At the EDPS we have approximately 100 staff members, working full or part time at our offices in Brussels.
The EDPS offers a friendly working atmosphere, low on bureaucracy, high on autonomy and diversity in work.
We have an ambitious equal opportunities strategy to ensure that all employees are able to fulfil their potential.
We are proud of the fact that we can offer our employees a sound work-life balance through optional flexitime and teleworking.
Our ambitious Learning & Development Policy will support your career development goals and improve your personal skills. Read more on why to work for the EDPS and meet our team.
The rules applicable to all staff in the EU institutions, including the EDPS on careers, recruitment, promotions, pay and benefits are set out in the Staff Regulations.
There are two categories of staff working at the EDPS – permanent and temporary.
Permanent posts are open to EU Officials, in other words, those who have been successful in a competition organised by the European Personnel Selection Office (EPSO).
Vacancies for permanent posts are filled through internal transfers or promotions, transfers or secondments of officials from other EU institutions or bodies, or recruitment from reserve lists set up following EPSO competitions.
Temporary posts include contract agents, national Experts, traineeships and sometimes interim workers through temping agencies.
All EDPS recruitments are published in specific vacancy notices for Officials, Contract Agents, National Experts, Interim Staff and Traineeships.
The EDPS provides support and organises selections for the EDPB secretariat. Vacancies at the EDPB are therefore published on this page.
Officials
If a vacant position is not filled internally, a vacancy notice is opened up to all European Institutions and officials from other European Institutions may apply.
For this reason, the vacancy is published in the Inter-institutional Vacancy Notices page, which is accessible only from the intranet of European Institutions. If candidates fulfill all the required qualifications, an inter-institutional transfer is made.
Since EDPS staff are covered by the Staff Regulations and benefit from the same mobility policy as staff in the larger EU institutions, staff can transfer their grade, step, seniority and all other career elements seamlessly - you lose none of your rights in working for us.
What is it really like working at the EDPS? Read about the experience of two members of staff here.
Contract Agents
The EDPS sometimes has vacancies for Contract Agents (staff on fixed term contracts) specialising in Data Protection as well as in other administrative positions.
Contract staff are recruited from a pool of applicants (kept on a database) following a selection procedure organised by EPSO known as CAST.
Since there are no CAST lists available for those with a specific data protection profile, the EDPS will consider spontaneous applications to recruit data protection specialists.
For other administrative positions, the EDPS will consult the CAST list as well spontaneous applications to recruit administrative experts.
For more information or to send a spontaneous application, please email edps-selections@edps.europa.eu
Temporary Agents
As well as permanent officials, the EDPS often recruits non-permanent staff for fixed-term contracts. One of the categories of non-permanent staff that may be employed are Temporary Agents who are recruited to perform a wide variety of highly specialised tasks. They can be hired for a limited amount of time.
National Experts
National experts (SNEs) are sometimes seconded to the EDPS secretariat for a fixed-term from the staff of national public sector bodies in the EU Member States.
SNEs allow the EDPS to benefit from their professional skills and experience in the data protection field and in turn gives national experts the opportunity to gain valuable experience at EU level.
When there is an opening for an SNE, the EDPS contacts the national data protection authorities (DPAs) with a call for applications.
National permanent representations to the EU are also informed of the programme and invited to assist in seeking suitable candidates.
- Candidates may NOT apply directly for this programme, but should do so through their employer, who continues to pay the national expert's salary during the entire secondment.
For more information, please send an e-mail to sne@edps.europa.eu
Interim Staff
Sometimes, albeit rarely, we employ staff on a very short term, temporary basis (up to 6 months) as the need arises through temping agencies.
Traineeship
The EDPS launched its traineeship programme in 2005 by joining the European Commission's Virtual Blue Book trainee programme, also known as VBB. The main objective is to offer recent university graduates the opportunity to put into practice the knowledge acquired during their studies, particularly in their specific areas of competence such as law (preferably graduates with a data protection background), information and technology, information and communication, and human resources .
Twice a year, our traineeship programme hosts on average 10 trainees. The traineeship sessions start on 1st of October and 1st of March, each for a five-month period.
What does the traineeship offer?
EU knowledge – insight into the processes and policies of the European Institutions
Practical experience – an opportunity to play a part in the EDPS's day-to-day business
Opportunity to put academic theory into practice
How to apply?
Apply via the VBB website https://ec.europa.eu/stages/information/application_en
After your application passes the evaluation procedure, you will able to apply for up to 3 traineeships positions. If you are interested in the traineeship at the EDPS, please make sure that you apply for the positions published by us.
This is the only way for us to select you!
For more information, please send an email to stage@edps.europa.eu
EU Careers
Visit the EU Careers website where you can search the database of available job opportunities for permanent and temporary positions, including contract agent posts, traineeships and secondments in EU Institutions and Agencies.