Head of Co-operation in Police and Deprivation of Liberty Division

Your Team

The Directorate General of Human Rights and Rule of Law (DGI) has overall responsibility for the development and implementation of the human rights and rule of law standards of the Council of Europe, including the promotion of democracy through law, the operation of relevant treaties and related monitoring mechanisms and the development and implementation of activities in these fields.

You will be joining a team that leads the Council of Europe’s co-operation work on deprivation of liberty issues with a particular focus on prison, police and probation services. This work is grounded in the standards and instruments developed by the Council of Europe's Steering Committee on Crime Problems and the Penological Council, as well as by the monitoring work of the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) and the case law of the European Court of Human Rights.

You will be responsible for the Co-operation in Police and Deprivation of Liberty Division (around 50 team members based in Strasbourg and in Council of Europe field offices) which oversees the implementation of pilot and co-operation projects, as well as the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of co-operation activities in the field of policing, prisons, probation and forensic psychiatry.

Your Role

As Head of Co-operation in Police and Deprivation of Liberty Division, you will:

• manage the Division’s human and financial resources (ordinary budget and extrabudgetary resources); motivating and supervising staff members; co-ordinating their activities and offering guidance to the teams in Strasbourg and in the field on co-operation and programme management modalities, as well as on subject-matter related issues;
• ensure the development and co-ordination of technical assistance within the objectives and activities of the Division, and provide secretarial support to the Network of Police Services of the Council of Europe;
• develop and manage co-operation programmes, projects and activities in areas including, but not limited to: prison management; recruitment and training of prison staff; provision of health care in prison; prevention of radicalisation and supporting de-radicalisation in prisons; safeguards against ill-treatment in police detention; police oversight mechanism; human rights policing; support to establishment of and functioning of probation services; and protection of human rights of persons deprived of their liberty in psychiatric and social-care institutions;
• contribute to the shaping of co-operation projects meant to support and improve the beneficiaries’ compliance with the relevant Council of Europe legal standards and best practices;
• promote transversality, co-ordination and collaboration across relevant Council of Europe bodies and departments, as well as with national authorities, international organisations and civil society partners, ensuring coherence and complementarity of activities.
• ensure that the planning, implementation and evaluation of the Division’s activities correspond to the overall objectives of the Department and Directorate;
• co-ordinate closely development of technical assistance with the Directorate of Programme Co-ordination and contribute to the fundraising efforts;
• establish and maintain contacts with counterparts in other relevant organisations, bodies and institutions as representative of the Council of Europe.

Requirements to apply

You must:

• hold a higher education degree or qualification equivalent to a Master’s degree (2nd cycle of the Bologna process framework of qualifications for the European Higher Education Area) in a subject relevant to the Division’s work, preferably in law, political science, social sciences, international relations, public administration, or a related field;

the degree requirement may be waived if the candidate has at least 10 years of the experience described below;

• have at least eight years of progressively responsible professional experience in international co-operation, capacity building or related fields, including at least three years managing large-scale projects applying relevant European or international standards in the fields of prisons, police and probation;
• demonstrate solid experience in management, particularly in staff supervision, financial resources oversight, and budgetary matters;
• have an excellent knowledge of English (one of the Council of Europe’s two official languages) and basic knowledge of French (the other official language), or capacity to acquire it on the job.

You must also:

• be a citizen of one of the member states of the Council of Europe and fulfil the conditions for appointment to the civil service of that state;
• have discharged any obligation concerning national service (military, civil or comparable);
• not be the parent, child, stepchild or grandchild of a serving staff member of the Council of Europe;
• be under the age of 65 years.

Your application must demonstrate to what extent you have the competencies listed below. To help you doing so, feel free to consult our competency framework.

Key competencies

• Managerial - Management of teams
• Managerial - Decision making
• Operational - Professional and technical expertise
• Operational - Results orientation
• Interpersonal - Relationship building

• Professional and technical expertise:
  • very good knowledge of project management methodologies and tools as well as demonstrated hand-on experience in the management of fundraising for technical cooperation projects, including at international level;
  • knowledge of specific project management and budgetary tools;
  • have good knowledge of basic office tools (Microsoft Outlook, Word).

Desirable competencies

• Operational - Analysis and problem solving
• Interpersonal - Negotiating
• Interpersonal - Communication

• Professional and technical expertise:
  • knowledge of other European languages in use in the beneficiary countries would be an advantage;
  • ability to draft concisely and precisely.
• Resilience

What we offer

This job vacancy is for an international external recruitment. You can consult the conditions of employment (salaries, allowances, pension scheme, social insurance, etc.) on the webpage What we offer.

Applications and selection procedure

For more information on how we recruit, you can consult the page Our recruitment process. This recruitment is carried out in accordance with Article 490 of the Council of Europe Staff Rules. The deadline for applications is indicated in the General information section of this vacancy notice (see above) and is fixed at 23:59:59 (CET/CEST). When applying, make sure your motivation shows how your competencies make your profile the best for the role.

Important information

As an equal opportunity employer, the Council of Europe welcomes applications from all suitably qualified people, irrespective of sex, gender, sexual orientation, ethnic or social origin, disability, religion or belief. Under its equal opportunity policy, the Council of Europe is aiming to achieve gender parity in staff employed in each category and grade. At the time of appointment, preference between suitable people shall be given to the person of the gender which is under-represented in the relevant grades within the category to which the vacancy belongs.

Applicants with specific needs are encouraged to request reasonable accommodations at any stage during the recruitment process. Please contact us at [email protected], we will ensure that your request is handled.

The information published on the CoE’s careers website regarding working conditions is correct at the time of publication of the vacancy notice. Any changes to these conditions during the recruitment process will be updated on our Portal and will apply at the time of the job offer. Our career's website is not intended to be exhaustive and may not address all questions you would have. Should you have remaining questions, please contact us at [email protected].