JOB DESCRIPTION

Is this job for you?

You will work in the Vaccine Preventable diseases and Immunisation (VPI) section in the Directly transmitted and Vaccine preventable Diseases (DVD) unit. To find out more about the unit, please visit https://www.ecdc.europa.eu/en/about-us/ecdcs-organisational-structure. Within the unit you will be reporting to the Head of Section VPI and will be part of a team of approximately 15 people.

This is an exciting opportunity for highly motivated and competent epidemiologists who want to make a difference in the control of vaccine preventable diseases (VPDs) in the EU/EEA countries. This is an area of strategic priority for ECDC, particularly under its new mandate^[1] and the new Regulation on Serious Cross-Border Threats to Health^[2].

The new EU/EEA health security legal framework emphasizes the role of ECDC in issuing recommendations to Member States e.g. when new vaccines are introduced in the market or when there are signals of suboptimal effectiveness of ongoing vaccination strategies and new recommendations must be given to Member States; in monitoring vaccination coverage and the effectiveness of vaccination programmes, in increasing the usefulness, completeness and resiliency of surveillance systems, and in tackling overarching determinants of health such as the currently reduced vaccine acceptance by the population.

For fulfilling this ambitious mandate, ECDC is building a strong multidisciplinary VPI section, including epidemiologists, microbiologists, mathematical modellers, and statisticians.

In this position, you will have a wide variety of tasks that will give you the opportunity to:

• Contribute to the development of science-based guidelines and recommendations for effective immunisation programmes; this may include conducting or outsourcing systematic literature reviews, performing analysis and interpretation of epidemiological data, assembling and moderating panels of experts, drafting and communicating ECDC guidelines and recommendations;
• Initiate, follow up on, and/or supervise scientific studies to address critical knowledge gaps and inform vaccination policies at the EU and national level; this will be done in close collaboration with the network of Member State representatives;
• Lead or contribute to the assessment and control of ongoing and emerging public health threats related to vaccine preventable diseases and vaccines; this may include investigation of outbreaks or analysis of epidemiological data and of the literature, setting up and coordinating outbreak investigation teams with internal and national experts, assessing the risks and issuing public health recommendations following ECDC methodologies and standards for rapid risk assessments;
• Contribute to the surveillance of vaccine preventable diseases, including effective networking with VPD surveillance national authorities, evaluation of surveillance systems and activities in Member States, and analysis and dissemination of surveillance data;
• Write scientific manuscripts and reports on relevant applied research topics;
• Contribute to the strategic planning of ECDC activities and resources in vaccine preventable diseases and immunisation, in line with the Centre’s priorities, the needs of Member States, and opportunities for public health impact, ensuring their relevance and feasibility;
• Establish close links between ECDC and national/international bodies, and with other relevant networks, partners and stakeholders and contribute to the management and coordination of ECDC networks in the VPD field;
• Contribute to other activities of ECDC as required, within your field of competence including the 24/7 duty system and the response to public health emergencies if requested to.

Administrative and operational tasks in the job mostly relate to developing public procurement procedures for outsourcing research and analysis tasks, such as scientific studies and technical reports, providing strategic direction to external contractors and monitoring the quality of their work.

What are we looking for?

1. Formal requirements

For your application to be considered eligible you must fulfil all the following requirements by the application deadline:

• A level of education which corresponds to completed university studies of at least 3 years attested by a diploma^[3]
• Thorough knowledge of one of the official EU languages and a satisfactory knowledge of another official EU language to the extent necessary for the performance of your duties^[4];
• Nationality of one of the EU Member States or of Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and to be entitled to your full rights as a citizen;
• To have fulfilled any obligations imposed by the applicable laws on military service;
• Meet the character requirements for the duties involved^[5]; and
• Be physically fit to perform the duties linked to the post.

You will need to provide appropriate documents to show that you meet all of the above criteria.

1. Selection criteria

For your application to be evaluated further, you will also need:

• At least 5 years of recent experience acquired in positions relevant to the job description, including having worked as an epidemiologist in a public health institute at national, local or international level for the prevention and control of infectious diseases, preferably of vaccine preventable diseases or in the setting up, coordination, or management of childhood, adolescent or older age-groups vaccination programmes;
• A university or post graduate degree within the field of medicine, public health, epidemiology or other fields of health, relevant to the position;
• Expert-level knowledge of the epidemiology of vaccine preventable diseases acquired by direct working experience in VPD surveillance, outbreak investigation and response at local, national, or international levels;
• Expert-level knowledge of vaccines and their uses acquired by direct working experience with setting up and evaluating local, national, or international immunisation programmes, or by having performed epidemiological studies such as cohort, case-control and randomised clinical trials on vaccines or their use;
• Working experience in writing scientific guidance for the use of vaccines, preferably using event-based medicine methods, or knowledge of methods for planning and performing systematic literature reviews acquired in the context of formal trainings or by direct working experience;
• Proven experience in coordinating working groups activities and project management;
• Excellent command of English, both written and spoken.

Additionally, we will assess the following competencies:

• Public health leadership, e.g. the ability to develop and promote a relevant EU/EEA research agenda for tackling the impact of vaccine preventable diseases, or the ability to foster the issuing of EU/EEA level policies addressing existing challenges in vaccine preventable disease control, or similar activities;
• Excellent analytical and problem-solving skills;
• Ability to work collaboratively in a multidisciplinary and multi-cultural team;
• Excellent written and oral communication skills, including in communicating scientific information to authorities, peers as well as to a wider audience;
• Organisational skills and ability to manage responsibilities under routine conditions as well as under pressure.

Depending on the number of applications received, the selection committee may apply stricter requirements within the aforementioned selection criteria.