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Nature, Health and Environment Director

EEB – European Environmental Bureau

Brussels, Belgium

The European Environmental Bureau is the largest and most inclusive European network of environmental citizens’ groups – and the only one that works on such a broad range of issues. We advocate for progressive policies to create a better environment in the European Union and beyond.

The EEB has so far had two policy teams – the EU Policy Team and the Global Policies and Sustainability Team. To support policy coherence and given the growth of the EEB policy teams, the two teams are being merged into one policy team with three directors responsible for different thematic clusters.

We are seeking a Nature, Health and Environment Director to be one of the three policy directors at the EEB, with specific responsibility for EEB’s work on Nature (covering biodiversity, water, sustainable food and farming policy) and on Health and Environment (covering chemicals, mercury, air and noise policy), heading a twenty-strong policy team of passionate professionals and providing strategic guidance to help achieve our vision of a better future where people and nature thrive together.

The successful candidate will probably have at least twelve years’ experience in environmental policy with proven leadership experience, fundraising track record, and a personal commitment to the work we do. We want to interview candidates who care about the environment, but also understand how to make others care too.

The work consists of:

• Providing strategic guidance and political leadership to the EEB’s EU policy work in the fields of Nature, Health and Environment and helping to deliver on the EEB’s overall long-term strategy 2020-2030;
• Leading and managing the teams working on nature, water, sustainable food and farming, chemicals and mercury, air and noise (currently 16 staff) including on personnel (recruitment, supervision, performance review) and budgetary aspects – in coordination with the team and thematic leads;
• Working together with the Secretary General and two other policy directors and on the strategic direction of the EEB’s policy work;
• Working closely together with the two other policy directors on ensuring common and coordinated positions across files;
• Representing the EEB at high level events and meetings;
• Building and maintaining close working relations with key representatives of the EU institutions, Member States and other stakeholders;
• Representing the EEB towards the media;
• Mobilising the EEB member organisations to play an active part in delivering the EEB’s EU policy objectives;
• Working closely with the EEB’s Communications Director and other policy directors to deliver effective, clear and coherent messaging in support of the EEB goals, exercising quality control in relation to EU policy content;
• Remaining on top of all major EU environment-relevant policy developments and trends in your area, as well as relevant scientific developments;
• Identifying and helping to secure sources of funding for the future work of the EEB and in particular those areas under your responsibility – in close coordination with the cluster and thematic leads who are actively engaged in fundraising;
• Representing, together with the two other policy directors, the EEB’s Policy team in the EEB’s senior management team, supporting the management and development of the organisation and providing input on behalf of the policy division to various horizontal processes, e.g. applications, reporting exercises.

Qualities and experience:

• Preferably a minimum of twelve years’ experience in European environmental policy;
• Solid theoretical and practical knowledge of EU political processes;
• Strong and preferably broad knowledge of environmental policy issues;
• Broad understanding of the political, scientific, legal, economic, financial and technical issues associated with the environmental policies in your area of responsibility;
• Good management, supervisory and interpersonal communication skills, preferably with at least five years of work experience where these skills have been applied;
• Solid project and programme management experience;
• Strong networking skills, ideally already having contacts with key players in the relevant fora;
• Experience in producing high quality output under time pressure as well as providing quality control;
• Strong written and oral communication skills in English, fluency in other widely used European languages an asset; equally comfortable in addressing large audiences and in bilateral meetings with key decision-makers;
• A track record of successful fundraising, preferably with both government and private foundation donors;
• Flexibility (we expect and offer flexibility regarding work schedules);
• Prepared and able to work in a dynamic working environment, sometimes under pressure;
• Ability to work effectively on a large number of different topics and prioritise workload and time allocations;
• Subscribes to the EEB’s values.

The EEB offers:

• An open-ended contract with a gross monthly salary in the indicative range of €4500 – €5500¹ (negotiable according to experience) coupled with various benefits (holiday bonus, 13^th month, pension scheme, luncheon vouchers);
• A dynamic, friendly, flexible international working environment;
• A worthy cause to work for.

How to apply:

Applications consisting of 1) a letter of motivation, 2) a comprehensive CV and 3) a completed questionnaire (see below) should be sent to personnel@eeb.org. Only applications comprising these three elements will be considered. Please clearly mark: “Nature, Health and Environment Director” in the subject of your email.

Questionnaire for Nature, Health and Environment Director post

Please answer the following questions (max 300 words per question):

1. What do you see as the main risks for EU environment-related policies in the coming three years and how should EEB address the risks?
2. What do you see as key opportunities for policy influence in the field of Nature, Health and Environment in the coming three years and what would be your priorities for engagement?
3. How can the environmental movement in general and the EEB specifically become more effective in its advocacy work to promote better policies for the environment at EU and Member State levels?

Location: The Nature, Health and Environment director will be based in the EEB headquarters in Brussels (during COVID-19 times, the EEB follows government recommendations to ensure the safety and wellbeing of all its staff). We offer Belgian contracts under Belgian law. The candidate must commit to being officially registered in Belgium and working most of the time from our office in Brussels. This currently entails structural teleworking scheme (with at least 1 day in the office per week depending on the position). They will work as part of the EEB’s Policy Division, under the supervision of EEB’s Secretary General and in close cooperation with other EEB Directors and colleagues.
Deadline for Application: Noon Brussels time 18 July 2022
Interviews first round: Virtual interview: end of July 2022, beginning of August
Interviews second round: In person: end of August 2022 or, if not possible due to fixed holidays, week of 5-9 September
Starting date: As soon as possible after the interviews

We expect there to be two rounds of interviews, but reserve the right to have an additional round if necessary to help select the right candidate.

Please note that we will ask shortlisted candidates to provide two references.

The EEB is an equal-opportunities and family-friendly employer. We encourage applications from a diverse range of candidates.

Due to limited staff resources and numbers of applications anticipated, only candidates selected for interviews will receive a reply.

Please read our recruitment privacy statement before applying: https://eeb.org/eeb-recruitment-privacy-statement/.

European Environmental Bureau AISBL
Rue des Deux Eglises 14-16, 1000 Brussels, Belgium
Tel: +32 (0)2 289 10 90
E-mail: personnel@eeb.org – Website:
International non-profit association – Association internationale sans but lucratif (AISBL)
EC register for interest representatives: Identification number: 06798511314-27
BCE identification number: 0415.814.848
RPM Tribunal de l’entreprise francophone de Bruxelles

¹A higher salary could be considered for candidates with higher levels of experience.