Category: Vacancy

LifeWatch ERIC is hiring its Chief Financial Officer – Deadline for applications 1 December 2019

Please see the vacancy below.

Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Vacancy

Terms of reference

Job description

JOB TITLE: Chief Financial Officer (CFO).

PURPOSE: The CFO will shoulder responsibility on the LifeWatch ERIC financial and administrative activity.

LOCATION: LifeWatch ERIC Statutory Seat premises in Seville, Spain.

POSITION: Full-time, four-year term with a possible extension of another four years, starting from March the 1^st, 2020, however the possibility to start as soon as January the 1^st, 2020 would be greatly appreciated.

COMPENSATION: Competitive salary, commensurate to degrees and experience.

Main accountabilities

Role: The CFO always acts in her/his authority as member of the Executive Board, which deals with the implementation and management of the LifeWatch ERIC activities. In particular the LifeWatch ERIC CFO is involved in the following Tasks and Activities:

• Preparation of Financial Statements: (a) Prepares monthly financial reports. S/he will maintain dutifully organized records of all financial activities of LifeWatch ERIC and compile a budget up-date at the end of each month, as well as annually, and/or upon request. The reports will typically detail the inflows and outflows of cash, as well as other assets (for example, in-kind contribution resources). (b) Bears responsibility for keeping all the documentation that supports the figures contained in the report, such as invoices and receipts, for auditing purposes; (c) Certifies that: (i) the financial management of the common facilities is ensured, (ii) the 15% minimum in cash contribution of the members is transferred to to the bank account of LW ERIC and (iii) members which decide to allocate part or all of their in-kind contributions to their Distributed LifeWatch Centres, as long as the financial management of the Common Facilities is ensured, they have paid their 15% minimum in cash contribution, which is transferred to the bank account of LifeWatch ERIC.
• Accounts Management: (a) Keeps true and accurate accounts of all income and expenditure, is in charge of supervising the reception of money relating to the accounts receivables of the organization, such as membership fees, project grants, service payment, etc.; (b) Shoulders responsibility on paying the organization’s liabilities such as supplier’s services, insurance premiums, and other accounts payables; (c) Attends to the financial administration needs of LifeWatch ERIC projects, such as EU H2020 grants.
• Management of LifeWatch ERIC suppliers and sub-contractors: As a small structure, LifeWatch ERIC has a number of administrative tasks performed by external suppliers and subcontracts, such as legal advice and accounting. The CFO manages these subcontractors and ensures that they are deployed in the most efficient manner in support of LifeWatch ERIC.
• Procurement and Tendering: Is responsible for respecting the procurement and tendering policies of LifeWatch ERIC. S/he is in charge of preparing the procurement documents for interfacing with external suppliers to produce service requests. The CFO produces then after procurement documents, and approves procurement requests and cash disbursements and reflect all the company transactions in a cash-flow statement, which s/he regularly reconciles to keep track of the money.
• Budgeting: The CFO prepares the annual budget of LW ERIC, in close collaboration with the Executive Board, after s/he receives recommendations from the Financial Committee and the final approval of the General Assembly of LifeWatch ERIC, which may include details such as allocation of Human Resources time, based on the agreed requirements of the organization.
• Auditing: (a) Establishes internal controls, including internal audits, to enhance the effective and efficient use of the resources; (b) Has the accounts of LW ERIC examined every year by auditors appointed by the General Assembly and their written report circulated to all members accompanied by comments of CEO and by any of the members of the Executive Board.
• Other administrative responsibilities: (a) Supports the preparation and oversee the execution of contracts, both financially and administration aspects, and in liaison with other
• LifeWatch ERIC Officers, LifeWatch Members, the EC and other funding agencies, suppliers, clients, among others; (b) Is responsible on the finances and related administrative procedures, so that they are compliant to the EU ERIC regulations; (c) Contributes to the definition of the financial space of LifeWatch ERIC and collects related socio-economic data and other Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) from the EMBRC partners, towards carrying SWOT analysis of LifeWatch ERIC at regular time intervals and in collaboration with the other Officers and Bodies; (c) Based on her/his experience on public sector administration practices, s/he acts as a liaison between the common facilities and distributed centers of the ERIC on such issues.

The ideal candidate should meet the following requirements

1. Minimum qualification: Graduation from a European University or equivalent experience;

2. Minimum five-year experience in similar position;

3. Excellent knowledge of written and spoken English;

4. Proven expert practice of private-sector, not-for-profit financial administration, for business accountability;

5. Proven expert practice of public Sector accounting systems and related financial regulations;

6. Experience in preparing budget, and reporting on expenses;

7. Excellent presentation and reporting skills, in writing and verbally;

8. Ability to deal responsibly with general administrative tasks;

9. IT skills: Command of MS Office package; familiar in working on web platforms dedicated to financial and administrative purposes;

10. Understanding of structure, functioning and regulation of the European Research Infrastructure Consortia (ERICs);

11. Knowledge of EU projects financial administration and reporting needs;

12. Paralegal skills;

13. Cost-benefit analytical skills;

14. Quality system management (ISO 9001 or other business standards);

15. Data analysis skills for analytical reports; 16. Accountable and working transparently, and in close interaction with colleagues;

17. Good social skills and ability to function in a small dedicated team;

18. Excellent organizational skills;

19. Able to produce clear and high-quality output;

20. Able to work towards precise objectives under specific time constraints;

21. High-standard work ethics;

22. Willingness to cover some general administrative tasks to support the team’s needs;

23. Willingness to work overtime, which may be required to meet project deadlines;

24. Willingness for national and international travelling, which may be required for the purpose of meeting with project partners, stakeholders, etc. 

The vacancy is subject to the following procedure

• A single PDF document, in English, containing: (a) A short application letter explaining your interest in this position and how you could contribute; (b) A Curriculum Vitae (EUROPASS format, 6 pages at most); (c) An annex with all the sources (e.g. lists of: diplomas, dissertations, certifications, publications, events attended, etc.) that address as many of the above requirements as possible, should be submitted to the Chair of the LifeWatch ERIC General Assembly and cc-ed to the CEO¹ and rest of Common Facilities Directors.
• Closing date for receipt of applications: December 1^st, 2019
• Short-listed candidates will be contacted directly by the LifeWatch ERIC Chair of the General Assembly as Chair of the Recruitment Committee.
• Candidates may be called for an interview with the LifeWatch ERIC Chief Executive Officer, Chief Technology Officer and the other members of the Recruitment Committee, as well as other experts on the purpose of the position. 
• This Recruitment Committee² will provide the CEO with a short-list of a maximum of three candidates, and a summary of the information supporting its decision and the qualifications of the different candidates.
• The CEO will select the candidate awarding the position, and will report to the General Assembly on his decision and the overall selection procedure.
• Start date in office for the appointed Director: March the 1^st, 2020 but the possibility to start as soon as January the 1^st, 2020 would be greatly appreciated.

¹ – Special note for Italian market: According to Italian Privacy Protection Law n. 196/03 any resume not mentioning explicitly the following wording: ‘I authorize the use of my personal data in accordance with Italian Privacy Protection Law (30/06/2003, n. 196/03)’ will be automatically deleted from our database and consequently not taken into consideration.

² – Composed by the Chair of the General Assembly, CEO, and at least another representative of the Executive Board of Directors.

LifeWatch ERIC has opened a position for its Chief Technology Officer.

Job description and vacancy available below. All vacancies are stored on www.lifewatch.eu/work-with-us.

I./ Job Description 

JOB TITLE: Chief Technology Officer (CTO).

LOCATION: LifeWatch ERIC Statutory Seat premises in Seville (Spain).

POSITION: Full-time, four-year term with a possible extension of another four years.

II/ Main accountabilities

1. She/he will be in responsible for the consolidation of the “start-up” (first 4-years period) activities and early technical (including distributed ICT) developments based on LifeWatch ERIC needs and requirements.
2. During this startup phase, she/he will identify and then provide fundamentals of technology blocks and platforms to be used, and also help LifeWatch ERIC visualize its “products” being based on the available resources and assets.
3. She/he will advise and support CEO and rest of Directors to understand business opportunities because of the dynamics of change (knowledge of existing and emerging technologies), making sure that best practices are defined and followed by LifeWatch ERIC distributed technical teams. She/he will work in tightly collaboration with the Director of the distributed ICT Core e-Infrastructure who is responsible of the coordination and management of the distributed ICT Core construction operations.
4. Therefore, she/he should be able to evaluate multiple technologies and identify those that best fit LifeWatch ERIC as technology selection should come from a deep understanding through a pragmatic approach, a long term strategic vision, rather than following the latest trend.
5. She/he will ensure that LifeWatch ERIC technical developments comply with appropriate quality requirements, ethical legal and societal norms and principles in order to be further provided through the so-called Common Facilities (Statutory Seat and ICT e-Infrastructure Technical Offices, Service Centre and the Virtual Laboratories and Innovation Centre) and rest of Distributed Facilities. This activity will be performed in tightly collaboration with their Directors.
6. She/he will be appointed for a four-year period and can be also re-appointed. In both cases, retirement date^[1] must be later to the end of the contract. A competitive salary, based on the qualifications and experience of the candidate, will be offered. Employment will be in Spain and follow Spanish employment law.
7. This position is a full-time job. Her/his main office will be located at the administrative headquarters of the ERIC in Seville, being supported by the rest of the above cited distributed facilities.
8. She/he will ensure the technological updating on ICT innovations of the ERIC ICT developments and its European and global expansion, particularly in tightly connection with the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC) initiative, while ensuring action and provision of e-Services, including the development of products at different geographical scales.
9. She/he shall be the technical representative of LifeWatch ERIC on ICT issues and committed to build strong and effective European and further international relationships on ICT technological-related issues, with a broad range of ICT stakeholders within and outside the ERIC, particularly the Research (e-)Infrastructures identified on the roadmaps of the European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures (ESFRI) and established ERICs through the so-called ERIC FORUM,  and other relevant ICT initiatives from other continents.
10. She/he will support the in kind contributions Evaluation Committee in regards to the valuation of ICT developments as “in kind” contributions.
11. She/he will be Member of the LifeWatch ERIC Executive Board.

II/ The ideal candidate should meet the following requirements

1. Have a higher university degree or equivalent qualifications on Information and Telecommunication. Ph.D. and/or MBA on Organization and Management Engineering is desirable.
2. At least 12 years’ accredited professional experience on international cooperation projects and initiatives on environmental and high-level institutional domains in the said areas of ICT and research policy frameworks, including European Research e-Infrastructures policies and recommendations implementation.
3. Accredited professional experience in the area of biodiversity and ecosystem research bioinformatics as technical director or leader of the design, construction, deployment and operational maintenance of research infrastructures facilities in centres, universities or agencies or equivalent public policy units.
4. Accredited professional experience on managerial and technical implementation issues related to EU funding instruments, particularly R&I Framework Programmes and European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF).
5. Accredited professional experience and participation in initiatives concerning the construction and deployment of European Research Infrastructure Consortia (ERIC) and strategic ICT-related particularly the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC).
6. Have understanding of current and emerging agendas and challenges on ICT developments, and in particular experience in project-based approaches concerning the design, construction and operational maintenance of distributed ICT developments.
7. Have proven organization, management and communicative skills.
8. Accredited knowledge on the Spanish (ERIC Hosting Member State) administrative system, although not a requirement, should be taken into consideration.
9. Knowledge of English language, the working language of LifeWatch ERIC under article 1.3 of its Statutes. Knowledge of other European languages although not a requirement, should be taken into consideration.
10. Availability to travel abroad based on the specific working needs of the position.

III/ The call for interest is subject to the following procedure:

1. To submit a short application letter, and Curriculum Vitae (EUROPASS format, 6 pages at most^[2]), should be submitted to the Chair of the LifeWatch ERIC General Assembly gert.verreet@lifewatch.eu with also Cc to the CEO ceo@lifewatch.eu^[3]. Closing date for receipt of applications: June 15^th, 2019.
2. Shortlisted candidates will be contacted directly by the LifeWatch ERIC Chair of the General Assembly as Chair of the Recruitment Committee.
3. Candidates may be called for an interview with the LifeWatch ERIC Chief Technology Officer Recruitment Committee. This Recruitment Committee^[4] will provide the CEO with a short-list of a maximum of three candidates, and a summary of the information supporting its decision and the qualifications of the different candidates. The CEO will select the candidate awarding the position, and will report to the General Assembly on his decision and the overall selection procedure.
4. Start date in office for the appointed Director: September 1^st, 2019.

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[1] 65 years-old in Spain.

[2] The candidates are kindly advised to submit an annex with all the sources (e.g. lists of: dissertations, publications, events attended, etc.) that address the above 10 requirements.

[3] Special note for Italian market: According to Italian Privacy Protection Law n. 196/03 any resume not mentioning explicitly the following wording: ‘I authorize the use of my personal data in accordance with Italian Privacy Protection Law (30/06/2003, n. 196/03)’ will be automatically deleted from our database and consequently not taken into consideration.

[4] Composed by the Chair of the General Assembly, CEO, and at least another representative of the Executive Board of Directors.

LifeWatch ERIC has opened a vacancy for a position at its Service Centre, Lecce, Italy

Please note, that motivation letter and curriculum vitae are required, and they both shall be drafted in English.

• SC Web Portal Officer – Please note that for this position only the deadline is extended to 23/03/2019