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 1990s along with a number of other important European maritime safety initiatives. EMSA was set up as the regulatory agency that would provide a major source of support to the Commission and the Member States in the field of maritime safety and prevention of pollution from ships.

The European Parliament and Council Regulation (EC) No 1406/2002, as amended, provides the legal basis for the establishment of the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA).

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.

Department C facilitates technical cooperation between Member States and the Commission for EU vessel traffic monitoring, the Long Range Identification and Tracking of vessels, and satellite monitoring and provides operational assistance to Member States and the Commission in the field of preparedness and response to at-sea pollution. The Department also provides a platform for integrated services, tailored to user requirements.

The Department is composed of four units, and also has a horizontal “Coordination and Innovation” cell:

• C.1 Pollution Response Services
• C.2 Vessel and Port Reporting
• C.3 Maritime Surveillance
• C.4 Digitalisation & Application Development

The Project Officer for Satellite AIS Services, under the responsibility of the Head of Department C ‘Operations’, will be responsible for: 

• Assisting in work activities related to SAT-AIS data services including the management of the SAT-AIS contract and its related specific contracts for the provision of SAT-AIS data services;
• Liaising with the contractor and national authorities providing SAT-AIS data services on matters related to the technical parameters of the SAT-AIS data feed, processing of Doppler data and  ancillary data associated with SAT-AIS, and interface related issues;
• Coordinating and carrying out internal SAT-AIS testing campaigns to ensure SAT-AIS data service of good quality;
• Assisting in the preparation of the tender specifications for the procurement of SAT-AIS data services, in the tendering and evaluation process, and in the technical implementation of the SAT-AIS data service;
• Assisting in the development of new business requirements and associated features related to SAT-AIS data services by evaluating requests from users (including Member States and Institutional users), and also as a result of new technological developments;
• Coordinating the provision of SAT-AIS data services to EMSA users as per their request;
• Assisting in the improvement of the technical architecture of EMSA’s Integrated Maritime data services including the SAT-AIS data processing services;
• Supporting the internal technical activities related to the provision of SAT-AIS data by national space programmes by providing technical input and support to the EU National Satellite Collaborative forum;
• Assisting in the organisation of SAT-AIS information meetings with Member States and Institutional users and preparing the necessary documentation/discussion papers and presentations as required;
• Performing any other duty as required.

A. ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA

Qualifications and experience required:

A.1 Education:

• A level of education which corresponds to completed university studies attested by a diploma when the normal period of university education is four years or more, or;
• A level of education which corresponds to completed university studies attested by a diploma and appropriate professional experience of at least one year when the normal period of university education is at least three years.

A.2 language skills:

The main working language in the field of maritime safety is English. Candidates must therefore have a very good command of oral English as well as in writing with a satisfactory knowledge of at least one other official language of the European Union to the extent necessary for the performance of the above mentioned duties.

B. SELECTION CRITERIA

B.1 Essential:

• Two years of relevant experience in working on maritime vessel tracking information systems using AIS data, preferably including AIS detections by satellites or on similar satellite communication systems;
• A very good technical knowledge of satellite AIS, low-orbiting satellites, AIS receivers, interfaces and data centres designed for processing, storing, and distributing SAT-AIS data;
• Good knowledge of the technical nature of AIS messages and of the reporting requirements for vessels as defined in the Directives 2002/59/EC (as amended) and 2010/65/EU.

B.2 Advantageous:

• Good knowledge of maritime radio communication systems and related IMO and ITU regulations;
• Specific experience in defining functional requirements for the processing of AIS and ancillary data provided by satellite providers;
• Knowledge of nanosatellite and microsatellite platforms.

The advantageous criteria will be considered by the Selection Board depending on the number of applicants meeting the essential criteria.

Applicants must meet the required eligibility criteria concerning the required educational qualifications and years of experience, as well as the essential criteria by the deadline for this call for applications.

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

Supplementary:

• Excellent communication skills, both oral and written;
• Ability to work under pressure and to respond quickly to new demands;
• Experience of establishing and maintaining effective working relations with people of different national and cultural backgrounds;
• Very good interpersonal 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 your full rights as a citizen;
• Have fulfilled the obligations imposed on you 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 Project Officer for Satellite AIS 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 2 f) 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 AD 5.

The basic monthly salary, before any deductions or allowances, weighted for Lisbon, at 1 July 2016 for grade AD 5 first step is 3738.04EUR.

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:

http://ec.europa.eu/civil_service/docs/toc100_en.pdf;

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.

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 and encourages applications from all candidates who fulfil the eligibility and selection criteria without any distinction whatsoever on any ground such as sex, race, colour, ethnic or social origin, genetic features, language, religion or belief, political or any other opinion, membership of a national minority, property, birth, disability, age, marital status or other family situation 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 accomodate 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. 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 and appeal:



An applicant who would like further information, or considers that he/she has grounds for complaint concerning a particular decision may, at any point in the selection procedure, request further information from the Chairperson of the Selection Committee.

For information on how to lodge a complaint and/or an appeal procedure, please consult the ‘General Information for Recruitment’ overview on our website for more information:

http://www.emsa.europa.eu/recruitment-info.html