Head of Department

**Head of Department - Management Services**
**EFSA/X/AD/2025/04**

The **European Food Safety Authority (EFSA)**, based in Parma, Italy
is looking for
**Head of Department - Management Services**
(Temporary Agent, Grade AD12)

**IS THIS JOB FOR YOU?**

Are you an experienced management professional with proven ability to shape organisational vision and deliver meaningful outcomes within a dynamic setting?

As a trusted leader and role model, you embody EFSA’s values and inspire others through your actions. You thrive on driving excellence, fostering collaboration, and empowering teams to embrace forward-looking solutions.

In your role as Head of the Management Services Department, you will provide strategic leadership and direction, ensuring the effective coordination and implementation of management services, in alignment with EFSA’s mission and priorities.

**Your key responsibilities**

The Head of the Management Services Department plays a pivotal role in leading and shaping the department’s strategic direction and operational excellence. The key responsibilities of the position include:

- Provide vision, direction and inspirational leadership to the Department staff, fostering quality, collaboration, and customer-orientation in the delivery of expert management services to internal and external stakeholders.
- Ensure the effective deployment and optimization of resources in support of EFSA’s strategic objectives, in alignment with the European institutional and regulatory framework.
- Lead the development, implementation and continuous improvement of strategies, policies and administrative services that enable and enhance the effectiveness, agility, and impact of EFSA’s operations, providing the organisation with robust internal functions, capabilities, processes and standards.
- As a member of EFSA’s senior management team, serve as a key advisor to EFSA’s senior leadership, contributing to high-level decision-making with evidence-based insights and strategic foresight, promoting collaboration, sound internal governance, innovation, and long-term organisational resilience.
- Promote a culture of excellence by enabling talent management practices that foster staff engagement, continuous development, and high performance across the organisation.
- Represent the department and EFSA in high-level internal and external fora, including senior management meetings, governing bodies, and with EU institutions and stakeholders, fostering trust, transparency and alignment with institutional goals.

The Management Services Department provides, via a partnering approach, services and solutions ensuring sound governance and accountability, efficient use of resources and an inspiring working environment.
The Department includes about 140 statutory staff and is responsible for:

- Coordinating the elaboration and monitoring of EFSA’s strategy and implementation plan.
- Co-designing solutions for the implementation of EFSA's strategy and processes, and providing expert services - corporate control, legal, HR, budget, procurement and contract management, IT infrastructure and services, logistics - to support all EFSA operations.
- Optimising EFSA’s human capital (staff and experts), resources, tools and processes.
- Building a digital culture and developing performance management.
- Coordinating internal policies and procedures, processing administrative decisions, ensuring legality and regularity of transactions, and facilitating the work of corporate governance bodies.

The Department consists of five Units: Global Performance Services, Legal Affairs, Financial Services, Corporate Services, and Human Capital.

**WHY EFSA?**

You will play an active role in an organisation that makes a difference to the lives of 445 million EU citizens.
EFSA employs over 580 staff members, and its Scientific Committee and Panels engage highly qualified and independent scientific experts. Every position within EFSA plays an important part in creating an inspirational environment in which to work and develop.

EFSA’s standards and values are driven by ethics and integrity and all staff is expected to act in a manner consistent with its principles, including fairness, transparency and impartiality in work practices and conduct towards other people.

As an EFSA staff member, you will have the chance to make a difference to European food safety working in an international and dynamic environment. You will also be able to participate in several valuable networking opportunities across Europe.
You will be joining EFSA at an exciting time as we are implementing the EFSA Strategy 2027, aligned with the Transparency Regulation, which increased EFSA’s responsibilities towards EU citizens. The following are the objectives of the Strategy 2027.
1. Deliver trustworthy scientific advice and communication of risks from farm to fork.
2. Ensure preparedness for future risk analysis needs.
3. Empower people and ensure organisational agility.

**WHAT C