Trainee (Data Governance at the EMA)

This traineeship opportunity at the European Medicines Agency (EMA) focuses on Data Governance within the Data Governance and Analytics Office in Amsterdam.

About EMA

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

About the traineeship programme

EMA is looking for motivated, qualified recent graduates or students on an Erasmus+ or other programme, or PhD students or Master's students (who possess a previous degree), who are interested in gaining experience and contributing 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 Data Governance and Analytics Office.

Specific objectives and projects

This traineeship takes place within the Data Governance Core team at TDA- Data Governance and Analytics. The Network Data Steering Group Data Strategy and EMA Data Strategy translate into various actions to drive Data Governance to a higher level of maturity at EMA. This results in making the data assets that EMA holds more findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable.

1. The EMA Data Catalogue contains all the Data Assets held by EMA. The trainee will support:

• The transfer of metadata into the Data Governance Tool.
• Data lineage mapping.
• The creation and enhancement of Data Products (e.g. dashboards for colleagues that help monitor activities such as data quality monitoring).
• Data quality monitoring and improvement activities.

2. The maturation of key Data Governance strategy elements is essential for the Agency. The trainee will:

• Contribute to the evaluation of the maturity assessment approach.
• Collect input on requirements from Data Strategy Area leads.
• Support Data Owners and Data Stewards to perform and document maturity assessments for their data assets.

3. An EMA data community was established in 2025, to allow Data Owners and Data Stewards to exchange views and experiences. The trainee will support activities related to the EMA data community.

Learning outcomes

• Understand data governance in EU administration and the role and remit of EMA in the network of EU medicines agencies.
• Understand elements and methodology for establishing successful data governance in a multicultural organisation with many stakeholders.
• Understand project management and the role of change management for the success of a business change.
• Gain practical skills in effective planning and engagement in a multicultural environment.
• Understand the relationship between data management organisational design, roles, delegation and responsibilities.
• Gain practical skills in communication related to Data Governance.

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 Life sciences, Data science and/or Public administration (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

• Experience in data governance or other parts of data management.
• Understanding of organisation design.
• Knowledge and/or experience in using digital tools to develop training and or communication plans or materials (change management).
• Organisation skills.
• Creative, analytical and logical 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.

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

What 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)