General information

Organisation

The European Climate, Environment and Infrastructure Executive Agency (CINEA) has been established by the European Commission to support stakeholders in delivering the European Green Deal through high-quality programme management that helps to implement projects contributing to decarbonisation and sustainable growth. CINEA implements parts of EU funding programmes for transport, energy, environment and climate action with strong focus on contributing to the European Commission's Green Deal priority.

The main programmes managed are:

•The Connecting Europe Facility (CEF);
• Horizon Europe: the EU's Research and Innovation programme for which CINEA manages the areas of transport and energy;
•The Innovation Fund;
•LIFE Programme;
•European Maritime, Aquaculture and Fisheries Fund;
•The EU Renewable Energy Mechanism;
•The Public Sector Loan Facility of the Just Transition Mechanism.

The budget managed by CINEA in 2021-2027 period is ca. € 65 billion

CINEA is based in Brussels with a multinational team of around 550 persons. The number of staff will grow further over the coming years and the purpose of this publication is therefore to set up a reserve list, which will be used to cover the growing needs of the Agency. The reserve list may also be used by other Executive Agencies.
More info on: https://cinea.ec.europa.eu/index_en, X (https://twitter.com/cinea_eu), Linkedin and our YouTube channel.

  

Position description

Profile

Finance - Financial Officer

Position title

Financial Officer - Operational Finance

Contract

Contract agent

Grade

FGIII

Mission description

The jobholder will join the Operational Finance Unit A03 of CINEA as financial officer.

The Operational Finance Unit's mission is to provide support for all programmes delegated to the Agency in delivering the European Green Deal. The unit delivers high quality services in relation to budgetary planning and financial management in close cooperation with CINEA's operational departments and Commission services.
The unit also ensures the overall coordination for the preparation of CINEA's budget. It also provides guidance in risk management and internal controls matters and monitors their effective implementation throughout the Agency.

The jobholder will be part of a team of financial officers. S/he will be responsible for the financial tasks related to the preparation, signature and monitoring of projects and procurement contracts financed by the programmes managed by the Agency.

Tasks

Main duties:
• Act as Financial Initiating Agent, launching the different types of financial transactions for the grants and contracts managed on the Agency's operational budget (e.g. commitments, payments, recovery orders, MIM interventions), ensuring that transactions are financially and procedurally correct, in conformity with current rules.
• Contribute to the evaluation of tenders
• Support the project officer in the preparation of grant agreements / procurement contracts and amendments, by checking financial and administrative aspects.
• Provide contractual and financial advice and assistance related to the full expenditure lifecycle of projects/contracts.
• Together with the project officer, assess the expenditure reported in the cost statements and provide reasonable assurance that the costs claimed comply with the contractual requirements.
• Ensure strict implementation of the Financial Regulation and other rules and procedures in place.
• Assist in the collection of the necessary information for audit and control by CINEA, Commission services, the European Court of Auditors and other relevant controlling authorities.
• Implement the audit findings and assist in the analysis of financial aspects of control and audit reports.
• Participate in the accounting quality checks and contribute to the preparation of the “cut off” procedure.
• Contribute to horizontal tasks in line with the unit's objectives.

Salary range

35-50 k€

Interview period - from :

01/02/2024

Interview period : to

31/03/2024

Selection procedure

Oral test (30 min)

Interview with the Selection Committee in English to assess:

• your suitability to carry out the duties of a Financial Officer,
• your knowledge and experience in the field of finance/programme management,
• your communication, inter-personal and problem-solving skills,
• your general knowledge about the CINEA and related policies,
• your motivation and your ability to adjust to working as a Contractual Agent in a multicultural environment.


This test will be marked out of 100 (pass mark: 60).

Applicants receiving the minimum score and above (60 out of 100), will be included in a reserve list of suitable candidates. Please note that inclusion in the reserve list does not guarantee recruitment.

The Agency may have a second interview with the candidates in the reserve list. If the recruitment unit/department considers that writing skills need to be tested, a written test could be included in the procedure as part of the second interview. The test would not be scored and will be used as an additional source of information for taking the final decision on the candidate to be recruited.

Application procedure

For applications to be valid, candidates must submit:
• a detailed curriculum vitae, in EU CV format ;
• a letter of motivation, including his/her views on the proposed position (2 pages maximum).

Your CAST application ID number, the reference of CAST call and the name of the post must be mentioned in your CV and motivation letter.
Please note that the motivation letter forms an essential basis for the pre-selection decision.
Applications must be submitted through the eRecruitment system on our website at
https://cinea.ec.europa.eu/about-us/job-opportunities_en

Closing date: Applications must be sent no later than 8th December 2023 midnight.

Supporting documents showing evidence of the provided information may be requested at a later stage. No document will be sent back to candidates.
Candidates are invited to apply in English to facilitate the selection process.
In no circumstances should candidates approach the Selection Committee themselves, either directly or indirectly concerning this recruitment. The authority habilitated to conclude contracts reserves itself the right to disqualify any candidate who disregards these instructions.

Appointment and conditions of employment

The jobholder will be appointed on the basis of a shortlist proposed by the selection committee.

Prior to the engagement of the staff the Agency may request references from former employers and reserves the right to contact them.

The jobholder will be recruited as contract staff, in function group III, pursuant to Article 3a of the new Conditions of Employment of Other Servants of the European Communities (CEOS).

The basic monthly salary within this function group will depend on the number of years of relevant professional experience at appropriate level (in function group III, either grade 8, grade 9 or grade 10).

The jobholder will serve a probation period of nine months.

The initial contract will be for a duration of 1 year. Afterwards, the contract may be renewed for 1 additional year. If the contract is renewed again, it shall be concluded for an indefinite period.

The place of employment will be Brussels where the Agency has its activities.

For reasons related to the Agency's operational requirements, the candidate will be required to be available at short notice.
For further information on the legal framework of contract agents, see the web site of the Directorate-General for Human Resources and Security (DG HR) on the internet at
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CONSLEG:1962R0031:20140101:EN:PDF

Publication date

Publication start date

17/11/2023

Publication end date

08/12/2023

Candidate criteria

Eligibility criteria

• Have successfully passed a CAST in the function group for which you are applying* OR be registered in a CAST Permanent Call for Expression of Interest in function group FGIII ** by the deadline for application of the current vacancy;
• A post-secondary education attested by a diploma OR a secondary education attested by a diploma giving access to post-secondary education and appropriate professional experience of three years;
• Thorough knowledge of one of the languages of the European Union and a satisfactory knowledge of another EU language to the extent necessary to perform his/her duties.

* Candidates must be included in the European Personnel Selection Office (EPSO) database for contract agents in function group III and have successfully passed the EPSO selection tests for that function group. Please note that candidates who are on a valid EPSO list published in 2010 (CAST2010) are eligible on the condition they have successfully passed the complementary tests (DB3), as an Annex to the selection procedure CAST2010. The candidates concerned are invited to consult the letter they received from EPSO for further information.

** In the context of the calls for expression of interest EPSO/CAST/P/2017 FGIII procedures (1), your application will be considered only if you have completed and validated the online application form by the deadline for application to the current vacancy (2).

Other eligibility criteria

(1) Link to the call for expression of interest: https://epso.europa.eu/sites/epso/files/documents/casts/2017/epsocastp1-172017/cast-p-call-consolidated-version/en.pdf
Link to the FAQs:
https://epso.europa.eu/contact/faq/contract-agents/cast-permanent_en

(2) Candidate's application in the EPSO database must be active during the whole duration of the procedure. Candidates are fully responsible for the creation, validation and regular update of their EPSO profile in the relevant function group, otherwise candidates' details are not or not anymore visible to the recruiting services and they cannot be invited to sit tests. Candidates whose EPSO CAST profile is blocked and therefore cannot be flagged in order to be invited by EPSO to undergo an EPSO computer-based reasoning test in the required function group will be considered as not eligible regardless of the relevance of their CV.

In addition, in order to be eligible a candidate must:
• be a national of one of the Member States of the European Union;
• be entitled to his or her full rights as citizen;
• meet the appropriate character reference as to his/her suitability for the performance of his/her duties;
• have fulfilled any obligations imposed by the applicable laws concerning military service, and;
• be physically fit to perform the duties linked to the post.

Please note that only candidates that comply with the Eligibility criteria will be considered for further steps of the Selection procedure.

Selection criteria

Selection criteria

Essential:
• Education in the fields of business, economics, accounting or finance or professional experience in the fields of finance, accounting and/or audit;
• Very good knowledge of English (C1, specially written and spoken).

Advantageous:
• Experience in the financial management of projects/contracts;
• Familiarity with the EU Financial Regulation;
• Previous experience with the IT tools ABAC and/or COMPASS/Sygma;
• Good command of other European Union languages;
• Very good analytical and problem-solving skills.

Personal qualities essential for the position (evaluated during the interview):
• High degree of organisational skills and ability to work under pressure;
• Good interpersonal and communication skills;
• Proven ability to work as a team member;
• Ability to set and follow priorities;
• Real motivation to work in the implementation of the financial aspects of projects/contracts implemented by the Agency.

After having been preselected by the Selection Committee, the Agency will invite for an interview the best candidates, that have successfully passed an EPSO CAST in the relevant function group, with a maximum of 25 candidates invited to the interview.

Languages

English (Proficient C1)

Updates on the application process

An acknowledgement of receipt will be sent to all candidates by email to confirm the reception of their application.
All candidates will be informed in due time about the status of their application, i.e. whether they are invited for the selection phase described above or not. These notifications will only be sent via email.
A candidate may request clarifications about the processing of his/her application by sending an email quoting the reference of the vacancy notice concerned, to the following address: CINEA-HR-RECRUITMENT@ec.europa.eu

Equal opportunities, appeal procedure & data protection

Equal opportunities
The European Union institutions apply a policy of equal opportunities and accept applications without discrimination on the ground of 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 or sexual orientation.

Appeal procedure: for complete list of means of redress please browse the following link: https://cinea.ec.europa.eu/about-us/job-opportunities/means-redress_en

Data protection
The purpose of processing of the data submitted by candidates is to manage the applications in view of a possible pre-selection and recruitment at the CINEA. The personal information requested from candidates will be processed in line with Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2018 on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data by the Community institutions and bodies and on the free movement of such data.