of grant agreements with beneficiaries.
• Contribute to monitoring the fulfilment of contractual obligations (via periodic and, possibly, on-site reviews, audits, reporting and assistance, etc.), with the possible help of external expertise and ensure quality control.
• Contribute to horizontal activities including clustering and networking aspects of the programme and its projects and feedback to Directorates-General of the Commission.

+ FINANCE – Financial Expenditures

• Maintain an overview of progress and financial expenditures of projects under his/her responsibility, and provide the necessary assurance on the legality and regularity of all transactions.
• Scrutinise the financial aspects of the projects, in particular with regard to the need and eligibility of costs.

Other Tasks:

+ INTER-SERVICE COORDINATION and CONSULTATION – with other institutions and organisations

• Participate in the co-ordination of activities with external stakeholders to ensure the success of the projects.

+ INTERNAL MANAGEMENT and COORDINATION – within the unit /department /Agency

• Represent the unit in contacts with other units and departments of the Agency.
• Support specific horizontal activities within the unit, departments, and Agency.
• Contribute to administrative development of the management process within the unit.
• Contribute and coordinate activities of the unit with other services to respond to inter-service consultations.
• Reply to requests for information from the hierarchy and other services within the Commission, and prepare briefings.

+ POLICY DEVELOPMENT- Contribution to policy definition

• Contribute to the development by the parent DG of strategy by providing timely feedback and reporting on project implementation, results and ex-post evaluation.

+ EXTERNAL COMMUNICATION (general) – Public information (communication and networking)

• Extract and disseminate the state of the art as well as project and programme results and present these in workshops, seminars, conferences and other public events organised either by the Agency, the parent DG or by third parties.

+ QUALITY MANAGEMENT and EVALUATION – Project evaluation

• Contribute to the analysis of the impact of the projects and provide feedback.
• Ensure and contribute to the effective dissemination and take up of project results.

Qualifications and experience required

A. Eligibility criteria

• Having passed a CAST in the grade for which you are applying* OR be registered in the EPSO/CAST/P/3/2017 before applying**;
• A post-secondary education attested by a diploma OR a secondary education attested by a diploma giving access to post-secondary education and appropriate professional experience of three years;
• Thorough knowledge of one of the languages of the European Union and a satisfactory knowledge of another EU language to the extent necessary to perform his/her duties.

* Candidates must be included in the European Personnel Selection Office (EPSO) database for contract agents in function group III and have successfully passed the EPSO selection tests for that function group. Please note that candidates who are on a valid EPSO list published in 2010 (CAST2010) are eligible on the condition they have successfully passed the complementary tests (DB3), as an Annex to the selection procedure CAST2010. The candidates concerned are invited to consult the letter they received from EPSO for further information.

** In the context of the call for expression of interest EPSO/CAST/P/3/2017 procedure[1], your application will be considered only if you are available to be flagged for the EPSO testing request during the screening phase of this selection process[2]. The pre-selected candidates will be requested by the Agency to undergo the EPSO tests. Only candidates that have successfully passed the EPSO CAST selection will then be invited for an interview.

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

• be a national of one of the Member States of the European Union;
• be entitled to his/her full rights as citizen;
• meet the appropriate character reference as to his/her suitability for the performance of his/her duties;
• have fulfilled any obligations imposed by the applicable laws concerning military service, and;
• be physically fit to perform the duties linked to the post.

Please note that only candidates that comply with the Eligibility criteria will be considered for further steps of the Selection procedure.

B. Selection criteria

Essential:

• Professional technical experience acquired in the energy fields in one of the following areas:

1. Renewable energy generation (e.g. PV, CSP, Tidal, Wave, Geothermal, Wind, CHP, Hydro);
2. Bioenergy (e.g. alternative fuels and biofuels);
3. Energy efficiency and Smart Cities;
4. Energy systems (e.g. electricity transmission and distribution grids, heating and cooling networks, energy storage (including batteries), materials development for electrochemical storage, hydrogen production conversion and use in industrial or energy-related processes);
5. Power plants and decarbonisation of fossil fuels (e.g. Carbon Capture, Utilisation, Transport and Storage, flexibility of fossil-fuel-based power plants);
6. Energy-intensive manufacturing industries (coke and petroleum refining; ferrous and nonferrous metals; cement; concrete; lime; gypsum; glass and glass products; clay products; paper and paper products; chemicals and chemical products);

• A university degree in an appropriate technical field;
• Professional project management experience, ideally on energy research and / or innovation projects;
• Excellent knowledge of English (C2, in particular written and spoken).
• High degree of organisational skills and ability to work under pressure;
• Proven ability to work as a team member;

Advantageous:

• Understanding of the EU Non-Nuclear Energy Research programmes and Innovation Fund frameworks and procedures;
• Experience working with research and / or innovation projects, including their financial engineering;
• Very good command of other European Union languages, in particular German and/or French (B2)

Personal qualities essential for the position (evaluated during the interview):

• High degree of organisational skills and ability to work under pressure;
• Good interpersonal and communication skills;
• Proven ability to work as a team member;
• Ability to appreciate and follow priorities.

After having been preselected by the Selection Committee, the Agency will invite for an interview the best candidates, that are owner of a CAST in the relevant function group or that have successfully passed the EPSO CAST selection EPSO/CAST/P/3/2017, with a maximum of 30 candidates invited to the interview.

Candidates are requested to clearly state in their motivation letter the one principle energy field mentioned in the above selection criteria for which they are most suitable and how their degree is relevant to the field identified.

Appointment and conditions of employment

The jobholder will be appointed on the basis of a shortlist proposed by the selection committee.

The jobholder will be recruited as contract staff, in function group III, pursuant to Article 3a of the new Conditions of Employment of Other Servants of the European Communities (CEOS).

The basic monthly salary within this function group will depend on the number of years of relevant professional experience at appropriate level (in function group III, either grade 8, grade 9 or grade 10).

The jobholder will serve a probation period of nine months.

The initial contract will be for a duration of 1 year. Afterwards, the contract may be renewed for 1 additional year. If the contract is renewed again, it shall be concluded for an indefinite period.

The place of employment will be Brussels where the Agency has its activities.

For reasons related to the Agency’s operational requirements, the candidate will be required to be available at short notice.

For further information on the legal framework of contract agents see the web site of the Directorate-General for Human Resources and Security (DG HR) on the internet at

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

Equal opportunities

The European Union institutions apply a policy of equal opportunities and accept applications without discrimination on the grounds of sex, race, colour, ethnic or social origin, genetic features, language, religion or belief, political or any other opinion, membership of a national minority, property, birth, disability, age or sexual orientation.

Application procedure

For applications to be valid, candidates must submit:

• a detailed curriculum vitae, in EU CV format[3];
• a letter of motivation, including his/her views on the proposed position (2 pages maximum), with a clear identification of the principal field mentioned in the selection criteria above for which she/he applies, an explanation why her/his degree is relevant to the field(s) identified, and an explanation of how each of the eligibility and selection criteria are met.

Your CAST application ID number and the reference of CAST must be mentioned in your CV and motivation letter.

Please note that the motivation letter forms an essential basis for the pre-selection decision.

Applications must be submitted through the eRecruitment system on our website at

http://ec.europa.eu/inea/en/mission-objectives/job-opportunities

Closing date: Applications must be sent no later than 2 July 2021 midnight.

Supporting documents showing evidence of the provided information may be requested at a later stage. No document will be sent back to candidates.

Candidates are invited to apply in English to facilitate the selection process.

In no circumstances should candidates approach the Selection Committee themselves, either directly or indirectly concerning this recruitment. The authority habilitated to conclude contracts reserves itself the right to disqualify any candidate who disregards these instructions.

Selection procedure

A – Written tests (30 min)

A case study in English designed to test:

• Your knowledge in the field of the profile
• Your ability to understand, analyse and summarise
• Your drafting ability

This test will be marked out of 40 (pass mark: 20).

Total time allowed for this test: 30 minutes.

B – Oral test (30 min)

Interview with the Selection Committee in English to assess:

• your suitability to carry out the duties of a Project Officer
• Your specialist knowledge in the field
• Your communication, inter-personal and problem-solving skills
• Your general knowledge about the CINEA and related policies

This test will be marked out of 100 (pass mark: 50).

Both the oral and written tests will be combined on a total of 140. Minimum mark: 84 out of 140.

Applicants receiving the minimum score and above (84 out 140), all tests combined, will be included in a reserve list of suitable candidates.  Please note that inclusion in the reserve list does not guarantee recruitment.

The Agency may have a second interview with the candidates in the reserve list.

Information to candidates

An acknowledgement of receipt will be sent to all candidates by email to confirm the reception of their application.

All candidates will be informed in due time about the status of their application, i.e. whether they are invited for the selection phase described above or not. These notifications will be sent via email only.

A candidate may request clarifications about the processing of his/her application by sending an email quoting the reference of the vacancy notice concerned, to the following address: [email protected]

Means of Redress

A. Request for review

Candidates may request a review of any decision taken by the Selection Committee that establishes their results and/or determines whether they can proceed to the next stage of the selection procedure or are excluded. Requests for review may be based on:

• a material irregularity in the selection process; and/or
• non-compliance, by the Selection Committee, with the Staff Regulations, the vacancy notice of the selection procedure, its annexes and/or case law.

Candidates are not allowed to challenge the validity of the Selection Committee’s assessment of the quality of their performance in a test or the relevance of qualifications and professional experience. This assessment is a value judgment made by the Selection Committee and disagreement with the Selection Committee’s evaluation of tests, experience and/or qualifications does not prove that it has made an error. Requests for review submitted on this basis will not lead to a positive outcome.

Candidates may ask for a request for review within 15 calendar days of the date on the email notifying the rejection of his/her application, indicating clearly the decision that he/she wish to contest and on what grounds. The request should be addressed to the Chairman of the Selection Committee, quoting the number of the selection procedure concerned at the following address: [email protected]. Requests received after the deadline will not be taken into account.

Candidates who asked for a request for review will receive an acknowledgment of receipt within 15 working days. The Selection Committee will analyse and decide on the request and candidates will receive a reasoned reply as soon as possible.

B. Other forms of contestation

1. Administrative complaints

Candidates may address an administrative complaint under Article 90(2) of the Staff Regulations to the Director of CINEA acting as the appointing authority.

Candidates may submit a complaint against a decision, or lack thereof, that directly and immediately affects their legal status as a candidate, only if the rules governing the selection procedure have clearly been infringed. The Director of CINEA cannot overturn a value judgment made by a Selection Committee.

Candidates may submit their administrative complaint by contacting CINEA within three months of notification of the contested decision or of the date by which a decision should have been made.

The request, indicating clearly the decision that the candidate wish to contest and on what grounds and quoting the number of the selection procedure concerned, should be sent to the following address: [email protected]. Requests received after the deadline will not be taken into account.

2. Judicial appeals

Candidates may submit a judicial appeal to the General Court, under Article 270 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union and Article 91 of the Staff Regulations.

Note that appeals against decisions taken by CINEA’s appointing authority rather than by the Selection Committee will not be admissible before the General Court unless an administrative complaint under Article 90(2) of the Staff Regulations has first been made (see section B.1 Administrative complaints).

For the arrangements for judicial appeals please consult the website of the General Court (http://curia.europa.eu/jcms/).

3. European Ombudsman

Candidates, like all EU citizens and residents, may submit a complaint to the Ombudsman. Before submitting a complaint to the Ombudsman, candidates must first make the appropriate administrative approaches to the institutions and bodies concerned (see section B.1 Administrative complaints).

Making a complaint to the Ombudsman does not extend the deadlines for lodging administrative complaints or judicial appeals.

For the arrangements for complaints to the Ombudsman please consult the website of the European Ombudsman (http://www.ombudsman.europa.eu/).

Data protection

The purpose of processing of the data submitted by candidates is to manage the applications in view of a possible pre-selection and recruitment at the CINEA. The personal information requested from candidates will be processed in line with Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2018 on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data by the Community institutions and bodies and on the free movement of such data.