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Executive Director FENS

Federation of European Neuroscience Societies

Brussels, Belgium

FENS

The Federation of European Neuroscience Societies (FENS) is a non-profit federation of learned associations throughout Europe, representing 19 000 scientists working in the field of neuroscience in Europe.

FENS is looking for an Executive Director who will be based in its office in Brussels.

JOB OBJECTIVES

The Executive Director is essential for support to the FENS Executive Committee and to ensure continuity when changing composition of the committee. The Executive Director should act as:

1) Head administrator

  • by supervising the activity of all the offices and staff
  • by acting as human resource administrator, proposing and executing decisions concerning staff (hiring, roles, career development, etc)

2) Financial manager

  • by assisting the Treasurer in financial management and in fund-raising.

3) Advisor and policy assistant to the Executive Committee

  • on request, by exploring, establishing preparatory documents, implementing decisions, etc
  • on initiative, by advising the President, Secretary General, Treasurer on upcoming issues
  • on request or initiative, by advising chairs of FENS committees
  • by preparing, implementing, following up on a daily basis FENS policy both within FENS (relationship with FENS member societies), and outside FENS (Other international societies (IBRO, SfN, etc.), EU, charities, etc..).

For more information, see the links in the References section below.

QUALIFICATIONS AND REQUIREMENTS

Language

English is a prerequisite: the candidate must have a fluent command of spoken and written English for communication in English with international partners. Additional languages are not required, but French or Dutch would be an advantage to work in Brussels. Good drafting skills are essential as the role will involve the preparation of written documents for internal and external communication.

Administrative and other skills

The candidate must have significant administrative experience and possess extensive organizational, interpersonal and communication skills. The candidate must have experience working in a team-oriented, collaborative environment, will need to be practical and innovative and have the flexibility to react and implement practical solutions to issues.

The work requires

  • Supervision of an office in Brussels (one employee) and an office in Berlin (4 employees)
  • Interaction with the Governing Council, the Executive Committee and various committees
  • Interaction with the leadership of about 40 member societies of FENS
  • planning of business meetings of the various FENS committees
  • supervision of FENS scientific conferences.

In his/her role as advisor and policy assistant, the candidate must have

  • the confidence and interpersonal skills to deal with representatives of the profession and of external stakeholders.
  • The ability to develop partnerships.
  • The ability to proactively identify opportunities for contact building, and devising and managing events.
  • A good understanding of EU Institutions and EU decision-making process and of stakeholder engagement.
  • A good understanding of funding for research in Europe both at the national and EU levels and of EU funding agencies.
  • Higher education in biology, notably in neuroscience, although not required, could be advantageous.

Around 3-5 years of work experience in a responsible position is required.

LOCATION AND SALARY

Location: The position is to be held in Belgium, at the FENS office in the centre of Brussels, but requires unrestricted ability to travel to committee meetings or scientific conferences worldwide.

Type of appointment: unlimited term after a six months trial period. The candidate will be first recruited as Deputy Executive Director, working closely with the present Executive Director for a few months, and will become Executive Director upon departure of the latter.

Start date: ASAP

Salary range: To be negociated depending on qualifications and experience

DATE FOR APPLICATION: Applications will start being reviewed after September 15, 2011

Applications including a full CV and cover letter in English should be sent by email as a single PDF file to

applications@fens.org

Interviews are expected to be held in Brussels on October 5, 2011.

Click here for PDF

REFERENCES: for more information,

See FENS website: http://www.fens.org, notably the sections About us and Meetings

See FENS Strategic plan: http://www.fens.org/media/pdf/FENS_Strategy.pdf

See FENS Administration: http://www.fens.org/media/pdf/FENS_Administration.pdf


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