Policy Officer for the Digital Economy

Job Description

Digitalization is rapidly transforming our economy and society. The Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy’s digitalization policy is focused on maximizing the social and economic value of digital technologies. EZK wants Dutch entrepreneurs, the workforce, and consumers to jointly reap the full benefits of the opportunities presented by digitalization. This is achieved, among other things, by regulating digital markets, taking the lead in research, development, and application of digital innovations, promoting digital skills, and creating a future-proof labor market.

The Digital Economy Directorate promotes research, development, and the application of digital innovations by facilitating both national and international collaboration between private and public sector entities and by making targeted investments in research and innovative technologies. The focus is on digital (key) technologies such as AI, data science, data spaces, and the cloud.

The availability of people with the right digital skills is essential to the success of the digital transition. The demand for digitally skilled professionals will continue to grow in the coming years. This requires a collaborative approach involving the business community, educational institutions, and the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science (OCW) and the Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment (SZW). Several initiatives have already been launched to address this issue. These include improving alignment with the education system, preventing attrition in the ICT sector, promoting new types of training programs, encouraging retraining for ICT roles, and increasing diversity and inclusion in the ICT labor market.

As a staff member in the Digital Economy Directorate, you will work within the Knowledge and Innovation in Digital Technologies cluster. You will contribute to achieving the goals of the Digital Economy Strategy (https://www.rijksoverheid.nl/documenten/rapporten/2022/11/18/rapport-strategie-digitale-economie). You have a broad interest in technology and labor market issues. Specifically, the focus will be on issues at the intersection of digital innovations and a future-proof labor market. Together with a small team of enthusiastic colleagues, you will work collaboratively on this complex challenge. You will contribute to the policy initiative aimed at reducing the shortage of ICT professionals and achieving one million digitally skilled workers by 2030. In addition, you will become the expert on developing and implementing (subsidy) instruments to support both education and labor market policy as well as research and innovation in digital technologies.

You will be (jointly) responsible for:

• Strengthening the digital skills of the Dutch workforce.
• The development of labor market policy for the digital economy.
• Promoting public-private partnerships between the business community and the education sector to increase the number of people with digital skills.
• Promoting an inclusive and diverse IT workforce.
• Advising senior civil servants on international and European initiatives in the field of digital skills and the ICT labor shortage.
• Investing in research and innovation for digital (key) technologies.

Job Requirements

• You have a university-level education and/or thinking skills
• You have an interest in education and labor market policy as well as digital technologies
• You are results-oriented, analytical, flexible, and have strong communication skills (consulting skills)
• You are able to work independently and without a strictly defined framework, and you are mindful of both the opportunities and risks involved in developing new policies
• You are a team player and able to strike a balance between different stakeholders
• Experience in developing and implementing government (grant) programs is a plus

Skills:

• Well-developed analytical and conceptual skills
• Connecting and focused on collaboration
• Environmental awareness and administrative sensitivity
• Results-oriented
• Innovative and creative action
• Stress-resistant
• Planning and organizing

Terms of Employment

Salary level: Scale 11
Monthly salary: Min. €3,608 – Max. €5,503 (gross)
Employment type: Fixed-term employment contract with the possibility of conversion to a permanent contract
Contract duration: 1 year
Minimum number of hours per week: 32
Maximum number of hours per week: 38

Other terms and conditions of employment

In addition to your salary, you will receive an Individual Choice Budget (ICB). The ICB consists of money (16.37% of your gross annual salary) and time. With the ICB, you can make choices that suit you and customize part of your employment benefits. For example, you can choose to have a portion of your monthly income paid out whenever you wish. You can also convert this budget into leave and vice versa, or spend it on tax-friendly purposes. The Dutch government is strongly committed to personal growth and career development and offers numerous opportunities for this. Secondary employment conditions include various study facilities, company fitness programs, full reimbursement of your public transportation costs for commuting, and partially paid parental leave.

Details

• The introductory and selection process consists of at least two rounds of interviews and a final discussion regarding terms of employment.
• The first interviews are scheduled for the week after the job posting closes.
• Checking references or conducting an assessment may be part of the selection process.
• Candidates for reassignment and candidates subject to mandatory job-to-job placement who are not employees of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy or the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality must include a designation decision from the competent authority with their application.
• Colleagues within the central government who are permanent employees may be seconded.

What else do we offer you:

• A pleasant work environment with excellent facilities within walking distance of the central station;
• Plenty of opportunities to continue developing your skills and specialize;
• We believe it is important to maintain a good work-life balance. Working hours can be arranged flexibly by mutual agreement;
• If you are hired, hybrid work is an option; you will work partly from home and partly at the office. We believe it is important to have a good home office setup. We therefore offer a subsidy for home office equipment and a work-from-home allowance in accordance with the Central Government Collective Labor Agreement (CAO Rijk).

After the application deadline, the job posting and the employer’s contact information will no longer be visible online. To avoid having to request this information later, we ask that you download and save the job posting.

We do not accept unsolicited applications for our job openings.

Interested in applying?

The Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy / Directorate-General for Economy and Digitalization (DGED) invites you to apply on their website. Clicking the button below will take you away from this site and directly to the application form. The government values a diverse and inclusive organization. Working in diverse teams makes us more effective, more innovative, and makes the work more enjoyable. Everyone is therefore invited to apply.