JOB DESCRIPTION

Policy Officer
in DG HERA of the European Commission

Job title*: Policy Officer – medical countermeasures
Domain**: Health
Where: Unit HERA.3, Medical Counter-Measures, Brussels
Function Group: FG IV
Contract Type: 3b
Express your interest until: 28.11.2025 – 12.00 (noon, Brussels time)

WE ARE

The Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority (HERA) is established as a
improve
Directorate-General of the European Commission.
is to
preparedness and response to serious cross-border threats
in the area of medical
countermeasures, in particular:

Its core mandate

• Strengthening health security coordination within the Union involving all relevant actors
during preparedness and crisis response times and bringing together the EU Member
States, industry and relevant stakeholders in a common effort;

• addressing vulnerabilities and strategic dependencies within the Union related to the
development, production, procurement, stockpiling and distribution of medical
countermeasures;

• contributing to reinforcing the global health emergency response architecture.

HERA is responsible for the following tasks which shall be exercised in close cooperation with
the Member States:

• Assessment of health
countermeasures;

threats and

intelligence gathering

relevant

to medical

• promoting advanced research and development of medical countermeasures and related
technologies;

• addressing market challenges and boosting the Union’s open strategic autonomy in medical
countermeasures production;

• swift procurement and distribution of medical countermeasures;

• increasing stockpiling capacity of medical countermeasures;

• strengthening knowledge and skills in preparedness and response related to medical
countermeasures.

HERA.03 “Medical Countermeasures”
is responsible for the supply chain of medical
countermeasures, in particular manufacturing and procurement aspects. The unit establishes
and implements industrial policy to ensure Europe has access to innovative medical
countermeasures in future health emergencies, including funding actions such as grants and
procurement. It also manages joint procurement of medical counter-measures, in close
collaboration with Member States. HERA.03 is responsible for implementing key actions in the
upcoming Medical Countermeasures Strategy. The unit works closely with
industry
representatives and manages key stakeholder forums such as the Joint Industrial Cooperation
Forum, the upcoming RAMP UP and the HERA Stakeholders Hub. HERA 03 also cooperates
closely with HERA’s intelligence gathering and analysis unit as well as with Member States,
other Commission services, other EU bodies like EIB and international partners.

HERA’s website: https://ec.europa.eu/health/hera/overview_en

WE PROPOSE

HERA 03 is seeking to hire an expert to support its team preparing policy on the supply chain of
medical countermeasures. The candidate would:

• Contribute to the work on the implementation of the Medical Countermeasures

Strategy, strengthening medical countermeasures supply chains.

• Manage HERA’s engagement with industry and Member States, and participate in the
organisation of structured exchange with stakeholders. Responsibilities can also
include management of various forms of stakeholder outreach, including the Joint
Industrial Cooperation Forum, the Stakeholders Hub and RAMP UP.

• Organise calls for proposals under funding programmes, implementation of financial

instruments and outreach events.

• Conduct analyses of supply chains of selected medical counter measures, assess

vulnerabilities and identify policy solutions to address them.

• Contribute to the overall

improvement of key policy tools aiming to address

vulnerabilities of the supply chains of medical countermeasures.

• Contribute to horizontal requests related to Unit’s activities: briefings, parliamentary
questions, press enquiries, exchanging with key stakeholders, notably in the context of
the MCM Joint Industrial Cooperation Forum.

These assignments require frequent contacts with the representatives of the pharmaceutical
and medical devices /personal protective equipment industry (e.g. marketing authorisation
holders and manufacturers) and the representatives of Member States and other countries
participating in the Joint Procurement Agreement (in particular Ministries of Health and health
purchase authorities). There are also frequent contacts with other Directorate-Generals of the
European Commission (in particular SANTE, ECHO, BUDG, LS), commercial and other

professional organisations involved in the development of medical countermeasures including
pharmaceutical industry, as well as regional and EU-level organisations.

The job is highly visible and essential to the cross-border health crisis response and
preparedness.

WE LOOK FOR

The job requires an academic background relevant to work on medical countermeasures. We
are looking for a highly motivated and skilled colleague to join our team. The candidate should
demonstrate experience in organisation of stakeholder events of high participation and in
managing structured exchanges with stakeholders at fast pace. A background in industrial
policy
(pharmaceuticals, or other medical
countermeasures) is recommended. The candidate should have very good interpersonal,
networking and communications skills.

the health sector

in particular

from

The candidate should be able to rely on strong digital skills to make coordination and
organisation activities efficient. Experience for using digital tools to stakeholder outreach would
be an asset.

He/she should be able to manage several files simultaneously and to produce high quality
written material within short deadlines. He/ she should be able to work autonomously and in a
team. Finally, HERA being a DG that ensure preparedness and response to Health crisis, the
colleague recruited will have to show flexibility both in tasks and working hours. Some atypical
working hours (evening, weekend) may be requested

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 FG IV 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.

1. your CV
Please send these documents by the publication deadline to Olivier GIRARD DE SEGANVILLE
– [email protected] and [email protected] indicating the
call for interest reference HERA.3.- 501226 in the subject.

No applications will be accepted after the publication deadline.