EMSA

The European Maritime Safety Agency was established for the purpose of ensuring a high, uniform and effective level of maritime safety, maritime security as well as prevention of and response to pollution by ships within the EU.

The idea of a European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA)  originated in the late 1990's along with a number of other important European maritime safety initiatives. EMSA was set up as the decentralised agency that would provide a major source of support to the European Commission and the Member States in the field of maritime safety, security and prevention of pollution from ships. The Agency was established by Regulation (EC) No 1406/2002 and subsequent amendments have refined and enlarged its mandate to cover among other measures, the efficiency of maritime transport.

The Agency provides technical, operational and scientific assistance to the European Commission and Member States in the fields of maritime safety, maritime security, prevention of, and response to, pollution caused by ships as well as response to marine pollution caused by oil and gas installations.

The Agency also contributes to the overall efficiency of maritime traffic and maritime transport and supports European cooperation on coastguard functions.

EMSA's activities can be broadly described as:

• providing technical and scientific assistance to the Member States and the European Commission in the proper development and implementation of EU legislation on maritime safety, security, prevention of pollution by ships and maritime transport administrative simplification;
• monitoring the implementation of EU legislation through visits and inspections;
• improving cooperation with and between Member States;
• building capacity of national competent authorities;
• providing operational assistance, including developing, managing and maintaining maritime services related to ships, ship monitoring and enforcement;
• carrying out operational preparedness, detection and response tasks with respect to pollution caused by ships and marine pollution by oil and gas installations;
• at the request of the European Commission, providing technical operational assistance to non-EU countries around relevant sea basins.

The Unit is responsible for the datacentre management (at primary and business continuity sites); for the hosting and IT Operations for all Maritime Applications; for the internal Corporate Services management; for desktop management and the service desk for internal users; for networking and security.

The Unit supports development, testing, deployment and operations of EMSA's infrastructure and corporate services using state-of-the-art IT Service management processes based on ITIL. It supports business objectives ensuring end-to-end service availability, performance and reliability through implementing best practice hosting, monitoring, business continuity and disaster recovery processes.

The Unit is also tasked with all middleware and database administration and installation, configuration, integration and deployment of application components within the pre-production and production environments of EMSA's ICT Infrastructure (including the Business Continuity Facility (BCF)).

The Unit is also in charge for the MSS providing a 24/7 operational and technical service ensuring systems availability and stability by monitoring the continuity of the incoming and outgoing data flows, quality reporting and incident management linked with all Agency maritime applications. In the event of maritime emergencies, the MSS acts as a single point of contact for mobilisation of EMSA operational services, and reports to EMSA and the Commission on maritime accidents in accordance with the EMSA contingency plan.

Furthermore, the Unit is responsible for the technical and business validation and verification of applications; application build management; application deployment and; the preparation of application monitoring systems.

The Maritime Support Services is an “outward-facing” service, constantly interacting with EMSA users, and internally with the different EMSA Units, either technical or business related. It works in an integrated way, and staff at all levels need to demonstrate the corresponding qualities of commitment, flexibility, innovation, and team-working. The MSS works under a shift work system combined with staff working during normal working hours. The core responsibilities of the Maritime Support Services (MSS) are:

• Activating emergency services of the Agency (Oil pollution recovery vessels, CleanSeaNet, experts) following the Contingency Plan of the Agency.
• Relating to the main critical operational maritime information systems monitored and operated by EMSA (SSN, IMDatE, LRIT CDC, LRIT IDE, Earth Observation Data Centre, RPAS, SEG):

• Monitoring and Incident Management in case of IT failures;
• Checking the quality of data and services

The tasks of the MSS Duty Officers entail Maritime business-oriented and IT activities: 

• Maritime related:

• Reporting on Data Quality of the different maritime information systems, especially the SSN & LRIT Member States implementation;
• Issuance of reports maritime traffic related (ships of special interest, etc.);
• Monitoring and, when necessary, reporting on maritime accidents within the scope of the EMSA Contingency Plan;
• Activate EMSA services as detailed in the Contingency Plan;
• Tasks related to the common databases maintained by EMSA (ships, LOCODEs, etc.);
• Visits to EMSA/MSS: support EMSA hierarchy during presentations.

• IT related:
  • Monitoring and Incident management of IT services in order to recover the IT Services as quickly as possible, as specified in the relevant procedures;
  • Reporting on the above topics, as requested, and on the availability of incoming data.

• Common:
  
  • Ensuring the Helpdesk for end-users in Member States and other participating countries or entities;
  • Back-up and support other MSS staff on tasks related to the daily MSS duties;
  • Update procedures and instructions relating to the above tasks;
  • Train and inform other members of the team on specific issues related to the above tasks;
  • Report on progress, changes, issues related to the above tasks.

  This position may entail shift work or be included in a standby duty service outside working hours.

In addition to the requirements above, candidates invited to the interview and test phase may also be assessed against the following supplementary requirements:

Supplementary requirements (soft skills):

• Good communication, presentation and reporting skills in English;
• Be able to work under pressure;
• Be an excellent teamwork player.

In order to be eligible the candidate must:

• Be a national of one of the Member States of the European Union or of Iceland or Norway;
• Be entitled to his/her full rights as a citizen;
• Have fulfilled the obligations imposed on him/her by the laws concerning military service;
• Meet the character requirements for the duties involved; and
• Be physically fit to perform the duties linked to the post.

It should be noted that due to the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union on the 31/01/2020, candidates from the United Kingdom who do not hold the nationality of another European Union Member State, are not eligible for calls for applications at EMSA due to the fact that they do not fulfil the requirements of Article 82.3 of the Conditions of Employment of Other Servants, namely that they do not hold the nationality of a EU Member State.

The Reserve List for Maritime Support Services Duty Officer will be established by the Executive Director, upon recommendation of the Chairperson of the Selection Committee.

This vacancy notice concerns a Contract Agent position, pursuant to Article 3a and Title IV of the Conditions of Employment of other servants of the European Union.

The initial duration of the contract is three years, with possibility of renewal.

If recruited from the reserve list, the successful candidate(s) will be recruited in Function Group IV (FG IV). The grade will be determined in accordance with the number of years of professional experience.

The basic monthly salary, before any deductions or allowances, weighted for Lisbon, at 1 July 2020 for the entry grade of Function Group IV (FGIV, Grade 13, Step 1) is 3,239.50EUR.

In addition to the basic salary, staff members may be entitled to various allowances, such as an expatriation allowance (16% of basic salary), household allowance, dependent child allowance and education allowance. The salary is subject to a Community tax deducted at source and staff members are exempt of national taxation.

EMSA offers a comprehensive welfare package including pension scheme, medical, accident and occupational disease insurance coverage, unemployment and invalidity allowance. Further information regarding rights and conditions of employment can be found in the following document.

Please note that in line with the Staff Regulations recruited candidates shall be required to demonstrate before their first promotion the ability to work in a third European Community language.

The place of employment is Lisbon, Portugal.

Candidates are advised that if they are offered a post, and accept, they must undergo a compulsory medical examination to establish that they meet the standard of physical fitness necessary to perform the duties involved.

EMSA is an Agency focused on gender balance and a harmonic workplace and strongly encourages the applications of women for the positions where they are underrepresented.

Candidates should ensure that they clearly indicate how they meet the selection criteria in their application and motivation letter.

Candidates must submit their application electronically solely via the EMSA website within the deadline. Applications by any other means (hard copy or ordinary e-mail) or submitted after the deadline will not be accepted.

All candidates will receive an acknowledgement of receipt for their application.

EMSA is an equal opportunities employer. Staff is selected without prejudice as to sex, racial or ethnic origin, religion or belief, disability, age or sexual orientation.

You may apply in any of the official languages of the European Union, but it would be helpful to apply in English in order to facilitate the selection process.

For each selection process a Selection Committee is nominated. The selection is carried out in two phases:

1. In the first phase all eligible applications will be evaluated by the Selection Committee and scored against the selection criteria. Please note that non-compliance with at least one of the essential selection criteria will result in the exclusion of the candidate from the selection process. Advantageous criteria constitute additional assets and will not result in exclusion, if not fulfilled. The advantageous criteria will be considered by the Selection Committee depending on the number of applicants meeting the essential selection criteria.

On this basis, the Selection Committee will invite to the interview and to the test phase the best qualified candidates (maximum of 15), on condition that they have achieved at least 60% of the highest possible score during the evaluation of applications. Should the case arise that there are various candidates scoring the same number of points in the 15th ranking, the number of candidates to be invited will be increased accordingly to accommodate this. 

2. In the second phase, the selected candidates will be invited to pass one or several written tests related to the job profile and to take part in a selection interview.

During this recruitment phase, the selected candidates will be evaluated by the Selection Committee. After the interviews and tests, the Selection Committee will draw up a list of the most suitable candidates to be proposed to the Appointing Authority. Only candidates receiving at least 70% of the maximum points at interview and at the test phase will be included in the list of the most suitable candidates. The Appointing Authority will select the successful candidate and decide whether to also adopt a reserve list. The successful candidates will be informed accordingly.

Candidates are strictly forbidden to make any contact with the members of the selection committee, either directly or indirectly. Any infringement of this rule will lead to disqualification from the selection procedure.

All candidates will receive an information letter of the outcome of their application.

Please note that a binding commitment can only be made after verification of all conditions and will take the form of a contract signed by the Executive Director.

The reserve list will remain valid for a period of 1 year following its establishment, with the possibility of renewal. Therefore candidates whose name will be put on a reserve list could be offered a contract during this period of time. Please note however that inclusion in the reserve list does not guarantee recruitment.

Please note that the selection process may take several months to be completed and that no information will be released during this period. Once a selection process has been completed, its status will be displayed in the e-recruitment.

Please note that once you have created your EMSA profile, any correspondence regarding your application must be sent or received via your EMSA profile.

For any prior enquiry, please refer to the FAQ (Frequently asked questions) section, or send an e-mail to recruitment@emsa.europa.eu

Requests for information:

An applicant who would like further information or considers that he/she has grounds for complaint concerning a particular decision of the selection procedure may send a request by e-mail to recruitment@emsa.europa.eu preferably within 10 working days from the date he/she was notified.

EMSA Human Resources will forward the request to the Chairperson of the Selection Committee and the applicant will receive a reply as soon as possible.

How to lodge a complaint:

An applicant may lodge a complaint under Article 90(2) of the Staff Regulations of Officials of the European Communities and Conditions of employment of other servants of the European Communities by email to recruitment@emsa.europa.eu or registered mail at the following address:

Human Resources Unit

EMSA

Praca Europa 4

1249-206 Lisbon

Portugal

The time limit for initiating this type of procedure is three months (see Article 90(2) of the Staff Regulations as amended by Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 1023/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 October 2013, OJ L 287, 29.10.2013 from the time you become aware of the act allegedly prejudicing your interests.

Applicants can make a complaint to the European Ombudsman. Before submitting a complaint to the European Ombudsman applicants must already have contacted EMSA about the matter and used all the internal administrative options for review and/or complaints provided for in the Staff Regulations.

More information: https://www.ombudsman.europa.eu/en/home

Personal Data protection:

The processing of personal data in the Community institutions and bodies like agencies is regulated by Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2018 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data by the Union institutions, bodies, offices and agencies and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Regulation (EC) No 45/2001 and Decision No 1247/2002/EC.

For more on personal data protection and related documents see the Personal Data Protection page.