Vacancies

Digital communications officer (Brussels)

We are looking for a full-time Digital Communications Officer for SAPEA, to be based in Brussels and employed by the academy network ALLEA.

Start date: As soon as possible.
End date: In the first instance, the contract is fixed-term until the end of the current SAPEA project on 30 April 2029. We expect that it will be possible to renew the contract beyond that date, but this is subject to renewed mandate and funding from the European Commission.
Location: Our office is located in central Brussels. Our team is working flexibly between the office and home; similar arrangements will be discussed with the successful candidate.
Type of contract: The contract will be in accordance with Belgian labour regulations.
Benefits: ALLEA offers generous additional extra-legal leave days, in addition to the Belgian annual leave days and allowances. Other benefits include meal vouchers, flexible hours, commuting allowance and teleworking allowance are provided in addition to the monthly gross salary.
Salary: Starting salaries will be negotiated with the right candidates depending on experience, within a range of 3200-3600€. This total monthly gross salary is paid 13,92 times per year as per Belgian labour regulations.

About this role

We are seeking to strongly increase the scope and impact of our communications, to promote a wider understanding of our activities, support our events, and lead conversations about science and policy in a wide range of public and stakeholder audiences. The Digital Communications Officer will play a key role in proposing and creating attractive content for all our current channels.

We are especially keen to support the Digital Communications Officer in developing innovative channels and methods of communication to reach new target audiences. We anticipate that this may include less ‘traditional’ social media platforms and apps. In general, we are seeking someone with creative and unexpected ideas, who can think outside the constraints of a ‘traditional’ public sector or academic communications role, while maintaining a laser-sharp focus on reaching the audiences which are relevant to our overall strategic objectives, and on maintaining the high quality of all our public outputs.

As a small team, we also expect all colleagues to pull their weight in the general activities of the communications team.

Responsibilities and tasks

Create and publish regular, lively content across SAM’s digital communications channels, as text, video, graphics, advertising, and other formats as required;
Propose, develop, execute and monitor social media campaigns to support SAM activities and messages;
Propose and create innovative forms of digital communication to reach new target audiences;
Propose, contribute and develop lively content for the websites developed by SAM;
Propose, develop and collect data to demonstrate the impact of our digital communications activities, including for the purposes of continuous evaluation and improvement;
Draft and send email newsletters;
Engage in active horizon-scanning on social media, to alert colleagues to current and upcoming opportunities for effective communication;
Participate in third-party events relevant to SAM’s work, representing SAM where required;
As required, contribute more broadly to communications and public engagement activities in a range of formats;
Contribute to discussions about the broader SAM communications strategy;
Regularly update your own awareness and skills regarding the latest digital communication idioms, platforms, tools and software, and provide guidance to colleagues in these;
Assist with the general smooth running of the SAPEA communications team.

Essential skills, knowledge and experience

2-3 years of relevant professional experience;
A Bachelor’s degree in a relevant area;
Experience in writing and developing content in styles and formats appropriate to websites and other digital media, including graphics and short videos;
Excellent oral and written proficiency in English, including clear and confident communication skills;
Experience of managing an organisation’s social media activities;
Experience of managing a website using WordPress or another common CMS;
Creative and artistic flair;
Flexibility and adaptability to build strong working relationships with colleagues, including in the absence of strict lines of accountability between different parts of the organisation (e.g. in a consortium of independent organisations).

Additional desirable skills, knowledge and experience

Experience of working in a small, flexible team or an informally-structured organisation;
Experience or demonstrated interest in science communication, public policy, EU politics or public engagement work;
Interest in and commitment to the importance of scientific evidence in policymaking, and/or a broad understanding of policymaking processes at European level;
Knowledge of another EU language (besides English);
Technical skills in one or more of the following: video editing (e.g. Premiere Pro); audio editing (e.g. Audition), graphics editing (e.g. Photoshop, Canva, Illustrator); page layout (e.g. InDesign); coding for the web (e.g. HTML); web streaming (e.g. Streamyard, YouTube); mobile apps.

Because of the nature of this role, we anticipate that the right candidate might have a more unorthodox background or range of experiences than would be expected for other roles in academic or public policy communications. For this reason, if you believe your skills and experience would make you an excellent candidate for this post, but you are not able to meet all of the above requirements, we would still welcome an application from you.

How to apply

To apply, please send your CV, motivation letter and further application documents and/or references to recruitment@sapea.info (pdf documents, not larger than 2 MB). We will close applications on 23 March 2025, but applications will be processed on a rolling basis and we may approach suitable candidates earlier for an initial conversation.

For interviews, reasonable travel expenses can be reimbursed. We will also consider an online interview process for candidates currently based outside Belgium.

We apply an equal opportunities policy. Please let us know in your application if you require any adaptations to the interview process because of a disability or other circumstances.

The Scientific Advice Mechanism provides independent scientific evidence and policy recommendations to the European institutions by request of the College of Commissioners.

The Advisors

SAPEA

The SAM secretariat

We receive a request

We review the evidence

We make recommendations

We deliver our advice

Digital communications officer (Brussels)

About this role

Responsibilities and tasks

Essential skills, knowledge and experience

Additional desirable skills, knowledge and experience

How to apply

Staff login