ESMA Chair

ESMA Chair

ESMA – European Securities and Markets Authority

Paris, France

REF.: ESMA/2026/VAC01/AD15
Type of contract: Temporary Agent¹
Function group and grade: AD15
Duration of contract: 5 years, with possibility of extension once²
Department: ESMA/Senior Management
Place of employment: Paris, France
Deadline for applications: 03/03/2026 (23:59 hrs, Paris local time)
Reserve list valid until: 31/12/2027

About ESMA

At the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), we are proud to play a key role in shaping the future of financial markets across Europe. Since our establishment in 2011, we have worked to protect investors and promote stable, transparent, and innovative capital markets.

We are a forward-looking organisation, committed to driving strategic reforms and building the next generation of EU capital markets. Our 2023–2028 strategy puts a strong focus on integration, accessibility, and innovation – with effective capital markets, strong and consistent supervision and investor protection at the heart of our work. We also actively support the Commission’s Saving and Investments Union (SIU) Strategy and welcome the European Commission’s legislative proposal on market integration and supervision.

If you would like to learn more about who we are and what we do, we invite you to visit our website: www.esma.europa.eu.

Job Purpose

The ESMA Chair is a full‑time, independent professional, employed by ESMA and based in Paris (France). They are a voting member and a chair of both the Board of Supervisors and the Management Board. In this role, they represent the Authority and provide strategic leadership by defining ESMA’s long‑term direction and ensuring the delivery of its key priorities.

The Chair’s term of office shall be five years and may be extended once².

Main duties:

The ESMA Chair will be responsible for the tasks laid down in the Regulation establishing ESMA³ , and in particular:

• Chairing the meetings and setting the agenda of ESMA’s Board of Supervisors and the Management Board;
• Preparing the work of ESMA’s Board of Supervisors;
• Acting as the head and external representative of ESMA;
• Developing ESMA’s strategy and ensuring the achievement of ESMA’s objectives;
• Fulfilling certain clearly defined tasks and decisions of the Board of Supervisors;
• Ensuring accountability and representing ESMA before the European Parliament in annual hearings on ESMA’s performance;
• Preparing ESMA for and leading it through potential future changes in the financial regulatory landscape.

The role and responsibilities are likely to evolve with view to the European Commission’s legislative proposal on market integration and supervision, which includes changes to ESMA’s governance framework.

Who can Apply

To be considered eligible, candidates must satisfy all the eligibility criteria listed below, by the deadline for submitting applications:

• Have at least a level of education which corresponds to completed university studies of four years attested by a diploma⁴, and after having obtained the diploma, fifteen (15) years of proven professional experience⁵
  OR
  have at least a level of education which corresponds to completed university studies of three years attested by a diploma⁴, and after obtained the diploma, sixteen (16) years of proven professional experience⁵;
• Be a national of a Member State of the European Union;
• Enjoy full rights as a citizen⁶;
• Have fulfilled any obligations imposed by the applicable laws concerning military service;
• Have a thorough knowledge of one of the languages of the European Union⁷ and a satisfactory knowledge⁸ of another language of the European Union;
• Be physically fit to perform the duties linked to the post⁹.

There is no age limit to apply for the position, at the same time the retirement age is 66¹⁰. With view to the strategic importance of the position for ESMA, it would be important that candidates can complete the first five-year-mandate before reaching retirement age. If a choice must be made between equally qualified candidates, this will be considered.

Requirements for the role

In addition to the eligibility criteria above, the following selection criteria will be assessed throughout the different phases of the selection procedure. Candidates should clearly indicate in their application how they acquired the knowledge and experience allowing them to meet the selection criteria and to give specific examples:

Essential requirements:

1. At least fifteen (15) years of experience relevant for the role (acquired after the required level of education), of which at least five (5) years at a senior position in the area of ESMA’s remit;
2. Excellent written and spoken English⁸.

Advantageous requirements:

3. Thorough knowledge of and proven experience in financial markets, financial regulation and/or supervision/oversight of securities markets at national, EU or international level;
4. Thorough understanding of the EU Institutions, EU decision-making processes, EU and international activities of relevance to ESMA;
5. Excellent knowledge of the EU political and legal environment and proven negotiation experiences at EU and/or international level;
6. Experience in directing an organisation with significant tasks and objectives and steering that organisation to the achievement of its objectives; and
7. Motivation for the advertised position.

Competences:

8. Excellent communication and presentation skills; ability to steer discussions and generate the best possible decisions at strategic and political level without compromising productive working relationships;
9. Excellent networking abilities and interpersonal skills, including the capacity to deal and negotiate with high level public sector representatives as well as wider stakeholders (such as financial industry and investor representatives) within and outside the EU;
10. Strategic leadership: strategic vision, decision making and results orientation, change and transformation management, innovation mindset; and
11. Strong sense of responsibility, integrity, initiative, self-motivation and commitment to work in the public interest and serve the EU as a whole.

What We Offer

Impactful work: Change perspectives and shape the future of Europe’s financial markets. Dive in the current dynamic world of the European securities markets regulator and supervisor.

Multicultural environment: Join engaged professionals from across the EU, working in an inclusive, diverse, motivated and cooperative international setting.

Relocating to Paris made easy:

• Housing assistance: Reimbursement of a relocation agent to help you navigate the French real estate market;
• Language support: Free French language classes in-house (A1-B2) to ease integration;
• Schooling: Your children benefit from priority access, free of charge, to the European School in Paris La Défense, offering a multilingual and multicultural education in line with the European Schools curriculum, from kindergarten to the European Baccalaureate.

Please refer to the Annex to learn more about the practicalities around the recruitment process and the benefits for this position.

Annex

Recruitment Process:

Candidates are invited to send their applications to the following email address: [email protected] by 23h59 (CET) on the closing date. Applications submitted by any other means or after the deadline will be disregarded. Candidates are strongly advised not to wait until the last day to submit their applications, since heavy internet traffic or internet connection issues could lead to difficulties in submission. ESMA cannot be held responsible for any delay due to such difficulties.

Only complete applications will be accepted and considered, i.e.:

• A curriculum vitae in English, preferably in European format, clearly indicating how the candidate acquired the required knowledge and experience, how they meet the selection criteria and giving specific examples. Links to external platforms or profiles will not be examined. Desired naming format: ESMA_VAC01_Family name_First name_CV; AND
• A motivation letter in English (max 2 pages). Desired naming format: ESMA_VAC01_Family name_First name_Motivation.

At this stage, no supporting documents are needed. Supporting documents (identity, experience, education etc.) must be submitted at a later stage of the procedure when requested. Candidates should assess and check before submitting their application whether they fulfil all the requirements as specified in the vacancy notice, particularly in terms of qualifications and relevant professional experience. These must be met by the deadline for submitting applications.

All correspondence will be in English and will take place by email, so candidates should ensure that the email address is correct and that it is checked regularly. The address indicated in the application will be considered as residence to be used for defining travel reimbursements (if applicable).

Consult ESMA’s career website for more useful information. Candidates will receive an email acknowledging receipt of the application.

Candidates who do not meet all the eligibility criteria will be excluded from the selection procedure.

Eligible applicants will first be assessed against the essential criteria. Those who satisfy all essential criteria will then be evaluated against the advantageous criteria. Candidates who do not meet all essential criteria will not be assessed further.

Within this comparative evaluation of applications, up to ten (10) best candidates who obtain the highest scores will be invited for interviews with the Selection Board. During the interview, candidates will be assessed against all selection criteria.

As a result of the interviews, up to six (6) candidates will be included in a preliminary short-list and invited for a second round of in person interviews by the Board of Supervisors, including a presentation on a pre-defined topic. The topic of the presentation will be communicated 1 week before the interview with the Board of Supervisors. Applicants should note that the preliminary short-list may be public, once it has been adopted by the Selection Board.

The Board of Supervisors shall draw up a final shortlist of qualified candidates for the position of the ESMA Chair, with the assistance of the Commission. Based on the final shortlist the Council shall adopt a decision to appoint the ESMA Chair, after confirmation by the European Parliament. The envisaged start date of the contract is 1 November 2026.

The Selection Board’s work and deliberations are strictly confidential and any contact with its members or any member of the Board of Supervisors is strictly forbidden. Any contact made by the candidates or third parties in order to influence the Members of the Selection Board or the Members of the Board of Supervisors in relation to the selection constitutes grounds for disqualification from the selection procedure.

Candidates may be required to undergo further interviews and/or tests in addition to those indicated above.

Ethics obligations

The ESMA Chair acts independently and objectively in the sole interest of the Union as a whole and shall neither seek nor take instructions from the Union Institutions or bodies, from any government or from any other public or private body. The ESMA Chair abides by, and actively promotes, ESMA’s Conflict of Interest Policy for ESMA Staff and ESMA’s Code of Good Administrative Behaviour¹¹. The ESMA Chair is subject to the requirements of professional ecrecy while working at ESMA and after having left¹².

Candidates’ obligations:

The candidates who are included in the preliminary short-list (i.e. the ones that will be interviewed by the Board of Supervisors) have to submit a declaration indicating their intention to comply with all the applicable rules, should they be selected, as well as indicating the absence of a criminal record.

The successful candidate for the position will be required to declare to ESMA any personal interest, in particular family or financial interests, or other interests of third parties (e.g. related to previous positions held), which would, or could potentially, impair their independence should they be appointed as ESMA Chair and which may thus lead to any actual, potential or perceived conflict of interest relevant to the position. The declarations of interests of the candidates will be examined in accordance with ESMA’s Conflict of Interests and Ethics Policy for ESMA Staff¹⁷.

Post-employment obligations:

The person having served as ESMA Chair will be bound¹³ to seek clearance from ESMA (for two years after leaving ESMA) before engaging in another activity. If that activity is related to the work carried out during the last three years of service at ESMA, and ESMA believes that it could lead to a conflict with the legitimate interests of ESMA, ESMA can give its approval subject to any conditions it sees fit or forbid the activity. Activities that would put the ESMA Chair in a situation of conflict of interests will not be authorised.

Benefits

• Employment contract: For five years as a temporary agent (2a). The length of a potential second term is due to be defined in an update to the ESMA Regulation that is currently underway;
• Successful external candidates will be recruited in the grade and classified in step 1 or 2;

Grade/step	Minimum requirements for classification in step14 (required level of university studies + minimum number of years of experience after university graduation)	Monthly net salary, after tax, without expatriation or family allowances	Monthly net salary, after tax, with expatriation and family allowances for one child
AD15 step 1	4 years’ university degree + 15 years’ experience	€15,034.28	€21,172.67
AD15 step 2	4 years’ university degree + 21 years’ experience	€15,419.01	€21,750.15

• Competitive salary: Your salary is exempted from national taxes on income in all EU member states. However, a tax deduction on your salary will contribute to the general EU budget. This salary is impacted by a weighting factor to take into account the cost of living in Paris (currently 113.6%). Pay rates and correction coefficients are adjusted each year;
• Additional benefits (based on individual family situation and place of origin): expatriation allowance (16% of the basic salary), household allowance, dependent child allowance, education allowance, pre-school allowance, installation allowance, reimbursement of removal costs, initial temporary daily subsistence allowance, and other benefits. Read more on other benefits, like medical insurance and financial support on ESMA’s career webpage.

Equality and diversity

ESMA is an equal opportunity employer and welcomes applications from all qualified candidates, regardless of age, gender, background, religion, disability, or sexual orientation. To support our commitment to gender balance, we particularly encourage applications from women in roles where they are under-represented. If you require any specific arrangements during the selection process due to a disability, please indicate this in your application and our HR team will ensure appropriate support. For further information please consult ESMA’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Strategy.

More information on ethics obligations, data protection statement, Privacy Statement on Recruitment Procedures, Candidate guidelines and appeal procedure (5.7).

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¹ According to the Article 2(a) of the Conditions of Employment of Other Servants (CEOS) of the European Union;
² Under current ESMA Regulation, the term of office of the ESMA Chair shall be five years and may be extended once. The length of the second term is due to be defined in an update to the ESMA Regulation that is currently underway. The probationary period for the first contract is nine months;
³ Regulation (EU) No 1095/2010;
⁴ Only qualifications that have been awarded in EU Member States or that are subject to equivalence certificates issued by the authorities of an EU Member State shall be taken into consideration. No EU degree? Consult https://www.enic-naric.net/;
⁵ For more information on calculating the professional experience, please consult the “Candidates Guidelines” document published on ESMA’s website https://www.esma.europa.eu/about-esma/careers;
⁶ Candidates invited for interviews will be requested to confirm their character suitability for the position. Prior to the appointment, the successful candidate must provide a police certificate confirming the absence of any criminal record;
⁷ The languages of the EU are: Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Irish, Italian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Maltese, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Slovak, Slovenian, Spanish, and Swedish;
⁸ As evidenced in CV. At least at the level B2, according to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: http://europass.cedefop.europa.eu/en/resources/european-language-levels-cefr. Knowledge of the 2^nd EU language will be tested orally for candidates invited for interviews;
⁹ Before appointment, the successful candidate undergoes a pre-employment medical check to confirm their physical fitness to perform the duties;
¹⁰ According to the Article 47 of the Conditions of Employment of Other Servants (CEOS) of the European Union;
¹¹ All information on the conflict of interest rules applicable to the ESMA Chair are available here: https://www.esma.europa.eu/aboutesma/governance/ethics-and-conflict-interests;
¹² See also Article 11, 16 and 17 of the EU Staff Regulations and Article 11 Conditions for Employment of Other Servants, as well as Article 70 of Regulation (EU) No 1095/2010 establishing ESMA;
¹³ See in particular Title Four of Commission Decision C(2018)4048 final of 29 June 2018 on outside activities and assignments and on occupational after leaving the Service, as incorporated in ESMA’s Conflict of Interests Policy;
¹⁴ ESMA Management Board Decision ESMA-2014-MB-14, adopting of general implementing provisions concerning the criteria applicable to classification in step on appointment or engagement – Commission decision (C(2013) 8970 of 16/12/2013): https://www.esma.europa.eu/sites/default/files/library/decision_on_classification_in_step_2013.pdf.