Grade AD9
Contract Type Official – Head Of Unit
Salary Range €10,083 - €11,408/month
Deadline 1 June 2026
Position details
- Reference
- COR/AD9-AD14/18 BIS/26
- Last Verified
- 27 May 2026
Position overview
This is the official EU Careers listing for Head of Unit – Press office, relations with media at European Committee of the Regions based in Brussels, Belgium at the AD9 grade level (Official – Head Of Unit). The vacancy reference is COR/AD9-AD14/18 BIS/26.
Key facts on file for this position: grade AD9; contract type Official – Head Of Unit; duty station Brussels, Belgium. Full responsibilities, eligibility criteria, language requirements, and the selection procedure are set out in the official vacancy notice.
Salary at this grade
Basic monthly salary at AD9 runs from €10,083 (step 1) to €11,408 (top step), giving an annual range of roughly €120,996–€136,896 before tax and allowances. Steps increase automatically every two years; the figures here are taken from the salary grid in the EU Staff Regulations.
Eligible staff posted away from their country of nationality also receive an expatriation allowance worth 16% of basic salary — around €1,613 per month at step 1 of AD9 — together with household, dependent-child, and education allowances where applicable. Take-home pay is then adjusted by the country correction coefficient for Brussels, Belgium. For a worked example see our correction coefficients guide and the EU salaries overview.
Application timeline
This vacancy was first listed on 27 May 2026, today.
The application deadline is 1 June 2026 — 3 days from today. Late applications are not accepted, so submit through the official EU Careers portal well in advance.
Last verified against the EU Careers feed on 27 May 2026.
Where to learn more
For full responsibilities, requirements, and career progression at AD9 see our AD9 grade page; for headcount, mission, and other open vacancies at European Committee of the Regions see the European Committee of the Regions institution page; for the cost of living, correction coefficient, and other postings in Brussels, Belgium see our Brussels, Belgium location page.
New to EU careers? Our beginner's guide walks through entry routes, EPSO competitions, and what to prepare. For application logistics see application tips and EPSO competitions.
Net pay at this grade
At step 1 of AD9, gross monthly basic salary on the Administrators grid is €10,083. Eligible expatriate staff add a 16% expatriation allowance on top — roughly €1,613 per month — before two automatic deductions reduce the taxable base: the joint sickness insurance scheme (JSIS, ~3.6% — €421) and the EU pension contribution (~10.3% — €1,205). EU community tax (Council Reg. 260/68) is then applied progressively; for the AD7-equivalent band the effective rate sits in the 11-13% range, which works out to about €1,208 per month here.
For Brussels, Belgium we apply the Brussels-equivalent coefficient (100%) as a default — the official coefficient may differ, see the methodology guide for the most recent table. On those assumptions take-home pay is approximately €8,862 per month, or about €106,342 per year — before household and dependent-child allowances, which can add several hundred euros monthly for staff with families. For the exact bracket-by-bracket computation see our
net-pay methodology, and our
correction coefficients guide for the full duty-station table.
Comparable recent roles
In the last twenty-four months European Committee of the Regions (and the wider Commission and agencies family) has filled several adjacent roles at the same AD9 grade level. The most recent comparable vacancies, with their actual application windows:
- Head of Unit at ECHA — published 2026-05-06, closed 2026-05-29
- Senior Space Systems Architect at EUSPA — published 2026-04-30, closed 2026-06-10
Career trajectory
Career progression for AD9 staff is governed by Articles 44 to 46 of the Staff Regulations (consolidated text on
EUR-Lex) and Annex IB on the promotion procedure. Step increases are automatic every two years (Art. 44); grade promotion is competitive, based on the appraisal exercise (Art. 45) and the Career Development Review. For roles at European Committee of the Regions, progression into AD12-AD14 (head of unit, then director-level) typically follows a competitive selection rather than seniority. Article 46 governs the classification at recruitment, which sets the starting step within the grade (usually step 1 for external recruits without prior EU service, step 2 or 3 where relevant professional experience is recognised).
Mobility within the institutions is encouraged via the inter-institutional and intra-institutional vacancy publication system: temporary agents who pass the probation period and reservists from EPSO laureate lists can typically apply to internal vacancies after one year of service. Lateral moves between Directorates-General reset the seniority clock for promotion only if the new post carries a different grade.
Language profile
Beyond the formal language requirements stated in the vacancy notice, the day-to-day working languages at this employer are English and French in roughly equal measure, with German appearing in some technical files. Internal meetings and most policy drafting in Brussels run in English; French remains the preferred internal language in Luxembourg-based services and parts of DG TRADE.
Application cadence
European Committee of the Regions has not advertised another AD9 role with the same grade and subject signature in the past twenty-four months — this opening has rarely been seen on the EU Careers feed and may be the first such posting in our two-year window. Applicants who pass the eligibility checks should not assume the same profile will reopen on a predictable cadence.
Visit the official European Committee of the Regions website