Head of Department Position – European Counter Terrorism Centre in Europol

The post of Head of Department – European Counter Terrorism Centre (ECTC) is located in European Counter Terrorism Centre (ECTC) Department, Operations Directorate.

The Operations Directorate deals with the core business of Europol, improving the effectiveness and cooperation of the competent authorities in the Member States in preventing and combating serious and organised crime, as well as terrorism affecting the Member States. This requires close cooperation with the Liaison Bureaux at Europol and via them with the Operational Teams in the Member States. Europol delivers a number of products and services to national law enforcement agencies to support them in their fight against international serious and organised crime, as well as terrorism.

The Operations Directorate hosts five distinct Departments: Operational and Analysis Centre, European Serious Organised Crime Centre, European Cyber Crime Centre, European Counter Terrorism Centre and the European Financial and Economic Crime Centre.

The European Counter Terrorism Centre (ECTC) is responsible for facilitating Counter Terrorism cooperation and Counter Terrorism information exchange among the Counter Terrorism authorities as well as to provide operational analysis. It was established in 2016 with the aim of maximising operational, technical and overall information exchange capabilities in the area of counterterrorism. ECTC strives to ensure added value for EU MS and TPs CT cooperation by providing:

1. An information hub for counter terrorism with strong analysis and information sharing capabilities, effective operational support and expertise for MS and TPs CT investigations;
2. Proactive mitigation of the use of social media for radicalisation purposes through terrorist/violent (right-wing) extremist online propaganda, also promoting private-public partnerships;
3. A central strategic support capability to identify European wide counter-terrorism implications and outreach with relevant international partners.

Requirements

• Experience in counter terrorism in line with the functions and duties listed above;
• Extensive experience in coordinating or managing international investigations, preferably related to terrorism;
• Management and leadership experience of  at least 8 years;
• International cooperation experience, on operational, strategic as well as policy matters.
• Desirable:
• Experience in project management and change management;
• Experience in working in an international and multicultural environment.
• Experience of cooperating with private sector partners.

• Sound knowledge of counter terrorism methods and techniques;
• Sound knowledge of international police cooperation;
• Sound knowledge of the EU and Europol’s legal framework, specifically in relation to counter terrorism.

• The ability to set and revise objectives for the unit within the overall strategic framework and priorities of the Agency;
• The ability to determine and focus on priorities and to monitor and evaluate the progress made towards achieving the Department’s and Units/Team members’ objectives set, in cooperation with managers;
• The ability to organise, assign and manage the Department’s work among the members of the Units/Teams and to set them challenging but realistic objectives;
• The ability to empower members of the Units and Teams while ensuring that they understand what is expected of them and how their work contributes to the unit’s objectives;
• The ability to choose co-workers and to build strong teams with complementary strengths suited to the efficient pursuit of the Department’s objectives;
• The ability to motivate members of the team to achieve the desired results and also to provide regular feedback, acknowledge success and the need for improvement in order to enable them to achieve their objectives and greatest potential;
• The ability to develop and support career development and learning opportunities for the members of the team.