Secretary General (m/f/x)

Young European Federalists is looking for a

Secretary General (m/f/x)

JEF Europe is an independent, transnational, transpartisan political youth organisation with over 10,000 members in 37 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, fair 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 oversight of the Executive Board, for:

• Human resources and team management of the European Secretariat (4-5 people) notably supervising the finances and administrative work of the officer in charge of these matters;
• Financial management of the organisation (together with the Treasurer);
• Fundraising, partnership development and communication with a diverse range of donors;
• Project writing, planning, implementation and reporting;
• Project management and reporting;
• External representation (European Institutions, NGOs, etc.);
• Organisation of statutory meetings and liaising with member sections;

The Secretary General should have:

Understanding of and interest in European politics and affairs;

• Extensive experience in NGO work, ideally on a European level and/or in JEF;
• Extensive experience in project writing and management, especially at the European level;
• Experience with institutional fundraising, especially with EU institutions and the Council of Europe;
• Experience with and/or motivation to work on diversification of funding;
• 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 financial management;
• Excellent knowledge of MS/OpenOffice and online communications (collaborative tools, social media);
• Experience with human resources management and team management as well as leadership skills;
• Ability to work independently and to effectively manage and prioritise different competing priorities and responsibilities;
• Ability to work with, engage with and create synergies with a wide range of public and private stakeholders;
• Ability to work with and reporting to a young, democratic and volunteer-led Board, thus having different occupations, hence carrying their tasks on a constrained schedules, and to collaborate with a Europe-wide network of young volunteers;
• Strong ability to be pro-active, and strong organisational skills, as well as effectively delegating to the Secretariat members, and if necessary, requiring the support of the Board on specific tasks;
• The willingness to undertake frequent travels;
• The sensibility to work in a multilingual and multicultural environment;
• Strong commitment to non-discrimination and fostering diversity, equity and inclusion;
• Adherence to the Council of Europe values of Democracy, Human Rights, and the Rule of Law.

The applicant should show flexibility (working 8+ weekends/year and work in the evenings outside of office hours as necessary), initiative, personal commitment and motivation to support 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 work contract under Belgian law, limited for 2 years, starting in September 2025 (exact date to be defined based on the availability of the candidate).

Salary conditions are to be agreed upon depending on experience and include additional benefits, e.g. Private health insurance, Travel per diems, 13th salary and bonus for summer holidays.

The Secretary General is entitled to 20 days of holidays as well as time off in lieu as compensation for work during weekends.

Application procedure:

The application procedure will consist of 2 rounds.

In the first round, the applicant is requested to send their CV, motivation letter (in pdf), as well as to share a project proposal including a budget as a single PDF document (A4 – 3 pages maximum in total) on a topic – matching the priorities of JEF Europe and its work with sections.

In addition, recommendation letters are welcome.

In the next round, candidates will be notified within a week and invited by the Executive Board for an interview taking place online. If needed, for those candidates based outside of Brussels, JEF Europe can offer a contribution to cover the costs of travel to the interview.

The final approval of the successful candidate in the interview stage will be taken by the Federal Committee (FC) of JEF Europe (the Secretary General is appointed by the FC upon recommendation of the Executive Board according to the Statutes), at an online dedicated meeting.

Deadline for applications: rolling basis

Please send your application in English by e-mail to the Executive Board of JEF Europe (eb@jef.eu). In the title, indicate “Application for Secretary General of JEF Europe”.

Any questions should be addressed to the current Secretary-General – Brigita Krasniqi – brigita.krasniqi@jef.eu