Financial Initiating Agent

Do you like financial management and variety in your work?

Are you a versatile team player and do you have a customer-oriented approach?

Would you like to play meaningful and recognised role in an institution on a human scale? Can you easily adapt to a dynamic professional environment?

If you answered yes to these questions — you may be the talent we are looking for to join the pool of financial experts in the European Committee of the Regions (CoR). The pool is composed of financial experts and provides high-level financial support and advice to CoR members and colleagues.

As a financial agent you will perform tasks and controls relating to the initiation and processing of financial operations. In particular, you will be responsible for:

• Establishing effective collaboration with sub-delegated authorizing officers and operational colleagues from various operational services;
• Reviewing and assessing the justification and the completeness of the file submitted by the operational services;
• Preparing all types of financial transactions (such as commitments, payments, recovery orders, credit transfers, etc) and/or processing the reimbursement of travel expenses and payment of related allowances to members and other meeting participants;
• Initiating and validating operations in ABAC and/or SUMMA, as well as in other related applications;
• Ensuring the legality and regularity of operations, compliance with the principle of sound financial management, in respect of the Financial Regulations and other applicable financial rules;
• Contributing to the digitalisation and simplification of financial processes.

This call refers to staff members capable of contributing to several aspects of financial management in the CoR (e.g. financial initiation of various types of transactions, budget monitoring, payment of member's entitlements, staff missions or public procurement and contract management) while integrating smoothly into a team environment.

If you are flexible, thorough, and eager to grow in a dynamic administrative environment, we would be delighted to welcome you on board as part of the CoR’s pool of financial experts.

You will be administratively attached to the Financial management unit. Depending on the evolving priorities and workload, you may be asked to temporarily assist or be placed at the disposal of another unit with financial responsibilities, such as the Services to Members Unit in the Directorate for Members, Plenaries, Strategy, or the Financial Management Unit within the Directorate for Translation. This will also allow you to develop a holistic understanding of the functioning of the institution while contributing to the optimisation of its processes and exchanges of best practices. The initial posting is foreseen in the Services to Members Unit, which deals with expenditure related to CoR Members.

Are you the talent we are looking for?

General abilities and capacities required

• Think with a critical spirit, analyse and solve problems pragmatically.
• Assess critically credibility and reliability of sources, data and information and use relevant digital tools to carry out the duties.
• Organise own work, demonstrate responsibility, identify priorities, take appropriate decisions and deliver results.
• Adapt to an evolving working environment, demonstrate commitment and adopt constructive attitude at all times. Remain effective and flexible even during periods of heavy activity.
• Take initiative to achieve individual and shared objectives, demonstrate ownership and work autonomously.
• Learn and professionally develop to continuously enhance job performance and knowledge of the organisation and working environment.
• Work together with others in a constructive way by contributing to diverse and inclusive working environment. Demonstrate respect and courtesy at all times.
• Convey information and relevant opinions clearly and concisely both orally and in writing, facilitate interaction and engage effectively with others. Treat confidential or sensitive information accordingly.

Job-specific requirements

• You have passed EPSO CAST FGIII;
• You have relevant experience in financial management and/or a good knowledge of the Financial Regulations applicable within the European institutions;
• You are able to quickly assimilate internal decisions and rules and check that they are correctly applied, with attention to detail;
• You have very good analytical and synthesis skills (ability to distinguish the essential from the accessory and to identify areas of risk), organizational skills, as well as an eye for figures and detail;
• You are a rigorous person, with a keen sense of responsibility knowing how to work independently but with a team spirit, endowed with a sense of interpersonal relationships and diplomacy as well as integrity and discretion;
• You have a thorough knowledge of one of the official languages of the European Union and a satisfactory knowledge of another of the EU official languages. For functional reasons, a high level of English is required and at least a good level of French is desirable;
• You have a very good command of IT applications and tools (such as Outlook, Excel, Word, SharePoint, etc.) including AI tools in a secure environment, and, you are familiar with ABAC and/or SUMMA, the applications used for financial management inside the EU institutions.

Assets

• Previous experience in ABAC, SharePoint and financial management in the EU institutions.
• Previous experience with air ticketing and/or in dealing with high level clients.
• You preferably have an economic, accounting or legal education.

Please note that candidates must meet the eligibility criteria specified in art. 82(3) of the Conditions of Employment of Other Servants.