Trusted Jobs

Job grade: AD12 

Internal job grade: AD12 and above

Type of position: Temporary agent 

Selection procedure reference: EMA/AD/6129 

Job title: Chief Medical Officer 

Deadline for applications: 19 September 2021 23:59 CET

About this role

The Agency is looking to recruit a Chief Medical Officer (CMO) to be a key leader in the Agency and provide clinical subject matter expertise in working with the EU Network  to deliver on its core business and implementation of its Regulatory Science strategy. The CMO will work directly with their peers and healthcare leadership throughout the healthcare industry and environment. The CMO will have superior judgment, excellent communications skills, a high level of creativity, and the ability to thrive in a complex, intellectual, and highly collaborative environment. Additionally, the CMO will work closely in developing industry and academic affiliations to increase the visibility of EMA public health mission.

As the CMO, you will report directly to the Executive Director (ED) and you will be a member of the Executive Board which supports the Executive Director in defining and setting EMA’s overall strategy and objectives, and exploring opportunities for further improvement. 

In this role, you will:

• Work closely with the crisis co-ordinator to effectively manage the Agency’s response to emerging health issues.
• Promote the Agency’s responses to strategies such as Europe’s beating cancer action plan and other EU health related initiatives.
• Provide scientific leadership within the Agency through the Scientific Coordination Group and the Scientific Coordination Board and developing close working relationships with committee chairs.
• Lead a cross agency community of medical experts and therapeutic area leaders in discussion on medical aspects of medicines, their development and supervision. 
• Engage with the patients and healthcare professionals working parties to enable their delivery of workplans in line with the Agency’s strategies.
• Champion the Agency’s scientific publication strategy targeting hot topic areas in high impact journals.

Job description

As a Chief Medical Officer (CMO), you will:
•    Represent the “medical voice” of the Agency externally with particular emphasis on communication regarding high-profile regulatory benefit-risk decisions throughout the product /product class lifecycle. 
•    Provide clinical expertise and leadership in crisis and pandemic situations.
•    Be the “go-to” reference point for sensitive media exchanges as well as presenting the Agency’s standpoint in the relevant medical literature as circumstances require.
•    Have a detailed knowledge of critical benefit-risk opinions of the Agency and is prepared to defend these to external parties.
•    Advocate that interests of the patients and healthcare professionals are addressed in decision-making processes and in the evolution of these processes and their communication.
•    Have a deep understanding of the medical value of medicines being approved by the Agency and their contribution to addressing unmet medical needs. The CMO supports partnering with downstream decision makers i.e., European HTA bodies and Payer networks. 
•    Act as an ambassador to facilitate the general public’s understanding of science and its application in the authorisation and supervision of medicines by the EMA. 
•    Pursue the development of processes leading to increasing public trust and confidence in medicines and in the Agency’s operations. 
•    Develop networks with key European and international, learned societies, medical science forums and institutions. This involves establishing contacts with the academic community and guide the progression of a series of regulatory science initiatives and representing their views in the evolutions of standards for the development and supervision of medicines.
•    Advise on the need for strategic cross-stakeholder collaboration projects on medical topics. 
•    Contribute to formulating the  Agency’s medicines strategy taking into account the overall EU regulatory framework.
•    Propose further improvements to the benefit-risk assessment methodologies as well as novel regulatory approaches, as part of the understanding of the regulatory impact of the new technologies and societal trends.
•    Develop processes and systems enabling the Agency to measure its impact and contribution to EU health policies.
 

Eligibility Criteria

To be eligible for consideration for this position, you are required to meet the following general and specific eligibility conditions:

General conditions:

1. enjoy full rights as a citizen of a European Union Member State, Iceland, Liechtenstein or Norway;
2. have a thorough knowledge of English (at least level C1) and a satisfactory knowledge of another official language of the European Union (at least level B2);
3. have fulfilled any obligations imposed by applicable laws concerning military service.

Specific conditions:

1. possess a university degree in medicine (minimum of four years or more) or a level of education which corresponds to completed university studies attested by a diploma and appropriate professional experience of at least one year when the normal period of university education is at least three years that must have been obtained by the closing date of this vacancy notice;
2. have at least 15 years of relevant professional experience in the domain of the Agency’s activities after obtaining the relevant degree and before the closing date of this vacancy notice.

For general condition 1 and for specific conditions 1 and 2, you will be required to provide proof in the application form and at the interview stage. Failing to present these documents may result in the disqualification from the selection procedure.

Assessment criteria: Essential Criteria

• Institutional and technical knowledge, and in particular:
  • Proven professional experience at a senior level in clinical medicine in one or more medical specialities in a healthcare systems, academic medical centre and /or healthcare technology industry;
  • Thorough knowledge of  the development, authorisation and supervision of medicines including the European legislation and institutions and how they operate and interact;
  • Thorough knowledge of the methods of generation of clinical evidence and in its interpretation including oversight of clinical development programmes;
  • Track record of publication in high impact international medical or scientific journals.

Assessment criteria: Desirable criteria

• Experience as a Chief Medical Officer / Chief Scientific Adviser or similar role either in public or private sector in a capacity relevant for the role;
• Experience as scientific spokesperson either in public or private sector;
• Good understanding of clinical information systems, data and technologies in the clinical or regulatory context;
• Experience gained in a multicultural environment;
• A postgraduate qualification in medicine.

Assessment criteria: Behavioural competencies

• Leadership experience, and in particular:
  • excellent capacity and proven professional experience to develop and lead a strategic vision;
  • very good decision-making skills, including the capacity to take decisions in a complex political environment and in emergency situations;
  • experience in promoting principles of openness, transparency, independence and scientific excellence.
• Communication and negotiations skills, and in particular:
  • Ability to communicate complex information efficiently and coherently in a transparent and open manner with stakeholders, including press, the public, European and or international authorities/ organisations;
  • Ability to maintain and proactively develop appropriate relations with EU institutions, academia, patients & healthcare professionals, HTA and payers and with Member States’ competent authorities to ensure the proper functioning of the European medicines network and to forge effective alliances and partnerships.

Selection procedure timelines

Selection Process

Only eligible candidates (see eligibility criteria) will be assessed by the selection committee. 
Suitability and qualifications of eligible candidates will be assessed against the assessment criteria in different steps of the selection procedure. Before the start of the selection procedure, the selection committee decides which assessment criteria will be used at each stage of the process. Certain criteria will be assessed / scored only for shortlisted candidates during interviews (and/or tests).
Shortlisting
In order to allow the selection committee to carry out an objective assessment of all candidates in a structured way, all candidates might have to answer the pre-defined set of questions as part of their application. The questions are based on the essential and desirable assessment criteria, as well as behavioural competencies included in the vacancy notice. When answering a question, you should include all relevant information, even if it is already mentioned in other sections of your application form. The selection committee will assess whether you meet all the criteria, including your suitability for the position, using the information provided in the responses to those questions.

To carry out this assessment, the selection committee will first assign each question a weighting that reflects its relative importance, and each of your responses will be awarded points (1 to 10).

The points are multiplied by the weighting factor and added up to identify those candidates whose profiles best match the duties to be performed.

Only the top scoring candidates at the shortlisting stage will go through to the next stage.

Assessments
Next steps of selection may include a preliminary assessment (Skype, remote test, etc.) and / or an interview and a test in EMA premises. Please note that due to current travel restrictions the assessment may be conducted remotely. All assessments are based on the assessment criteria listed in this vacancy notice. 
At this stage, the selection committee will also look at the other sections of your application form (work experience, education, etc.). 
Qualified and suitable candidates will participate in the Assessment Centre and may be invited for a follow-up interview with the Executive Director. 

Reserve list and job offers

As a result of the assessments, the Selection Committee will recommend a list of most suitable candidates for the vacant position. Non-selected, but qualified and suitable candidates may be placed on a reserve list (valid until the end of the next calendar year with possibility of extension) for future recruitments.
Each interviewed candidate will be notified in writing whether they have been placed on the reserve list. Candidates should note that the placement on the reserve list does not guarantee an offer of employment.
More information about selection and recruitment, including appeal procedure, at the EMA is available at: https://www.ema.europa.eu/en/about-us/careers.

Conditions of employment

In principle, the Agency offers a five-year renewable contract. Contracts of a shorter duration may be offered to the candidates placed on the reserve list.

The monthly basic salary, including the local weighting[1] which adjusts salaries to the cost of living in the Netherlands compared to Brussels, is €13,046.02 Note this salary is subject to deductions of community tax, health insurance and pension contribution. 

EMA offers a final salary pension scheme and a world-wide medical insurance.

In addition to the basic salary, the jobholder may be entitled to various additional allowances, including family allowances, such as education allowance for dependent children of school age, and expatriation allowance. Relocation and/or resettlement allowances may also be available upon entry into employment.

More detailed overview of various allowances and entitlements is available at our careers website.

Please consult the Eurostat website for more information about the duty station weighting.

[1] The current weighting for the EMA's location in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, is 113.9. Please consult the Eurostat and Commission websites for more information on weightings.

this job offer is not open for applications