Trainee Defence Technologies Management

Trainee Defence Technologies Management

EDA - European Defence Agency

Brussels, Belgium

THE TRAINEESHIP

The activities developed in/by the Technology and Innovation Unit (TIU) take place within a collaborative environment where all members work together for a common objective: promoting and stimulating defence research and innovation in Europe. Dedicating sufficient time to understand, design and prepare the activities within a multicultural environment with several colleagues is necessary, if not mandatory.

The aim of this traineeship is to contribute to the goals of the Technology and Innovation Unit, especially by:

• supporting the Capability Technology Groups (CapTechs) in the identification of technology gaps and common areas of interest for cooperation in the defence domain;
• supporting the Technology Foresight activities, including drafting technical studies, organising workshops and preparing administrative documentation;
• supporting the Action Plan implementation.

TASKS AND DUTIES

Under the supervision of a trainee advisor, the trainee will work with colleagues in the area of Research and Technology Management, analysis and foresight and will contribute to/be responsible for the following activities:

• contribute to CapTech implementation;
• contribute to Technology Foresight activities;
• contribute to the RTI Defence Conference and Workshops implementation;
• contribute to Action Plan Implementation;
• take on additional tasks as required in the interest of the service.

A typical day at work involves the following activities:

• involvement in the CapTech relevant meetings, workshops and activities;
• supporting knowledge and document management via the different IT tools;
• participation in other R&T activities under the responsibility of the Technology and Innovation Unit (TIU);
• contribution to the implementation of the Technology Foresight Workshops, in particular by preparing and reviewing technology foresight documents, supporting moderation of discussion with subject matter experts in dedicated workshops;
• contribution to drafting workshop reports, presentations and meeting minutes;
• drafting reports on the maturity of technologies for defence;
• supporting with administrative tasks (such as preparing invitations, managing participants list, organising presentations and agenda);
• performing deep analysis in innovative defence technologies related to the areas identified by the trainee supervisor;
• support the Head of Unit with administrative tasks at Unit-level (task management, weekly report, weekly meeting, etc.).

LEARNING OUTCOMES

Project outputs & learning outcomes:

The selected trainee will get familiar with and will acquire practical experience in:

• defence research, technology tools, methodologies and good practices;
• emerging defence technologies identification;
• technology foresight methodology and tools;
• defence research programme and project management.

The experience acquired at the end of the traineeship will provide the selected trainee with a very good understanding and experience of the defence research landscape, stakeholders, and technologies. This experience could be an excellent basis for future work in the European institutions and bodies, in national administrations or in industry involved in defence research.

Technical/Soft skills to be acquired:

From this experience, the trainee will gain:

• ability to work in a team in a multicultural environment;
• accuracy and attention to detail;
• very good organisational and communication skills;
• affinity with security and defence;
• research and analytical skills;
• quantitative and qualitative data analysis;
• report preparation and writing skills;
• understanding of project management principles;
• time management;
• multi-stakeholder relations/management;
• organisation of (international) meetings and events;
• ability to work effectively in an EU environment;
• organisation of defence research.

ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA

To be considered eligible to take part in this selection procedure, on the closing date for the submission of applications candidates must satisfy all the eligibility criteria as specified below:

• be a national of a Member State participating in the Agency;
• be entitled to their full rights as citizens;
• produce the appropriate character references as to their suitability for the performance of their duties (extract from the “judicial record” or certificate of good conduct will be requested prior to recruitment);
• be physically fit to perform their duties;
• have a thorough knowledge (minimum level C1 oral and written) of one of the languages of the participating Member States and a satisfactory knowledge (minimum level B2 oral and written) of another of these languages to the extent necessary to discharge their duties;
• have no personal interest (financial, family relationship, or other) which could be in conflict with disinterested discharge of their duties within the Agency;
• hold, or be in a position to obtain, a valid Personnel Security Clearance Certificate (national or EU PSC at SECRET UE/EU SECRET level);
• have completed at least the first (minimum three-year) cycle of a higher education course (university education) and obtained a full degree or its equivalent by the closing date for applications;
• have not previously undertaken for more than six weeks a paid or unpaid traineeship or any kind of employment in another EU institution, Agency, or body.

SELECTION CRITERIA

Only applications meeting all essential selection criteria will be assessed.

The pre-selection of candidates to be invited to an interview is based on a comparative assessment of all applications against the selection criteria and additional assets.

It should be highlighted that the selection criteria constitute a minimum threshold and that only candidates considered as most suitable are invited to an interview.

Essential:

On the closing date for the submission of applications candidates must satisfy all the essential criteria as specified below:

• a University degree (or equivalent academic degree) in at least one of the following fields: Science, Engineering, International/European studies, or similar;
• advanced IT skills, particularly in MS Office applications (Word, PowerPoint, Excel) and SharePoint (or database notions), and the ability to work on collaborative remote applications for meetings (Microsoft Teams, Webex, Skype) and for brainstorming (Mural, Mindmap, Xmind);
• a very good command of written and spoken English (minimum level C1).

Desirable:

The following will be considered an advantage:

• academic degree or specific training/education relevant to Artificial Intelligence technologies;
• academic degree or specific training/education relevant to Quantum technologies;
• exposure to an international environment;
• previous experience working in a team;
• experience & knowledge in technology, research and innovation;
• willingness to learn, interest in new technologies, R&T and defence affairs.

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