Trainee (Workplace Experience and Smart Building Technologies)

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) is a decentralised agency of the European Union (EU), located in Amsterdam. It is responsible for the scientific evaluation, supervision and safety monitoring of medicines in the EU.

Traineeship: Workplace Experience and Smart Building Technologies

This traineeship opportunity is open for applications until 06 May 2026 23:59 CET, with an intake on 1 October 2026.

About the traineeship programme

The Agency is looking for motivated, qualified recent graduates or students on an Erasmus+ or other programme or PhD students or Master's students (who posses a previous degree), who are interested in gaining experience and contribute to the Agency’s work for every patient in Europe. The purpose of a traineeship at the Agency is to perform tasks that are predominantly in the interest of the trainee’s training and principally serve to increase the trainee’s knowledge and to gain relevant experience.

Placement description

We are looking for a trainee in the Facilities Support Service.

Specific objectives and projects

The Agency is planning to implement a Workplace Experience Epic, under the Managing the Agency Workstream and within the Scaled Agile Framework. The Workplace Experience Epic is intended to enhance the workplace experience for all users working at, or visiting, the EMA Building, and to increase the efficiency and efficacy of the related processes, such as meeting management, security, facility services and building management. To achieve this, a number of new products have been identified that, through integrating or replacing current systems, will provide reduced manual workload, increased efficiency and enhanced satisfaction for both administrators and users. The trainee will support the Head of Facilities Support, the Building Manager and the Product Owner(s) of the Workplace Experience Epic to carry out the activities foreseen by the Epic.

Key tasks include:

• Supporting the review of facilities processes and the identification of improvement areas.
• Supporting the conceptualisation of new workplace services architecture and products, their implementation, and keeping track of the status and advancement of different products and features.
• Supporting market research and technology selection procedures for workplace systems and assets, including smart building systems and devices.
• Supporting the definition of product requirements, participating in joint design sessions and performing validation of features and deliverables (e.g. through User Acceptance Tests).
• Supporting data collection, data structuring and data analysis from building systems (utilities, security, access control, parking), space and meeting-room usage, desk-sharing solutions, and facilities services, energy and utilities consumption, to identify efficiency and optimisation opportunities.
• Analysing meeting-room and desk-sharing usage data to support space and capacity planning.
• Contributing to dashboards and structured reports consolidating facilities, building and service data for decision-making.
• Assisting in identifying opportunities for further smart technology investments to improve data quality, system integration and operational efficiency.
• Proposing innovative ways to elicit feedback from building users to improve the quality of services.

Learning outcomes

By the end of the traineeship, the trainee will:

• Have in-depth applied knowledge of SAFe (Scaled Agile Framework) methodology within building management and facilities epic/projects.
• Understand how facilities processes are structured and implemented within a complex international organisation.
• Understand how facilities, building systems and services data are generated, documented and reported.
• Gain hands-on experience in facilities statistics, performance reporting and analytics.
• Learn how automation improves efficiency and reliability in facilities data management and reporting.
• Develop skills in translating operational data into clear documentation and actionable insights.
• Gain exposure to evaluating facilities systems and applications, as well as smart technology solutions, supporting evidence-based investment decisions.
• Build experience in reviewing and improving operational documentation.

Eligibility criteria

To be eligible for consideration for this placement, you are required to:

1. enjoy full rights as a citizen of a European Union Member State or Iceland, Lichtenstein and Norway;
2. possess a university degree in Facilities or Building Management, Engineering, Project or Business Management, or similar fields (minimum of three years or more) that must have been obtained between 6 May 2025 and 6 May 2026 or be a university student on an Erasmus + or a similar programme or a PhD student or a Master's student with a previous fully finished degree in the areas mentioned before.
3. a thorough knowledge of English (at least level C1) and good knowledge of other official EU language (at least B2) of the Common European Framework for Languages

Additional skills

• Interest in smart buildings, facilities analytics, and automation projects
• Strong analytical and reporting skills
• Ability to review, structure, and improve technical or operational documentation
• Familiarity with data, dashboards, or digital tools
• Ability to communicate technical information clearly
• Structured, proactive, and improvement-oriented mindset

Behavioural Competencies

You will demonstrate the following behavioural competencies:

• Communication skills
• Interpersonal skills
• Working with others
• Adaptability
• Research and analytical skills
• Learning and development

Conditions of traineeship

The traineeship is offered for 10 months (1 October 2026 – 31 July 2027) and takes place at the Agency’s premises in Amsterdam with possibility for teleworking up to 40% of working time from The Netherlands and occasional teleworking from outside The Netherlands. Traineeships are offered for either full-time or part-time (80% or 50%) if combined with university studies.

The Agency pays a monthly stipend of €2,049.77 for a full-time traineeship (reduced accordingly for 80% or 50%) and a travel contribution upon joining the Agency.

Each trainee will have a mentor at the Agency who will guide the trainee through the programme.

What do we offer?

• Meaningful work contributing to protecting the health of every individual and animal in Europe within multinational, multidisciplinary team

• Development opportunities

  (e.g. internal mobility, mentoring, peer coaching, career reflection programme, etc.)

• Work-life balance

  (flexible working arrangements, teleworking, generous annual leave plus official holidays)