Overall objective To prepare Croatia for efficient and effective management and absorption of IPA assistance, thereby enhancing Croatia’s capacity for effective use of the Structural Funds upon EU accession

Specific objectives TTo ensure efficient and effective OP management by the RCOP Operating Structure, and develop the institutional capacity for managing and absorbing IPA funding in accordance with the Framework/ Financing / Implementing / Operational Agreements, EU rules, regulations and procedures and applicable national legislation.

Qualifications and skills

• University degree in economics, management, public administration (Master degree would be an asset);
• Fluency in both written and spoken English;
• Computer literacy.

General professional experience

• 10 years of professional experience,
• 5 years of experience in managing of projects;
• Experience with the institutional framework for the EU pre-accession programmes;
• Experience with the institutional framework for the EU Structural Funds and Cohesion Fund.

Specific professional experience

• Experience in institutional strengthening and capacity building projects (proven experience in design and development of institutional structures in public administration would be an asset) in pre-accession funds, preferably in new member states or candidate countries
• Experience in the competitiveness and regional development sector;
• Experience in managing teams of experts; supervising and coordinating technical aspects of projects; ensuring good client communication; managing administrative and logistical support;
• Experience in developing and delivering training and/or coaching programmes and conducting training needs analysis
• Experience in the management of EC grant schemes;
• Experience in system monitoring would be an asset;
• Familiarity with the EC publicity and visibility requirements.

The team leader will be located in Zagreb, at the premises of MELE. He/she will be engaged for the period of minimum 480 working days. A minimum of 90% of expertise must be spent in Croatia actively working with the project stakeholders. The team leader will be responsible for overall project coordination and quality control of project implementation. In addition, s/he will facilitate coordination between the OS bodies and CODEF. In doing so, the team leader will work with a number of international and local experts with specific sectoral expertise and knowledge of the local situation in Croatia. As necessary, s/he will ensure that short-term experts are agreed with the beneficiary and approved by the Contracting Authority and engaged on time to enable smooth project implementation. He/she will also be in charge of leading the programme management component of the project.