Director General

ETSI, located in the South of France, seeks qualified candidates for the election of its Director General

About ETSI

ETSI is a European Standardisation Organisation (ESO), officially recognised by the European Union and EFTA, dealing with telecommunications, broadcasting and other electronic communications networks and services.

As an ESO, ETSI has a key role with specific obligations in European Standardisation. Those include supporting European regulations and legislation by developing Harmonised European Standards.

Additionally, ETSI standards have a global footprint and are widely adopted in many regions of the world.

ETSI is at the forefront of emerging technologies across all sectors of industry and society that make use of ICT. It has more than 900 member organisations, drawn from over 60 countries and five continents. ETSI provides its members with an open, inclusive, and collaborative environment. This environment supports the timely development, ratification, and testing of globally applicable standards for ICT-enabled systems, applications, and services.

ETSI is a not-for-profit organization under the French law.

The Director General

The Director General is the legal representative of ETSI and holds chief executive authority.

The present Director General’s term of office expires at the end of June 2024, and ETSI is looking for candidates for this role. The Director General is elected by the ETSI General Assembly.

The Director General oversees the operations of the ETSI Secretariat with the assistance of an internal management team. The Secretariat is headed by the Director General and five Chief Officers, with about 120 staff members comprising high level experts and engineers from different nationalities who provide technical, administrative, and logistical support for all ETSI activities.

These activities include contribution to the policies and procedures related to the services provided to the membership within the overall standardisation process. Candidates should demonstrate appropriate experience and aptitude to support these aspects.

The Director General must possess excellent management, diplomatic and negotiation skills. As the Director General will have to deal with a multiplicity of organisations of different types in a fast-changing environment (e.g. Standards Developing Organisations at national, regional and international level; industrial entities; political institutions – in particular the European Commission and EFTA Secretariat; entities adopting standards and Annex III Organizations), being firm and tactically flexible, as well as being transparent and reliable, is required.

The ETSI Director General Candidate

The candidate will be able to steer ETSI in ways that respond to the needs of the membership and build on ETSI’s previous work. Showing willingness and ability to drive deep change and evolution of the organisation is a must.

The candidate shall have proven ICT industry professional experience, and a deep understanding of the origins of ETSI and the relevance of standardisation in the ICT industry, especially in in the context of the ongoing digital transformation.

The impact of the digital transformation and the evolution of ICT can be seen through socio-economic, policy and technology trends. The candidate should therefore promote a balanced ETSI approach supported by the members that meets the needs of the market, the industry, and its institutions. Finally, the candidate should understand stakeholders’ existing needs and the evolving cultural and geographical landscape in the ICT standardisation field.

Further qualifications and experience:

• University degree (or equivalent) in technical, legal, or business management matters is required.
• Fluency in English is required. Ability to speak and understand French and/or German would be an advantage.
• Solid Management experience (10 years minimum) in an ICT business organisation and/or ETSI member organisation is required.
• Experience with and understanding of standardisation in the ICT context is required.
• Senior-level experience in corporate strategy and management of international teams is required.
• Experience of management of relations with the European Commission and its various entities and the EFTA Secretariat would be advantageous.
• Proven leadership capability in an international context with a clear technical orientation is required.
• Good internal and external negotiating and communications skills are required.
• Proven ability to conceptualize, define and execute innovation plans is required, as well as the ability to transfer and communicate knowledge.
• The ability to present administrative and specialist documents to the ETSI stakeholders in in a manner that is clear and can captivate the audience is required.

Compensation

A competitive salary is offered with additional benefits in appropriate cases. Details of any package which may be offered will be agreed before the final stage of the selection.

The position is based in the South of France at our headquarters at Sophia Antipolis. Candidates should be able to reside and work based in Sophia Antipolis for the duration of the contract.

The position also includes a substantial amount of international travel.

The Process

The ETSI General Assembly will make the formal appointment by voting on the 16th of April 2024. The initial term of office is five years and may be extended by the ETSI General Assembly for an additional three years.

In preparation for this, interviews with potential candidates will be held in Frankfurt (Main), Germany, on the 21st and 22nd of February 2024, following which a short list of candidates will be invited to present themselves to the ETSI General Assembly on the 16th of April 2024, for final appointment by ETSI member voting.

Applications from candidates that are not included in the final short list will remain confidential.

The outgoing Director General is also allowed to apply.

Candidates should send a detailed résumé and Curriculum Vitae using the European template (link) via the hiring partner Iperium Consulting, at ETSI@iperium.com, by 17:00 CET on the 31st of January 2024.

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