Director, Central Management Unit AALA

Ambient Assisted Living Association

Brussels, Belgium

The Ambient Assisted Living Association (AALA), implementing body of the AAL Joint Programme is seeking to hire a new Director for its Central Management Unit in Brussels.

The objective of the Ambient Assisted Living Joint Programme (AAL JP) is to enhance the quality of life of older adults through the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), whilst strengthening the European industrial base for products and services in this domain. The AAL JP is set up for an initial period of a six-year funding programme (2008 – 2013) with administration of funded projects presumably lasting until 2017. During this period, the planned total public funding will be more than 300 Million €.

The first term of employment for the new director will end December 31st, 2013, with the possibility of mutually agreed extension.

The Director of the CMU

The CMU Director is accountable to the Executive Board (EB) and the General Assembly (GA) of the AALA. He/she will be expected to act to achieve AALA‘s mission, strategy and plans, and contribute to their formulation and development. In addition he/she has to cooperate and seek synergy with the wide range of stakeholders of the AAL JP, in particular the AAL partner states and the European Commission.

Furthermore, the position as the Director of the CMU includes the overall management responsibilities of the CMU staff and CMU tasks. This means:

• providing skilled leadership in supervising and coordinating the CMU tasks and fostering a good team spirit and working environment of the CMU and of the AAL JP Management Unit (composed by CMU and the National Contact Points (NCPs)),
• being accountable for all activities and obligations of the CMU including the cooperation with external contractors:
• being responsible for maintaining the necessary staff and infrastructure of the CMU, as well as managing external contracts
• serving as the CMU main communication interface to the AAL JP Advisory Board (AB), the AALA Executive Board (EB) and General Assembly (GA), and to the European Commission.
• providing documents and proposals for decision directly to the EB and the GA

AALA is seeking candidates who:

• have a Masters level degree or higher,
• have substantial working experience in the field of RTD and innovation. Experience in AAL related areas is considered an advantage,
• have substantial experience in national and international RTD collaborations, including experience from RTD programmes initiated and managed by the European Commission,
• have extensive and relevant strategic, financial and human resource management experience,
• have demonstrated exceptional leadership skills and possess full command of written and spoken English. Working knowledge of French and knowledge of other languages is considered an advantage.

Conditions of employment

The AALA will directly employ the CMU Director. The remuneration of the CMU Director will be adequate to the responsibility and requirements of this function. The place of employment is Brussels where the AALA has its legal address and the CMU is based.

Equal opportunities

The AALA applies a policy of equal opportunities and non-discrimination.

Selection, negotiation and appointment

The first round of selection will be performed by our independent recruitment consultant (SDWorx), based on the written applications and associated documents. The second round of selection will also be based on individual interviews of selected candidates which will also be conducted by SDWorx and observed by a representative from the Partner States. Interviews are expected to be held during the month of January 2012.
Shortlisted candidates from the interview stage will be invited to attend the next meeting of the General Assembly (GA) in February 2012. The Executive Board (EB) - with approval by the General Assembly (GA) - will then start negotiations, with a candidate or candidates. Subsequent to successful negotiations, the EB will appoint him or her as Director of the CMU. The appointment of the CMU Director is anticipated in March or April 2012, with a start date for the successful candidate of May to June 2012.

Application procedure

Independence and declaration of interests: The Director of the CMU will be required to make a declaration of commitment to act independently in the public interest and to make a declaration in relation to any interests which might be considered prejudicial to his/her independence. Candidates must confirm their willingness to do so in their application.

For applications to be valid, candidates must submit:

• a letter of motivation, “including independence and declaration of interests“, and
• a curriculum vitae with photo.

The CV should be provided in Europass format1. Candidates are requested to give details of the size, number of staff and nature of departments which they have previously managed.

Applications must be sent by e-mail to: application@aal-europe.eu

Deadline for sending in applications is December 15th, 2011, at 17.00 CET.

Applications will be rejected if the dossier is incomplete or submitted after the deadline. Applications sent by postal services will not be returned.

Supporting documents (for example, certified copies of degrees/diplomas, references, proof of experience etc.) must not be sent at this point but at a later stage of the procedure if requested.

In order to facilitate the selection process, all communications to candidates concerning this vacancy will be in the English language.