Trainee (Data Management)

About the traineeship programme

The Agency is looking for motivated, qualified recent graduates or students on an Erasmus+ or other programme or PhD students or Master's students (who posses a previous degree), who are interested in gaining experience and contribute to the Agency’s work for every patient in Europe. The purpose of a traineeship at the Agency is to perform tasks that are predominantly in the interest of the trainee’s training and principally serve to increase the trainee’s knowledge and to gain relevant experience.

Placement description

We are looking for a trainee in the Case Management and Data Integration Office within the Information Management Division.

Specific objectives and projects

During your traineeship, you will be involved in projects related to the Master Data Management (MDM) / Union Product Database (UPD) systems, which are the core of data environment at EMA. The system receives the data but also serves the data to various downstream systems.

This traineeship offers the opportunity to participate in  potential projects that will involve: 

• requirements gathering,
• analysing, 
• finding the right technical solution, 
• implementing it and 
• validating with the business users. 

In particular, you may work on one or more of the following projects: 

Project 1: 
1. Analyse, verify and enrich queries from the Data Quality Framework of UPD to extend the points of verifications and improve the feedback to National Competent Authorities (NCAs).
2. Write the outcome in a specific xlsx file in Sharepoint where it is picked by the own Data Quality Framework (DQF) integration that creates reports based on it.

Project 2: 
1. Collect requirement for UPD reporting by interviewing the business stakeholders.
2. Find the best (suitable) technical solution to deliver the data and the reporting.
3. Support business users in performing User Acceptance Testing (UAT). 
4. Plan the release to production and release to operations. 

Project 3:
1. Assist building the Data Analytics Platform (DAP) space of UPD from the transactional side.
2. Prepare for the addition and ingestion of the Veterinary Data Sources Catalogue and Veterinary Data Sources to DAP.
3. Enable the Veterinary Big Data Analytics space and shape the tooling for the Veterinary Medicines Division.

Project 4:
1. Improve the work done with the Summary of Product Characteristic (SPC) Reader.
2. Optimise and enrich the extraction of SPCs into structured data.
3. Compare the SPC structured data with the UPD structured data.
4. Provide a report in the format shared by the DQF.
 

Learning outcomes

Through this traineeship, you will be able to work on one of the EMA's most important system, and in a dynamic and multicultural team. You will be:

• Learning about the management of IT projects in public and international organizations.
• Learning about MDM solution used by the Agency.
• Applying software engineering, development and coding principles.
• Understanding agile delivery based on SAFe framework.
• Gathering and evaluating business requirements.
• Manage the business stakeholders, work on effective communication and collaboration with non-technical personnel.
• Creating architectural documentation.

Eligibility criteria

To be eligible for consideration for this placement, you are required to:

1. enjoy full rights as a citizen of a European Union Member State or Iceland, Lichtenstein and Norway;
2. possess a university degree in Computer Science / Information Management (minimum of three years or more) that must have been obtained between 30 September 2023 and 30 September 2024 or be a university student on an Erasmus + or a similar programme or a PhD student or a Master's student with a previous fully finished degree in the areas mentioned before.
3. a thorough knowledge of English (at least level C1) and good knowledge of other official EU language (at least B2) of the Common European Framework for Languages

For criteria 1 and 2, you will be required to provide proof in the application form and at the interview stage. Failing to present these documents may result in the disqualification from the procedure.

Additional skills

In addition to the eligibility criteria, you will have:

• Proficiency in SQL and Java (or equivalent programming language).
• Analytical mindset.
• Affinity with scientific concepts.
• Ability to work independently.
• Problem solving skills.

Behavioural Competencies

You will demonstrate the following behavioural competencies:

• Communication skills
• Interpersonal skills
• Working with others
• Adaptability
• Research and analytical skills
• Learning and development

Expected selection timelines

Conditions of traineeship

The traineeship is offered for 10 months (1 March 2025 – 31 December 2025) and takes place at the Agency’s premises in Amsterdam with possibility for teleworking up to 40% of working time from The Netherlands and occasional teleworking from outside The Netherlands. Traineeships are offered for either full-time or part-time (80% or 50%) if combined with university studies.

The Agency pays a monthly stipend of €1,858.31 for a full-time traineeship (reduced accordingly for 80% or 50%) and a travel contribution upon joining the Agency.

Each trainee will have a mentor at the Agency who will guide the trainee through the programme.

The conditions of employment are stated in the Executive Decision on rules governing the traineeship programme at the EMA available here.