VACANCY NOTICE FOR POSITIONS OF
Expert - Chemicals, environment and health - Contract Agent (FG IV)
Reference no. EEA/CA/2026/6
Please send us your application by no later than 3 June 2026 at midnight (Copenhagen time), following the instructions in the ANNEX.
The European Environment Agency (EEA) is organising an open competition with a view to establishing a reserve list of experts to work in the field of chemicals, environment, and human health.
THE AGENCY:
The EEA is an Agency of the European Union (EU) and one of the decentralised Union bodies. The EEA aims to support sustainable development and to help achieve significant and measurable improvement in Europe’s environment, through the provision of timely, targeted, relevant and reliable information to policy-making agents and the public.
JOB DESCRIPTION:
Under the responsibility of the Head of Unit ‘Environment and Health’, reporting to the Head of Department ‘Environment and Sustainability’ (see organisational chart), the Expert shall be responsible for tasks related to chemicals, environment, and human health.
The 'Environment and Health' Unit in which the successful candidates would be based covers a range of topics including air quality, air pollution emissions inventories, environmental noise, chemicals and One Health, with a focus on the health effects (burden of disease) related to exposure to environmental pollution and other environmental risk factors. The candidate may be required to support other areas of work and to collaborate closely with colleagues across the agency.
The position will entail the following tasks:
- Participating in the Agency’s work on chemicals, environment and human health;
- Supporting chemicals priority setting, knowledge management and sustainability planning;
- Contributing to environmental monitoring activities and exposure-related work;
- Engaging in tasks related to the Partnership for the Assessment of Risk from Chemicals (PARC) and “One Substance, One Assessment” (OSOA)-related work;
- Supporting science-policy translation processes and interactions with EU institutions;
- Engaging with stakeholders to promote uptake and use of scientific outputs;
- Representing the EEA in relevant networks and working groups, including EIONET and other relevant EU agencies;
- Contributing to collaborative work within the EEA’s team on chemicals;
- Carrying out chemical data-related tasks, including data assessment and analysis of chemical datasets.
ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA:
Candidates applying must satisfy the following eligibility criteria on the closing date for the submission of applications:
a) a level of education which corresponds to completed university studies of at least three years attested by a diploma, OR where justified in the interest of the service, professional training of an equivalent level;
b) a minimum of 1 year of relevant professional experience after achieving the qualification set out above.
In addition, in order to be eligible a candidate must:
- Be a national of one of the member countries of the EEA (Member States of the European Union plus Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Switzerland and Türkiye);
- Enjoy full rights as a citizen;
- Have fulfilled any obligations imposed by law concerning military service;
- Have a thorough knowledge of one of the languages of the EEA member countries and a satisfactory knowledge of another of these languages (corresponding to level B.2 of the Common European Framework of Reference for languages CEFR);
- Meet the character requirements for the duties involved;
- Be physically fit to perform the duties linked to the post.
Candidates should assess carefully and check before submitting their application whether they fulfil all the conditions for admission laid down in the vacancy notice, particularly in terms of qualifications and relevant professional experience.
SELECTION CRITERIA:
(In your application, please provide examples from current or past work experience where these competencies have been applied)
Essential:
- Demonstrated experience in assessing the impacts of chemicals on the environment and human health;
- Demonstrated experience working in the science-policy interface and engaging with stakeholders, particularly with communicating scientific information to policymakers and diverse audiences;
- Sound knowledge and demonstrated experience working with EU legislation and governance in the area of chemicals and human health;
- Excellent project management skills and demonstrated experience of successful project delivery, including time management, task management, quality control and organisational skills;
- Excellent command of written and spoken English language, at least at level C1 in all categories according to the Common European Framework of Reference for Language.
Advantageous:
- Proven experience in regulatory hazard assessments or risk assessments of chemicals;
- Proven experience in monitoring of chemicals or exposure assessments.
In addition to the requirements above, candidates invited to the written test and interview stage, will also be assessed against the following behavioural competencies:
- Excellent communication, interpersonal and networking skills;
- Ability to establish and maintain effective working relations in a multicultural environment;
- Diversity awareness and sensitivity;
- Well-developed solution-oriented and problem-solving approaches;
- Ability to take responsibility for specific areas of work and to deliver to high standards;
- Service orientation and ability to understand stakeholder needs and requirements;
- Ability to seek out learning opportunities proactively, to handle situations and problems with innovation and creativity.
EMPLOYMENT CONDITIONS:
The successful candidate will be offered a Contract Agent contract in accordance with Article 3a) of the Conditions of Employment of Other Servants of the European Union. The selected candidate will be employed for an initial time period of four years, renewable.
Successful candidates who are recruited undergo an initial probation period of 9 months.
Please note that recruitment is done in the first step of the grade within Function Group IV to which the successful candidate qualifies, depending on the duration of the acquired professional experience.
For information on salary, please see information published under Contract Agents.
The place of work will be Copenhagen, Denmark.
It is brought to the particular attention of candidates that the provisions of Articles 11 to 26 of the Staff Regulations, concerning the rights and obligations of officials, shall apply by analogy to Contract Agents. These rules specify that:
“An official shall carry out his duties and conduct himself solely with the interests of the Union in mind. He shall neither seek nor take instructions from any government, authority, organization or person outside his institution. He shall carry out the duties assigned to him objectively, impartially and in keeping with his duty of loyalty to the Union.
An official shall not without the permission of the appointing authority accept from any government or from any other source outside the institution to which he belongs any honour, decoration, favour, gift or payment of any kind whatever, except for services rendered either before his appointment or during special leave for military or other national service and in respect of such service.
Before recruiting an official, the appointing authority shall examine whether the candidate has any personal interest such as to impair his independence or any other conflict of interest. To that end, the candidate, using a specific form, shall inform the appointing authority of any actual or potential conflict of interest. In such cases, the appointing authority shall take this into account in a duly reasoned opinion. If necessary, the appointing authority shall take the measures referred to in Article 11a(2).”
For further information on the Staff Regulations and the Conditions of Employment of Other Servants of the European Union see: Staff Regulations
SELECTION PROCEDURE:
A Selection Committee is set up for the selection procedure. It consists of members designated by the Appointing Authority and the Staff Committee. The Selection Committee is bound by the principle of confidentiality as enshrined in Article 6 of Annex III to the Staff Regulations. This works in two ways: first, it imposes obligations to ensure equal treatment for candidates; and second, it seeks to protect the Selection Committee to ensure that its decisions are totally impartial.
The Selection Committee adheres strictly to the conditions of admission laid down in the vacancy notice when deciding whether or not candidates are eligible. Candidates admitted to a previous selection procedure will not automatically be eligible. 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.
In a spirit of transparency, and in order to align our working methods with current practice in certain Member States, the administration has decided to proceed with the publication of names of Selection Committee members.
Should the Selection Committee discover at any stage in the procedure that the candidate does not meet one or more of the general or special conditions for admission to the selection procedure, the candidate will be disqualified.
The Selection Committee decides on those candidates who are admitted to the selection procedure in accordance with the requirements as specified under eligibility criteria. The applications of the candidates admitted to the selection procedure are reviewed to establish whether or not they show evidence of all requirements as specified under selection criteria.
The Selection Committee will invite to the interview and to the written test phase the best qualified candidates (maximum of 16). Should the case arise that there are various candidates scoring the same number of points in the 16th ranking, the number of candidates to be invited may be increased accordingly to accommodate this.
The interview will be held in English and the candidate’s knowledge of other languages will also be assessed during the interview. Candidates invited for an interview will be asked to undergo a written test in English, in the area of expertise required for the post. The test and the interview will take place online.
At the end of the interviews the Selection Committee will submit the list of suitable candidates to the Appointing Authority who will decide on the establishment of a reserve list for the post advertised or similar posts that may become available and on the appointment of the successful candidate. For that matter, a follow-up recruitment interview conducted by the Appointing Authority with the suitable candidates may be organised, if deemed appropriate. Candidates shall note that inclusion on the reserve list does not guarantee recruitment. Recruitment will be based on availability of posts and budget.
For information regarding requests, complaints and appeals, please refer to the instructions in the ANNEX.
The reserve list for this post will be valid until 31 December 2027 and may be extended at the discretion of the Appointing Authority.
Prior to contract signature, the successful candidate will be asked:
- to provide original or certified copies of all relevant documents proving his/her eligibility, including a police certificate confirming the absence of any criminal record;
- to undergo a compulsory medical examination to establish that he/she meets the standard of physical fitness necessary to perform the duties involved.
