Trainee (Change Management)

About this traineeship

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

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.

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 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.

Trainee (Change Management)

The Digital Change workstream (DCX) offers a traineeship in change management for digital enablement, supporting the adoption of digital initiatives across the Agency.

Specific objectives and projects

The trainee will work in close collaboration with EMA's Change Management Centre of Expertise (CM CoE) and the Digital Innovation Lab (DigiLab), with a particular focus on building Communities of Practice for topics related to data analytics, AI and the Microsoft Power Platform. The trainee will be introduced to our Innovation by Design methodology and the Agency’s Change Management framework and toolkit, and will become part of the Agency’s change management community, with opportunities to attend trainings.

As a trainee, you will actively contribute to the creation and nurturing of Communities of Practice, helping to democratise the use of various technological domains (e.g. Microsoft Power Platform, Data Analytics, AI) and empower EMA staff to adopt new digital technologies and explore citizen development approaches.

In this role, you will have the opportunity to contribute to communication campaigns and support the organisation and facilitation of bootcamps and engaging workshops with practical exercises, such as games, quizzes, role plays, stories, and digital training modules to support digitalisation adoption and upskill EMA staff. You will test these new activities with the support of expert colleagues from the Change Management Centre of Expertise and DigiLab.

You will combine practical insights from these activities with change management theory to help improve EMA's tools and methods for the role of change management in digital enablement in collaboration with EMA change managers.

Learning outcomes

• Research internal and external best practices and case studies in change management and digital enablement, translating them into clear, shareable and practical content for EMA staff.
• Apply change management principles, methodologies and tools to support digital transformation and technology adoption initiatives across EMA.
• Contribute to digital enablement and the development of Communities of Practice (e.g. Data Analytics, AI and Microsoft platforms) by supporting concept design, adoption, knowledge sharing and the responsible democratisation of technology.
• Contribute to the design and delivery of engaging learning and change interventions (e.g. workshops, boot camps, exercises, games and storytelling).

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 organisational psychology, HR, education, communications, business management, IT or a related field, with an interest in technology adoption (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

• Good presentation and communication skills
• Good at processing theoretical knowledge into explanations
• Pro-active approach to learning and work
• Good time management skills and accountability
• Analysing and creative problem-solving
• Good in making visualisations of solutions in Power Point, or MIRO or other digital tools
• Customer centricity
• Team collaboration

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 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)