Senior Project Officer – Executive Agency for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (EASME)

ABOUT US

The Executive Agency for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (EASME) was established by Commission Decision No. 2013/771/EU of 17 December 2013, repealing Decisions 2004/20/EC and 2007/372/EC.  Our role is to manage programmes on behalf of the European Commission.

Located in Brussels, the EASME has been operational since 2005 (under different mandates) and its official lifetime currently runs until 2024 (with a possible extension of the Agency’s mandate and programmes in the future).  We are international experts and specialists in business support, innovation, energy, environment, communication, and finance.  Our Agency has 3 departments and 8 units.  Our colleagues are both European Commission officials and professionals from the public and private sectors.

The Agency has a team-based culture with staff participation on all levels and an open and transparent way of communication. Commitment, integrity, objectivity, respect for others, transparency, team spirit, client-oriented attitude and expertise are the core values of our staff.

Moreover, the Agency has an interesting Learning & Development offer encouraging staff to further develop their professional and personal skills in line with EASME’s objectives. Several well-being initiatives in the areas of physical, mental and organisational health aim at supporting staff to improve its resilience to cope with the increased demands in a world of constant change.

EASME has an induction scheme in preparing the new staff’s arrival to the Agency. With the support of the HR department, the teams, the line managers and the buddies (more experienced colleagues assigned to support them), newcomers can easily integrate and settle in.

JOB DESCRIPTION

Overall purpose

The Unit A.2 “H2020 SME” is seeking a Senior Project Officer to support the sector “Project Management” in the implementation of the “SME instrument Grant Management”.

Under the direct supervision of the Head of Sector and overall guidance of the Head of Unit the jobholder will be responsible for the organisation, coordination and implementation of the Grant Management of ‘SME Instrument’ proposals, the coordination of the processes to ensure the quality and the efficiency of the Grant Management of the SMEs instrument and will contribute to an automated data analyses and management system for the Grant Management.

Functions and duties:

Programme/Project Management

• Assist the Head of Sector in all tasks related to the Project Management of the SME instrument;
• Coordinate the guidance provided to the beneficiaries ensuring timely replies to allow an easy and professional achievement of the programme management objectives;
• Coordinate a small team of project officers and ensure quality control and follow up of the portfolio of Grants;
• Contribute to the set-up of electronic tools for grant agreement follow-up and implementation and provide valuable input on the improvement of the relevant IT tools and procedures;
• Assist the Head of Sector to guarantee the quality of the Grant Management process and propose solutions/ideas to ensure its continuous improvement;
• Drive the process improvement having in mind the compliance to the existing procedures whilst operating flexibly in a fast changing environment;
• Act as verifying agent on all operational transactions and ensure they are in accordance with regulations, procedures and processes

Coordination and Assistance

•      Assist the Head of Sector and the teams with the follow up of the Grant management activities, including the budgetary aspects, for the SME instrument;

•      Assist the Head of Sector in activities of the project management sector, including coaching and training for the new colleagues of the team.

•      Ensure proper and timely information flow throughout the Unit;

Communication

•      Contribute to the training activities of the Unit, and where appropriate to other services of the agency;

•      Collaborate with other services dealing with aspects related to Grant management in particular provide presentations to relevant services of the parent DGs and to external stakeholders.

Read more and apply here.