The YOUNG EUROPEAN FEDERALISTS (JEF Europe), an international non-governmental youth organisation (INGYO) is looking for candidates to fill the position of Secretary General (SG).

JEF Europe is an independent, transnational, political youth organisation with thousands of members in more than 35 national sections. The goal of JEF is the creation of a democratic European federation as a crucial ingredient for peace, a guarantee for a more free, just and democratic society and a first step towards a world federation. More information can be found here.

As appointed officer and legal representative, the Secretary General works full-time for the organisation at the European Secretariat in Brussels and is responsible, under the guidance of the Executive Board, for:

• the organisation of seminars, projects, training events and other campaign activities;
• external representation (European Institutions, NGOs, etc.);
• external communication and support to the member sections;
• the organisation of statutory meetings;
• the organisational support to the Executive Board;
• the financial management of the organisation (together with the Treasurer);
• day-to-day office work, including maintenance of the JEF Europe website.
• S/he will be supported by one or more mid-term stagiaires in the Brussels office.

The Secretary General should have:

• a thorough understanding of European politics;
• extensive experience in NGO work, ideally on a European level and/or in JEF;
• extensive experience in project management;
• excellent language skills; fluency in English is a precondition, any other European
• languages and especially French and/or Dutch is considered a strong asset;
• excellent communication and presentation skills;
• experience with finances and bookkeeping;
• excellent knowledge of MS/OpenOffice and online communications (email, social media);
• experience with institutional fundraising, especially EU grants, as well as diversification of fundraising;
• experience with human resources management and team management as well as leadership skills;
• self-motivation and ability to work independently;
• ability to manage different priorities and responsibilities;
• ability to work with and reporting to a democratic and volunteer-led Board;
• the willingness to undertake frequent travels;
• the sensibility to work in a multilingual and multicultural environment.

The applicant should show flexibility (15+ weekends/year), initiative, personal commitment and motivation on supporting the activities promoted by the organisation. JEF Europe offers an interesting position in an international environment and a high degree of independence in day-to-day work. JEF Europe will issue a working contract under Belgian law, limited for 2 years, including a trial period of 3 months, starting in summer 2016 (exact date to be defined).

Annual gross pay: EUR 30.000 (including benefits)
Deadline for applications: 15 January 2016, 23h59 CET.

Application procedure:
The application procedure will consist of 3 rounds.

In the first round the applicant is requested to send his/her CV and motivation letter. Only short-listed candidates will be contacted at this stage. Based upon these two documents, s/he will be requested to add a project and a budget proposal in the second round. In the third round the selected candidates will be invited by the Executive Board for an interview taking place in Brussels on the weekend of the 20-21 February.

The invitation to the interview will be communicated by 1 February 2016. The final decision will be taken by the Federal Committee (FC) of JEF Europe (the SG is appointed by the FC upon recommendation of the Executive Board according to the Statutes of JEF Europe), at its meeting that will take place in Krakow, Poland from 1-3 April 2016.

Please send applications in English by e-mail addressing both the President (president@jef.eu) and the current Secretary General of JEF Europe (sg@jef.eu).

The applications should include the following (in one PDF document):

• 1st Round (Deadline 15 January 2016 23:59 CET):
  Curriculum vitae (max 2 pages);
  A motivation letter (max 500 words);
  Optional: references, recommendation letters

• 2nd Round (ONLY shortlisted candidates will be invited to submit the project proposals until 27 January 2016 23:59 CET. You will be contacted by 20 January 2016 for this round):
  A proposal for a project (max 500 words) that matches with the priorities of JEF
  a budget accompanying the proposed project

• 3rd Round (Successful candidates will be contacted by 1 February 2016)
  An interview with the Executive Board of JEF Europe in the European Secretariat in Brussels on 20 February 2016

Check out vacancies on the JEF Europe website.