Specialist – Database Administrator, ICT Operations Unit (AD6)

ORGANISATIONAL CONTEXT

This selection procedure is intended to establish a reserve list of successful candidates. It is envisaged to start using the reserve list in Q2/Q3 of 2025.

Organisational setting:
The post of Specialist – Database Administrator is located in the Infrastructure Services Team (C1-36), ICT Operations Unit (C1-3), ICT Department, Capabilities Directorate.

The C1 ICT Department has the responsibility for devising, delivering and operating critical technology capabilities and solutions supporting the core mission and support processes of Europol. Over 150 internal staff members and a significant number of domain-specific consultants are responsible for devising, developing, delivering and operating information management and communication technology capabilities that ensure enhanced criminal information analysis and exchange among Europol, Member States and third parties.

The ICT Operations Unit is responsible for the operations and management of the Europol ICT Infrastructure. This includes Workplace services, Service Management, Deployment services, Platform Services, Application Services, Infrastructure Services and ICT Security.

Purpose of the post:
The post holder is responsible performing Database Administration activities to ensure that database systems are functioning in a reliable manner, providing reliable, efficient and secure access to mission critical and sensitive data on a 24×7 basis. 

Reporting lines:
The incumbent reports to the Senior Specialist – Head of Team – Infrastructure Services. 

Job environment:
This post will require participation in a shift system including weekends and nights as well as on-call duty.

FUNCTIONS AND DUTIES

The successful candidate will have to carry out the following main duties:

• Plan and perform the installation of new database servers and implementation of new databases in the production and other environments; 

• Perform regular database administration, configuration and maintenance activities for database systems including backup and recovery, security patching, incident resolution, change and release management; 

• Ensure Business Continuity of critical systems by installing, configuring and maintaining database solutions for High Availability and Disaster Recovery; 

• Perform in-depth technical analysis of performance issues and implement database tuning and performance optimization; 

• Collaborate with Application Operations, Infrastructure Operations, Software Development, Third-party Vendors and other teams to perform application deployments; 

• Collaborate with other teams for 2nd level escalation and application-level troubleshooting and problem resolution; 

• Contribute to design, development and implementation of procedures and scripts for Automated Deployment following the agile DevOps approach; 

• Design, implement and maintain operational procedures, produce accurate technical documentation as required; 

• Perform any other tasks in the area of competence as assigned by the line management. 

REQUIREMENTS – ELIGIBILITY AND SELECTION CRITERIA

REQUIREMENTS – ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA

a. Candidates must

• Be a national of one of the Member States of the European Union and enjoy full rights as a citizen;

• Have fulfilled any obligations imposed by the applicable laws on military service;

• Produce appropriate character references as to his or her suitability for the performance of the duties;

• Be physically fit to perform the duties pertaining to the post as further specified in Article 13 of the Conditions of Employment of Other Servants of the European Union (CEOS);

• Produce evidence of a thorough knowledge of one of the languages of the Union and a satisfactory knowledge of another language of the Union to the extent necessary for the performance of the duties.

b. Candidates must have

• A level of education that corresponds to completed university studies attested by a diploma when the normal period of university education is three years or more;

OR

• Professional training of an equivalent level in a relevant area and after having completed the training, at least the number of years of relevant professional experience as indicated below:

Duration of professional training Additional professional experience required for equivalency

More than 6 months and up to 1 year                 3 years

More than 1 year and up to 2 years                     2 years

More than 2 years                                                   1 year

• In addition to the above at least 3 years of total professional work experience gained after the award of the diploma

REQUIREMENTS – SELECTION CRITERIA

a. Professional experience: 

Essential: 

• Experience with database administration in production environments; 

• Experience with MariaDB;

• Experience with PostgreSQL;

• Experience with database technology for High Availability and Disaster Recovery;

• Experience with database performance analysis and optimization;

• Experience with database design and data modelling;

• Experience with change and release management processes.

Desirable: 

• Experience in virtualized environments, preferably VMWare and vSphere;

• Experience with RedHat patching and upgrading;

• Experience with Microsoft SQL Server, SQL Server Always On High Availability and Disaster Recovery;

• Experience with Microsoft Windows Server Failover Cluster services.

b. Professional knowledge 

Essential: 

• Knowledge of MariaDB and PostgreSQL;

• Knowledge of at least one Linux scripting language, preferably Bash;

• Knowledge of database administration tasks such as database installation, upgrade, configuration, maintenance, monitoring, backup and recovery, security and capacity planning;

• Knowledge of RedHat and LVM;

• Knowledge of the SQL query language.

Desirable:

• Knowledge of MongoDB, Cassandra, Neo4J;

• Knowledge of database management tools Solarwinds DPA and pgAdmin;

• Knowledge of the PostGIS PostgreSQL extension;

• Knowledge of GraphDB;

• Knowledge of database management system Microsoft SQL Server 2016 and higher.

c. General competencies:

Essential:

Communicating:

• Very good communication skills in English, both orally and in writing;

• Ability to draft clear and concise documents on complex matters for various audiences.

Analysing & problem solving:

• Keen eye for detail with the ability to maintain standards of accuracy under pressure of tight deadlines;

• Excellent analytical and critical thinking skills;

• Competent user of Microsoft Office applications (MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook) and the internet.

Delivering quality and results:

• High degree of commitment and flexibility;

• High level of customer and service-orientation.

Prioritising and organising:

• Good administrative and organisational skills.

Resilience:

• Very good interpersonal skills, with the ability to work well, both independently and in a team;

• Ability to remain effective under a heavy workload and demonstrate resistance to stress.

Living diversity:

• Ability to work effectively in an international and multi-cultural environment.

d. Additional conditions:

Fulfil the condition stipulated in Article 5 of the Decision of the Executive Director on the Duration of contracts of employment for Temporary Agents, on the start date of the possible contract of employment which may be offered.

SELECTION PROCEDURE

All applications for Temporary Agent posts must be submitted through the online recruitment system accessible via Europol’s website. For further information, please consult the Europol Recruitment Guidelines.

The Authority Authorised to Conclude Contracts of Employment (AACC) sets up a Selection Committee, composed of at least three members, consisting of one chair and at least one member from the administration and one member designated by the Staff Committee.

The selection criteria, set out in this Vacancy Notice, will be assessed by the Selection Committee throughout the different stages of the selection procedure. Before the start of the selection procedure, the Selection Committee will decide which selection criteria will be used at each stage of the selection procedure. Certain selection criteria will be assessed only for shortlisted candidates during a written test and/or a competency-based interview.

The Selection Committee will assess the applications received in order to make an initial selection of those candidates meeting all eligibility criteria and matching best the selection criteria (suitability). 

The minimum pass-mark for being shortlisted, i.e. invited to participate in a post-related selection procedure, consisting of a written test and a competency-based interview, is established as 60% of the total maximum score. 

The Selection Committee will shortlist the 12 highest scoring candidates. All candidates having a score equal to the 12th highest scoring candidate will be invited to take part in the first stage of the selection procedure (written). At shortlisting stage, the Selection Committee will also establish the pass-mark for the selection procedure. 

The Selection Committee will assess the written test against the selection criteria. Those candidates who do not reach the pass-mark for the test will be informed that they do not qualify to participate in the interview. All candidates who reach the pass-mark for the test will be invited to the second stage of the selection procedure (interview).

It is intended for the selection procedure to be conducted remotely. Should the Selection Committee consider it necessary to conduct the selection procedure on-site at Europol, either in part or in full, in the interest of the proceedings, and subject to budget availability, the candidates invited to participate in the selection procedure will be informed accordingly.

After the selection procedure has taken place, the Selection Committee will establish a list of successful candidates, i.e. those scoring above the pre-defined pass-mark, which is shared with the AACC, for establishment of a Reserve list. A Reserve list is valid for 24 months.

Candidates who participated in the interview will be informed of the outcome, i.e. whether they have been successful or not.

The Selection Committee’s work and deliberations are confidential. It is forbidden for candidates to make direct or indirect contact with the members of the Selection Committee or for anyone to do so on their behalf.  

All enquiries related to a selection procedure should be addressed to the Europol HR Operational Support Team at the following email address: C2-12@europol.europa.eu. Detailed information on the selection procedure- including enquiries, measures of redress and their applicable deadlines is available in the Europol Recruitment Guidelines, which can be found on Europol’s website.