EMSA

The European Maritime Safety Agency was established for the purpose of ensuring a high, uniform and effective level of maritime safety that aims at a maximum reduction of accidents, a high, uniform and effective level of maritime security, the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from ships and the environmental sustainability of the maritime sector as well as the prevention of and response to pollution caused by ships and the response to marine pollution caused by oil and gas installations. The Agency supports digitalisation and the reduction of the administrative burden in the maritime sector by facilitating the electronic transmission of data and supports simplification and the provision of integrated maritime surveillance and maritime situational awareness systems and services to the European Commission and the Member States.

The Agency was established by Regulation (EU) 2025/2434 of the European Parliament and of the European Council of 26 November 2025 on the European Maritime Safety Agency and repealing Regulation (EC) No 1406/2002.

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 Horizontal Digital Services, which enable and support business and corporate applications and services. 

The Unit operates datacentres at primary and business continuity sites; hosts maritime and corporate applications; provides the end-point and workspace management; supports internal users with the service desk; and operates the network components.

The Unit supports business objectives by ensuring end-to-end service availability, performance, and reliability through implementing best practice hosting, monitoring, business continuity, and disaster recovery processes.

The Unit is responsible for the horizontal systems, managing their entire lifecycle, from planning to operations, such as identity management, access management, system integration components, and databases. The Unit is also responsible for the entire infrastructure and corporate services life cycle. 

Furthermore, the Unit provides the technical and business validation and verification of applications, application build management, and application deployment.

The Unit takes the lead in implementing a cloud landing zone and coherent Enterprise System Architecture for both on-premises and in the cloud to ensure that the other two units of the Department develop applications based on similar technological standards, creating synergies where possible. 

The Unit also focuses on cybersecurity management and implementation of ICT cybersecurity measures and is the central point for software asset management and license management.

The 'Senior Specialist - Horizontal Digital Services', reporting to the Head of Unit for 'Horizontal Digital Services', will be responsible for the following tasks:

• Project Management and technical support for cloud-based services and applications; 
• Participating in the design, development and maintenance of maritime digital services in the cloud;
• Performing and/or supporting the set-up of technical configurations in the cloud for maritime digital services;
• Reporting and assisting on the technical evolution of EMSA ICT horizontal services in line with functional requirements, including liaisoning with internal business stakeholders for necessary clarification of requirements;
• Providing non-functional requirements related to the Request for Changes to the EMSA maritime applications in line with business requirements/needs;
• Liaisoning with external contractors, ensuring that deliverables are in line with the defined technical and quality requirements;
• Providing specifications (Design and Interface documents) for the development and implementation of interfaces and protocols related to the EMSA maritime applications;
• Verifying if the design choices made by external contractors are in line with the specifications provided to them;
• Supporting the testing and validation process of the EMSA maritime applications related deliverables by collaborating in the development of the Test Plan and proposing test scenarios for smoke, regression and performance tests and by verifying the correct implementation of specifications;  
• Supporting the EMSA maritime applications operation and maintenance as part of the 3rd level application helpdesk support by contributing to the technical analysis of issues and problems;
• Supporting expert meetings on maritime digital services;
• Contributing to studies, analyses, designs, technical specifications, concept papers, data models, guidelines, procedures, manuals, reports and other written products related to maritime digital services;
• Supporting ICT projects in the cloud as a Project Manager, according to best practices and methodologies;
• Contributing to the EMSA technological landscape and ICT architecture;
• Managing some of the appointed ITIL processes (e.g. Release and Deployment Management, Service Assets and Configuration Management);
• Contributing to the procurement and contract management activities.

Candidates should detail in their application how the relevant experience for each essential criterion was acquired, including the range of tasks and their relevance to the functions and duties.

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

• Very good communication, presentation and reporting skills in English;
• The ability to work under pressure and be an excellent team player;
• Very good planning skills and prioritization skills;
• Very good analytical and problem solving skills.

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.

The Senior Specialist - Horizontal Digital Services will be appointed by the Executive Director, upon recommendation of the Chairperson of the Selection Committee.

This vacancy notice concerns a Temporary Agent position, pursuant to Article 2f) of the Conditions of Employment of other servants of the European Communities.

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

The successful candidate will be recruited in the grade AST 4 first step.

The basic monthly salary, before any deductions or allowances, weighted for Lisbon, at 1 July 2025 for grade AST 4 first step is 5,024.63 EUR.

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.

Please note that recruitment is done in the first or second step of the indicated grade, depending on the duration of the acquired professional experience. 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 sit one or several written tests related to the job profile and to take part in a selection interview. Candidates invited to take a remote-proctored written test must complete and successfully pass all required system and validation checks, including the system check and secure browser check, at least 72 hours before the scheduled examination, to ensure that their equipment meets the technical requirements and that all background applications are disabled. Failure to complete these checks successfully within the specified timeframe may result in candidates being denied access to the testing environment.

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.

Please be informed that the interviews and/or the written tests will be organised remotely. Further information on the organisation of the  test and interview will be provided upon invitation.

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.

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.