JOB DESCRIPTION

MAKE A DIFFERENCE – JOIN THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION

Do you want to help shape the future of the European Union? Make the planet greener,
promote a fairer society, or support businesses and innovation across the EU? Then come and
work for the European Commission where you can really make a difference!

Commission staff are a diverse group of people, who are motivated to help make Europe – and
the world – a better place. They come from the 27 Member States of the European Union.
Different nationalities, backgrounds, languages and cultures make the Commission a vibrant and
inclusive place to work.

WE OFFER ATTRACTIVE WORKING CONDITIONS AND MUCH MORE:

•

Interesting and challenging positions with plenty of opportunities for training and
acquiring new skills and competencies throughout your whole career

• Opportunities to try several areas of move between different policy your career
• A package of flexible working conditions including the possibility of teleworking – we

care about your work-life balance

• A competitive financial package, including comprehensive healthcare, accident and

pension schemes

• A multilingual, multicultural workplace where personal and career development are

strongly promoted

• Multilingual schools for your children

We recruit from a wide range of backgrounds and actively promote diversity and
inclusion:

We do not only recruit political scientists and lawyers but are also looking for all kinds of
profiles, including scientists, linguists, IT experts, data analysts and economists, as well as drivers
and engineers.

We are committed to equal opportunities and to fostering a rich, diverse and inclusive working
environment. We aim for our workforce to be representative of European society and strongly
welcome applications from all qualified candidates. We actively seek to create a workplace where
each staff member feels valued and respected, can give their best and can develop to their full
potential.

To promote diversity and establish a geographically balanced pool of candidates, we strongly
encourage applicants from Member States which are currently underrepresented in the European
Commission workforce to apply. These Member States are currently Austria, Cyprus, the Czech
Republic, Denmark, the Netherlands, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Luxembourg, Malta,
Poland, Portugal, Slovakia and Sweden1. Recruitment will however remain strictly based on the
merits of all applicants and no positions will be reserved for nationals of any specific Member
State.

STAFF RECRUITED ON CONTRACTS

In addition to permanent officials, the European Commission offers non-permanent positions.
There are two categories of non-permanent staff:

•

temporary agents are recruited to fill vacant positions for a set amount of time or
to perform highly specialised tasks.

• contract agents may provide additional capacity in specialised fields where an

insufficient number of officials is available or carry out a number of administrative or
manual tasks. They are generally recruited for fixed-term contracts (maximum 6 years in
any EU Institution), but in some cases they can be offered contracts for an indefinite
duration (in offices, agencies, delegations or representations).

For more information on different staff categories

1 Please note that the list of underrepresented Member States may be subject to future amendment based on potential
data changes over time.

(Reference: Call for interest EC/2025/BUDG/495716)

Legal Officer

in DG BUDG of the European Commission

Job title: Legal officer
Domain: Law
Where: Unit BUDG.E.4 – ‘Knowledge Management’, Brussels
Function Group: FG IV
Contract Type: 3b
Express your interest until: 29/08/2025 – 18.00 (Brussels time)

WE ARE

DG BUDG is committed to offer equal opportunities, foster a rich, diverse an equal and inclusive
working environment.

Directorate E – the Central Financial Service (CFS) is the lead service as regards the Financial
Regulation, its application and interpretation. The CFS develops and monitors the rules applicable to
the actions implemented by the Commission through the various management modes. The CFS
also provides guidance to Commission departments and other Institutions in the areas of internal
control, risk management and financial and management reporting. In addition, it promotes the
implementation and protection of the EU budget against fraud, conflict of interests and other rule
of law deficiencies by developing a partnership with the Member States and by operating the Early
Detection and Exclusion System (EDES).

Within Directorate E, we are the Knowledge Management Unit (Unit E.4). We are a service-oriented
Unit that promotes the active sharing of knowledge and information on financial and budgetary
matters within our Directorate-General and the Commission, as well as with Agencies, Bodies, and
other EU Institutions.

Our Unit is an interface between DG BUDG and the rest of the finance community in the
Commission and beyond. This means that our team is regularly exposed to external stakeholders
and carries high visibility in the finance community. We carry out our mission by organising a wide
array of communication, knowledge-sharing and training activities. We are responsible for
centralised training on budgetary and financial knowledge (Central Financial Service Training Team),
we operate the Financial Helpdesk answering questions on financial and budgetary issues (Central
Financial Service Helpdesk Team) and we run the Finance Community Network (RUF Network,
Réseau des Unités Financières) of the Commission and Executive Agencies (RUF Team).

We have also built and are operating a new corporate platform, BUDGpedia which aims to be a
one-stop-shop for all finance and budget information in the Commission and beyond. We contribute
to encouraging collaboration and best practices in the finance community through the creation of
communities of practice and by promoting structured knowledge management.

(Reference: Call for interest EC/2025/BUDG/495716)

Our Unit also hosts the Communication and Knowledge Management Task Force of DG BUDGET.
The Task Force is in charge of:

• external communication activities of DG BUDG, contacts with the Commission’s
Spokespersons Service, the Cabinet Communication Adviser and DG COMM; this includes
relations with the press, web presence, social media activities, graphic design and the
organisation of events and any other necessary outreach activities in relation to DG BUDG
competences;

•

internal communication activities of DG BUDG, including the intranet, internal newsletters
and messages, the organisation of events and any other initiatives meant to foster staff
engagement, knowledge-sharing and communication.

By pooling together in-house communication and knowledge management expertise, we aim to
communicate to our external stakeholders and to the budget and finance community of the EU
Institutions in a coordinated and sustained manner on all the key files of DG BUDG in the coming
months.

Our Unit is matrix-based and we work together across teams. We are a friendly, dynamic and
supportive team of approx. 30 colleagues, located in Brussels and working in close cooperation with
other Units.

WE PROPOSE

Unit E.4 of DG BUDGET is seeking to hire a legal officer – contract agent – FG IV group.

Do you have solid experience in law/financial management/budget implementation? Do you enjoy
finding solutions to practical problems, providing interpretation on complex financial and legal
issues, making engaging presentations and explaining procedures clearly? Would you like to
promote sound financial management and better knowledge management across the EU
Institutions? If yes, you may like working with us!

You will be primarily responsible for answering questions addressed to the Central Financial
Helpdesk on the application of the financial rules. In addition to relying on your own expertise, you
will also be called upon to liaise with a network of experts in the Directorate and in the whole
Directorate-General. You will contribute ideas to enhance the clients’ satisfaction, develop smooth
coordination and contribute to knowledge-building together with other Units in the DG, as well as
Finance Units in the Commission and Agencies. This post offers an excellent opportunity to gain
more in-depth knowledge of financial rules as well as a unique global view of their application
throughout the Commission and Agencies.

You will also be called to work on coordinating the activities of the Finance Community Network
(RUF Network, Réseau des Unités Financières) of the Commission and Executive Agencies (with the
RUF Team). The RUF provides a platform to exchange information among its members (Heads of
Unit/Deputy Heads of Unit of all the finance units), the wider finance community, and DG Budget.
The aim of the RUF is to share good practices and assess on an ongoing basis how to improve
financial management. In this team, you will be requested to help with the strategic agenda of the

(Reference: Call for interest EC/2025/BUDG/495716)

meetings, organisational matters, liaise with the expert units in the Directorate-General and
coordinate the meetings with the RUF President.

You may also take part in other work streams of the Unit relating to a variety of knowledge
management projects. You will be involved in the sharing of knowledge via BUDGpedia which is the
European Commission’s corporate knowledge management platform for budget and finance,
hosted by DG Budget. Over time, you may also be expected to deliver a selection of financial
courses contained in the catalogue of the Central Financial Service to colleagues from the
Commission, Agencies and other EU Institutions and to assist in developing new innovative learning
activities.

WE LOOK FOR

We are looking for a legal officer as a contract agent – FG IV group.

The ideal qualities for the job are motivation and a proactive approach, for a colleague who enjoys
work in a service with high visibility, reaching out to many colleagues across the financial
community in the EU Institutions, Agencies and Bodies.

The skills we most value for this job are:

• Excellent legal and analytical skills and the capacity to offer pragmatic and sound solutions

to concrete questions/situations;

• Solid and documented experience with EU financial rules (the Financial Regulation) and
management, especially in the field of procurement and grants, familiarity with financial
systems and procedures would be an asset;

• A very good understanding of the Commission’s legal, financial and operational issues

would be an asset;

• Proven ability to work across teams and projects, often working under tight deadlines and

regularly exposed to external stakeholders;

• Openness to adapt new organisational procedures due to changing working modes and

working environments;

• Excellent drafting and communication skills in English (French an asset);

• Excellent oral communication skills and the capacity to give trainings to a wide and diverse

audiences, with different expertise;

• Ability to cooperate and develop smooth coordination and networking with other Units in

the DG, as well as other DGs and Agencies is a pre-requisite;

• Determination to provide good service in response to clients’ needs;

• Digital skills;

• Team spirit, interpersonal skills, a sense of responsibility, accountability, and a service-

oriented approach are essential.

(Reference: Call for interest EC/2025/BUDG/495716)

HOW TO EXPRESS YOUR INTEREST?

With a view to guaranteeing equal access to all, the Commission recruits from an open database of
spontaneous applications. The present call for interests aims at helping the recruiters to identify
potentially interested candidates within this database.

In practice, to express your interest, please follow the subsequent two steps:

1.

If you are not registered yet in the open EPSO database, please do so at the following
address: CAST Permanent. Please select under selection procedures for contract agent the
CAST permanent profile that best suits your education and experience.

2. You should send your documents in a single pdf in the following order:

2. completed application form.
these documents by

1. your CV
to BUDG-MAILBOX-
Please send
[email protected] indicating the call for interest reference EC/2025/BUDG/495716 in the
subject.

the publication deadline

No applications will be accepted after the publication deadline.

(Reference: Call for interest EC/2025/BUDG/495716)

ANNEX

1. Selection

 Am I eligible to apply?

You must meet the following eligibility criteria when you validate your application:

Our rules provide that you can only be recruited as a contract agent at the European Commission if
you:

General criteria:

• Are a citizen of a Member State of the EU and enjoy full rights as a citizen;
• Have fulfilled any obligations imposed by applicable laws concerning military service;
• Are physically fit to perform the duties linked to the position;
• Produce the appropriate character references as to suitability for the performance of the

duties.

• Have passed an EPSO CAST in the relevant Function Group for this position. At the stage of

the application, it is sufficient to be registered in the EPSO CAST data base.

Qualifications:

(a) Have a level of education which corresponds to completed university studies of at least

three years attested by a diploma.

Only qualifications issued or recognised as equivalent by EU Member State authorities (e.g. by the
Ministry of Education) will be accepted.

Languages:

• have a thorough knowledge (minimum level C1) of one of the 24 official languages of the

EU2

• AND have a satisfactory knowledge (minimum level B2)3 of a second official language of

the EU, to the extent necessary for the performance of the duties.

 What about the selection steps?

The selecting unit chooses from the EPSO database4 candidates with the appropriate profile and
invites them to an interview. For the interview a selection panel is set-up to assess the best

2 The official languages of the European Union are: BG (Bulgarian), CS (Czech), DA (Danish), DE (German), EL
(Greek), EN (English), ES (Spanish), ET (Estonian), FI (Finnish), FR (French), GA (Irish), HR (Croatian), HU
(Hungarian), IT (Italian), LT (Lithuanian), LV (Latvian), MT (Maltese), NL (Dutch), PL (Polish), PT (Portuguese),
RO (Romanian), SK (Slovak), SL (Slovenian), SV (Swedish).
3 For details on language levels, please see the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages
(https://europass.cedefop.europa.eu/en/resources/european-language-levels-cefr).

(Reference: Call for interest EC/2025/BUDG/495716)

candidates. Due to the large volume of applications that we may receive only candidates selected
for the interview will be notified.

For operational reasons and in order to complete the selection procedure as quickly as possible in
the interest of the candidates and of the institution, the selection procedure will be carried out in
English and possibly in a second official language.

2. Recruitment

The candidate selected for recruitment will be requested to provide documentary evidence in
support of the statements made in the database and, where relevant, the call for interest.

The successful candidate will be required to undergo a mandatory pre-recruitment medical check-
up carried out by the Commission.

 Type of contract and working conditions

The place of employment will be in Brussels.

The successful candidate will be engaged as a contract agent under Article 3(b) of the
Conditions of Employment of Other Servants, in function group FG IV. General information on
Contract Agents can be found at this link.

The grade or proposed grade range, as well as the step in that grade, will be defined on the basis
of the candidates’ previous professional experience, in accordance with Commission Decision
C(2017)6760 laying down the criteria applicable to classification in step on engagement.

The duration of the first contract will be of 1 years. Subject to the interest of the service, the
contract can be extended to a maximum duration of 6 years.

The duration of the extension will be defined according to the General Implementation Rules in
force at that moment, in accordance with Commission Decision C(2017)6760 on policies for the
engagement and use of contract agents.

All new staff have to successfully complete a 9-month probationary period.

4 Therefore, candidates who did not pass already a CAST on the level Function Group [IV], should register their
profile at this address.

(Reference: Call for interest EC/2025/BUDG/495716)

The pay of staff members consists of a basic salary supplemented with specific allowances,
including, where applicable, expatriation and family allowances. The provisions guiding the
calculation of these allowances can be consulted in the Conditions of Employment of Other
Servants. As a member of staff of the European institutions, your pay is subject to a tax raised by
those institutions.

The European Commission applies a policy of equal opportunities and non-discrimination in
accordance with Article 1d of the Staff Regulations.

Should you need further information on working conditions, please refer to Working conditions and
benefits of EU Careers.

For information related to Data Protection, please see the Specific Privacy Statement under “7.
Information to data subjects on their rights”, to find your rights and how to exercise them in
addition to the privacy statement, which summarises the processing of your data.

(Reference: Call for interest EC/2025/BUDG/495716)