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Administrative Officer COST-ESF

European Co-operation in the Field of Scientific & Technical Research

Brussels, Belgium


COST is an inter-governmental system supporting European research networking. In order to accomplish its mission, the European Science Foundation (ESF) provides administrative and scientific management to COST (European Co-operation in Science and Technology), its Domain Committees and its Actions through the COST Office in Brussels and corporate support services in Strasbourg. This is achieved through a support grant provided to ESF by the European Commission.

ESF-COST Office seeks an Administrative Officer whose mission is to support the Head of Science Operations in contributing to the objectives of ESF-COST Office mission as implementing agent for COST through the EC-ESF contract. The Administrative Officer will contribute to provide efficient administrative support to COST Office activities; the COST Action chairs/Grant holders as well as the Domain Committees.

Position responsibilities:

  • Verifying and controlling invoices and claims for expenses from activities’ participants and providing necessary information to Administration and Finance allowing the regular presentation of accurate and complete financial reports; 
  • Undertaking appropriate financial and budgetary control regarding the management of COST Action Grants; 
  • Organising cost effective meetings and scientific events, including travel arrangements for staff and/or visitors, for COST instruments in Brussels and throughout Europe; 
  • Providing financial and administrative support to Action Chairs/Grant holders and DC Chairs; 
  • Acting as point of contact for scientists involved in COST activities; 
  • Ensuring that high quality documentation for meetings is provided in an appropriate form and in a timely manner;
  • Documentation will include draft agendas and supporting papers and action sheets and minutes as necessary; 
  • Handling of applications in response to Open Calls and providing administrative support for review processes; 
  • Archiving and electronic filing; 
  • Undertaking other administrative duties as necessary and at the request of the COST Office Director, normally through the Head of Science Operations.

Profile and competencies:

Specific competencies
  • Administrative and Financial qualifications; 
  • Minimum working experience of 2-5 years; 
  • Proven administrative experience and knowledge of office procedures in the organisation of meetings and travels; 
  • Minimum 2 years of experience with financial and budgetary control systems; 
  • Good knowledge of internet-based knowledge management system; 
  • High standard of spoken and written English together with another European language; 
  • Good, practical working knowledge of MS Office systems (especially MS Word, Access, Outlook, Excel and PowerPoint).
Inter-personal competencies
  • Service-oriented attitude, with a strong commitment to customer care for both internal and external customer; 
  • Team-orientated work ethic with specific attention to maintain transparency and a collaborative team spirit; 
  • Task-orientated, responsible and autonomous, and continuous improvement minded; 
  • Strong inter-personal and communication skills within a multi-national context, including discretion and diplomacy; 
  • Commitment to deliver on allocated tasks and respond in a timely manner to deadlines;
  • A full-time contract under the Belgian law with a duration linked to the FP7 COST Grant Agreement II (ending June 2014), with an initial probation period of 6 months;
  • An international working environment located in Brussels (Avenue Louise 149, B-1050 Brussels, Belgium);
  • Unless a national of the ‘EU and EEE’ candidates must be eligible to work in Belgium and must have a Work Permit.
Electronic applications (motivation letter + CV) should be addressed to Barbara Bottiau and sent to job@cost.eu.

Reference code: 2012AO

For general details see http://www.cost.eu

Closing date: 07 October 2012