Policy Coordinator - European Commission (FGIV, Brussels)

About this position

The summary below is published by European Commission on the official vacancy notice. Our own analysis — salary realism, comparable openings, career trajectory, language profile — follows further down the page.

Key responsibilities

According to the vacancy notice, the role centres on the following duties:

• Ensure robust preparedness and response to cross-border health emergencies
• Facilitate provision of medical countermeasures in collaboration with Member States, industry and EU bodies
• Assess national prevention, preparedness and response information including relevant plans
• Prepare and monitor implementation of Union preparedness plan in relation to medical countermeasures
• Ensure coordination with relevant EU services and agencies regarding medical countermeasures
• Seek and assess information received from stakeholders
• Follow up specific actions on preparedness and response with EU agencies and global actors
• Monitor and evaluate policies and legislation in the field of serious cross-border health threats

Are you eligible?

Check these requirements from the notice before investing time in an application:

• Education: Completed university studies of at least three years attested by a diploma
• Experience: Strong policy background and experience in the field of health crisis and specifically in European Health Union implementation. Experience in cooperation with EU agencies in the field of health. Experience and knowledge in national preparedness planning. Experience in audits or on-site assessments of Member States would be an asset.
• Languages: English (C1), EU official language (B2)
• Key skills: Knowledge and experience on legal acquis relevant to health security and medical countermeasures, Knowledge of European Health Union implementation, Experience in cooperation with EU agencies in health field, Experience in national preparedness planning, Excellent organizational and time management skills, Problem solving and ability to get things done, Attention to detail, Communication and interpersonal skills, Ability to work collaboratively in team environment, Ability to translate complex information into policy recommendations
• Eligibility: Must be a citizen of an EU Member State and enjoy full rights as a citizen. Must have fulfilled any obligations imposed by applicable laws concerning military service. Must be physically fit to perform the duties. Must produce appropriate character references. Must have passed an EPSO CAST in Function Group IV or be registered in the EPSO CAST database.

Selection process

The notice describes the following selection steps:

• Candidates selected from EPSO database with appropriate profile
• Interview with selection panel to assess best candidates

Contract and working arrangements

Contract duration: Contract Type 3b.

Working arrangements: Brussels. Flexibility in working hours required; some atypical working hours (evening, weekend) may be requested..

Hiring unit: Unit HERA.01, HERA Emergency Readiness and Response Office, DG HERA.

Position details

Reference

EC/2026/HERA/526009

Directorate-General

HERA - Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority

Vacancy Notice

Download PDF

Last Verified

15 September 2026

Position overview

This is the official EU Careers listing for Policy Coordinator at European Commission based in Brussels at the FGIV grade level (Contract Agent). The vacancy reference is EC/2026/HERA/526009. It is hosted by HERA - Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority, the Directorate-General responsible for this policy area. The role falls under the Health domain.

Lawyer

in DG HERA of the European Commission

Job title*: Policy Coordinator Domain: Health Where : Unit HERA.01, HERA Emergency Readiness and Response Office, Brussels Function Group : FG IV Contract Type : 3b Express your interest until : 28/09/2026 - 12.00 (noon, Brussels time)

WE ARE

We are Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority (HERA) -a relatively new

Directorate-General of the European Commission. HERA 's mission is to assist the Commission to

improve preparedness and response to serious cross-border threats in the area of medical

countermeasures, in particular:

· strengthening health security coordination within the Union involving all relevant actors

during preparedness and crisis response times and bringing together the EU Member States,

industry and relevant stakeholders in a common effort;

· addressing vulnerabilities and strategic dependencies within the Union related to the

development, production, procurement, stockpiling and distribution of medical countermeasures;

· contributing to reinforcing the global health emergency response architecture.

HERA is responsible for the following tasks which shall be exercised in close cooperation with the

Member States:

· assessment of health threats and intelligence gathering relevant to medical

countermeasures;

· promoting advanced research and development of medical countermeasures and related

technologies;

· addressing market challenges and boosting the Union’s open strategic autonomy in medical

countermeasures production;

· swift procurement and distribution of medical countermeasures;

· increasing stockpiling capacity of medical countermeasures;

· strengthening knowledge and skills in preparedness and response related to medical

countermeasures.

HERA.01 is the Emergency Readiness and Response Office of DG HERA. It is responsible for

ensuring that HERA can deliver a rapid, efficient and effective EU-coordinated response to serious

cross-border health threats, in particular by helping to secure the availability of key medical

countermeasures across the European Union and by bringing together the EU institutions, Member (Reference: Call for interest EC/2026/HERA/526009 )

States, industry and other relevant stakeholders.

The Office leads HERA’s preparedness for, and response to, emergencies as defined in the

emergency framework for public health emergencies, which provides the measures needed to

ensure the supply of crisis-relevant medical countermeasures during a public health emergency. It

is also prepared to respond to situations that may not meet the formal threshold of a public health

emergency, but nonetheless require HERA intervention to support Member States in accessing the

necessary medical countermeasures.

In addition, HERA.01 is responsible for emergency reporting, lessons learnt and the preparation of

the final emergency report.

The Office’s remit also includes ATHINA (Advanced Technologies for Health Intelligence and Action),

which supports HERA’s preparedness and response capacity by strengthening the use of data,

analysis and digital tools for health emergency readiness. Through this work, HERA.01 helps ensure

that relevant information and capabilities are available to support timely decision-making and

operational coordination in the face of serious cross-border health threats.

Finally, a team within HERA.01 manages the budget, finances and audit files falling within DG

HERA’s remit.

HERA’s website: https://ec.europa.eu/health/hera/overview_en

WE PROPOSE

The job is about ensuring robust preparedness and response to cross-border health emergencies,

facilitating the provision of medical countermeasures in collaboration with Member States, industry

and other EU bodies. This position includes contributing to the assessment of national prevention,

preparedness and response information including in the relevant plans, to the preparation and

monitoring of implementation of the Union preparedness plan in relation to MCM and ensuring

coordination with relevant EU services and agencies with regard to MCM. These tasks will be

exercised by actively seeking and assessing information received from stakeholders and following

up specific actions on preparedness and response with EU agencies and global actors. The position

will also include the monitoring and evaluation of policies and legislation in the field of serious

cross-border health threats.

WE LOOK FOR

We are looking for a highly motivated and skilled colleague to join our team. As a policy officer, you

will play a critical role in supporting the evaluation of Member States and other organisation

preparedness in ensuring that MCM relevant to health crisis can be available and accessible. The

job requires strong policy background and experience in the field of health crisis and more

specifically in the European Health Union implementation. Excellent knowledge of the Health Union

legislation, and in particular of the Serious Cross Border threat to Health Legislation is a strong

asset.

Excellent communication skills both oral and written in English are essential. It will be key to have

the ability to understand the health crisis and preparedness domain not only at EU level but also at (Reference: Call for interest EC/2026/HERA/526009 )

national level. It is essential that the candidate shows the ability to translate complex information

into policy recommendations for decision making to support MCM preparedness and response.

The candidate should have the following skills:

- Knowledge and experience on the legal acquis relevant to health security and medical

countermeasures as well as the implementation of the European Health Union.

- Experience in cooperation with EU agencies in the field of health.

- Experience and knowledge in national preparedness planning particularly in the field of

- Experience in audits or on-site assessments of Member States would be an asset.

- Excellent organizational and time management skills, with the ability to handle multiple

tasks and priorities.

- Problem solving and an ability to get things done, as well as a good eye for detail.

- Communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to work collaboratively in a team

environment.

Finally, HERA being a DG that ensure preparedness and response to Health crisis, the colleague

recruited will have to show flexibility both in tasks and working hours. Some atypical working hours

(evening, weekend) may be requested.

HOW TO EXPRESS YOUR INTEREST?

With a view to guaranteeing equal access to all, the Commission recruits from an open database of spontaneous applications. The present call for interests aims at helping the recruiters to identify potentially interested candidates within this database.

In practice, to express your interest, please follow the subsequent two steps:

1. If you are not registered yet in the open EPSO database, please do so at the following address: CAST Permanent . Please select under selection procedures for contract agent the

CAST permanent profile that best suits your education and experience.

2. You should send your documents in a single pdf in the following order: 1. your CV 2. completed application form. Please send these documents by the publication deadline to Ms SIMON Anne ( Anne-

[email protected] ) indicating the call for interest reference

EC/2026/HERA/526009 and your CAST number

in the subject.

No applications will be accepted after the publication deadline. (Reference: Call for interest EC/2026/HERA/526009 )

ANNEX

1. Selection

 Am I eligible to apply?

You must meet the following eligibility criteria when you validate your application :

Our rules provide that you can only be recruited as a contract agent at the European Commission if you:

General criteria:

- Are a citizen of a Member State of the EU and enjoy full rights as a citizen;

- Have fulfilled any obligations imposed by applicable laws concerning military service;

- Are physically fit to perform the duties linked to the position;

- Produce the appropriate character references as to suitability for the performance of the duties.

- Have passed an EPSO CAST in the relevant Function Group for this position. At the stage of the application, it is sufficient to be registered in the EPSO CAST data base.

Qualifications:

(a) Have a level of education which corresponds to completed university studies of at least three years attested by a diploma.

Only qualifications issued or recognised as equivalent by EU Member State authorities (e.g. by the Ministry of Education) will be accepted.

Languages:

- have a thorough knowledge (minimum level C1) of one of the 24 official languages of the EU 2

- AND have a satisfactory knowledge (minimum level B2) 3 of a second official language of the EU, to the extent necessary for the performance of the duties.

 What about the selection steps?

2 The official languages of the European Union are: BG (Bulgarian), CS (Czech), DA (Danish), DE (German), EL (Greek), EN (English), ES (Spanish), ET (Estonian), FI (Finnish), FR (French), GA (Irish), HR (Croatian), HU (Hungarian), IT (Italian), LT (Lithuanian), LV (Latvian), MT (Maltese), NL (Dutch), PL (Polish), PT (Portuguese), RO (Romanian), SK (Slovak), SL (Slovenian), SV (Swedish). 3For details on language levels, please see the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (https://europass.cedefop.europa.eu/en/resources/european-language-levels-cefr).

(Reference: Call for interest EC/2026/HERA/526009 )

The selecting unit chooses from the EPSO database 4 candidates with the appropriate profile and

invites them to an interview. For the interview a selection panel is set-up to assess the best candidates. Due to the large volume of applications that we may receive only candidates selected for the interview will be notified.

Salary at this grade

Basic monthly salary at FGIV runs from €4,449 (step 1) to €5,034 (top step), giving an annual range of roughly €53,388 to €60,408 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 €712 per month at step 1 of FGIV) together with household, dependent-child, and education allowances where applicable. Take-home pay is then adjusted by the country correction coefficient for Brussels. For a worked example see our correction coefficients guide and the EU salaries overview.

Application timeline

This vacancy was first listed on 15 September 2026, today.

The application deadline is 28 September 2026, 12 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 15 September 2026.

Where to learn more

For full responsibilities, requirements, and career progression at FGIV see our FGIV grade page; for headcount, mission, and other open vacancies at European Commission see the European Commission institution page; for the cost of living, correction coefficient, and other postings in Brussels see our Brussels location page; for related vacancies in the Health field browse our Health domain 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.