Project Officer Resilience Capabilities

Under the supervision of the Head of Unit Land and Logistics, the jobholder will be responsible for identifying, planning and initiating collaborative capability development activities in the Resilience and Support area. In particular, the jobholder will be responsible for the following activities:

• support the harmonisation of EU Member States (MS) capability planning in the Resilience and contribute to the development of military concepts to address the current and future capability needs;
• ensure coherence of capability development activities across the Resilience and Support areas, contributing to EDA’s and the EU’s broader resilience, support and preparedness objectives;
• implement EDA Core Tasks 3 and 4, namely harmonisation of military requirements and aggregation of demand towards joint procurement, leading to elaborate Business Cases with MS interested in launching specific collaborative development/acquisition projects;
• manage and, when required, chair, the Capability Planners Group (CPG) Support Functions; support the related Capability Expert Groups (CEGs) on Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear (CBRN) Defence, Medical Support and Critical Infrastructure Protection and Energy Security (CIPES), and contribute to any other related working groups (such as PCAs CGs), seminars and meetings where the jobholder may provide technical direction and guidance as subject matter expert;
• propose, manage and coordinate the work plan for the implementation of the corresponding Priority Implementation Roadmaps (PIRs) and provide the necessary guidance to the associated CEGs in the Resilience Area (CBRN Defence, Medical Support, CIPES);
• ensure coherence between the 3 CEGs implementing Resilience’ Priorities, the cross-domain capability development activities within CAP Directorate and support-related work strands across the Agency, including the EU Hub for Defence Innovation (HEDI);
• address the military perspective on countering hybrid threats related to the 3 areas of interest, namely CBRN Defence, Medical Support and CIPES, ensuring engagement at planning stage in transversal activities and civil-military cooperation.
• interact, as appropriate, with relevant external stakeholders such as the European External Action Service (EEAS), EU Military Staff (EUMS), European Commission (EC), NATO, EU Defence technological and Industrial base (EDTIB), and any other relevant EU Institutions, bodies and agencies;
• plan and manage activities funded by the EDA Operational Budget, as required;
• contribute to the further development and improvement of the Capability Development Plan (CDP), including identifying, promoting and proposing meaningful collaborative opportunities framed under the Coordinated Annual Review on Defence (CARD) within the jobholder’s area of responsibility;
• contribute to the assessment of PESCO project proposals, European Defence Fund (EDF)-related work programme topics and other DG DEFIS - led initiatives (such as EDIP), and provide support to collaborative projects upon Member States’ request, including by identifying synergies among existing initiatives; provide technical advice related to the jobholder’s area of responsibility to EU defence-related policies and concepts;
• represent EDA in meetings, conferences and seminars, as required;
• deputise for the Head of Unit when required;
• take on additional tasks as required in the interest of the service.

Duties may evolve according to the development of EDA’s structure and activities, and the decisions of EDA management.

SELECTION CRITERIA

(1) Professional

Candidates will be required to demonstrate the following qualifications:

• a university degree (or equivalent academic degree) in a field relevant to the post (e.g. Security, Defence, International Security);
• at least seven (7) years of professional experience (acquired after the award of the minimum academic qualification required as a condition of eligibility) in a defence governmental organisation and/or an international organisation, including concrete experience in capability development and/or preparation of capability projects/programmes;
• very good knowledge and proven security and defence experience in Resilience area, such as civilian enablement, medical support, CBRN Defence, Critical Infrastructure Protection and Energy Security;
• relevant professional experience and a track record of successful business outcomes in the field of Defence international cooperation and a good understanding of armament procurement;
• a good understanding of EU institutions/bodies and NATO organisation, how they function, and of their Defence related initiatives;
• a thorough understanding of EDA’s main tasks and functions;
• 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:

• ability to work both independently within his/her area of responsibility and to proactively collaborate with colleagues and stakeholders;
• ability to work effectively in a multinational environment;
• reliability and capacity to work under pressure with minimal supervision;
• good communication and organisational skills;
• strong conceptual, analytical and problem-solving skills;
• excellent interpersonal and negotiation skills;
• results-orientation and strong motivation;
• flexibility and innovativeness;
• good coordination skills;
• genuine commitment to the Agency's objectives.

B. Desirable

The following will be considered an advantage:

• experience in an EU institution/body or an international organisation;
• experience and participation in military/security operations related to resilience functions (e.g. CBRN Defence, medical support, or CIPES);
• advanced professional military/security education (e.g. command and staff college or equivalent) or senior-level strategic defence planning experience.
• hold a recognised project management qualification;
• a track record in managing large-scale, complex multinational defence programmes.