AnaEE seeks a Director General (DG) for a full-time position. The DG will lead the Central Hub and will oversee the activities of the Service Centres and ensure their activities are coordinated and their interactions with the national platforms effective. Candidates from any country are welcome for this position which will be located near Paris.
Employment conditions
The position is initially for a 5 years contract. The Assembly of Members can decide to extend the duration of the DG contract with the ERIC. The DG is the legal representative of the AnaEE ERIC. Considering that the creation of AnaEE ERIC is expected to take place in 2019, but that the exact date of creation cannot be known precisely, the assembly of members of the implementation phase has decided to launch the call for candidacy in the spring of 2018.
Accordingly, the DG will be first hired by INRA (National Institute for Agriculture Research) on a temporary contract that will be renewable until the creation of the ERIC, which will be the start of the 5 years above-mentioned contract. During this initial phase, the future DG will be able to represent AnaEE at the international level and will be directly involved in the final step of the ERIC preparation.
The activity will take place in Hub facilities located in the CNRS research campus of Gif-sur-Yvette near Paris. A temporary housing can be provided with a guest apartment on the campus, in order to facilitate the arrival of the DG.
Application
Candidates should apply before Sept 1st 2018 at 12:00 h (CET) by addressing in a single pdf file:
- a letter of intent including a presentation on how the candidate plans to manage and develop AnaEE
- a CV, enlighting both the scientific career and the past management responsibilities
- a list of most relevant publications and other documents on competence and merits that the candidate wishes to be taken into account in the selection process.
All applications must be delivered, together with the required above-mentioned enclosures, to the secretariat of the AnaEE implementation phase, as an email message with subject: “AnaEE DG Position”; addressed to: lise.vedel@inra.fr (+33(0)1 76 21 61 90). The recruitment can take place from October 2018, the exact date will be negotiated with the candidate.
Background
AnaEE is a distributed research infrastructure for experimental manipulation of managed and unmanaged terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. It is on the ESFRI roadmap since 2010 and has entered its implementation phase, with the view to set up an ERIC.
The mission of AnaEE is to provide the tools and services needed to obtain the knowledge necessary to tackle the complex global environmental challenges facing human societies. Its core task is to provide open, coordinated access to 4 types of platforms: state-of-the-art open-air and enclosed experimental platforms equipped with the latest technology, sophisticated analytical platforms and modelling platforms. AnaEE will support European scientists and policymakers to develop solutions to the challenges of food security and environmental sustainability.
AnaEE will accomplish its mission by building permanent and substantial links among researchers, science managers, policy makers, public and private sector innovators, and citizens. AnaEE services will be organised by its Central Hub and the three Service Centres that are part of the ERIC: Technology Centre, Data and Modelling Centre, Interface and Synthesis Centre.
The AnaEE Business Plan is available on the AnaEE web site www.anaee.com
AnaEE Central Hub
The Central Hub is the heart of the strategy, coordination, communication and administration of AnaEE. It will coordinate the overall infrastructure and will manage the AnaEE web portal which will give access to all the resources and services of the infrastructure. With a distributed infrastructure including over 100 national platforms, 3 supranational Service Centres and a variety of users and stakeholders, the development and operation of this Central Hub is crucial for the success of AnaEE.
The central Hub is located in France, on the CNRS campus of Gif s/Yvette, in a green area located 15 km South of Paris, within the perimeter of the Paris-Saclay University in the building shown in the photo.
Tasks of the DG
The AnaEE DG will be responsible for the Central Hub activities, including the AnaEE strategy and the ERIC finances. In particular, the DG will lead the processes securing long-term funding including attracting new funding opportunities that are relevant at the RI level. The DG will promote AnaEE related scientific and technical development initiatives, programmes and projects to relevant funding sources and policy community.
The DG will oversee the activities of the Service Centres and ensure their activities are coordinated, integrated and their interactions with the national platforms are effective. For this aim, the DG will convene and consult the directors of the 3 Service Centres for all general matters including drawing up proposals for the General Assembly. See the scheme of the general governance shown at the end of this document.
The DG will chair the management board of the ERIC which will include the directors of the centres, representatives of national nodes and representatives of the 4 categories of platforms.
The DG will supervise the preparation of the Annual Assembly in order to present the yearly achievements and propose strategic decisions to the member States.
The DG will represent AnaEE at the European and international levels and will develop the necessary interactions and synergies with the relevant ESFRI and other international infrastructures, programmes and activities. The DG shall establish and maintain contacts with the stakeholders and the European Commission. The foreseen governance of the ERIC is shown here.
The DG will manage a team consisting of four persons in the Central Hub and 9 to 12 persons located in the three Service Centres. The team directly managed by the DG will consist of:
- The Hub Manager (high level engineer/scientist with management and communication skills and experience) will: i) assist the Director for the representation activities, ii) be in charge of the AnaEE communication and coordinate the development of the AnaEE web portal, iii) oversee the development and implementation of a Quality Management policy and iv) supervise the day to day activities of the hub.
- The Software Engineer (master degree in informatics or equivalent with experience in web portal design) will be in charge of the development and maintenance of the AnaEE web portal, including the AnaEE project status dashboard.
- The Administrative and Financial Engineer (master degree or equivalent experience) will be responsible for financial tasks as well as for the related annual reports.
- The secretary will be in charge of daily administrative tasks and logistics.
Profile
The DG must hold a doctoral degree in ecosystem science and should be an internationally acclaimed scientist with an open-minded personality and a good sense of diplomacy.
The DG should have excellent organisation, communication and management skills and be familiar with the management of research infrastructures or groups on a senior level. Experience in the management of human resources is highly desired, considering that the ERIC will be scattered among four countries (the Hub and the three Centres).
Remuneration
The starting salary will be at the level of a distinguished director in French Universities or Research Institutes. The salary of the DG will be determined based on the qualifications of the successful candidate. According to the past experience, the total annual salary cost will range from 120 to 150 k€ including general and social benefits, the net monthly salary being 6724 € for a total annual salary cost of 150 k€, all taxes included.
Secondment from a country being a Member of the ERIC is one possibility to be discussed on a case by case basis. In such a case, extra costs due to transnational mobility will be estimated and covered by the ERIC.
Selection criteria and procedure
When assessing the qualifications of each candidate, attention will be paid to merits in elected positions in international organisations and international projects, and to communication and management skills.
Attention will be paid to the applicant’s activities within the research community, success in obtaining research funding and merits in scientific publications and other research results of scientific value.
A DG Search Committee is established which works under the mandate of the Assembly of Members of the implementation phase (AoM). Based on the submitted applications, the Committee selects up to three candidates for interviews and makes a consensus proposal to the AoM on the best candidate for the DG position.
Adopted from AnaEE: https://www.anaee.com/outreach/news/189-job-opportunity-anaee-director-general