Senior Specialist -Decryption Expert in the European Cybercrime Centre (EC3)

The Operations Directorate deals with the core business of Europol, improving the effectiveness and cooperation of the competent authorities in the Member States in preventing and combating serious and organised crime, as well as terrorism affecting the Member States. This requires close cooperation with the Liaison Bureaux at Europol and via them with the Operational Teams in the Member States.

Europol delivers a number of products and services to national law enforcement agencies to support them in their fight against international serious and organised crime, as well as terrorism.

Under Europol’s organisational structure, the Operations Directorate hosts five distinct departments: Front Office, European Serious Organised Crime Centre, European Cyber Crime Centre, European Counter Terrorism Centre, Horizontal Operational Services.

O3 The European Cybercrime Centre (EC3): EC3 serves as the centre for the Member States’ fight against cybercrime in the European Union, delivering operational and investigative support to the Member States on complex cybercrime investigations.

It also provides support to the European Union’s institutions and Member States in building operational and analytical capacity for investigations and cooperation with external partners.

EC3 is the collective voice of European cybercrime investigators across law enforcement and the Business Manager, Strategy is responsible for the coordination and delivery of all strategic products and external liaison.

The Forensic Laboratory of Europol offers a wide range of products and services to the competent national authorities of Member States and other partners in order to support them in preventing and combating serious and organised crimes and terrorism.

The recruitment is intended to establish a Reserve List for future appointment of successful candidate to vacant Senior Specialist positions in the European Cybercrime Centre.

The successful applicant will have to carry out the following main duties:

• Run the decryption capabilities of the organization, advice, develop and foresee opportunities;
• Enhance decryption success rate of Europol;
• Conduct reverse engineering activities;
• Provide specialised knowledge and technical support  in the field of expertise of Europol's Forensic Lab;
• Liaise with the competent authorities in the EU Member States, EU bodies, third countries and organisations in the field of digital forensics;
• Support projects of the unit, prepare, organise and chair meetings, training courses and conferences and represent
• Europol at specialised conferences on European and international level;
• Study new developments in the area of decryption;
• Draft documents and reports independently and in co-operation with other units and support business planning processes;
• Contribute to the development of methods, techniques and tools used by Europol and keep up to date with developments of decryption services;
• Perform any other duties in the area of competence as assigned by the line management.

CANDIDATES MUST:

• Be a national of one of the Member States of the European Union and enjoy full rights as a citizen;
• Have fulfilled any obligations imposed by the applicable laws on military service;
• Produce appropriate character references as to his or her suitability for the performance of the duties;
• Be physically fit to perform the duties pertaining to the position (prior to appointment the successful candidate will be medically examined by one of the institution’s medical officers in order that the institution may be satisfied that the candidate fulfils the requirements of Article 12(2)(d) CEOS);
• Produce evidence of a thorough knowledge of one of the languages of the Union and a satisfactory knowledge of another language of the Union to the extent necessary for the performance of the duties.

CANDIDATES MUST HAVE:

A level of education which corresponds to completed university studies attested by a diploma when the normal period of university education is four years or more;
OR
A level of education which corresponds to completed university studies attested by a diploma and appropriate professional experience of at least one year when the normal period of university education is three year;
          OR

Professional training of an equivalent level in a relevant area (e.g. Police Officer’s School) and after having completed the training, at least the number of years of relevant professional experience as indicated below:
          Duration of professional training                      Professional experience
          More than 6 months and up to 1 year                    4 years
          More than 1 year and up to 2 years                        3 years
          More than 2 years and up to 3 years                      2 year
          More than 3 years                                                   1 year

 In addition to the above at least 6 years of professional work experience gained after the award of the diploma.

SELECTION PROCEDURE
The Contracting Authority sets up a Selection Committee which consists of at least three members, one from the Human Resources Unit of Europol, one from the concerned Unit or Department and one designated by the Staff Committee.

For non-restricted posts the Contracting Authority may designate up to two additional members to the Selection Committee on a proposal from the Management Board, either from another service of Europol, from outside Europol or from outside the community institutions including Member States.

The Selection Committee determines candidates’ suitability for the position by assessing their skills, experience and qualifications against the established job profile and makes an initial selection from the applications received.

The Selection Committee will invite the 5 highest scoring candidates (short-listed). All candidates having a score equal to the 5th highest scoring candidate will be included in the list of invited candidates. Shortlisted applicants are invited to participate in a post-related selection procedure, generally consisting of written and/or practical tests and competency-based interviews.

The Contracting Authority makes a decision of appointment on the basis of advice from the Selection Committee. He will inform the Committee of his decision. All candidates who attend the selection procedure will be informed of the outcome.

Candidates who attended a selection procedure may request feedback on their performance of the written test and interview within three months after the selection procedure. Europol will not be in a position to respond to feedback inquiries received outside this time frame.

The Selection Committee’s work and deliberations are confidential. It is forbidden for candidates to make direct or indirect contact with the members of the Selection Committee or for anyone to do so on their behalf. All enquiries or requests for information or documentation in relation to the competition should be addressed to the Europol Recruitment Office.

Detailed information on the selection procedure, including the appeal procedure is available in the Europol Recruitment Guidelines, which can be found on Europol’s website.

SALARY
Scale: AD 7

The basic monthly salary is EUR 5 937.01 (step 1) or EUR 6 186.49 (step 2).

The step in grade is determined on the basis of professional experience gained after the education required for the position and in line with applicable implementing rules.

In addition, if applicable, allowances such as expatriation allowance, household allowance, dependent child and education allowance may be granted.

Europol offers a comprehensive welfare package comprising additional benefits such as medical insurance, unemployment and invalidity allowance as well as a pension scheme.

Salaries are subject to a community tax but exempt from national taxation.