VACANCY NOTICE - CONTRACT AGENT

About us

Unit 03 - International cooperation in Research and Innovation (R&I) with Europe and the Americas - is one of the two units leading on international cooperation in Research and Innovation within DG RTD. It contributes to delivering on the Commission's priority for a Stronger Europe in the world. It supports the achievement of a strategic and balanced international cooperation in R&I based on mutual benefits, EU interests and values, reciprocity and international commitments, in line with the Global Approach for Research and Innovation. Furthermore, it facilitates access to the world's best talents, expertise and resources, enables international joint R&I action and coordination in tackling global societal challenges and to overcome barriers to entry to global value chains and foreign markets, and contributes to trust-building in EU external relations.

Unit 03 manages the EU's R&I cooperation with Europe and the Americas. It leads on the development and implementation of the association policy to the Framework Programme. The Unit is responsible for relevant relations with other EU institutions and with international organisations. In addition, the Unit is responsible for the international dimension of the Work Programmes.

The Unit functions as the DG competence centre for country and region analysis, and elaborates, in co-creation with the relevant services, policy and strategy options for international cooperation activities with the relevant countries and regions. It manages the relationships with the third countries and regions under its remit in the area of R&I policy, including in supporting the process of associating third countries to EU Framework Programmes, and is contributing directly to the enlargement process of relevant countries in the field of R&I.

The Unit also functions as the coherence hub for R&I international cooperation strategy towards other Commission services such as the Directorate-General for International Partnerships (DG INTPA), the Directorate-General for Enlargement and the Eastern Neighbourhood (DG ENEST) and the European External Action Service (EEAS) and promotes the coherence of EU policy/strategy with Member States' international cooperation policies and activities as well as synergies with other EU policies, in particular external policies.

Amongst the main activities, the Unit is:

• contributing to the implementation of the Global Approach to Research and Innovation;
• deepening the knowledge base on the R&I landscape of the countries and regions in the remit of the Unit, needed for strategic intelligence in the DG;
• providing intelligence on R&I strategic priorities to inform EU external policy activities;
• ensuring that EU external policy priorities are reflected in R&I policy priorities and actions, and vice versa;
• making sure that actions taken under R&I policy are coherent with EU International commitments;
• coordinating the DG's input to international/multilateral fora on R&I policy, such as for example the G7;
• representing the DG and coordinating its contribution to EC's External Coordination Group (EXCO) and the Commissioner's Group for a Stronger Europe;
• ensuring the DG's cooperation with, and promoting synergies with EEAS, DG INTPA and DG ENEST and other DGs on international aspects of R&I policy;
• organising Joint Committee meetings according to Horizon Europe association and Science&Technology cooperation agreements as well as regional policy dialogues on R&I;
• facilitating and coordinating the DG's overall relations with public authorities and stakeholders in international partner countries and regions.

About the role

In the field of international cooperation in research and innovation, the new colleague will work in tandem with another assistant in the Unit's secretariat. The successful candidate will provide administrative and secretarial support to the Head of Unit, Deputy Head of Unit and the Policy Officers of the Unit.

Responsibilities will include: preparation and distribution of various documents, registration of incoming and outgoing mail, processing of briefings, presentations or other files for various internal and external meetings, organisation of missions and meetings (physical, hybrid) often with third country participants, calendar planning, monitoring of workflow and deadlines, ensuring attribution of the incoming ISCs and EP questions to colleagues in the Unit and follow up, filing and archiving as well as other general secretarial tasks related to the various activities of the Unit.

In addition, the successful candidate will assist in HR-related matters of the Unit such as preparation of recruitment files, organization of interviews, preparation of the arrival of newcomers, updating the job descriptions, informing the Head of Unit about time-management requests in Sysper. Furthermore, the new colleague will provide project assistance in issues related to projects of the Horizon Europe Offices in Moldova and Ukraine. An experience in HR or project assistance would be an asset.

Qualifications, experience and skills

We are looking for a dynamic and well-organised secretary to assist the Head of Unit, Deputy Head of Unit and Policy Officers of the Unit. The successful candidate will be a motivated and service-minded person, knowledge with the Commission's administrative rules and procedures as well as informatics tools used in a secretariat would be an asset. Sense of responsibility, good communication skills, team spirit, service-mindedness, flexibility and being comfortable in an international setting are essential.

How to express your interest?

You should send your documents in one single pdf in the following order:

1. Your CV
2. Completed application form

Please send these documents to RTD-03-CA-APPLICATIONS@ec.europa.eu by the publication deadline indicating the selection reference EC/2026/RTD/317741

No applications will be accepted after the publication deadline.

Eligibility, recruitment steps, contract and working conditions

Please consult the pdf document at the end of this page