Head of the General Procurement and Support Contracts Division

Description

Head of the General Procurement and Support Contracts Division (CIC-CS), reporting directly to the Head of the ESA Contracts Department (CIC-C), Directorate of Commercialisation, Industry and Competitiveness (D/CIC).

The Contracts Department is organised as a matrix function in support of the programme directorates of the Agency with independent responsibility lines to safeguard the “checks and balances” role of the Department. Unlike other divisions of the Department, which are largely dedicated to space activities, the General Procurement and Support Contracts Division gathers together the following main fields of activity and relevant services:

• General procurement activities, including real estate and construction activities, facility management and all relevant general corporate activities of the Agency;
• Purchase Office activities for all ESA sites, including management of local purchase offices at ESAC, ESOC and ESRIN;   
• Industrial support contracts for ESA sites to provide system engineering and management support services to ESA programme and corporate directorates; 
• Procurement activities for new Member States under the programmatic responsibility of CIC.

While the Division currently comprises three sections, you will be expected to propose an adaptation of its organisation to better align with the scope and expected priorities, while remaining streamlined in terms of the Division’s resources and securing proximity support at relevant ESA sites where necessary. 

Duties

Your tasks and responsibilities will include:

• general procurement activities, for example for real estate and construction, soft and hard facility management, the Travel Office and security services for the following centres: ESA HQ (FR), ESTEC (NL), ECSAT (UK), ESAC (ES), ESEC (LU) and ESDI (CH). This will include, in particular, the contractual management of major construction work at ESTEC over a period of several years; 
• management of the Purchase Office activities for all ESA sites while ensuring local proximity service for the relevant sites. The Purchase Office is composed of a small team spread across the various ESA sites in charge of handling over 4,000 purchase actions each year for off-the shelf equipment, stationary, software and services of limited value; 
• general services in support of the proper functioning of ESA, as well as the corporate directorates and the Director General’s Office, such as IT services, communications, human resource management and training support, and industrial support contracts for ESA sites to provide system engineering and management support services to ESA’s programme and corporate directorates. You will work in close coordination with the Human Resources and Workforce Management Offices to define the procurement strategy and will lead a team for the purpose of implementation through multi-supplier framework contracts in compliance with the applicable legal framework. This includes leading the coordination with other divisions in charge of service contracts for ESRIN (IT) and ESOC (DE) in particular;
• procurement activities for new Member States and national delegated initiatives under the programmatic management of the Industrial Policy and Auditing Department (CIC-I). These activities mainly consist in preparing economic operators from Cooperating and/or new Member States of ESA to expand their knowledge and experience in research and development activities in support of ESA space programmes; 

You will also be responsible for identifying, assessing, managing and reporting health and safety risks within your area of responsibility.

Technical competencies

Behavioural competencies

Result Orientation
Operational Efficiency
Fostering Cooperation
Relationship Management
Continuous Improvement
Forward Thinking

For more information, please refer to ESA Core Behavioural Competencies guidebook 

Education

A master's degree in law, business and/or economics is required for this post.

Additional requirements

In addition, you should have:

• proven experience of leading, motivating and developing a team of contract officers in an international organisation, industry or public administration;

• the ability to provide strategic direction to the individuals and teams within the Division and to relate team objectives to the overall, evolving organisational goals and context;
• the ability to drive performance and foster cooperation within and across teams throughout the organisation;
• demonstrated excellent leadership, relationship management and communication skills, both oral and written;
• excellent cognitive, analytical, delegation, planning and organisational skills;
• the ability to anticipate problems, resolve complex issues and relate situations to their context;
• the ability to make solution-oriented, pragmatic and timely decisions of a high standard and with integrity as well as to support others, such as team members, upper management and other stakeholders, in this process;
• flexibility to travel to the relevant ESA sites – between HQ and ESTEC in particular. 

The position can be filled at either ESTEC or ESA HQ, with the expectation that you will  travel regularly to the other site.

People management experience is required. International experience is an asset, including outside your home country, as well as experience in diverse functional areas relevant to ESA activities.

Mobility is inherent to management functions and this position may be subject to rotation. 
Therefore, mobility opportunities may be offered to you as part of your career evolution at ESA, starting after approximately five years in this role.