Head of Secretariat of Prosecutors Vetting Commission

Background:

In 2021, the government of the Republic of Moldova started the justice sector reform, aiming to ensure integrity and accountability of justice sector stakeholders and to increase society’s trust in the justice sector. As part of the justice sector reform, the government decided to conduct an extraordinary vetting exercise of judges and prosecutors, to improve the integrity in the justice sector.

This vetting process is a unique endeavour for the Moldovan society. It is a thorough and tough process that can happen only once in a good way. It asks a lot of society: there might be temporarily limited capacity in the justice sector, and it can have substantial consequences for personal careers. Yet it is also a historic process, that works towards the betterment of the Moldovan justice sector and will therefore have positive impact on Moldovan society in the end.

The Center for International Legal Cooperation (CILC) is assigned by the European Commission and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to facilitate the Prosecutors’ Vetting Commission (also known as “Commission 3”) and its Secretariat. CILC is continuing its effort to add to the team of professionals to staff this Secretariat.

This call for experts aims to create a shortlist of motivated and qualified people for the following position of HEAD OF SECRETARIAT:

The Head of Secretariat is the functioning manager of the Secretariat. This means that you will be responsible for the day-to-day management of approximately 26 Secretariat staff members, ensuring that they deliver good quality outputs. It is up to you to make the Secretariat into a well-functioning team which is nice to work in. As the Secretariat is supporting the members of the Prosecutors’ Vetting Commission (“the Commission”) on the vetting of prosecutors in their work, you need to maintain good and cooperative relations with the members of the Commission, ensuring teamwork between the Commission and the Secretariat.  

The responsibilities for the Head of Secretariat include but are not limited to: 

• Supervising the day-to-day operations of the Secretariat with a team of approximately 26 staff members; 
• Assisting in recruiting new Secretariat staff when needed; 
• Assisting Commission in drafting the rules of procedure, evaluation methodologies, and other policies, procedures and documents required for a smooth running of the vetting process; 
• Ensuring compliance with internally used templates and guidelines; 
• Ensuring the Secretariat’s compliance with relevant laws, rules and regulations, including those concerning protection of personal data;  
• Ensuring smooth and substantive cooperation between the members of Commission and the Secretariat, serving as contact person for the Commission within the Secretariat;  
• Serving as focal point for external relations and communications of the Secretariat; 
• Identifying training needs of Secretariat staff; 
• Ensuring a good team spirit. 

As a Head of Secretariat, the following criteria make you eligible:  

• Proficient in both written and spoken English and Romanian, knowledge of Russian is an asset;  
• Minimum 7 years of work experience in the legal field. Public entity / team management experience is a plus; 
• Proven ability in coordinating and supervising the work of a large team; 
• Service-oriented teamplayer, able to motivate people under high pressure; 
• Strong communication skills, both orally and in writing; 
• Good diplomatic skills to navigate between Moldovan government bodies and international organisations; 
• Person of the highest personal and professional integrity.  

Disqualifying factors:

• Current or past work in the Moldovan prosecution system, in any role.
• Status as a candidate prosecutor.
• Status as a student at the National Judicial Institute.

If you don’t meet all the eligibility requirements but still think you are a good fit for the position, please include a short explanatory note with your motivation for this position to your application. 

General conditions for the position

Applicants should be aware of the following: 

• The position is full-time.
• Project duration April 2023 – April 2026.
• Moldovan nationals offered a fulltime position may take a leave of absence and/or suspend their contractual obligations from their current Moldova based employer for the duration of this contract, but may not be actively engaged with, nor paid by any other organization during the contract period.
• Remuneration is based on a CILC salary and service delivery grid specifying the scales per function. Actual remuneration will be based on the qualifications and experience of an applicant in line with the salary grid and employment/assignment policy of CILC. The monthly remuneration for this position is up to 7 500 Euro brutto. 
• When contracted, signing of a Non-Disclosure Agreement and abiding by the Code of Conduct for Secretariat staff is mandatory. This means amongst others no engagement with political parties/events and modest behaviour.
• CILC welcomes applications from candidates who fulfil the specific profiles, irrespective of gender, disability, marital or parental status, racial, ethnic or social origin, colour, religion, belief or sexual orientation.

Procedure for application and selection:

Expressions of interest can be submitted via email only via secretariat@cilc.nl. Please include in the subject of the email for which position you express your interest. The deadline for submitting the applications is 27th of February 2025. Applications submitted to other mail addresses will be excluded from consideration.

Required documents include: 

• Current CV – in English.
• Contact data of professional references including name, title, email address and phone number.

For each position, CILC will choose from the pool of expressions of interests the people who fit the positions best, against the criteria of: 

• Level of professional knowledge and experience
• Level of professional skills/capacities

Only short-listed candidates will be contacted. Short-listed candidates will be invited for an (online) interview. A background check will be part of the recruitment procedure.