Trainee (Software and Cloud engineer)

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 Business Process Automation Office within the Information Management Division.

Specific objectives and projects

The Clinical Trials Information System (CTIS) is a large IT system that implements the rules of the Clinical Trials Regulation in the EU. As a trainee in this project, you will have the opportunity to look into the architectural design and development of cloud-based microservices. Indicative tasks include: 

• Migration of legacy data to cloud.
• Development of native cloud functions.
• Architectural design and documentation of modernizing legacy components with cloud technologies. 
• System health data collection and analysis. 

Learning outcomes

Through this traineeship, you will be able to work on one of the agency’s biggest project, and in a dynamic and multicultural team. You will be:

• Learning about the management of IT projects in public and international organizations
• Learning about cloud technologies and specifically AWS/Azure. 
• Applying software engineering, development and coding, principles. 
• Understanding cloud native databases. 
• Learning and evaluating challenges of data migration. 
• Creating architectural documentation. 
• Learning model-driven software engineering.
• Integrating cloud databases with cloud native functions.
• Understanding career opportunities in enterprise IT systems and software houses. 

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 sciences, software engineering, or computer-oriented engineering (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 an understanding of:

• Programming in Java or python and SQL. 
• Cloud technologies.

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.