Title of post	Inquiries officer
Function group and grade	AD5 to AD9
Legal basis	Secondment in the interest of service: Articles 37(a) and 38 of the Staff Regulations and Article 16(4) of the Statute of the European Ombudsman Transfer: Article 29(1)(a) and (b) of the Staff Regulations
Duration of secondment	Two years with possible renewal
Place of work	Brussels or Strasbourg
Deadline for application	9 February 2026
Preferred starting date	As soon as possible

Who we are

The European Ombudsman’s mission is to help resolve complaints and ensure that the EU administration applies the highest standards of integrity, transparency, accountability and responsiveness. We do this by putting citizens and their rights at the heart of our actions and by fostering constructive dialogue with the EU institutions, bodies, offices and agencies (‘EU IBOAs’), as well as engaging with other relevant stakeholders.

This important role provides people and organisations with a means of redress in situations where they consider that their concerns remain unresolved by the institutions concerned. It also empowers the Ombudsman to carry out own-initiative inquiries and to engage with the EU IBOAs and other stakeholders to proactively identify areas for improvement and address systemic issues. In doing so, the Ombudsman contributes to ensuring good administration and thus to strengthening the democratic standards and values on which the EU is founded.

The Office’s guiding principles are integrity, fairness, impartiality, independence and accountability.

Respect, openness, inclusiveness, collaboration and efficiency are our core values.

The European Ombudsman is a small, dynamic office with an establishment plan of roughly 75 posts and an annual budget of approximately EUR 16 million.

Its offices are located in Strasbourg and Brussels.

It offers a dynamic and respectful workplace including a good balance between professional and private life and a pleasant working atmosphere. The Office’s organisational structure enhances participation, facilitates skills’ development and our modern working tools allow for efficiency and flexibility.

What we are looking for

We seek experienced and highly qualified professionals with a strong sense of integrity who are eager to contribute to the Ombudsman’s mission.

The ideal candidate is interested in and familiar with some of the following areas:

• institutional, governance, and policy issues,
• transparency and public access to documents,
• ethical principles, conflicts of interests and regulatory issues,
• human rights and fundamental freedoms,
• contracts and public tenders,
• recruitment and staff issues, including whistleblowing.

We value dynamic, versatile colleagues with a wide range of interests, who are curious, are fast and eager learners, take initiative, are at ease assuming responsibility. They can work under reasonable time pressure, prioritise and meet deadlines. They are resilient. Collaborative work and service-orientation are essential.

Working as an inquiries officer

Inquiries officers assist the Ombudsman to deal with complaints and to carry out inquiries either based on complaints or at the Ombudsman’s own-initiative.

The officers:

• Analyse complaints and draft Ombudsman decisions and inquiry related documents under the supervision of the relevant managers;
• Participate in meetings and inspections with other EU institutions, agencies and bodies.

In addition to handling complaints and conducting inquiries, you may also be asked to:

• Help to actively identify issues relevant to EU public administration and suitable for investigation at the Ombudsman's own-initiative;
• Contribute to drafting Ombudsman reports and policy papers;
• Conduct research on issues falling within the Ombudsman’s mandate;
• Contribute to the outreach activities of the European Ombudsman by speaking at public events and representing the Office in meetings;
• Represent the Office in inter-institutional committees;
• Carry out other tasks depending on the needs of the Office as well as your experience and skills.

The inquires officer will work in the Directorate of Inquiries.

Place of employment

The place of employment will be Brussels or Strasbourg.

This post will involve occasional missions between the offices of the Ombudsman. It may also involve missions to other countries primarily within European Union.

Who can apply

Applicants must be established officials of an institution, body, office or agency of the European Union in function group AD, grades AD5 to AD9.

Knowledge and skills required

• Very good understanding of the mission and work of the Ombudsman and its role within the EU institutional setting;
• Excellent knowledge of the European Union institutional framework;
• Very good knowledge of EU law, including public administrative law;
• Critical and strategic thinking as well as very good problem solving skills;
• Very good communication skills including inter-personal communication;
• Strong commitment to maintaining a positive work environment and good working relationships within the office and with external interlocutors;
• Commitment to a culture of service towards citizens and institutions and strong professional integrity;
• Strong planning and organisation skills;
• Ability to work under pressure and handle multiple tasks simultaneously;
• As internal drafting and complaint-related communication is carried out in English, a thorough knowledge of English and in particular very good drafting skills.

Advantageous

• Professional experience in relevant fields (relevant fields include but are not limited to the ones mentioned under section What we are looking for).
• Working knowledge of additional official languages (besides L1 and English) of the European Union.

Legal basis

The official selected will be either transferred in accordance with Article 29(1)(a) and (b) of the Staff Regulations or seconded in the interest of the service in accordance with Articles 37(a) and 38 of the Staff Regulations and Article 16(4) of the Statute of the European Ombudsman.

Candidates will be requested to express their preference in their application.

Equal opportunities

The European Ombudsman is an equal opportunities employer and welcomes applications from qualified people and seeks to actively promote diversity in the workplace. Reasonable accommodation will be provided to applicants with disabilities.

Independence and declaration of interests

Before taking up their duties, candidates are required to identify and declare any potential or actual conflict of interest they may have in relation to the position offered, to allow the Office to take appropriate mitigating measures.

Data protection

Personal data which candidates provide for the purposes of this selection procedure will be processed in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2018 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data by the Union institutions, bodies, offices and agencies and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Regulation (EC) No 45/2001 and Decision No 1247/2002/EC.^[1]

Selection procedure

a. Advisory Selection Committee

In choosing the successful candidate(s) the appointing authority shall be assisted by an Advisory Selection Committee.

The European Ombudsman will publish the names of the Committee’s members on its intranet and website once established.

b. Assessment of eligibility

The Advisory Selection Committee will review the applications received with the help of its secretariat to identify all eligible applications (see section ‘Who can apply’).

The Advisory Selection Committee will establish and adopt the list of eligible candidates.

c. Assessment of eligible candidates

All eligible candidates will be invited for an interview with the Advisory Selection Committee. Their candidacies will be evaluated on the basis of a comparative assessment of both their applications and their performance during the interviews.

The assessment will be based on the evaluation criteria mentioned in the sections ‘What we are looking for’ and ‘Knowledge and skills required’ above and the relative weight assigned to each of them by the Committee prior to the assessment.

Only the candidates who reach the pass mark of 75% of the total points (assessment of application & interview performance) will be placed on a short list, in alphabetical order.

The interviews will be conducted in English.

d. Follow-up interviews with the Ombudsman

The Ombudsman will invite for a second interview the candidates placed on the short list[2] by the Advisory Selection Committee.

A senior staff member in the Ombudsman’s Office may attend the interview with the Ombudsman as observer.

Potential transfer or secondment to the Ombudsman’s Office is subject to a successful interview with the Ombudsman. The Ombudsman may decide to establish a reserve list of officials having performed very well at the interview with her for potential future openings.

Applicants will be informed of the outcome of each step of the selection procedure.

Applications

Candidates must submit their application through the online application system on the Ombudsman’s website (www.ombudsman.europa.eu/office/careers) by 9 February 2026 (17:00, Brussels time) at the very latest.

Late applications will not be considered.

Any correspondence concerning the selection procedure should be addressed to the following e-mail address: career@ombudsman.europa.eu (the email must have in the subject the following title: OMB/1/2026).

For information on the job content, you may contact Tanja Ehnert at tanja.ehnert@ombudsman.europa.eu 

For information about the Office and general working conditions, you may contact Francesca Pavesi at: francesca.pavesi@ombudsman.europa.eu 

Inquiries about technical matters should be addressed to the webmaster.

To be valid, applications must include:

(a) a motivation letter in English explaining the applicant’s interest in this position;

(b) a copy of the applicant’s curriculum vitae in English (preferably europass CV: http://europass.cedefop.europa.eu/); and

(c) a copy of the applicant's two most recent available staff reports.

Strasbourg, 20/01/2026

Teresa Anjinho

 

[1] OJ L 295, 21.11.2018, p. 39.

[2] Candidates having reached the 75% threshold.