Senior Policy Officer for Circular Economy and Waste

Position description

The EEB is the largest network of environmental citizens’ organisations in Europe. We bring together over 190 member organisations in more than 40 countries, representing some 30 million individual members and supporters. We advocate for progressive policies to create a better future where people and nature thrive together.

Our commitment to fairness, equality, diversity and wellbeing.

The EEB strives to be a fair, inclusive, safe place and a welcoming and learning organisation.

We are an equal opportunity employer and encourage applications from a diverse range of candidates. Your experience matters. Please consult our Diversity, Equality and Inclusion Policy.

Please do not use pictures in your CV. Do leave out any information that may contribute to unconscious bias such as reference to your nationality, date or place of birth.

We respect our employees’ lives outside of work, support colleagues in care roles, and take worklife balance and wellbeingseriously.

How You’ll Have an Impact

As our new Senior Policy Officer, you’ll be part of the EEB’s dynamic and impactful Circular Economy team, strengthening our work on waste policies at EU and international level.

You will play a central role in advancing the EEB’s work on waste prevention, waste management and circular economy policies, with a strong focus on ambition, impact and evidence-based advocacy. You will work independently, and in cooperation with our vibrant active member community in the Circular Economy Working group, proactively identifying political, policy and funding opportunities to deliver high impact work. You will actively cooperate with the other members of the EEB circular economy team, other relevant EEB teams, the EEB members, and a broad range of external partners and experts.

You will represent the EEB externally in public events, multi-stakeholder platforms and with the media, including preparing and delivering public presentations, defending EEB’s positions and codesigning events with partner organisations. Internally, you will contribute to wider EEB processes and outputs, (e.g. briefings to EU Presidencies, reports to EEB Board, relevant web pages, articles in EEB publications etc.).

The role offers the opportunity for the right candidate to lead on and support the organisation in identifying and pursuing funding opportunities related to circular economy, waste prevention and waste management, as well as related project management.

This role offers room to grow, professionally and personally. You’ll have opportunities to deepen your expertise, take on new responsibilities, and help strengthen a dynamic and inclusive team and evolving civil society space. You’ll work closely with the Head of Circular Economy and Deputy Policy Manager for Circular Economy and collaborate with colleagues across the organization and beyond.

What You’ll Actually Do

Policy analysis and strategy:

• Maintain up to date knowledge on key legislative files, with particular attention to the Circular Economy Act, including the Waste Framework Directive, Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive, Landfill Directive, the implementation of the Regulation on Circularity Requirements for Vehicle Design and on Management of End-of-Life Vehicles, and other relevant initiatives;
• In service of the policy work, keep abreast with developments in circularity, sound material management and waste related issues, methodologies and indicators; Mobilise expert input and carry out specific in-depth research where required.

Outreach and advocacy towards policymakers:

• Lead on the EEB’s engagement with EU institutions within the waste sphere, including the European Commission, the European Parliament, the Council of the European Union, the European Economic Environmental and Social Committee, the Committee of the Regions and Member States;
• Provide timely policy input, develop positions, and act as an internal waste expert and focal point across the organisation.

Civil society mobilisation:

• Coordinate and evolve the strategy for waste-related work with our vibrant and active Circular Economy Working Group members;
• Build and participate in coalitions with various stakeholders to support advocacy, campaigning and communication efforts;
• Contribute to relevant internal and external expert groups (e.g. European Commission, OECD) and co-develop EEB positions and materials together with EEB members and partners.

Narrative building and representation:

• Translate technical and scientific evidence into clear advocacy messages, and contribute to the design of campaigns, public communications and advocacy materials in close cooperation with the EEB communications team;
• Represent the EEB externally in public events, multi-stakeholder platforms and with the media, including preparing and delivering public presentations, defending EEB’s positions and co-designing events with partner organisations.

Project management and fundraising:

• Support the organisation in identifying and pursuing funding opportunities related to circular economy, waste prevention and waste management;
• Manage projects in accordance with their budgets and scope, keep a clear eye on deliverables, and develop relationships with existing and potential new funders.

Qualifications

You are an experienced Senior Policy Officer with a strong background in EU waste and circular economy policies, and a clear commitment to environmental protection and social justice. You combine solid analytical skills with the confidence to represent the organisation in policy discussions, public events and multi-stakeholder settings, and an ability to find funding for the work.

We also welcome applications from candidates with a minimum of three years’ experience who may join as Officer, with the opportunity to grow into the Senior role.

Your Skills & Experiences:

• A relevant academic degree (or equivalent professional experience);
• At least 5 years of experience working in the EU or national circular economy, waste and/or environmental policy field, including policy analysis and development (candidates with less experience may also be considered for a Policy Officer role, where they can demonstrate exceptional motivation and particularly relevant expertise);
• The ability to understand, analyse and clearly communicate the key scientific, economic and legal dimensions of complex policy topics, both in writing and orally;
• Strong communication and networking skills, including confidence to take the floor at public events and engage with the media;
• Experience facilitating multistakeholder processes, integrating different perspectives across value chains and stakeholder groups;
• A sound understanding of EU institutions, EU environmental law, and the functioning of EU environmental legislative and policy‑making processes.

Assets That Make You Stand Out:

1. Experience engaging with civil society organisations and/or economic actors along product or waste value chains;
2. An understanding of the technical complexities of waste management and waste policies, the capacity to work with life‑cycle assessments (LCA) and other scientific or technical data, and an understanding of how these inform product policy, production processes and waste management performance;
3. A track record of successful fundraising and project management for EU policy work.

Your Values

• You care about the environment and subscribe to the EEB’s values.

Why You’ll Love Working With Us

• A full-time contract, initially for one year but with the intention of making the role permanent;
• An organisation committed to its values of democracy, fairness, respect, integrity and sustainability, and a purpose-driven, supportive and friendly team with 70+ people working for a better future in which people and nature thrive together;
• An attractive workspace in the heart of the EU quarter and a healthy organisational culture, including, for instance, staff away days and (optional) social gatherings;
• A mix of working from the office and home with high flexibility and structural teleworking, according to what makes sense to you and the type of work;
• Flexible working hours with a transparent floating time system;
• A monthly gross salary starting from EUR 3791, with a higher salary depending on the level of experience;
• Various monetary benefits, including a holiday bonus, 13^th month, a generous pension scheme, lunch vouchers, teleworking indemnity, transport allowance, travel insurance;
• Quality trainings (group and individual), peer learning and skills shares;
• Next to 20 days of legal leave, we offer 5 days of extra-legal leave during the winter break closure, 5 days of extra-legal leave anytime in the year and 2 days of extra-legal leave days for office-wide long weekends in spring and autumn, that is, a total of 32 paid leave days, plus seniority leave (up to 10 extra days), and paid leave for compelling reasons.

Registration in Belgium and work permits:

As our contracts fall under Belgian law, the candidate must commit to being officially registered in Belgium and working from our office in Brussels (with structural teleworking).

The EEB welcomes applicants from outside the EU, and we consider it a privilege to have non-EU nationals amongst our staff members and to benefit from their perspectives and skills.

If you are not an EU citizen, please let us know if you have a work permit for Belgium.

Please note that it is not always possible for us to initiate and succeed with work permit applications for non-EU nationals due to legal restrictions, additional costs and practical issues for a medium-sized non-profit organisation. If you do not hold a work permit for Belgium, please feel free to reach out to request further information before you apply.

If you hold a work permit, please mention if you hold a valid Single Permit (A card) or permanent residence permit (B card, long-term resident).

Application instructions

We are looking forward to receiving:

• a short letter of motivation;
• your CV (without pictures);
• a completed questionnaire (see below).

We value clarity, motivation and authenticity more than formal letters and too much detail.

Only applications comprising these three elements will be considered.

Please send your complete application to [email protected].

Thank you for clearly marking “[Senior Policy Officer Circular Economy and Waste]” in the subject of your email.

Please read our recruitment privacy statement before applying: https://eeb.org/eeb-recruitment-privacy-statement/.

Shortlisted candidates may be asked to provide two references later.

Due to limited staff resources and the number of applications anticipated, only candidates selected for interviews will receive a reply.

Questionnaire for Senior Policy Officer Circular Economy and Waste

We want to know about your approach and experience.

Please answer the following questions in max 200 words each:

• What, from your personal perspective, are the three most pressing elements that should be part of the revision of the WEEE Directive?
• What is the better option, landfill or incineration? Why? Under which conditions?
• If you had to pick one piece of waste legislation (proposed by the Commission in the environment omnibus or of your own choosing) to simplify/remove, which would it be and why?

Please do not have AI tools write your answers. If we detect arguments or text blocks which have been generated by an AI tool, your application may be rejected. We are interested in genuine perspectives and original ideas. We do not encourage or invite the use of AI at all, but if you do use AI for polish, we invite you to disclose the prompts used.

Next steps

Deadline for Application: 5 June 2026
Interviews first round (tentative): 17, 18 or 19 June 2026
Starting date: 13 July or as soon as possible

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