Europese Beweging:
Senior Specialist

Name of the Post:           Senior Specialist in the ICT

Infrastructure and Facilities Unit - IT Operations Centre

Reporting to:                Team Leader IT Operations Centre (ITOC)

Head of the ICT Infrastructure and Facilities Unit

• 1. 

  Background

Applications are invited for this position at the European Police Office

(Europol).¹

Europol is located in The Hague, the Netherlands, and its main tasks are the following:

• a) 

  to collect, store, process, analyse and exchange information and intelligence;
• b) 

  to aid investigations in the Member States, in particular by forwarding all relevant information to the national units;
• c) 

  to ask the competent authorities of the Member States concerned to initiate, conduct or coordinate investigations and to suggest the setting up of joint investigation teams in specific cases;
• d) 

  to provide intelligence and analytical support to Member States in connection with major international events;
• e) 

  to prepare threat assessments, strategic analyses and general situation reports relating to its objective, including organised crime threat assessments.

For more information please visit Europol’s website www.europol.europa.eu.

¹ Europol has been established under the Council Decision (EC) No. 2009/371 of 6 April 2009.

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• 2. 

  Purpose of the post

The core activities and responsibilities of the IT Operations Centre (ITOC) relate to the monitoring and support of the ICT Production Infrastructure, responding to incidents identified at Infrastructure level and on the identification and management of problem resolutions. Under the supervision of the Team Leader within the ITOC, the successful candidate will participate in the ongoing monitoring, maintenance and support of the ICT Security, Europol Systems and Network Infrastructure.

• 3. 

  Tasks and responsibilities

The successful applicant will have the following main tasks and responsibilities:

Infrastructure Monitoring, Incident Response and Resolution

• • 

  Assisted by the relevant tools, proactively and continuously monitor all layers of the deployed ICT Security infrastructure, operating systems and applications, network and telecommunication devices, including, 3rd party services, middleware, and applications within a structured ITIL based environment;
• • 

  Develop and maintain sufficient knowledge about the interdependencies of all infrastructure components deployed in the production environment in order to be effective at identifying and diagnosing incidents and problems;
• • 

  Proactive gathering of information with relevant operation and engineering teams to produce, and keep up-to-date diagrams and documentation related to the ICT infrastructure and systems.
• • 

  Participate in the ICT Security operating procedures preparation and execution;
• • 

  Identify incidents at the infrastructure operational level, and proactively detect anomalies or patterns that may result into problems for the ICT Security, availability, stability, performance or capacity of the system;
• • 

  Execute remediation actions on ICT Security incidents at the infrastructure level in accordance with existing procedures;
• • 

  Register and track ICT Security incidents according to the defined procedures;
• • 

  Escalate ICT Security incidents and address problems requiring the intervention of the relevant core operations and engineering teams, and drive or assist with the whole cycle of their resolution;
• • 

  Participate in the maintenance and upgrade cycle of the monitoring toolset and procedures, including the continuous reconfiguration and fine-tuning required for optimal detection and response to incidents and problems.

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ICT Security Problem Management

• • 

  Register, assess, classify and describe infrastructure-level problems that do affect or have the potential to affect the ICT Security, availability, stability, performance or capacity of the ICT infrastructure and systems;
• • 

  Diagnose problems and indicate a roadmap for their resolution, with the involvement of the relevant core operations and engineering teams as appropriate;
• • 

  Plan and coordinate problem resolution, also by initiating and conducting small project if needed;
• • 

  Update the knowledge base as a result of the problem resolution cycle;

Contribute to the structuring, maintenance and development of the technical knowledge base supporting the IT Operations Centre activities.

In addition to the core activities listed above, the following tasks and responsibilities are also part of the job profile. Management will from time to time identify the tasks and responsibilities from the below list that are specifically assigned to each staff member:

• • 

  Activities related to the operational acceptance testing of new ICT solutions into the production environment;
• • 

  Participation in various roles to the execution of technical development projects, typically for design, implementation, deployment, and testing activities - participation to development projects takes into account the area of technical specialisation and developmental interest of the staff member, aligned with business need.
• • 

  This position might require participation in a shift system including weekends and nights as well as participation in on-call duty.
• 4. 

  Requirements

4.1 Eligibility criteria: a. 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 the suitability for the performance of the duties;

Be physically fit to perform the duties pertaining to the position;²

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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

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• • 

  Produce evidence of a thorough knowledge of one of the languages of the Communities and a satisfactory knowledge of another language of the Communities to the extent necessary for the performance of the duties.
• b. 

  Candidates must

• • 

  Possess a level of education that corresponds to completed university studies attested by a diploma when the normal period of university education is 4 years or more, preferably in the area of Computer Science/Engineering or equivalent academic area.

OR

Possess a level of education which corresponds to completed university studies attested by a diploma, preferably in the area of Computer Science/Engineering or equivalent academic area and appropriate professional experience of at least 1 year when the normal period of university education is at least 3 years;

OR

Professional training of an equivalent level in an ICT related area and after having completed the training, at least the number of years of relevant professional experience indicated in the table below.

• • 

  In addition to the above have at least 9 years of ICT related professional work experience gained following the award of the diploma.

4.2 Selection criteria:

• a. 

  Professional experience:

Essential:

• • 

  At least 4 years of working experience in large ICT environments, performing monitoring and incident resolution functions;
• • 

  Experience of common information security safeguards;
• • 

  Significant expertise working with a wide range of ICT Security products, vendors and technologies;

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• • 

  Experience in performing regular monitoring and analysis of technical logs, including operating system, infrastructure and communications equipment.

Desirable:

• • 

  Experience in the area of web portal and applications security including web server hardening, identity management and application integration;
• • 

  Experience in the field of database security (protection and auditing);
• • 

  Intrusion detection & Incident Monitoring – Knowledge of typical attack patterns and signatures including well-known DOS, exploits and vulnerabilities;
• • 

  PKI – Installation, maintenance of PKI Backend and Client components with use of smartcards;
• • 

  Microsoft technologies security – Experience securing systems based on .NET and SharePoint technologies,
• • 

  Portal security – Experience in web application security including Web server hardening, identity management and application integration;
• • 

  Experience in the field of Microsoft technologies security – including securing systems based on .NET and SharePoint technologies;
• • 

  Experience in the area of Microsoft environment security including securing Active Directory, hardening servers, programs and services;
• • 

  Experience in the area of configuration, support and maintenance including Firewall, VPN & anti virus solutions;
• • 

  Knowledge of the ITIL Framework;
• • 

  Experience in a multidisciplinary, multicultural, International working environment.
• b. 

  Professional knowledge: Essential:

• • 

  Sound knowledge of Information Security principles;
• • 

  Sound knowledge of risk analysis methodologies and information security standards;
• • 

  Common information security safeguards.

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Desirable:

Understanding of PKI and/or Certificates management and life cycle (SSL, PKI for VPN based systems)

IBM WebSphere environment security;

Intrusion detection & incident monitoring including knowledge of typical attack patterns and signatures as well as well-known DOS, exploits and vulnerabilities;

Knowledge of MS Systems Centre Operations Manager (SCOM) monitoring solutions;

ITIL certification.

• c. 

  Technical skills and competencies:

Essential:

• • 

  Excellent communication skills in English, both verbally and in writing
• • 

  Demonstrated customer focus and service orientation;
• • 

  Good understanding of infrastructure concepts and technology and their impact on clients and services related to the business;
• • 

  Effective technical documentation skills;
• • 

  Flexibility in working hours, as well as willingness to work during weekends and nights and 24/7 shifts when needed.
• d. 

  Social skills and competencies:

Essential:

• • 

  Possess excellent oral and written communication skills;
• • 

  Ability to work well in a team and to achieve goals;
• • 

  Good analytical skills in order to manage complex issues and to define action plans including the management of priorities;
• • 

  Have a high level of initiative;
• • 

  Ability to work a multi-disciplinary, multi-cultural and international environment;
• • 

  Good negotiation and organizational skills;
• • 

  Display high standards of professionalism.
• 5. 

  Salar

Scale: AD 8

The basic monthly salary is EUR 6,181.38 (step 1).

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

• 6. 

  Terms and conditions

6.1      Probation period

Engagement for this position is subject to the successful completion of a probationary period of 6 months. Within this period the successful candidate will have to undergo a post-related security screening.

Europol reserves the right to terminate the contract of employment during or at the end of the probation period in accordance with Article 14 of the Conditions of Employment of Other Servants of the European Communities (CEOS).

6.2      Security screening and certificate of good conduct

In order to ensure that all candidates who have successfully passed a selection procedure comply with the security standards and do not have a criminal record we request all successful candidates to apply for a “certificate of good conduct” at the time an offer of employment is made.

The certificate of good conduct provides evidence that the candidate is suitable to be employed by Europol. However, the certificate of good conduct

does not substitute a full security clearance that must be carried out for all Europol staff in accordance with the clearance level determined for the position.

6.3 Contract of employment

The successful candidate will be recruited as Temporary Agent AD 8 pursuant to Article 2 (a) of CEOS, for a period of 5 years. The contract may be renewed.

The place of employment will be The Hague, The Netherlands.

For further information on terms and conditions please consult the EU Staff Regulations which are available on Europol’s website.

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• 7. 

  Additional Information

7.1 Main dates:

Deadline for application: Recruitment procedure: Starting date of employment:

19/03/2010

to be determined

to be determined

7.2 Contact Details:

Should you have further questions on the details of the above position, or should you require any guidance on completing the application form please consult the EUROPOL RECRUITMENT GUIDELINES on www.europol.europa.eu or call +31 (0) 70 302 1527 or +31 (0) 70 353 5298.

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