COR/AD9-AD12/6/21 Head of Unit (M/F) (AD9-AD12)  

Detail of the vacancy notice

Reference: COR/AD9-AD12/6/21
Directorate: Directorate D, Communication
Function Group: AD
Management: Yes
Deadline: 09/04/2021 12:00
Job Title: Head of Unit (M/F)
Unit/Service: Press office, relations with media Unit
Grade:  
Location: Brussels
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​​​Your job and responsibilities

Interested in managing political and strategic developments specifically regarding media relations and audio-visual projects while leading a high-professional team? Do you like working with many and varied political and administrative stakeholders at both local and European Union (EU) level?

As a Head of Unit your main responsibilities are:

  • Leadership/Supervisory Role: you are the leader of the press and audio-visual teams, and responsible for setting goals and objectives, role delegation, and establishing priorities. As the Head of the Press Office you are an important interlocutor between the team and the political groups, the President's cabinet, the cabinet of the Secretary-General and other departments. You are also responsible for the creation and promotion of a departmental culture that promotes integrity, performance, teamwork and commitment to quality and innovation;
  • Strategy: you provide a strategic framework for the development, implementation and integration of media relations activity and audio-visual production. You also play the role of broadening awareness of these strategies and increase visibility of press and audio-visual priorities within the European Committee of the Regions (CoR) and to key stakeholders;
  • Media Relations: you actively and personally engage, cultivate and manage strong daily press relations with EU, national and local journalists. You are a key coordinator of press activities all along the year and offer editorial guidance on media relations issues to all staff. You also provide strategic insights for the video/photo coverage aimed at audio-visual press and video/photo production aimed at corporate communication. 
Are you the talent we are looking for?

  • You have a strong record of delivery in a complex public authority or organisation where a proactive approach to media relations is taken;
  • You possess a demonstrable experience of having successfully led, motivated and developed a team of professionals;
  • You have a strong experience in front line communications (press, PR, media partnerships and audio-visual communication) and media experience, covering proactive strategic and tactical planning, crisis management and rapid rebuttal across all media;
  • You have a high political sensitivity and the ability to understand dynamics, strengths and constraints of a political institution and to prioritise accordingly with service orientation;
  • You have experience interacting with numerous media outlets and external partners;
  • You have excellent communication skills and are able to ensure effective communication within your team and in you relations with internal stakeholders;
  • You have strong interpersonal skills and are able to ensure your various interactions are smooth and uncomplicated as well as an effective execution of your leadership role; 
  • You have a deep knowledge of CoR activities and policies, and strong appreciation of the different political stakeholders;
  • You show a very good knowledge of the European institutions and EU policies;
  • You have a thorough knowledge of one of the official languages of the European Union and a satisfactory knowledge of another of the EU official languages. For functional reasons, a high level of English is required and a good level of French is desirable;
  • You have a good command of IT applications and tools (such as Outlook, Excel, Word, Business Objects, and SharePoint) as well as the ABAC financial management system. ​

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