Community of European Railway and Infrastructure Companies is looking for a Policy Adviser - EU Public Affairs

Full-time, based in Brussels

The Community of European Railway and Infrastructure Companies (CER) is currently seeking to hire a motivated and experienced Policy Adviser – EU Public Affairs to join its team.

CER Mission

CER’s role is to represent the interests of its members on the EU policy-making scene, in particular to support an improved business and regulatory environment for European railway operators and railway infrastructure companies

Purpose of the role

Reporting to the Executive Director and working closely with the EU Public Affairs and Communications departments, the Policy Adviser –EU Public Affairs’ main responsibility will be to implement an effective Public Affairs strategy targeting the EU Institutions mainly in the fields of transportation, environment, climate change, energy, digitalisation, consumer rights and internal market, as well as to replace in case of need the social affairs advisor to coordinate and provide input to social dialogue activities and deliverables.

Key responsibilities

Public Affairs

• Pro-actively following issues of interest for CER in the Commission, Council and European Parliament, monitoring procedures, timelines and debriefing colleagues and CER members;

• Monitoring the political and policy debate and ensuring distribution of relevant information to colleagues and CER members;

• Developing and maintaining a personal network with the key players in the EU institutions;

• Contributing to CER communication activities, among which events, the CER internal newsletter, social media and other CER publications;

• Foster and coordinate multi-stakeholder (national governments, EU Institutions, EU associations, international companies, NGOs) alliances to achieve common strategic goals;

• Promote and maintain regular exchanges with EU Institutional actors to create awareness about the association’s positions.

Social Affairs (in case of need)

• Organising and coordinating the core work of the HRD group (e.g. bi-annual meetings);

• Monitoring the latest legislative developments on social issues at EU level and informing the HRD group accordingly;

• Preserving the relationship with trade unions on all relevant topics and supporting CER activities in the Social Dialogue with the Trade Unions;

• Communicating internally and externally on the HRD group´s activities;

• Contributing to CER´s participation in Commission funded projects and negotiations;

• Representing CER in various social platforms;

• Expanding CER members’ awareness about the HRD activities and thereby the participation in the HRD Group meetings;

• Maintaining a connection with other association’s Safety department/Human Factors working groups.

Required skills and qualifications

• 3 to 5 years of relevant professional experience (either in the Commission, Parliament, Council and Member States’ Permanent Representations, or by representing private sector’s interests in the EU arena);

• Solid knowledge of the European Union’s decision-making processes, legislative procedures and actors;

• Full professional proficiency in English with excellent writing skills. Any additional major European language, in particular German and/or French, is considered a plus;

• Excellent interpersonal and organisational skills;

• A flexible and proactive attitude to work combined with an autonomous working style;

• An entrepreneurial outlook and solution-oriented attitude;

• Ability to thrive under pressure and keep to tight deadlines;

• Team player, able to build good working relationships with colleagues;

• Recognised commitment to ethics and transparency.

We offer a multi-cultural, dynamic and professionally enriching working environment.

Terms and conditions are competitive, depending on the experience and qualifications of the candidate.

Qualified candidates should send a CV and maximum one-page cover letter in English electronically (PDF format LastName_FirstName_JobTitle.pdf) for the attention of Ms Veerle Notaert (jobs@cer.be)

Applications will be treated in confidence.

The closing date for applications is 31 January 2025.

The Community of European Railway and Infrastructure Companies (CER) brings together more than 70 railway undertakings, their national associations as well as infrastructure managers and vehicle leasing companies. CER’s role is to represent the interests of its members on the EU policy-making scene, in particular to support an improved business and regulatory environment for European railway operators and railway infrastructure companies.