European Defence Agency (EDA) - Trainee Land and Logistics

The Agency is an “outward-facing” organisation, constantly interacting with its shareholders, the participating Member States, as well as with a wide range of stakeholders. It works in an integrated way, with multi-disciplinary teams representing all of the Agency’s functional areas, to realise its objectives. Its business processes are flexible and oriented towards achieving results. Staff at all levels need to demonstrate the corresponding qualities of commitment, flexibility, innovation, and team-working; to work effectively with shareholders and stakeholder groups, formal and informal; and to operate without the need for detailed direction. 

PURPOSE AND SCOPE OF THE TRAINEESHIP 

EDA’s traineeship programme is addressed to university graduates, including those who, in the framework of lifelong learning, have recently obtained a university diploma and are at the beginning of a new professional career.

The aim of EDA’s traineeship programme is:

• to introduce recent graduates to the professional world and enable them to apply knowledge acquired during their studies, particularly in their specific areas of competence. 
• to create a pool of young people with first-hand understanding of EDA’s mission and activities.
• to enrich the work of EDA with a fresh point of view and up-to-date academic knowledge.
• to promote European integration and create awareness of European citizenship in a multi-cultural and multilingual environment.

While at EDA, trainees will be working side by side with motivated and highly qualified experts coming from the participating Member States and they will have the opportunity to contribute to specific projects within the Agency. 

THE CAPABILITY, ARMAMENT AND PLANNING DIRECTORATE (CAP) 

The Capability, Armament & Planning Directorate (CAP) supports EU Member States in identifying and preparing possible cooperation projects and programmes ranging from long term military capability development to short term armament procurement. This includes obtaining agreement on shared needs and related priorities, harmonising capability requirements and conducting capability development preparatory activities, and also aggregating demand towards joint procurement.

The Directorate is operating several EU tools related to capability development and planning, in cooperation with other competent EU institutions and bodies. The Capability Development Plan (CDP), managed together with the EU Military Staff (EUMS) leads to identification of Capability Development Priorities agreed at EU level as a reference for all EU initiatives on Defence. The Coordinated Annual Review on Defence (CARD), ran together with the EUMS, enables to characterise the “State of the Union on Defence” and to identify opportunities for cooperation. The Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO), conducted together with the European External Action Service (EEAS), including EUMS, coordinates the analysis of the annual PESCO National Implementation Plans to assess the participating Member States’ fulfilment of the PESCO commitments, assesses Member States’ PESCO project proposals and monitors their progress. These tools are operated with Member States throughout a structured EU Capability Development Planning System (EU-CDPS).

Within EU CDPS, the Directorate engages with Member States’ Capability planners and experts to implement the EU Capability Development Priorities based on agreed collaborative Roadmaps. When preparatory activities enable to identify a possible cooperation project, the Directorate support Member States interested in the project by elaborating with them a Business Case.

The CAP Directorate comprises six Units; four are addressing capability development and armament procurement activities of operational domains associated to EU agreed priorities and two are operating EU related processes and tools:

• Air Domain Unit: Air Combat, Airborne Command and Inform Capabilities, Integrated Air and Missile Defence, Air Transport
• Land and Logistics Unit: Ground Combat Capabilities, Land-Based Precision Engagement, Future Soldier Systems, Logistics, Military Mobility, CBRN Defence, C-IED
• Information Superiority Unit: Communication & Information Systems, Surveillance & Reconnaissance, Space, Cyber Defence
• Maritime Unit: Naval Combat and Maritime Interdiction, Underwater and Seabed Warfare, Maritime Domain Awareness
• Cooperation Planning Unit: Capability Development Priorities, CARD, Defence Data
• PESCO Unit: PESCO secretariat, assessment of fulfilment of commitments as well as new PESCO project proposals, support to PESCO projects 

THE TRAINEESHIP 

The traineeship aims to support the Project Officers of the Land & Logistics Unit in their day-to-day work, contributing to the European Defence Agency’s activities in the field of collaborative capability development, with a particular focus on the Land domain. The trainee will assist in tasks related to the identification of common capability needs, harmonisation of requirements, and aggregation of demand in support of cooperative initiatives among EU Member States.

The European Defence Agency (EDA), mandated by the Ministers of Defence of its participating Member States (pMS), acts as the intergovernmental defence hub at EU level. In line with the objectives of the EU Defence Readiness 2030 initiative, EDA supports the EU Member States in developing innovative, interoperable and sustainable land capabilities.

Within the Land & Logistics Unit, the trainee will contribute to activities addressing key EU Capability Development Priorities in the Land domain, including Ground Combat Capabilities, Land-Based Precision Engagement and Future Soldier Systems, as well as critical enablers such as Military Mobility, Sustainable and Agile Logistics, Medical Support and CBRN Defence. 

TASKS AND DUTIES 

Under the supervision of a traineeship advisor, the trainee will work with colleagues in the area of Land & Logistics and will contribute to/be responsible for the following activities:

• support the Unit in communicating with participating Member States (pMS) and relevant stakeholders (such as EU entities, Defence Industry, etc.) ;
• facilitate cooperation and exchange of information supporting a qualitative dialogue with internal and external stakeholders; 
• gather and analyse relevant data and information;
• conduct research in support of developing concepts and business cases;
• schedule and coordinate meetings with relevant internal and external stakeholders; 
• support standardising processes within the Land & Logistics Unit and across different Units within the Directorate; 
• support in drafting reports, presentations, and meeting minutes; 
• collect and analyse data to identify collaborative opportunities for capability development and joint procurement; 
• support the management of the related EDA collaborative online workspaces; 
• provide project management support for the execution of relevant projects; 
• support the knowledge and document management of the Unit via different IT tools;
• support the drafting of press releases;
• take on additional tasks as required in the interest of the service.

A typical day at work involves the following activities:

• drafting various documents like assessments, PowerPoint presentations, minutes and reports; 
• administrative tasks related to organising meetings;
• participation in meetings; 
• analysing Member States’ comments and reflecting these in draft documents;
• handling IT tools related to documentation management. 

LEARNING OUTCOMES 

A. Project outputs & learning outcomes

The trainee will be involved in preparing, initiating and executing collaborative capability development and joint procurement projects. Therefore, the trainee will become familiar with: 

• EU defence initiatives and relevant actors;
• identifying capability needs of EU Member States with focus on the Land domain;
• harmonising requirements for collaborative capability development among EU Member States;
• aggregating demands towards joint procurement of military equipment;
• developing and maintaining project management skills for multinational projects; 
• developing and maintaining experience in international relations, security and defence; 
• organising and participating in multinational meetings.

The trainee will gain:

• knowledge of military equipment, systems and capabilities with focus on the Land domain;
• knowledge of the principles of cooperative capability planning and development; 
• understanding of the challenges related to capability development in defence at EU level; 
• experience in advanced use of different IT tools related to project and programme management (MS Project, SharePoint, Excel, PowerPoint); 
• communication and management skills; 
• stakeholder management skills;
• working within a multinational team and in an information sensitive environment.

B. Technical / Soft skills to be acquired

From this experience the trainee will gain:

• ability to work effectively in a multinational/multicultural and complex environment;
• ability to work in a team as well as independently in his/her/their area of responsibility;
• accuracy and attention to detail;
• organisational and communication skills;
• affinity with security and defence;
• analytical skills;
• report preparation and writing skills;
• understanding and implementing project management principles;
• time management.