Budget officer

CERT-EU would like to hire a Budget/Finance/Administrative Officer. CERT-EU is an inter-institutional entity that provides cybersecurity services to all EU institutions, bodies and agencies. We need to improve the administration of our budget and finance, and look for a bright and flexible budget & finance expert to help us with these issues. Although we need a professional for our budget & finance, the relevant tasks do not constitute a full-time position, and the officer will be expected to contribute to one or more other activities of CERT-EU, depending on his/her experience, qualifications and interests.

The officer will play an important role in the planning, management and execution of CERT-EU’s budget, including in the following areas:

• Bookkeeping
• Budgetary planning and planning of expenses
• Allocation of incoming funds to budget lines
• Interaction with the Budget and Finance Unit of the European Commission’s DG Informatics
• Ensuring execution of the budget
• Contributing to strategic planning
• Reporting on budgetary implementation
• Ensuring respect for the European Commission’s budget and finance rules.

The other administrative tasks will depend on experience, qualifications, interests and circumstances, and might include, for example:

• Customer relations and portfolio management
• Preparation and updates of Service Level Agreements
• Procurement
• Project management
• Drafting or editing reports
• Human Resources
• Conference organisation
• Cybersecurity services
• Public relations
• Publishing design.

For the budget and finance tasks, the officer will report to the Deputy Head of CERT-EU; for the other tasks, it will depend on the area(s) of activities. The officer will be a Contract Agent in either Function Group IV or III.

Required skills:

• Proven experience with budget and finance
• Good communication skills in English, both orally and in writing
• Common sense; analytical and problem-solving skills; good team player as well as ability to work independently; flexibility.

Desired skills:

• Experience with the European Commission’s way of handling budget and finance
• A degree or certificates related to budget and finance
• Experience in another field of activity that is of interest to CERT-EU
• Knowledge of cybersecurity.

The candidate must hold a security clearance at EU SECRET level or be in a position to be security cleared.

• A friendly and multicultural workplace
• A stimulating and unique environment where personal development, growth and initiative are encouraged
• Continuous learning opportunities
• Working with a supportive and dynamic team with a deep sense of mission
• Flexible scheduling with the possibility to work from home on a part-time basis
• An attractive salary.

Consult the Jobs at the European Commission page for more information on the working conditions. Please note that the position is based in Brussels, Belgium. Full remote work is not possible at this time.

To apply, you have to:

• Be a national of one of the Member States of the European Union
• Be able to provide a certificate of good conduct
• Have fulfilled any legal obligations related to military service
• Be able to produce evidence of thorough knowledge of one of the official EU languages (level C1) and satisfactory knowledge of a second official EU language (level B2).

Additionally, to be recruited as a contract agent, you must have:

• For function groups II and III:
  • a level of post-secondary education attested by a diploma, or
  • a level of secondary education attested by a diploma giving access to post-secondary education, and appropriate professional experience of at least three years, or
  • professional training or professional experience of an equivalent level, where justified in the interest of the service.
• For function group IV:
  • a level of education which corresponds to completed university studies of at least three years attested by a diploma, or
  • professional training of an equivalent level, where justified in the interest of the service.

• Send an email to secretariat@cert.europa.eu with your CV (and a motivation letter if possible). Please provide the title of the position you are applying for in the subject of your email.
• If your skill-set matches the requirements, we will contact you for an informal interview to introduce you to CERT-EU, get to know you better and answer questions you might have
• If the informal interview goes well, you will need to take a CAST test. Worry not, our wonderful secretariat will supply all the necessary information
• Once you succeed in the CAST test, we will then invite you for a formal interview in view of a possible recruitment.