VACANCY NOTICE Nº ECHA/TA/2012/001
Head of Unit - Biocides (M/F)
Grade AD 12 (2 posts)

1. THE JOB

The European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) is organising the current call for expressions of interest to constitute a reserve list for the post of Head of Unit – Biocides.

The new Biocides Unit will be established in February 2012 as part of the Directorate of Regulatory Affairs. Later on, a second Biocides Unit and a separate Biocides Directorate are foreseen to be established. They will be responsible for tasks covering in particular the forthcoming Biocidal Products Regulation that is foreseen to enter into force mid 2012, with an application date of September 2013.

The Biocides Unit will be responsible in particular for coordinating ECHA activities related to the Biocidal Products Regulation. The unit will deal with administrative, technical and scientific tasks concerning applications for the approval, renewal and review of active substances; applications for Union authorisations; and for their renewal, cancellation and amendment. It will also provide the Secretariat to the Biocidal Products Committee in preparing and adopting Agency opinions on approval of active substances and Union authorisation of biocidal products, as well as to the Coordination Group dealing with mutual recognition of national authorisations. It will work closely with other Units of ECHA in managing tasks related to, e.g.:

• Submission and validation of different types of applications and other industry dossiers under the Biocidal Products Regulation, and dissemination of relevant information thereof;
• Establishment of technical equivalence for active substances;
• Provisions under the Biocidal Products Regulation on data sharing;
• Development and maintenance of databases and IT tools necessary for implementation of the Biocidal Products Regulation;
• Scientific and technical guidance and helpdesk advice;
• Management of ECHA Committees; and
• Communication activities.

As Head of Unit, you will be in particular responsible for the following tasks:

Strategic input:

• Define the annual and multi-annual strategy of the unit as part of the ECHA Work Programme to achieve the requirements imposed by the Biocides Regulation and meet the needs of unit’s stakeholders;
• Draft the annual work plan of the unit to ensure appropriate planning and organisation of tasks and resources;
• Report periodically on the implementation of the unit work plan and of other relevant activities;
• Contribute to continuous improvement of the Quality Management System of ECHA.

Job related accountabilities:

• Efficiently plan, implement and monitor the regulatory processes on biocides that the unit is responsible for;
• Provide support and maintain excellent communication and co-operation with other ECHA units and with the relevant Commission services;
• Ensure planning and input to ECHA guidance documents covering biocides, in cooperation with the Guidance and Forum Secretariat Unit;
• Ensure so-called second level support to the ECHA Helpdesk on scientific, as well as on technical issues related to the responsibilities of the unit;
• Plan, prepare, organise and follow-up the work of the Biocidal Product Committee (BPC) in close collaboration with its Chair;
• Provide support and advice to the members of the BPC in their tasks allotted under the Biocidal Products Regulation;
• Support establishment of opinions adopted by the BPC and promote consistency between them;
• Defend Agency opinions and decisions towards the Commission, the Standing Committee on Biocidal Products, or other expert/regulatory audiences;
• Ensure appropriate support for the Coordination Group dealing with the dispute settlement for mutual recognition of national authorisations;
• Contribute to the continuous development of tools and methodologies, in particular IT-tools necessary to support the implementation of the Biocidal Products Regulation;
• Contribute to achieving a harmonised and coordinated approach in relation to scientific questions that are common to Biocides, REACH and CLP Regulations;
• Handle external requests for information relevant to the work of the Unit, including requests from the European institutions, international bodies, Member States and the general public;
• Perform other duties as needed.

People management:

• Manage the staff of the unit to ensure timely delivery of outputs and availability of the right skills and competencies;
• Promote continuous performance management and a learning organisational culture to ensure that the organisational objectives are cascaded and met and continuous professional development is sustained;
• Perform the administrative tasks related to staff management to ensure smooth running of the unit;
• Enhance team spirit, ensure effective two-way communication, and handle promptly staff matters to foster high level of staff welfare within the unit.

Financial management:

• Act as authorising officer by sub-delegation and potentially as financial verifier and/or operational verifier respecting the principles of sound financial management;
• Prepare and monitor the budget and procurement requirements of the unit to ensure optimal planning and use of financial resources.

Security management, business continuity and data protection:

• Act as delegated process owner for the security management process and as data protection controller by delegation, to guarantee implementation of the security and data protection rules in ECHA;
• Design and implement the business continuity plan for the processes under her/his responsibility.

Back up:

• Act as back-up for the Director/(other) Heads of Units to ensure continuity of processes and operations.

2. QUALIFICATIONS REQUIREMENTS
• Successful completion of a full course of university studies attested by a degree in a relevant field, where the normal duration of university education is four (4) years or more;
OR
• Successful completion of a full course of university studies attested by a degree in a relevant field, where the normal duration of university education is three (3) years.

3. PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
If you have a university degree of 4+ years:
Minimum of 15 years total professional experience, minimum 5 years professional experience in relevant fields and minimum 3 years professional experience in a management role


If you have a university degree of 3 years:
Minimum of 16 years total professional experience, minimum 5 years professional experience in relevant fields and minimum 3 years professional experience in management role


4. SELECTION
If you meet the formal requirements set out above, you will be assessed in view of selection for interview on the basis of the following criteria:

• Your academic and professional qualifications and their relevance to the main areas of work listed in section 1;
• Your professional experience: the range of fields covered; the type and level of work done and its relevance to the areas of work listed in section 1;

The following will be considered as assets:

• Experience of implementing the EU biocides legislation in industry or authority context;
• Experience in setting up an organisational unit;
• Experience of working in an international/multicultural environment.

5. HOW TO APPLY
All interested candidates are invited to apply, by filling in the Application Form and ECHA CV which you can find at the following web address:
http://echa.europa.eu/web/guest/about-us/jobs/open-positions

At the same web address you can find the complete vacancy notice and guide for applicants of this selection process.

The deadline for filling in the application form and submit the ECHA CV is 20 February 2012 at noon 12:00, Helsinki time (11:00 a.m.CET)