Closing date for applications is Friday 10 February at 1200 CET.  

Eurodiaconia is a European network of churches and Christian NGOs providing social and health care services and advocating for social justice. Together our membership represents the needs and unique experiences of 58 national and regional organisations in 32 countries.

Diakonia is Greek for service and in the biblical sense, this means service for and with people in need.  We want to see an end to social inequality through the provision of services and support that enable each person to live with dignity and fulfil their potential.

Eurodiaconia creates a platform for diaconal actors to facilitate transnational networking. It also creates a link between the regional, national and European levels, developing ideas and feeding into policies to combat social exclusion, isolation, poverty, injustice and inequalities.

The Job

We expect you to have practical and/or academic experience in the social policy field with experience working at the European level in the Brussels environment or a comparable national environment.  You should be very proactive, confident in initiating dealings with our partners, members and external stakeholders and able to develop and steer the work of your specific portfolios to have maximum policy impact.  You are expected to dynamically engage with European Institutions, NGOs, Think Tanks and Social Partners.  Although you should be able to work autonomously on your policy files you must also be able to work collaboratively with colleagues, members and partners.  You should have a clear and demonstratable commitment to social justice, social equity and know the policy and service-driven approaches that can bring about positive systemic and structural change.

You need to be a strategic thinker, able to manage multiple tasks and be both proactive and reactive on policy issues.  You need to be skilled in advocacy and seeing opportunities for alliances and partnerships in both the institutions and civil society. You should have a good working knowledge of current EU social policy initiatives and be able to see how our members can be engaged in advocacy work on social policy at the EU level as a result.   You will lead our work on social equity, looking to dismantle structural and systemic barriers that prevent people from reaching their fullest potential.  You will particularly look at equity issues concerning people with a migrant background and/or BAME as well as ensuring labour markets are accessible to all.  You will work in collaboration with all the members of our policy team, led by our Head of Advocacy.

Our members will be at the heart of your work, empowering their advocacy and practice by bringing members together to share their practical experiences on specific areas of work through our internal networks. You will also have an understanding of project development and be able to actively contribute to building our portfolio of funded project work including participating in grant writing and management. You will also have management responsibility for Policy Assistants so experience related to this will be a bonus.  You will also be committed to ensuring the coordination of your work with our communications team so that we share our practice, policy and stories with as wide an audience as possible.

You should be able to relate to and sympathise with our vision and mission and understand the traditions that unite our membership. You should appreciate the diversity of our membership and the various cultures that they represent. Our day-to-day working language is English but other languages are always an asset.

We offer a competitive salary and benefits, generous holiday allowance, a supportive and dynamic working environment, training opportunities and an international environment. The job is offered at 100% but we are happy to consider an 80% option.  You will also have some regular travel and the opportunity to share in the development of our vision of a socially just Europe.

How to apply

Please send your CV and a cover letter to recruitment@eurodiaconia.org. Applications must be in English.  Your cover letter should outline your experience for this specific position and what motivates you about working for social justice.  Your cover letter must not be more than 2 pages long and no other documentation should be sent at this stage.  All applications should be addressed Heather Roy, Secretary General.  Please note that due to the high level of applications received, we are only able to enter into correspondence with shortlisted candidates.

The deadline for applications is Friday 10 February 2023 at 1200 CET.  However, we will review applications on a rolling basis and may start interviews with suitable candidates before the deadline.

You can find the vacancy here.