Head of Unit - Hoofdinhoud

VACANCY NOTICE Nº ECHA/TA/2012/001

Head of Unit - Biocides

(M/F)

Grade AD 12 (2 posts)

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1.

THE

JOB

The European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) is organising the current call for expressions of interest to constitute a reserve list for the post of Head of Unit Biocides.

The new Biocides Unit will be established in February 2012 as part of the Directorate of Regulatory Affairs. Later on, a second Biocides Unit and a separate Biocides Directorate are foreseen to be established. They will be responsible for tasks covering in particular the forthcoming Biocidal Products Regulation that is foreseen to enter into force mid 2012, with an application date of September 2013. The Biocides Unit will be responsible in particular for coordinating ECHA activities related to

the Biocidal Products Regulation. The unit will deal with administrative, technical and scientific tasks concerning applications for the approval, renewal and review of active substances; applications for Union authorisations; and for their renewal, cancellation and amendment. It will also provide the Secretariat to the Biocidal Products Committee in preparing and adopting Agency opinions on approval of active substances and Union authorisation of biocidal products, as well as to the Coordination Group dealing with mutual recognition of national authorisations. It will work closely with other Units of ECHA in managing tasks related to, e.g.:

Submission and validation of different types of applications and other industry dossiers under the Biocidal Products Regulation, and dissemination of relevant information thereof; Establishment of technical equivalence for active substances;

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  Provisions under the Biocidal Products Regulation on data sharing;

Development and maintenance of databases and IT tools necessary for implementation of the Biocidal Products Regulation;

Scientific and technical guidance and helpdesk advice;

Management of ECHA Committees; and Communication activities.

As Head of Unit, you will be in particular responsible for the following tasks:

Strategic input: - - - - - - - -

Define the annual and multi-annual strategy of the unit as part of the ECHA Work Programme to achieve the requirements imposed by the Biocides Regulation and meet the needs of unit's stakeholders;

Draft the annual work plan of the unit to ensure appropriate planning and organisation

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  of tasks and resources;

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Report periodically on the implementation of the unit work plan and of other relevant activities; Contribute to continuous improvement of the Quality Management System of ECHA.

Job related accountabilities: - - - - -

Efficiently plan, implement and monitor the regulatory processes on biocides that the unit is responsible for; Provide support and maintain excellent communication and co-operation with other

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  ECHA units and with the relevant Commission services;

Ensure planning and input to ECHA guidance documents covering biocides, in

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  cooperation with the Guidance and Forum Secretariat Unit;

Ensure so-called second level support to the ECHA Helpdesk on scientific, as well as

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  on technical issues related to the responsibilities of the unit; Plan, prepare, organise and follow-up the work of the Biocidal Product Committee
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  (BPC) in close collaboration with its Chair;

Provide support and advice to the members of the BPC in their tasks allotted under

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  the Biocidal Products Regulation; Support establishment of opinions adopted by the BPC and promote consistency
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  between them; Defend Agency opinions and decisions towards the Commission, the Standing
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  Committee on Biocidal Products, or other expert/regulatory audiences; Ensure appropriate support for the Coordination Group dealing with the dispute
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  settlement for mutual recognition of national authorisations;

Contribute to the continuous development of tools and methodologies, in particular IT-

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  tools necessary to support the implementation of the Biocidal Products Regulation; Contribute to achieving a harmonised and coordinated approach in relation to scientific
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  questions that are common to Biocides, REACH and CLP Regulations; Handle external requests for information relevant to the work of the Unit, including requests from the European institutions, international bodies, Member States and the general public; Perform other duties as needed.

People management: - - - - - - -

Manage the staff of the unit to ensure timely delivery of outputs and availability of the right skills and competencies;

Promote continuous performance management and a learning organisational culture to ensure that the organisational objectives are cascaded and met and continuous professional development is sustained;

Perform the administrative tasks related to staff management to ensure smooth running of the unit;

Enhance team spirit, ensure effective two-way communication, and handle promptly staff matters to foster high level of staff welfare within the unit.

Financial management: -

Act as authorising officer by sub-delegation and potentially as financial verifier and/or operational verifier respecting the principles of sound financial management;

Annankatu 18, P.O. Box 400, FI-00121 Helsinki, Finland | Tel. +358 9 686180 | Fax +358 9 68618210 | echa.europa.eu

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Prepare and monitor the budget and procurement requirements of the unit to ensure optimal planning and use of financial resources.

Security management, business continuity and data protection: - -

Act as delegated process owner for the security management process and as data protection controller by delegation, to guarantee implementation of the security and data protection rules in ECHA;

Design and implement the business continuity plan for the processes under her/his responsibility.

Back up: -

Act as back-up for the Director/(other) Heads of Units to ensure continuity of processes and operations.

2.

FORMAL

REQUIREMENTS

You must fulfil the requirements set out below.

2.1.

General conditions

Be a national of a Member State of the European Union, or a national of the European Economic Area (Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway);

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Enjoy your full rights as a citizen;

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  Have fulfilled any obligations imposed by the laws concerning military service;

Produce the appropriate character references as to your suitability for the performance of your duties;

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Be physically fit to perform your duties;

Have a thorough knowledge of one of the languages of the European Union

and a satisfactory knowledge of another language to the extent necessary to perform your duties.

2.2.

Qualifications

Successful completion of a full course of university studies attested by a degree in

a relevant field, where the normal duration of university education is four (4)

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  years or more; OR

Annankatu 18, P.O. Box 400, FI-00121 Helsinki, Finland | Tel. +358 9 686180 | Fax +358 9 68618210 | echa.europa.eu

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Successful completion of a full course of university studies attested by a degree in a relevant field, where the normal duration of university education is three (3) years.

Only qualifications issued by EU Member State authorities or EEA authorities and qualifications recognized as equivalent by the relevant EU or EEA Member State authorities will be accepted.

2.3. Professional Experience

To qualify for this profile (AD 12), you must have at the closing date for applications a total professional experience of at least fifteen (15) years on the basis of 2.2 a) or of at least sixteen (16) years on the basis of 2.2 b), acquired after achieving the minimum qualification stated out in 2.2 a) or b).

Of your total professional experience, you must have at least five (5) years of relevant professional experience in one or more of the fields relevant to the activity of the unit, as shown in the following tables and at least three (3) years in a management role (Head of Unit, Head of Sector, Team/Programme Leader or equivalent).

If you have a university degree of 4+ years:

Total professional Professional experience in Professional experience in experience relevant fields a management role

Minimum 15 years Minimum 5 years Minimum 3 years

If you have a university degree of 3 years:

Total professional Professional experience in Professional experience in experience relevant fields management role

Minimum 16 years Minimum 5 years Minimum 3 years

Annankatu 18, P.O. Box 400, FI-00121 Helsinki, Finland | Tel. +358 9 686180 | Fax +358 9 68618210 | echa.europa.eu

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3.

SELECTION

If you meet the formal requirements set out in section 2, you will be assessed on the basis of the selection criteria listed below. The candidates who are judged to be the most suitable on the basis of the selection criteria will be invited to an interview.

Your academic and professional qualifications and their relevance to the main areas of work listed in section 1;

Your professional experience: the range of fields covered; the type and level of work done and its relevance to the areas of work listed in section 1; The following will be considered as assets:

Experience of implementing the EU biocides legislation in industry or authority context; Experience in setting up an organisational unit;

Experience of working in an international/multicultural environment.

4.

PRELIMINARY

INTERVIEW/

TESTING

Selected candidates may be invited for a preliminary interview and aptitude and competence testing by personnel selection consultants serving in an advisory capacity to the selection board. Candidates who in the course of such interview/testing demonstrate the requisite aptitudes/competences may be invited for an interview with the selection board.

5.

FINAL

INTERVIEW

If selected for interview, you will be assessed in the interview on the basis of the following

criteria:

Knowledge and understanding in your areas of experience that are most relevant to the tasks set out in section 1 "THE JOB" above; Knowledge and understanding of the challenges faced by the Agency in the areas of

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  responsibility of the unit, as well as of the tasks listed under section 1 "THE JOB";

Capacity to rapidly grasp the scientific and/or political sensitivity of the activities of

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  the Agency; Knowledge of the role and tasks of ECHA, and its place in the EU institutional
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  framework; Aptitude for people and finance management in an EU context;

Capacity to motivate a team to achieve challenging objectives and to monitor, evaluate and report on its achievements; Negotiation, problem-solving and conflict-resolution skills;

Ability to communicate effectively complex regulatory, technical and scientific matters

in written and spoken English; Ability to work effectively in a multidisciplinary team in a multicultural and multilingual environment. -

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Your ability to communicate in written English and the knowledge and competencies related to the job will be assessed by practical tests.

6.

PLACEMENT

ON

THE

RESERVE

LIST

The candidates who are judged to be the most suitable on the basis of the criteria listed in sections 3, 4 and 5 above will be placed on the reserve list. The indicative number of candidates to be place on the reserve list is three (3). Successful candidates may be offered

a post in ECHA according to their qualifications, experience and expertise in relation to the specific requirements of the post.

7.

CLOSING

DATE

FOR

SUBMISSION

OF

APPLICATIONS

The closing date for submission of applications is Monday, 20 February 2012 at noon 12.00 Helsinki time; (11.00 Central European Time).

8.

INFORMATION

This vacancy notice and the guide for applicants contain all the information required. Nevertheless, should you nevertheless have questions on their content; you may send an e- mail to jobs@echa.europa.eu.

Applications:

For the Guide for applicants and the Application form go to the Open Positions section of the ECHA's website at the following URL: http://echa.europa.eu/opportunities/positions_en.asp

9.

PROTECTION

OF

PERSONAL

DATA

The information submitted during the selection process will be used solely for that purpose. The legal basis for the processing is found in the Staff Regulations of Officials and the Conditions of Employment of Other Servants (CEOS), and in particular in Articles 12-15 and

82-84 of CEOS.

The European Chemicals Agency will ensure on its part that applicants' personal data is

processed as required by Regulation (EC) No 45/2001 6 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 . Only ECHA staff directly involved in the selection procedure in question shall have access to this data. In some cases an external contractor, equally bound by the same data protection principles, might assist the Agency in the pre-selection of candidates. 6

http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2001:008:0001:0022:EN:PDF

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When an applicant is selected for inclusion on the reserve list, his/her personal data will be stored for the duration of the validity of the reserve list, while for non-recruited candidates the information will be stored for a maximum period of two years. Documents related to recruited candidates are kept in the agent's personal file, which are kept until 10 years after the jobholder has terminated employment at the Agency, provided there are no pending claims or any other open issues.

Any party submitting personal data to ECHA is entitled to access and rectify that data (after the closing date of the application deadline, rectification is limited to identification data however). To exercise these rights, contact the data controller at jobs@echa.europa.eu. Furthermore, you also have the right to recourse at any time to the European Data Protection Supervisor.

Annankatu 18, P.O. Box 400, FI-00121 Helsinki, Finland | Tel. +358 9 686180 | Fax +358 9 68618210 | echa.europa.eu