Expert Respiratory Viruses

Contract length: 5 years (renewable)
Location: Stockholm

Is this job for you? 

You will work in the Respiratory Virus section in the Directly transmitted and Vaccine-preventable Diseases unit. To find out more about what the unit does, visit https://www.ecdc.europa.eu/en/about-us/ecdcs-organisational-structure.

Reporting to the Head of Section Respiratory Viruses, you will be part of a team of approximately 12 staff.

In this position, you will have a wide variety of tasks that will give you the opportunity to:

• Assist Member States in strengthening their communicable disease surveillance and response in the area of respiratory viruses, including surveillance and response at the animal-human interface for zoonotic influenza; 

• Contribute to analytical work using surveillance and other data concerning respiratory viruses to provide insightful information for decision-making and for defining public health priorities; 

• Identify relevant areas where ECDC scientific advice is needed to strengthen prevention and control of respiratory infections in the EU and contribute to developing the evidence for such advice. This can lead to ECDC evidence-based recommendations and advice on ECDC initiative or in response to questions from the EU Member States, the European Commission, the European Parliament, and other stakeholders; 

• Communicate respiratory virus surveillance data, evidence, and ECDC advice for informing prevention and control strategies and policies. This may include the coordination/contribution to technical reports, updating of the ECDC web content, preparation of scientific publications, and presentations at events;

• Contribute to the production of the weekly EU surveillance bulletin on respiratory viruses (ERWIS);

• Collaborate with national/international bodies, and with other relevant networks, partners and stakeholders; 

• Contribute to the production of risk/threat assessments and outbreak assessments concerning respiratory viruses, including for zoonotic influenza;

• Contribute to the monitoring and assessment of countries’ surveillance, preparedness and response systems for respiratory viruses.

• Contribute to other activities of ECDC as required, within your field of competence including participation to activities in the context of public health emergencies and contribution to the 24/7 duty system.

Administrative and operational tasks in the job mostly relate to developing public procurement procedures for outsourcing some research and analysis tasks, such as scientific studies and technical reports, provide strategic direction to external contractors and monitoring the quality of their work.

What are we looking for?

Formal requirements

For your application to be considered eligible you must fulfil all the following requirements by the application deadline:

• A level of education which corresponds to completed university studies of at least 3 years attested by a diploma[1]
• Thorough knowledge of one of the official EU languages and a satisfactory knowledge of another official EU language to the extent necessary for the performance of your duties[2];
• Nationality of one of the EU Member States or of Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and to be entitled to your full rights as a citizen;
• To have fulfilled any obligations imposed by the applicable laws on military service;
• Meet the character requirements for the duties involved[3]; and
• Be physically fit to perform the duties linked to the post.

You will need to provide appropriate documents to show that you meet all of the above criteria.

Selection criteria

For your application to be evaluated further, you will also need:

• At least 5 years of professional experience (following the award of the diploma), acquired in positions relevant to the job description;

• Proven experience in working on surveillance of respiratory viruses at national or international level, including setting up or evaluation of a surveillance system, monitoring of data quality, providing feedback to data providers, and translating surveillance data into recommendations for public health action; 

• Proven experience in setting up, designing, coordinating or contributing to an epidemiological/microbiological study to address a public health question (this may not be related to a respiratory infection); 

• Proven experience in working with a statistical software such as R or similar; 

• Proven experience in developing evidence-based public health advice or guidance;

• Proven experience in communicating scientific information to professionals, scientists as well as to a wider audience, especially through oral presentations, technical reports or scientific articles; 

• Experience in project management and in working with multidisciplinary teams of experts; 

• Excellent command of English, both written and spoken.

Additionally, we will assess the following competencies:

• Good organisational skills: a planned approach to tasks and ability to prioritise, work under pressure and manage responsibilities; 

• Ability to work collaboratively and build strong working relationships; 

• Being results oriented; 

• Being quality driven and service minded. 

Depending on the number of applications received, the selection committee may apply stricter requirements within the aforementioned selection criteria.

Why ECDC?

You will play an active role in making a tangible difference in public health. 

At ECDC you will join a team of more than 400 colleagues with diverse backgrounds and professions who work together for the common goal of helping countries prevent and respond to outbreaks and public health threats. Every position at ECDC plays an important part, and we cooperate closely for our collective goals. 

ECDC is an equal opportunities employer and encourages applications from all suitably qualified candidates without any distinction on grounds of age, gender, sexual orientation, disability, ethnic or social origin, religion, or belief.

As an ECDC staff member, you will have the chance to own or support initiatives impacting the health and well-being of people in Europe. You will have access to the latest European-level surveillance data and dedicated expertise in your field, collaborate with various experts and organisations across Europe and beyond, and you will be part of public health-relevant infectious disease networks. 

You will be joining ECDC at interesting times. In October 2022, the European Parliament endorsed an extended mandate that will allow ECDC to adopt a stronger role in supporting EU Member States in the prevention and control of infectious disease threats and improve European preparedness and response. This includes real-time surveillance systems, mobilising an EU Health Task Force to assist local responses in Member States and building a network of EU reference laboratories. 

What can we offer you?

We offer a competitive salary and a range of benefits, including health insurance, learning opportunities and flexible work arrangements such as flexible working hours and teleworking in the Stockholm area for part of the week. Additionally, you can work up to 10 days a year from outside the Stockholm area.

Depending on your experience, the monthly basic salary starts at € 6224,44 and may be supplemented by various allowances including, as applicable, expatriation and/or generous family allowances. Salary is exempt from national tax and instead an Agency tax is deducted. We also provide financial support when relocating to Stockholm.

Our benefits package is designed to support a healthy work-life balance, and we are committed to creating a supportive and inclusive work environment that values the well-being of our employees. 

Learn more about the benefits of joining ECDC here: https://www.ecdc.europa.eu/en/about-ecdc/work-ecdc/staff-positions/what-we-offer 

How does our selection process work?

Our selection process takes, on average, three months from the application deadline. All selection processes include a remote written test and a video conference interview; some selection processes may include additional steps.

After a candidate has been selected for the position, additional shortlisted candidates can be placed on a reserve list. The reserve list may be used when ECDC needs to fill similar positions at the same level in the future. The reserve list is valid until 31 December 2026 and may be extended.

Visit https://www.ecdc.europa.eu/en/about-us/work-with-us/internal-procedure-recruitment-selection for an overview of the different steps in the selection process and see the ECDC-candidate-guide.pdf (europa.eu) for a detailed explanation of the selection and recruitment process. 

When starting a new contract under the EU staff regulations, all new staff must successfully complete a probationary period of nine months.

How do you apply?

To apply for this vacancy, please create/log in to your ECDC e-recruitment user account.

See detailed instructions on how to apply here: https://www.ecdc.europa.eu/sites/default/files/documents/Candidate-E-recruitment-user-guide.pdf

Please submit your application well ahead of the deadline in case of technical issues and/or heavy traffic on the website. After submitting your application, you will receive an automatic email message confirming receipt of your application. Ensure that the email address you provide for your applicant account is correct and that you check your email regularly.

ECDC does not accept applications submitted after the deadline or applications submitted by email, mail or any other means.

Only candidates selected for interviews will be notified. You can see the progress of the selection process from within your e-recruitment account. 

Translations of this vacancy notice in all EU languages can be obtained by using the automatic translation function on this website.

Note: 

While this vacancy notice can be translated into all official EU languages from its English original, the language of day-to-day operations in the Agency is generally English. ECDC therefore prefers to receive the application in English.

Disclaimer: Please note that in the event of any differences in meaning or interpretation between the original English version of this content and a translation, the original English version takes precedence

We welcome your application!