General information

Organisation

The European Climate, Environment and Infrastructure Executive Agency (CINEA) has been established by the European Commission to support stakeholders in delivering the European Green Deal through high-quality programme management that helps to implement projects contributing to decarbonisation and sustainable growth. CINEA implements parts of EU funding programmes for transport, energy and climate action with strong focus on contributing to the European Commission's Green Deal priority.

The main programmes managed are:
•The Connecting Europe Facility (CEF);
• Horizon Europe: the EU's Research and Innovation programme for which CINEA manages the areas of transport and energy;
•The Innovation Fund;
•LIFE Programme;
•European Maritime, Aquaculture and Fisheries Fund;
•The EU Renewable Energy Mechanism;
•The Public Sector Loan Facility of the Just Transition Mechanism.

The budget managed by CINEA in 2021-2027 period is ca. € 58 billion

CINEA is based in Brussels with a multinational team of around 500 persons. The number of staff will grow further over the coming years, due to the Agency's new portfolio. The purpose of this publication is therefore to set up a reserve list, which will be used to cover the growing needs of the Agency.
More info on: https://cinea.ec.europa.eu/index_en, https://twitter.com/cinea_eu, Linkedin and our YouTube channel.

  

Position description

Profile

Financial Engineering - Financial Engineering Manager

Position title

Financial Engineering Adviser

Contract

Contract agent

Grade

FGIV

Mission description

The Agency has been entrusted mid-2020 with the implementation of the grant component of the Innovation Fund, one of the world's largest funding programmes for demonstration of innovative low-carbon technologies. The Innovation Fund is the successor to the NER300 programme.

The Innovation fund is a key funding instrument for delivering the European Green Deal, a package of measures aiming at becoming the first climate-neutral continent by 2050. The Innovation Fund focuses on demonstration and “first of a kind” projects in energy intensive industries (including products substituting carbon intensive ones), Carbon Capture and Utilisation (CCU), construction and operation of Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) and innovative renewable energy generation and energy storage.
The Financial Engineering (FE) team of CINEA is a quickly growing team, situated within the Unit responsible for Programme support, Coordination and Communication. The FE team contributes with its expertise in the field of financial engineering at different stages to the implementation of the Agency's programmes. The FE team is consulted already at the stage of the definition of programmes on various design options and helps shaping these programmes based upon its expertise.
As member of the FE team, the Financial Engineering Adviser shall contribute to the implementation of activities related to financial engineering within the Agency together with the relevant DGs of the European Commission, primarily with regards to the Innovation Fund. He/She shall, in support of and in close coordination with the Senior Financial Engineer Managers, work closely with a wider team of colleagues from the Agency and the European Commission.

Salary range

35-50 k€

Tasks

• During the preparation of the calls for proposals for the preparation of the Innovation Fund, contribute to improving :
o the processes and supporting tools for the evaluation and monitoring of financial and economic aspects of the project proposals and projects and;
o the documentation related to the call for proposals as well as guidance to external evaluators.
• Contribute to the identification and selection of financial and economic experts, ensuring their diversified and high quality input to the evaluation of projects applying for grants;
• Contribute to the evaluation of applications to the calls for proposals, ensuring high quality of experts' contributions to the evaluation;
• Implement the evaluation methodology and processes designed during call preparation, while respecting CINEA's norms, codes of conduct, procedures and control standards;
• Contribute to project management, knowledge sharing and dissemination of results;
• Monitor the implementation of projects selected for grants, in particular with respect to the milestones related to reaching financial close. This will involve regular contacts with beneficiaries and financing partners of the projects;
• Contribute to the dissemination of experience on best practices and lessons learned in relation to the financial structuring of projects;
• Contribute to an efficient feedback to policy, ensuring that experience from implementation of projects and calls is fed back to the relevant DGs of the European Commission.

Interview period - from :

24/04/2023

Interview period : to

26/06/2023

Selection procedure

Oral test (30 min)
Interview with the Selection Committee in English to assess:
• your suitability to carry out the duties of a Financial Engineering Adviser,
• your knowledge and experience in the field of Financial Engineering,
• your communication, inter-personal and problem-solving skills,
• your general knowledge about CINEA and related policies,
• your motivation and your ability to adjust to working as a Contractual Agent in a multicultural environment.


This test will be marked out of 100 (pass mark: 60).

Applicants receiving the minimum score and above (60 out of 100), will be included in a reserve list of suitable candidates. Please note that inclusion in the reserve list does not guarantee recruitment.

The Agency may have a second interview with the candidates in the reserve list. If the recruitment unit/department considers that writing skills need to be tested, a written test could be included in the procedure as part of the second interview. The test would not be scored and will be used as an additional source of information for taking the final decision on the candidate to be recruited.

Application procedure

For applications to be valid, candidates must submit:
• a detailed curriculum vitae, in EU CV format ;
• a letter of motivation, including his/her views on the proposed position (2 pages maximum).

Your CAST application ID number, the reference of CAST call and the name of the post must be mentioned in your CV and motivation letter.

Please note that the motivation letter forms an essential basis for the pre-selection decision.

Applications must be submitted through the eRecruitment system on our website at
https://cinea.ec.europa.eu/about-us/job-opportunities_en

Closing date: Applications must be sent no later than 27th March 2023 midnight.

Supporting documents showing evidence of the provided information may be requested at a later stage. No document will be sent back to candidates.
Candidates are invited to apply in English to facilitate the selection process.
In no circumstances should candidates approach the Selection Committee themselves, either directly or indirectly concerning this recruitment. The authority habilitated to conclude contracts reserves itself the right to disqualify any candidate who disregards these instructions.

Appointment and conditions of employment

The jobholder will be assigned on the basis of a shortlist proposed by the selection committee.

The jobholder will be recruited as contract staff, in function group IV, pursuant to Article 3a of the Conditions of Employment of Other Servants of the European Communities (CEOS).

The basic monthly salary within this function group will depend on the number of years of relevant professional experience at appropriate level (in function group IV, either grade 13, grade 14 or grade 16).

The jobholder will serve a probation period of nine months.

The initial contract will be for a duration of 1 year. Afterwards, the contract may be renewed for 1 additional year. If the contract is renewed again, it shall be concluded for an indefinite period.

The place of employment will be Brussels where the Agency has its activities.
For reasons related to the Agency's operational requirements, the candidate will be required to be available at short notice.

For further information on the legal framework of contract agents see the web site of the Directorate-General for Human Resources and Security (DG HR) on the internet at
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CONSLEG:1962R0031:20140101:EN:PDF

Publication date

Publication start date

06/03/2023

Publication end date

27/03/2023

Candidate criteria

Eligibility criteria

A. Eligibility criteria
• Be owner of a CAST in the grade for which you are applying* OR be registered in the EPSO/CAST/P/2/2017 before applying**;
• A level of education which corresponds to completed university studies of at least three years attested by a diploma OR, when in a member state of the European Union access to a profession of an equivalent level to function group IV is by State examination, professional training or any other equivalent procedure, the authority authorised to conclude contract of employment may agree to recognize this qualification as being equivalent to a university degree;
• After having obtained the diploma, 4 years professional experience acquired in positions related to the profile of the post;
• Thorough knowledge of one of the languages of the Communities and a satisfactory knowledge of another EU language to the extent necessary to perform his/her duties.

* Candidates must be included in the European Personnel Selection Office (EPSO) database for contract agents in function group IV and have successfully passed the EPSO selection tests for that function group. Please note that candidates who are on a valid EPSO list published in 2010 (CAST2010) are eligible on the condition they have successfully passed the complementary tests (DB3), as an Annex to the selection procedure CAST2010. The candidates concerned are invited to consult the letter they received from EPSO for further information.

Other eligibility criteria

** In the context of the call for expression of interest EPSO/CAST/P/2/2017 procedure , your application will be considered only if you are available to be flagged for the EPSO testing request during the screening phase of this selection process . The pre-selected candidates will be requested by the Agency to undergo the EPSO tests. Only candidates that have successfully passed the EPSO CAST selection will then be invited for an interview.

In addition, in order to be eligible a candidate must:
• be a national of one of the Member States of the European Union;
• be entitled to his/her full rights as citizen;
• meet the appropriate character reference as to his/her suitability for the performance of his/her duties;
• have fulfilled any obligations imposed by the applicable laws concerning military service, and;
• be physically fit to perform the duties linked to the post.

Please note that only candidates that comply with the Eligibility criteria will be considered for further steps of the Selection procedure.

(1) https://epso.europa.eu/contact/faq/contract-agents/cast-permanent_en

(2) Candidates who are blocked and therefore cannot be flagged in order to be invited by EPSO to undergo the EPSO/CAST/P/2/2017 competition, because they have failed in the previous testing windows, will be considered as not eligible regardless of the relevance or not of their CV.

Selection criteria

B. Selection criteria

Essential:
• At least two years of experience in project finance;
• Excellent drafting skills and proven experience in drafting analytical reports;
• Very good command of English (at least C1);
• Proven experience in financial and risk analysis and financing (either debt or equity/venture capital) of investment projects;
• Proven experience with developing or analysis of business models relevant to the greening of economy and to overcoming related economic or financial obstacles.

Advantageous:
• Understanding of Invest EU and EU policies relevant to the Innovation Fund and the European Green Deal;
• Experience in any of the following sectors: Energy intensive industries, Renewables, Energy Storage, Carbon capture, use and storage;
• Understanding of micro-economic aspects of industrial processes contributing to climate action, notably those falling under Emission trading Systems or benefitting from EU or national support schemes.

Personal qualities essential for the position:
• Good interpersonal and communication skills;
• Organisational skills and ability to work under pressure;
• Proven ability to work as a team member.

After having been preselected by the Selection Committee, the Agency will invite for an interview the best candidates, that have passed a CAST in the relevant function group or that have successfully passed the EPSO CAST selection EPSO/CAST/P/2/2017, with a maximum of 20 candidates invited to the interview.

Languages

English (Proficient C1)

Updates on the application process

An acknowledgement of receipt will be sent to all candidates by email to confirm the reception of their application.

All candidates will be informed in due time about the status of their application, i.e. whether they are invited for the selection phase described above or not. These notifications will be sent via email only.

A candidate may request clarifications about the processing of his/her application by sending an email quoting the reference of the vacancy notice concerned, to the following address: CINEA-HR-RECRUITMENT@ec.europa.eu

Equal opportunities, appeal procedure & data protection

Equal opportunities
The European Union institutions apply a policy of equal opportunities and accept applications without discrimination on the grounds of sex, race, colour, ethnic or social origin, genetic features, language, religion or belief, political or any other opinion, membership of a national minority, property, birth, disability, age or sexual orientation.

Appeal procedure: for complete list of means of redress please browse the following link:
https://cinea.ec.europa.eu/about-us/job-opportunities/means-redress_en

Data protection
The purpose of processing of the data submitted by candidates is to manage the applications in view of a possible pre-selection and recruitment at the CINEA. The personal information requested from candidates will be processed in line with Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2018 on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data by the Community institutions and bodies and on the free movement of such data.