Specialist – Data Handler, Operational 24/7 Centre Team, Operational Centre Unit

ORGANISATIONAL CONTEXT

This selection procedure is intended to establish a reserve list of successful candidates. It is envisaged to start using the reserve list in Q4 of 2024/Q1 of 2025.

Europol retains the right to make use of the reserve list to select candidates for similar posts within the organisation, should business needs require so.

Organisational setting:

The post of Specialist – Data Handler is located in the Operational 24/7 Centre Team, Operational Centre Unit, Operational and Analysis Centre (OAC) 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 Operational and Analysis Centre delivers support across the Operations Directorate by delivering added value to all Centres, including several functions of operational and strategic nature:
• Information hub and 24/7 Operational support
•Travel intelligence and EU Interoperability operational activities
• Biometric comparison and identification
• Deployment management & support
• Special Tactics including the EU Most Wanted List
• EMPACT support

• Liaison and Stakeholder coordination
• Strategic analytical products
•Data analysis, training and quality management

The Operational Centre acts as the central information hub where all the information sent to Europol is handled in first line. The Operational Centre is the gateway of all information and intelligence channelled through Europol and the central point for data exchange with third parties. The Operational Centre also supports the operational deployments of the Agency for main operations and major international events, monitors and supports the deployment of 'Guest officers' to the migration hotspots, and provides support to Special Tactics communities. It ensures the continuous monitoring of information exchange and open sources, provides first level response on a 24/7 basis, supports specific operations and deployments, provides a platform to special tactics communities and enables decision making of managers by providing an ad-hoc and daily business intelligence picture using information from available (primary Europol) databases.

The main tasks of the Operational Centre are:

• Ensures 24/7 availability and monitoring of information exchange;
• Provides operational support to Europol’s Operational Centres (including processing, crosschecking and handling basic cases);
• Initiates immediate actions and crisis response mechanisms;

FUNCTIONS AND DUTIES

ORGANISATIONAL CONTEXT

• Supports major events and operations;
• Hosts, train, mentor newcomers Analysts, as part of Europol’s Induction Programme;
• Supports the special tactics communities within the EU by ensuring the coordination among them and their involvement in Europol supported cases;
• Consolidates and further develops the Guest Officer concept and ensures the timely support to host countries for the secondary security checks.

Purpose of the post:

Under the supervision of the Head of Team and/or the Head of Unit, the post holder contributes to Europol’s activities in collecting, processing, cross-checking and exchanging criminal information and intelligence in various fields.

Reporting lines:

The incumbent reports to the Head of the Operational 24/7 Centre Team.

Job environment:

This post might require participation in a shift system including weekends and nights as well as on-call duty.

FUNCTIONS AND DUTIES

The incumbent carries out the following main functions and duties:

• Gather, collate, process (input) and assist in assessing information and intelligence received;
• Process high volumes of data in the most efficient and effective way;
• Support the information exchange between Europol, the Member States and Europol’s third partners;
• Carry out routine searches in Europol’s and other available databases;
• Support the monitoring of Open Sources;
• Conduct miscellaneous administrative duties related to the operational workflow;
• Participate in shifts work as and when required;
• Perform any other duties in the area of competence as assigned by the line manager. Any other duties in the area of competence as assigned by the line management.

REQUIREMENTS - ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA

a. Candidates must
• Be a member of a competent authority within the meaning of the Article 2(a) of the Europol Regulation and enjoy full rights as a citizen of a Member State;
• Have fulfilled any obligations imposed by the applicable laws on military service;
• Produce appropriate character references as to his or her suitability for the performance of the duties;
• Be physically fit to perform the duties pertaining to the post as further specified in Article 13 of the Conditions of Employment of Other Servants of the European Union (CEOS);
• Produce evidence of a thorough knowledge of one of the languages of the Union and a satisfactory knowledge of another language of the Union to the extent necessary for the performance of the duties.

b. Candidates must have
A level of education which corresponds to completed university studies of at least three years attested by a diploma;

OR

Professional training of an equivalent level in a relevant area (e.g. Police Officer’s School) and after having completed the training, at least the number of years of relevant professional experience as indicated below:

REQUIREMENTS - ELIGIBILITY AND SELECTION CRITERIA

Duration of professional training Additional professional experience required for equivalency
More than 6 months and up to 1 year 3 years
More than 1 year and up to 2 years 2 years
More than 2 years 1 year

a. Professional experience
Essential:
• Preferably 3 years of relevant professional experience in handling operational data in relation to investigations in various crime areas;
• Experience in processing and assessing large amounts of operational and/or complex data in the context of criminal investigations.
•Experience in working in SPOC, 24/7 operational, dispatch or emergency-situation centres.

Desirable:
• Recent experience in supporting analysis process;
• Experience in cross-border investigations;
• Experience in using VBA (Visual Basic for Applications) or other programming languages in order to structure large datasets;

b. Professional knowledge
Essential:
• Knowledge of the law enforcement cooperation and practices at international
Level
• Experience in monitoring and assessing open-source information;
•Knowledge of various systems used for processing law enforcement information and standard data normalization tools and technics.

c. General competencies
Essential:
Communicating:
• Very good communication skills in English, both orally and in writing;
• Ability to draft clear and concise documents on complex matters for various audiences.
Analysing & problem solving:
• Keen eye for detail with the ability to maintain standards of accuracy under pressure of tight deadlines;
• Excellent analytical and critical thinking skills;

• Competent user of Microsoft Office applications (MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook) and the internet.

Delivering quality and results:
• High degree of commitment and flexibility;
• High level of customer and service-orientation.
Prioritising and organising:
• Good administrative and organisational skills.
Resilience:
• Very good interpersonal skills, with the ability to work well, both independently and in a team;
• Ability to remain effective under a heavy workload and demonstrate resistance to stress.
Living diversity:
• Ability to work effectively in an international and multi-cultural environment.

d. Additional conditions:

Fulfil the condition stipulated in Article 5 of the Decision of the Executive Director on the Duration of contracts of employment for Temporary Agents, on the start date of the possible contract of employment which may be offered.