The EIB, the European Union's bank, is seeking to recruit for its Secretariat General (SG) - Governing Bodies Department - Linguistic Services Division (LING)
Head of Division – Linguistic Services Division
This is a full time position at grade 7 - C
The term of this contract will be 4 years
Assessment Centres for screening applicants would take place by mid October
Panel interviews are anticipated for November
The EIB offers fixed-term contracts of up to a maximum of 6 years, according to business needs, with a possibility to convert to a permanent contract, subject to organisational requirements and individual performance.
Purpose
As Head of Division, you lead, manage and develop the Linguistic Services Division by applying customer-focused procedures consistently, within the deadlines that the Bank’s activities require and within a pre-defined quality that is acceptable to the requester and to the final reader.
As Head of Division, you manage and motivate a team of some 50 translators, administrative assistants and administrators.
Operating Network
You will report to the Director of Governing Bodies, Secretariat and Protocol (GBSP) and Linguistic Services (LING) and manages a team of professional and support staff.
Internal contacts with all Directorates of the Bank, in particular with the General Secretariat and the Communications Department. External contacts with translation services of other European institutions, translation agencies and freelance translators/consultants.
Specific Post Environment
LING operates with effective management practices and skilled employees who provide, at a cost acceptable to the Bank, an efficient translation delivery service to the Bank, supported by streamlined processes, workflow management and enabling technology. Translations are a mix of in-house and outsourced translations.
Accountabilities
- Set specific objectives and work plans for the Division
- Manage the translation process within the Bank in an efficient and service-oriented way, calling upon internal and external translation resources
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Monitor and manage performance in the translation service by
- ensuring that the quality assurance policy paper is applied consistently and if need be, up-dated, to ensure that the translation quality required by users is achieved within the required timeframe
- and by extracting relevant statistics from the IT system in place
- Apply and update the CAT and workflow tools in the Division and ascertain their efficient and consistent use
- Ensure good interaction and exchange of information between the various language units and the central Production Management Unit
- Liaise effectively with the Directorates of the Bank for advance knowledge of workload, effective planning/prioritisation and delivery to agreed standards and deadlines
- Develop the Division by applying translation best practices and by exploring ways to meet new challenges and take a customer-oriented approach
- Implement procurement procedures that are compliant with the Bank rules and respond to expectations for quality service
- Establish contracts with external translation service providers; manage and monitor the use of external resources in order to keep to an agreed budget
- Keep control of the Division’s overall expenditure, in particular for freelance translations, to ensure compliance with the agreed budget
- Ensure that staff within the Division have the right competences, objectives and motivation in order to implement the formulated objectives and work plans and deliver results
- Communicate clearly to all staff on objectives and performance indicators
- Motivate staff to perform to the best of their ability and encourage training and development by actively promoting or organising useful courses, seminars etc.
- Ensure the sharing of information and processes across the division
- Resolve and manage staffing issues in a timely and professional manner with the assistance of management
- Coordinate and manage the resources and means necessary to implement the objectives and work plans for the Directorate
Qualifications
- University degree
- At least 10 years of relevant professional experience, including at least 3 years successfully managing and motivating a multinational team; knowledge and experience in translation services within an international environment is an advantage
- Solid knowledge in the fields of economy and finance
- Experience in project management, performance monitoring and workflow processing
- Experience in change management, able to drive innovation and implementation of new technologies
- Understanding of the operational framework of the Bank, its mission, activities, organisation, objectives, policies and procedures
- Experience in leading a large team through delegation, based on intellectual leadership and the ability to analyse, judge, set alternatives, priorities and objectives and empower staff to achieve their targets
- Proven experience in managing conflicting priorities and pressure
- Knowledge of translation software is required; knowledge of workflow software would be an advantage
- Strong communication and influencing skills, written and oral
- Excellent knowledge of written and spoken English or French is required, with a good command of the other language; knowledge of other EU languages would be an advantage
Core competencies
- Achievement Drive: continually keeps an eye on performance, focusing on improving it, showing drive and determination to meet short and long -term goals.
- Change Orientation: adapts to differences and changes in the environment; takes a flexible approach to reach outcomes.
- Collaboration: works cooperatively as part of a team; works collaboratively with peers across organisational boundaries based on a genuine interest in and an accurate understanding of others and their individual perspectives and concerns.
- Organisational Commitment: is willing to commit to an organisation whose mission is to support Europe and is open to diversity, and to align her/his own behaviour with the organisation’s needs and intrinsic values, acting with integrity in ways that promote the organisation’s mission, policies and rules.
Managerial competencies
- Developing Others: Builds the long-term capability of others by guiding and developing them to make the most of their competence and potential, based on an accurate understanding of their true strengths and development needs.
- Strategic Thinking: Thinks about the long term organisation strategy and how to align to and implement it; comes up with useful new strategic insights
- Team Leadership: Builds a high performing team, ensuring it is focused, motivated and inspired to achieve organisational objectives, encouraging performance excellence and addressing underperformance when required
(*) There may be certain flexibility on this requirement, but limited to particularly suitable candidates who may not yet be proficient in French. If selected, such candidates will be hired on the condition that they build up rapidly knowledge of French and accept that their future career in the EIB may be subject to the attainment of sufficient proficiency in both of the Bank's working languages
We are an equal opportunity employer, who believes that diversity is good for our people and our business. As such, we promote the inclusion of suitably qualified and experienced staff without regard to their gender, age, racial or ethnic origin, religion or beliefs, sexual orientation/identity, or disability (*).
Deadline for applications: 24th September 2018
We particularly welcome applications from women and persons with disabilities.
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