Head of Procurement and Contract Unit

EDA is looking to recruit an experienced procurement, contracting and grant-management professional with strategic vision, sound leadership and management skills, and a proven commitment to developing people, policies and processes. The jobholder will contribute to the delivery of the Agency’s business objectives as part of its dynamic corporate services team.

A. Essential

Only applications meeting all essential selection criteria will be assessed.

(1) Professional

Candidates will be required to demonstrate the following qualifications:

The candidate will be required to demonstrate that he/she has:

• a university degree in law, finance, economics, business administration, or similar;
• at least twelve (12) years of professional experience of which at least eight (8) years in positions with tasks relevant to the duties;
• at least five (5) years of managerial experience in various areas of procurement or contracting in an international organisation or a large-scale government or public/private sector organisation;
• very good knowledge of EU public procurement directives and of the financial regulations applicable to the Agency, the EU institutions and decentralised bodies, including the rules applicable to collaborative procurement, innovation procurement, contracts, grants and prizes;
• relevant professional experience in the field of procurement, contracting and grant management, including practical experience in the interpretation and implementation of EU procurement, contract management and grant management rules;
• relevant professional experience in the field of intergovernmental arrangements for collaboration in the defence capability cycle (including, e.g. research, innovation, development, experimentation, acquisition, maintenance);
• knowledge of EU financial contribution mechanisms and grant/prize management;
• knowledge of intellectual property rights (IPR);
• strong analytical skills and the ability to find solutions to complex procurement, contractual, grant management and legal issues;
• experience in drafting legal, procedural and procurement related documents, notes and briefs;
• proven experience in complex contract negotiations;
• a very good command of written and oral English.

(2) Personal

All staff must be able to fit into the Agency's way of working (see para. 2). Other attributes important for this post include:

• very good leadership and management skills, especially in a multicultural and multilingual environment;
• ability to work with strong sense of urgency, result orientation and commitment to compliance;
• excellent customer-service orientation and commitment to organisational development;
• ability to command trust among peers;
• ability to work effectively and inclusively with a range of internal and external stakeholders;
• ability to remain effective in a rapidly evolving and dynamic work environment and to meet deadlines consistently;
• well-organised, thorough and accurate;
• excellent negotiation and problem-solving skills;
• integrity and ability to deal with confidential matters professionally;
• genuine commitment to the Agency's objectives.

B. Desirable

The following will be considered an advantage:

• good knowledge and understanding of VAT mechanisms within the EU, in particular VAT exemptions;
• good knowledge of the international defence environment, including EU defence programmes such as EDF and EDIP, and CFSP/CSDP;
• very good knowledge of the Defence and Security Procurement Directive;
• experience in a legal and/or business advisory function;
• good knowledge of French.