Secretary - European Commission (AST-SC1, Brussels)

About this position

The summary below is published by European Commission on the official vacancy notice. Our own analysis — salary realism, comparable openings, career trajectory, language profile — follows further down the page.

Key responsibilities

According to the vacancy notice, the role centres on the following duties:

• Provide administrative and logistic support to case-handling as member of case teams investigating mergers
• Document management
• Monitor deadlines and workflow in the investigation
• Prepare documents, signatories and adoptions via DECIDE
• Transmit inter-service consultations
• Prepare access to the case file

Are you eligible?

Check these requirements from the notice before investing time in an application:

• Education: Post-secondary education attested by a diploma, or secondary education attested by a diploma giving access to post-secondary education
• Experience: Appropriate professional experience of at least three years (if secondary education only)
• Languages: One of the 24 official EU languages (C1), A second official EU language (B2)
• Key skills: Work independently with minimum supervision, Work as part of a team, Good communication and interpersonal skills, Open-minded, Capacity to take initiatives, High degree of accuracy, Reliability, Responsibility to deal with sensitive files
• Eligibility: Citizen of an EU Member State and enjoy full rights as a citizen; fulfilled any obligations imposed by applicable laws concerning military service; physically fit to perform the duties; produce appropriate character references as to suitability for the performance of the duties

Selection process

The notice describes the following selection steps:

• Selection panel chooses limited number of candidates for interview based on CV and application form
• Interview (conducted in English and possibly another language)
• Pre-recruitment medical check-up

Contract and working arrangements

Contract duration: Temporary agent position.

Hiring unit: Unit C5 – Markets and cases II: Information, Technology, Communication and Media (Mergers), Directorate-General for Com….

Position details

Reference

COMP/COM/2026/1435

Directorate-General

COMP – Competition

Vacancy Notice

Download PDF

Last Verified

23 July 2026

Position overview

This is the official EU Careers listing for Secretary at European Commission based in Brussels at the AST-SC1 grade level (Temporary Agent). The vacancy reference is COMP/COM/2026/1435. It is hosted by COMP – Competition, the Directorate-General responsible for this policy area. The role falls under the Support Staff domain.

July 25

# MAKE A DIFFERENCE - JOIN THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION

Do you want to help shape the future of the European Union? Make the planet greener, promote a fairer society, or support businesses and innovation across the EU? Then come and work for the European Commission where you can really make a difference!

Commission staff are a diverse group of people, who are motivated to help make Europe – and the world – a better place. They come from the 27 Member States of the European Union. Different nationalities, backgrounds, languages and cultures make the Commission a vibrant and inclusive place to work.

WE OFFER GREAT JOBS AND GREAT WORKING CONDITIONS:

• Interesting and challenging jobs with plenty of opportunities for training and acquiring new skills and competencies throughout your whole career

• Opportunities to move between different policy areas throughout your career

• A package of flexible working conditions including the possibility of teleworking – we care about your work-life balance

• A competitive financial package, including comprehensive healthcare, accident and pension schemes

• A multilingual, multicultural workplace where personal and career development are strongly promoted

• Multilingual schools for your children

We recruit from a wide range of backgrounds and actively promote diversity and inclusion:

We do not only recruit political scientists and lawyers but are also looking for all kinds of profiles, including scientists, linguists, IT experts, data analysts and economists, as well as drivers and engineers.

We are committed to equal opportunities and to fostering a rich, diverse and inclusive working environment. We aim for our workforce to be representative of European society and strongly welcome applications from all qualified candidates. We actively seek to create a workplace where each staff member feels valued and respected, can give their best and can develop to their full potential. (Selection reference COMP/COM/2026/1435)

To promote diversity and establish a geographically balanced pool of candidates, we strongly encourage applicants from Member States which are currently underrepresented in the European Commission workforce to apply. These Member States are currently Austria, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, the Netherlands, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Luxembourg, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia and Sweden 1. Recruitment will however remain strictly based on the merits of all applicants and no positions will be reserved for nationals of any specific Member State.

For more information ec.europa.eu/work-with-us

STAFF RECRUITED ON CONTRACTS

In addition to permanent officials, the European Commission offers non-permanent positions. There are two categories of non-permanent staff:

> •

temporary agents are recruited to fill vacant positions for a set amount of time or

to perform highly specialised tasks.

> •

contract agents may provide additional capacity in specialised fields where an

insufficient number of officials is available or carry out a number of administrative or manual tasks. They are generally recruited for fixed-term contracts (maximum 6 years in any EU Institution), but in some cases they can be offered contracts for an indefinite duration (in offices, agencies, delegations or representations).

For more information on different staff categories

> 1Please note that the list of underrepresented Member States may be subject to future amendment based on potential data changes over time.

(Selection reference COMP/COM/2026/1435)

# Secretary

# Directorate-General for Competition (DG COMP) of the European Commission

Selection reference: COMP/COM/2026/1435

Domain : Secretary

Where : Unit C5 – Markets and cases II : Information, Technology, Communication and Media (Mergers), Brussels

Staff category and Function Group : Temporary agent 2b – Secretary

Grade range: SC1-SC6

Publication deadline : 30/07/2026 - 12.00 (Brussels time)

WE ARE

We are unit COMP.C.5, responsible for merger control in the sectors covered by Directorate C,

namely Information Technology, the Internet, Consumer Electronics, Telecommunications and

Media. The unit deals with the highest profile mergers in the EU, important and fast-moving

sectors. Recent cases include Google/Wiz, Broadcom/VMware, Microsoft/Activision Blizzard,

Amazon/iRobot, NVIDIA/Run:ai and Synopsys/Ansys. The unit is also part of the wider Merger

Network within DG COMP, whose mission is to enforce merger control rules in all sectors in the EU.

We are a dynamic and motivated unit currently composed of +/- 28 staff members of case handler

officers, case handling assistants, secretarial and case support, trainees and 2 case managers

directing the case work.

WE PROPOSE

We are proposing a position as a case secretary. The work consists in providing administrative and

logistic support to case-handling as member of case teams investigating mergers.

The objective in merger investigations is essentially to prepare the Commission's decision on the

compatibility of a merger with EU law. Work on mergers is carried out in case teams which always

comprise a case manager, at least two case handlers and a case secretary/assistant. Case

secretary work includes document management, monitoring of deadlines and workflow in the

investigation, the preparation of documents, signatories and adoptions via DECIDE as well as the

transmission of inter-service consultations and the preparation of access to the case file.

This is a challenging position involving varied work on complex and often sensitive files in

interesting sectors of the economy. We offer a dynamic, efficient and friendly working environment. (Selection reference COMP/COM/2026/1435)

WE LOOK FOR

We are looking for a dynamic colleague who will be able to work independently and with a minimum of supervision, but also as part of a team. The ideal candidate should have good communication and interpersonal skills, be open-minded and have the capacity to take initiatives. We require a high degree of accuracy, reliability and responsibility to deal with sensitive files. The main working language is English, but the knowledge of other languages would be welcome. (Selection reference COMP/COM/2026/1435)

HOW TO EXPRESS YOUR INTEREST?

You should send your documents in a single pdf in the following order:

1. your CV 2. completed application form.

Please send these documents by the publication deadline to COMP-TA-APPLICATION@ec.europa.eu

indicating the selection reference COMP/COM/2026/1435 in the subject.

No applications will be accepted after the publication deadline. (Selection reference COMP/COM/2026/1435)

# ANNEX

# 1. Selection

 Am I eligible to apply?

You must meet the following eligibility criteria when you validate your application :

Our rules provide that you can only be recruited as a temporary agent at the European Commission if you:

General criteria:

• Are a citizen of a Member State of the EU and enjoy full rights as a citizen

• Have fulfilled any obligations imposed by applicable laws concerning military service

• Are physically fit to perform the duties linked to the post

• Produce the appropriate character references as to suitability for the performance of the duties.

Qualifications:

In order to be recruited for this position, you must have at least

• a level of post-secondary education attested by a diploma, or

• a level of secondary education attested by a diploma giving access to post-secondary education, and appropriate professional experience of at least three years.

Only qualifications issued or recognised as equivalent by EU Member State authorities (e.g. by the Ministry of Education) will be accepted. Furthermore, before recruitment, you will be required to provide the documents that corroborate the eligibility criteria (diplomas, certificates and other supporting documents).

Languages:

> •

have a thorough knowledge (minimum level C1) of one of the 24 official languages of the EU 2

• AND a satisfactory knowledge (minimum level B2) of a second official language of the EU, to the extent necessary for the performance of the duties.

 What about the selection steps?

> 2The official languages of the European Union are: BG (Bulgarian), CS (Czech), DA (Danish), DE (German), EL (Greek), EN (English), ES (Spanish), ET (Estonian), FI (Finnish), FR (French), GA (Irish), HR (Croatian), HU (Hungarian), IT (Italian), LT (Lithuanian), LV (Latvian), MT (Maltese), NL (Dutch), PL (Polish), PT (Portuguese), RO (Romanian), SK (Slovak), SL (Slovenian), SV (Swedish).

(Selection reference COMP/COM/2026/1435)

The post was published internally within the Commission, inter-institutionally, and brought to the attention of competition laureates.

In accordance with Article 29 of the Staff Regulations, applications from Commission officials, officials from other Institutions, and laureates of competitions have priority 3. If these candidates do not best fit the requirements for the position, the Commission can recruit a temporary agent.

A selection panel will choose a limited number of candidates for interview, based on the CV and application form that they submitted. Due to the large volume of applications, we may receive,

only candidates selected for the next step of the selection phase will be notified.

For operational reasons and in order to complete the selection procedure as quickly as possible in the interest of the candidates and of the institution, the selection procedure will be carried out in English and possibly in another language.

# 2. Recruitment

The candidate selected for recruitment will be requested to supply documentary evidence in support of the statements made in their application.

The successful candidate will be required to undergo a mandatory pre-recruitment medical check-up, carried out by the Commi

Salary at this grade

Basic monthly salary at AST-SC1 runs from €3,292 (step 1) to €3,725 (top step), giving an annual range of roughly €39,504 to €44,700 before tax and allowances. Steps increase automatically every two years; the figures here are taken from the salary grid in the EU Staff Regulations.

Eligible staff posted away from their country of nationality also receive an expatriation allowance worth 16% of basic salary (around €527 per month at step 1 of AST-SC1) together with household, dependent-child, and education allowances where applicable. Take-home pay is then adjusted by the country correction coefficient for Brussels. For a worked example see our correction coefficients guide and the EU salaries overview.

Application timeline

This vacancy was first listed on 16 July 2026, 6 days ago.

The application deadline is 30 July 2026, 6 days from today. Late applications are not accepted, so submit through the official EU Careers portal well in advance.

Last verified against the EU Careers feed on 23 July 2026.

Where to learn more

For full responsibilities, requirements, and career progression at AST-SC1 see our AST-SC1 grade page; for headcount, mission, and other open vacancies at European Commission see the European Commission institution page; for the cost of living, correction coefficient, and other postings in Brussels see our Brussels location page; for related vacancies in the Support Staff field browse our Support Staff domain page.

New to EU careers? Our beginner's guide walks through entry routes, EPSO competitions, and what to prepare. For application logistics see application tips and EPSO competitions.