Senior Programme Manager

As Programme Manager, you are experienced, committed, creative and keen to contribute to the success and further development of the Interreg Meuse-Rhine (NL-BE-DE) programme. A good understanding and practical experience of managing programmes and/or projects involving European territorial cooperation are of key importance in this position. The 0.5 FTE Senior Programme Manager will deal with activities related to managing projects and the project portfolio within the Interreg programme.

In this position, you will be part of the Interreg Meuse-Rhine cluster

Welcome to the Meuse-Rhine region (EMR), where crossing borders is part of daily life. When you work here, you can start the day in Maastricht (the Netherlands), move on to business meetings in Liège (Belgium) and end the day in the beautiful old city centre of Aachen (Germany). The region’s more than four million inhabitants appreciate its borderless combination of vibrant cities, world-class research, rich cultural heritage and unspoilt nature every day.

Since 1991, cross-border cooperation projects between the Belgian, German and Dutch partner regions have received support from Interreg. The sixth generation of the programme (Interreg Meuse-Rhine (NL-BE-DE)) covers the territory of parts of the Province of Limburg (NL), the Province of Limburg (B), the Region of Aachen, the Province of Liège and the German-speaking Community of Belgium, as well as parts of the German federal state Rhineland-Palatinate. In total, the European Union and the programme partners (Member States and regions) have provided over €176 million in funding to contribute to the major societal challenges defined for the programme area. Innovation, sustainability and the social agenda are key drivers.
The Province of Limburg has been designated as Managing Authority (MA) for the Interreg Meuse-Rhine (NL-BE-DE) programme 2021-2027, which effectively runs from its approval by the European Commission (14 November 2022) to the end of 2029. This effectively makes the Province of Limburg responsible for implementing and managing this cross-border programme. Coordinating internationalisation and the EMR is part of the governor's portfolio. The cluster comes under the responsibility of the Director of Operations of the Province of Limburg. Overall coordination of the EMR Cluster is carried out by the Cluster Manager/Coordinator. Together with the Deputy Cluster Manager (0.5 FTE), the Coordinator makes up the formal management team.

This is what the 0.5 FTE Senior Programme Manager does

- In general, you will coordinate actions to assist the Managing Authority in the proper and lawful implementation of approved projects until the determination of grants.
- In consultation with the Deputy Cluster Manager, you will direct the Project Managers and the Financial Officer at the programme secretariat on a day-to-day/operational basis in following up projects, conducting management verifications (substantive and financial, both desk-based and on-site), processing requests for changes to projects and determining grants.
- You will coordinate management and control tasks as described in Regulations (EU) 2021/1059 and 2021/1060, which include at least:
drawing up a plan of action for carrying out management verifications, risk-based and proportionate, at the start of each implementation year of the programme, in collaboration with the Financial Officer and the Project Managers;
coordinating and validating the management verifications carried out by the Project Managers to check that specific operations comply with applicable legislation, the programme and the conditions for support. These management verifications consist of:

administrative verifications related to payment claims/progress reports from beneficiaries, and
on-site verifications of specific operations; ensuring timely payment of amounts due to beneficiaries; validating and monitoring progress of output and result indicators; validating project changes; validating grant determinations; co-designing and implementing the processes relating to irregularities (prevention, detection and correction); monitoring to ensure that expenditure declared to the European Commission is legal and regular.

- You will coordinate assistance to beneficiaries and project partners in the implementation of their projects and the activities these involve.
- You will be the contact point for the scheme to promote innovation in SMEs that is planned under specific objective 1.iii, as well as for the small projects fund planned under specific objectives ISO 1.ii and ISO 1.iii (People-to-People).
- You will be involved in the process of selecting, operationalising and updating the JEMS monitoring system.
- You will collect and process data for progress reports, change requests and management and other overviews, including for the Steering Committee and the Supervisory Committee.
- You will work in close cooperation and consultation with the rest of the team. For some coordination and alignment with the other operational management functions (Senior Programme Managers and the Regional Antennas Team Leader) and with the formal management (Cluster Manager and Deputy Cluster Manager) and in an operational management sense with the team of Project Managers (6) and the Financial Officer.
- You will support and temporarily take over tasks from colleagues as needed, especially in the absence of your immediate fellow Senior Programme Manager.

This is how you make the province more beautiful, innovative and sustainable

You will successfully fill the position of Senior Programme Manager MR thanks to your proven advisory skills, ability to liaise with project partners and negotiation skills. In doing so, you will use your strong analytical skills and the ability to structure and present complex issues well. Naturally, you possess intrinsic motivation and a positive attitude towards change and challenges. In this context, you can draw on your knowledge and experience of Interreg programmes and the relevant European regulations.

Skills and qualifications required:

an academic or similar qualification in socio-economics; broad knowledge of the focus area, which requires an understanding of political and administrative issues in a broader context than just one's own focus area; demonstrable experience of managing EU-funded programmes or projects; experience in financial management, use of simplified cost options (SCOs) and/or state aid management; thorough oral and written knowledge of one of the languages of the euregion (French, German or Dutch) as well as fluency in English (C1); an understanding of administrative and political relationships and developments.

Remuneration

a minimum gross monthly salary based on a 36-hour working week of €4,466.67 and a maximum of €6,323.27 in scale 12;  The above amounts are based on the Provincial Sector Collective Labour Agreement, which runs until 31 December 2023. Negotiations are currently taking place for a new CLA to take effect from 1 January 2024. The salary amounts in that CLA are expected to be at a higher level; an Individual Choice Budget (ICB) of approx. 22%, including holiday allowance (8%) and a structural year-end bonus (8.3%). This budget comes on top of your fixed salary and can be paid when you need it. You can also use it, for example, to purchase a bicycle, a sports subscription or extra leave; opportunities to work partially flexibly and independently of location; a personal training budget of €5,000 for the duration of five years with sufficient options to work on your development; pension accrual with ABP.

Working as a provincial professional

Working for the Province of Limburg means working to promote the well-being and prosperity of Limburg and its people. Achieving results with impact is our common mission here, in the economic field, the social field and the public domain. You will do this in a setting where a wealth of cultural heritage and tourist attractions almost make you feel as if you are on holiday. North Limburg has the natural beauty of the Land of Peel and Maas and the fens and shifting dunes of the Maasduinen. Central Limburg has the largest interconnected water sports area in the Netherlands – the Maasplassen. And South Limburg is home to the green Heuvelland.

The Province of Limburg is growing into an open, learning governmental organisation, where professionals have space to pursue innovations in collaboration with relevant partners. This requires employees to take responsibility for their own development. The Province provides strong support for personal development and expects its employees to take initiatives and make efforts in that regard.

More about the Province of Limburg

As provincial professionals, we only want one thing: to ensure that Limburg is even more beautiful, sustainable and innovative than it already is when we pass it on to future generations. That task poses major challenges. From our cultural heritage to our innovative character. From our beautiful countryside to our logistics hotspots. And from our special euregional location to economic innovative power. We tackle all these complex and multifaceted challenges with all the strength we can muster. Each of us based on our own expertise. Together with more than 900 professionals, we are working on the future that Limburg deserves.

Further information in the case of external recruitment

At the end of the selection procedure, we will ask the selected candidate to apply for a Certificate of Good Conduct without objections [Verklaring Omtrent het Gedrag zonder bezwaren, (‘VOG’)] from the municipality and submit it to us after approval from screening authority Justis.

The integrity risk profile applies to this position.

The selection procedure may involve an assessment.

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