Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators Jobs

Mission and mandate

ACER was established by Regulation (EC) 713/2009 as part of the third energy package and became operational in March 2011 in its Ljubljana headquarters. The Agency's legal basis was substantially re-cast by Regulation (EU) 2019/942 (the recast ACER Regulation) in the clean-energy package, which substantially extended the Agency's regulatory competence on cross-border issues, hydrogen, and the integration of renewable energy.

ACER's mandate has five pillars. First, network codes and guidelines: ACER drafts and recommends to the European Commission binding network codes and guidelines that govern cross-border electricity and gas trading, network connection, system operation, grid balancing, capacity allocation, and congestion management. Once adopted by Commission implementing regulations, these codes apply directly to transmission system operators and market participants across the EU.

Second, REMIT, the Regulation on Wholesale Energy Market Integrity and Transparency (Regulation (EU) 1227/2011). ACER monitors EU wholesale electricity and gas markets to detect insider trading, market manipulation, and other prohibited practices. It runs the central REMIT data-collection system, registers market participants, and cooperates with national regulators on enforcement. REMIT cases have been a growing operational workload, particularly during and after the 2021 to 2023 energy price crisis.

Third, oversight of ENTSO-E and ENTSO-G: ACER reviews the European Networks' ten-year network development plans, approves the methodology for the EU-wide resource adequacy assessment, and reviews the financial-flows mechanisms between transmission system operators (Inter-TSO Compensation, ITC).

Fourth, EU-wide capacity calculation and resource adequacy: ACER reviews the methodologies used for calculating cross-border transmission capacity and for assessing whether the EU has sufficient generation and demand-response resources.

Fifth, dispute resolution and individual decisions: ACER can take individual decisions on cross-border issues where national regulators have failed to reach agreement, on specific REMIT cases, and on selected exemptions from EU energy-market rules. Individual decisions can be challenged before the Board of Appeal and the EU Courts.

Structure and operational divisions

ACER is led by a Director appointed by the Board of Regulators (composed of the heads of the 27 national energy regulators) for a renewable five-year term. The Board of Regulators is ACER's main political body for opinions and recommendations. The Administrative Board approves the work programme and budget, and the Board of Appeal (an independent body of six members) hears appeals against ACER decisions.

The Agency's internal organisation is grouped into five operational departments plus corporate services. The Electricity Department drafts network codes and guidelines for the electricity sector, oversees the implementation of EU electricity-market rules, monitors cross-border capacity calculation and system operation, and contributes to grid-development planning. This is the largest department in headcount.

The Gas Department covers the same functions for the gas sector, with growing focus on hydrogen and renewable gases, gas-storage adequacy, and security-of-supply coordination in the wake of the post-2022 European gas-market crisis.

The Market Monitoring Department runs REMIT, the wholesale energy market monitoring framework, the central data-collection system, market-participant registration, and enforcement coordination with national regulators. This department has grown materially since 2022 in response to the energy-price crisis.

The Markets and Resources Department oversees resource adequacy assessment, capacity mechanisms, market design issues, and the cross-cutting analytical work supporting the other operational departments.

The Corporate Services and Administration Department covers HR, finance, IT, legal (including litigation), procurement, and the Director's Cabinet.

Hiring landscape over the last 12 months

ACER has been on a meaningful growth trajectory since 2022, driven by the post-energy-crisis legislative package (the gas-and-hydrogen package, the electricity-market design reform) and by sustained pressure on REMIT market-monitoring capacity. Typical annual hiring is 20 to 35 vacancy notices across the five operational departments.

Hiring is concentrated at AD5 and AD7 grades for energy-market specialists and economists, with periodic AD9 senior policy expert and AD12 head-of-section notices. The Market Monitoring Department has run several rounds of REMIT analyst and data-specialist hiring at AD5 to AD7 and FG IV. The Electricity Department has hired network-code experts at AD7 and AD9 levels, particularly for the recast electricity market design files. The Gas Department has hired hydrogen and renewable-gas specialists at AD5 to AD9 levels as the hydrogen regulatory framework develops.

Contract-agent hiring at FG III and FG IV is concentrated in IT, data engineering, REMIT data analysis, communications, finance, and HR. Seconded national experts from national energy regulators are a continuous and important channel, typically 10 to 20 SNE postings active at any given time. Several major member states (Germany, France, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark) rotate experts through ACER on two-to-four-year secondments.

The candidate pool for ACER posts is highly specialist: energy economists, network-code experts, REMIT analysts from national regulators, energy lawyers from large law firms, and economists from energy think tanks form the typical pool. Selection is competitive but the specialist nature of the work means well-credentialed candidates progress through the structured selection process well.

Salary realism by grade and the Ljubljana coefficient

ACER staff are paid under the EU Staff Regulations and the Ljubljana duty-station correction coefficient is 86.5. An AD5 step 1 in Ljubljana grosses €6,153 × 0.865 = €5,322 monthly basic; AD7 step 1 €7,876 × 0.865 = €6,813; AD9 step 1 €10,083 × 0.865 = €8,722. With expatriation (16%) and household allowance for a married hire with one child the on-paper figure for an AD7 typically lands around €9,000 to €10,000 gross monthly.

Ljubljana's cost of living is moderate and materially below Brussels for housing. Two-bedroom rents in central Ljubljana run €900 to €1,400 monthly. The city is small, has a high quality of life, a strong cultural offering, and easy access to the Alps and the Adriatic coast. The expatriation allowance applies for staff who have not lived in Slovenia during the previous decade. The education allowance covers most international-school fees, although Ljubljana's international-school landscape is more limited than Brussels or The Hague.

Net purchasing power for an ACER AD7 in Ljubljana is broadly comparable to a Brussels AD7 for an unmarried hire and somewhat above for a married hire with children, given the lower housing cost. For specialist energy-economist hires from Western European member states the package is competitive against national regulator pay and below large-utility or large-trading-house pay for equivalent experience, the ACER offer is the regulatory mission and institutional stability.

Languages, security clearance, and competition profile

English is the working language of ACER in practice, all network-code drafting, REMIT analysis, and internal communication are in English. Knowledge of Slovenian is useful for daily life but not required for the work itself. The regulatory second-language minimum applies under the Staff Regulations.

Most ACER staff do not require security clearance. Selected posts working on REMIT market-manipulation case-work or on security-of-supply coordination may require EU Confidential. Clearance is granted by the home member state.

ACER is not recruited via EPSO. All vacancies are advertised on the agency's careers page and shared on the EU Careers platform. Selection processes are run in-house. The competition profile is highly specialist: well-prepared candidates with energy-market, energy-regulation, energy-law, or energy-economics backgrounds progress well; generalist public-policy candidates face a steep bar at the written test and interview stages. Internal mobility is significant and many senior posts are filled internally.

Application paths

Three main routes. Temporary agent: the dominant route for energy-market specialists, economists, lawyers, and REMIT analysts. Apply directly to the published vacancy notice on the ACER careers page; expect a CV and motivation letter screening, a written test (frequently an energy-regulation or market-monitoring case study), and a structured competency-based interview. Reserve lists are typically valid for 12 to 24 months.

Contract agent: a meaningful share of hiring, concentrated in IT, data engineering, REMIT data analysis, communications, finance, and HR. Candidates register on CAST Permanent in the relevant function group and respond to ACER notices that draw from the CAST pool, or apply directly to ACER CA notices.

Seconded national expert: serving energy regulators from national energy authorities apply through their national point of contact. SNE postings are typically two to four years and are particularly important for network-code drafting and REMIT enforcement coordination where national-regulator operational expertise is essential.

A practical note: ACER's small size and tight specialist focus mean the agency is one of the most internally cohesive EU agencies. Career staff typically spend five-to-ten years at the agency and then move laterally to a national energy regulator, a large utility's regulatory affairs function, an energy law firm, or back into EU policy work at the Commission's DG ENER. The career capital from substantive network-code drafting or REMIT enforcement is high in the EU energy regulatory labour market.