Senior Specialist within the IT Solution Engineering Unit

The main responsibilities include:
• Act as the principal liaison with the Architecture and Infrastructure ICT Units, translating high level architecture directions into well designed, implementable changes for all systems developed by the Unit;
• Analyze the impact of changes on existing systems and produce detailed solutions designs that guide implementation in accordance with the business requirements and the architecture / infrastructure guidance;
• Identify the work breakdown structure of technical tasks required for the implementation of the solution (both within the IT Solutions Engineering Unit and for external entities);
• Identify dependencies, key stakeholders, and liaise with them to drive planning and execution as well as to achieve signoff;
• When needed, provide hands-on guidance to the development teams to correctly implement designed solutions, participating in the development tasks directly and/or devising the appropriate product configuration;
• Take a driving role in the definition and execution of the appropriate documentation approach, across solutions and per project. On selected initiatives, responsibilities will also include:
• Perform Technical Product Management of selected systems and platforms, taking responsibility for the ICT product throughout its life cycle, making sure that all initiatives that involve the product are coherent with its overall technical trajectory;
• Define technical specifications and technical execution requirements in the context of tenders, for the procurement of IT components, solutions, or professional services, and participate to the evaluation of offers;
• Participate or take direct responsibility for detailed initiative planning and estimation process;
• Participate or take direct responsibility for supervising workstreams execution and tracking issues with focus on technical design issues;
• Perform any other tasks in the area of competence as assigned by the Head of Unit.

Eligibility criteria:
a. Candidates must
• Be a national of one of the Member States of the European Union and enjoy full rights as a citizen;
• Have fulfilled any obligations imposed by the applicable laws on military service;
• Produce appropriate character references as to the suitability for the performance of the duties;
• Be physically fit to perform the duties pertaining to the position;
• Produce evidence of a thorough knowledge of one of the languages of the Communities and a satisfactory knowledge of another language of the Communities to the extent necessary for the performance of the duties.

b. Candidates must have
• A level of education which corresponds to completed university studies, preferably in the area of Computer Science attested by a diploma when the normal period of university education is 4 years or more; OR A level of education which corresponds to completed university studies, preferably in the area of Computer Science attested by a diploma and appropriate professional experience of at least 1 year when the normal period of university education is at least 3 years.
• In addition to the above at least 9 years of relevant professional work experience gained in the area of ICT after the award of the diploma.

Selection criteria:
a. Professional experience and knowledge:
The ideal candidate has gained experience in large organizations, preferably multinational, possesses a strong background in technical architecture design and implementation in technologically diverse contexts, and is familiar with the challenges posed by complex integration of custom development and customized COTS.
Essential: The ideal candidate must have gained and be able to demonstrate relevant technical and process experience and knowledge in the concepts, methods, techniques, products in the following domain areas:
• Application Server platforms, with emphasis on J2EE and/or Microsoft .NET;
• Integration architecture concepts and patterns (e.g. SOA, message queuing, enterprise service bus, orchestration) ideally with knowledge of related middleware products;
• Concepts and design patterns related to web, batch, portal, BI architectures, ideally with knowledge of related products;
• Knowledge of ICT Operations principles and ability to incorporate them into application and execution architecture design to ensure their operability, including the ability to define the corresponding procedures as needed;
• Ability to produce well structured, quality documents that appropriately use different and appropriate representations / abstraction levels to clearly and effectively communicate to different audiences / stakeholders (e.g. architecture team, implementation team) while keeping message consistency;
• Execution-focused approach and familiarity with project management terminology, methodology. Ability to identify and plan concrete tasks needed to implement the technical design and to provide direct guidance to implementation teams when needed;
• Proven experience of working in complex software development or integration projects through all phases of the lifecycle, including knowledge of both “classic” (RUP, Waterfall) and “agile” (XP, Scrum, TDD) approaches.

Desirable:
• Knowledge of automated application and server build approaches and technologies, as part of a development lifecycle;
• Experience in design of highly available, fault tolerant solutions, by effectively using and combining infrastructure and application components;
• Knowledge of performance optimization techniques and tools;
• Knowledge of sizing and capacity planning concepts and techniques;
• Knowledge of security concepts and techniques.

b. Technical skills and competencies: Essential:
• JEE and/or .Net Framework coding & testing;
• Virtualization technologies and products;
• MS SQL Server database;
• MS Office productivity suite including modeling tools such as MS Visio and MS Project;
• Ability to successfully run multiple workstreams in parallel, across different solutions, and to quickly familiarize with new ones, promptly identifying key issues;
• Excellent communication skills in English, both orally and in writing. Desirable:
• IBM WebSphere Product Suite;
• Apache Tomcat;
• Microsoft Biztalk;
• Microsoft Active Directory;
• Document and content management technologies ;
• Microsoft SharePoint;
• Liferay portal;
• MySQL databases;
• Software lifecycle supporting tools;
• Identity and Access Management technologies.

c. Social skills and competencies:
Essential:
• Strong interpersonal skills and ability to establish and maintain effective working relations with co-workers in an international and multi-disciplinary work environment;
• Strong can-do attitude including the natural inclination to proactively detect issues even in areas out of direct responsibility and to take ownership to drive resolution;
• Excellent organizational skills that include the ability to manage competing demands and work under pressure, organize, plan and implement assignments for own and other’s work, ability to motivate staff and provide guidance;
• Ability to identify and liaise with all project stakeholders, defining and executing the appropriate communication plans to achieve their approval of produced deliverables.

Selection procedure
The Contracting Authority sets up a Selection Committee which consists of at least three members, one from the Human Resources Unit of Europol, one from the concerned Unit or Department and one designated by the Staff Committee. For non-restricted posts the Contracting Authority may designate up to two additional members to the Selection Committee on a proposal from the Management Board, either from another service of Europol, from outside Europol or from outside the community institutions including Member States. For restricted posts the Selection Committee may also include up to two additional members designated by the Contracting Authority on a proposal from the Management Board. The additional member(s) will be either a representative from the Presidency or a representative from the Presidency and one from another Member State. The Selection Committee determines candidates’ suitability for the position by assessing their skills, experience and qualifications against the established job profile and makes an initial selection from the applications received. Shortlisted applicants are invited to participate in a post-related selection procedure, generally consisting of written and/or practical tests and competency-based interviews. The Contracting Authority makes a decision of appointment on the basis of advice from the Selection Committee. He will inform the Committee of his decision. All candidates who attend the selection procedure will be informed of the outcome. Candidates who attended a selection procedure may request feedback on their performance of the written test and interview within three months after the selection procedure. Europol will not be in a position to respond to feedback inquiries received outside this time frame. The Selection Committee’s work and deliberations are confidential. It is forbidden for candidates to make direct or indirect contact with the members of the Selection Committee or for anyone to do so on their behalf. All enquiries or requests for information or documentation in relation to the competition should be addressed to the Europol Recruitment Office. 6. Salary Scale: AD8 The basic monthly salary is EUR 6 299, 95 (step 1) or EUR 6 564, 69 (step 2). In addition, if applicable, allowances such as expatriation allowance, household allowance, dependent child allowance and education may be granted. Europol offers a comprehensive welfare package comprising additional benefits such as medical insurance, unemployment and invalidity allowance as well as a pension scheme. Salaries are subject to a community tax but exempt from national taxation.

Terms and conditions

7.1 Probation period Engagement for this position is subject to the successful completion of a probationary period of 6 months. Within this period the successful candidate will have to undergo a post-related security screening. Europol reserves the right to terminate the contract of employment during or at the end of the probation period in accordance with Article 14 of CEOS.
7.2 Security screening and certificate of good conduct In order to ensure that all candidates who have successfully passed a selection procedure comply with the security standards and do not have a criminal record we request all successful candidates to apply for a national “certificate of good conduct” at the time an offer of employment is made. The certificate of good conduct provides evidence that the candidate is suitable to be employed by Europol. However, the national certificate of good conduct does not substitute a full security clearance that must be carried out for all Europol staff in accordance with the clearance level determined for the position.
7.3 Contract of employment The successful candidate will be recruited as Temporary Agent AD 8 pursuant to Article 2 (a) of CEOS, for a period of 5 years. The contract may be renewed. The place of employment will be The Hague, The Netherlands. For further information on terms and conditions please consult the EC Staff Regulations which are available on Europol’s website.

Data protection
The data submitted is processed in order to assess the suitability of candidates for a position at Europol. All personal data collected for the purpose of the selection procedure will only be used within this specific context and will not be disclosed to any third party, except for restricted posts in which the application may be transmitted to the National Unit and the respective Liaison Bureau. Any data provided will be treated in strict confidence and in full compliance with all applicable data protection rules. The legal basis for the processing of personal data are the Staff Regulations of Officials and the Conditions of Employment of Other Servants of the European Union (Title III Chapter 1) and their implementing rules. All documents provided to Europol will be kept in Europol’s files and will not be returned to the candidate. Applications of non-recruited candidates will be kept for a maximum of two years. Data of non-recruited applicants on the reserve list for appointment will be kept for a maximum of two years after the expiry of the reserve list. Data of recruited candidates will be transferred to their personal file. The Head of Unit of the Human Resources Unit is responsible for the data processing operation. Candidates have the right to access, rectify, block and erase their personal data in accordance with the applicable data protection rules. Candidates have the right of recourse to the Europol Data Protection Office (Data Protection Office - PO Box 90850, 2509 LW The Hague, The Netherlands) and the Joint Supervisory Body (www.europoljsb.consilium.europa.eu). Applications sent to the DPO or JSB will not be processed and deleted.

Additional Information Main dates: Deadline for application: 1 December 2011 Recruitment procedure: January 2012 Starting date of employment: to be determined Selection procedure The selection procedure will be carried out in accordance with the EUROPOL RECRUITMENT GUIDELINES available on Europol’s website www.europol.europa.eu. Contact Details For further details on the application process please call +31 (0) 70 302 5298 or +31 (0) 70 353 1628. APPLY ONLINE