Network Architecture and Engineering Unit - Advanced Network Services

The Directorate-General for Information Technologies and Cybersecurity (DG ITEC) delivers digitally advanced, secure, resilient, compliant and sustainable information and communications technology (ICT) services. . Through these, we contribute to the mission of an institution that represents the heart of European democracy. Our ICT solutions help Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) to exercise their democratic mandate and empower parliamentary staff to provide the efficient support Europe’s MEPs require. DG ITEC works to deliver solutions and services that support EP policy based on mobility, connectivity and interoperability, in a multi-site, multilingual environment with an established digital workplace, catering to user population with a wide range of digital skills and expectations. 

Digital sovereignty has become a strategic priority for the European Parliament and the other EU Institutions: control over the location and jurisdiction of institutional data, and reduced dependence on any single supplier for essential services.

The Network Architecture and Engineering Unit (NETWORK) in the ITEC Directorate for ICT Infrastructure and Security Operations is currently assessing whether sovereign, EU-hosted collaboration solutions can replace or complement parts of the existing Windows and Office workplace stack, featuring on-premises email services and on-premises telephony. The assessment must take account of that existing environment, of service continuity expectations, and of the constraints of a public administration.

The European Parliament's digital workplace rests on an established stack of managed Windows clients, Office applications and on-premises services, built around a model in which identities are kept on premises, while data and applications are partially services at various cloud providers. Sovereign offerings such as openDesk keep that hybrid model, but change who controls the platform and where the data resides.

More concretely, in September 2026 we started a proof of concept with an openDesk SaaS provider. 

Under the supervision of the head of service and officials, the trainee will be invited to:

• Support the running of a proof of concept and/or pilot for openDesk and/or Nextcloud, including tests and documentation of results;
• Under guidance from the Identity and Access Management service, document how the candidate solutions behave against the existing environment: identity federation (Active Directory, ADFS, Entra ID, Keycloak), managed Windows 11 and macOS clients, virtual desktop access, and mobile access under existing mobile application management;
• Contribute to comparative analyses (feature coverage, operational effort, support model, licensing and lock-in) between the candidate solutions and the incumbent stack, presented in a structured and reusable form;
• Assist in gathering and verifying vendor documentation, distinguishing clearly between what is documented, and what remains open;
• Follow developments in EU and national cloud sovereignty frameworks (EUCS, the EU Cloud Sovereignty Framework, BSI C5, the revision of the Cybersecurity Act, CADA) and summarise their possible relevance for the Institution's Cloud Policy and ICT Procurement Strategy;
• Take part in the collection and validation of pilot user requirements and translate the results into plain-language findings for the evaluation file;
• Assist in the drafting of internal and external reporting: notes to management, presentations to technical and non-technical audiences, and contributions to the project documentation set.

You have obtained/will obtain a university degree (level 6 of EQF or higher) at least three months before the starting date of the traineeship.

The Unit is looking for a candidate who can weigh EU sovereign solutions on their merits, without advocacy in either direction. The task is to establish what the candidate solutions do and do not deliver in a large, established environment, and to present that evidence in a form usable for management decisions. Enthusiasm for open source is welcome; the ability to evaluate it critically against user needs, operational constraints and existing systems is essential. 

Essential

• Basic understanding of enterprise IT concepts: directory services and authentication, client/server architecture, web applications, and the general principles of email and file collaboration systems;
• Familiarity with collaboration tools such as Nextcloud, Collabora, Matrix/Element, OpenProject, XWiki, and/or OX App Suite;
• Ability to read technical documentation critically and to summarise it accurately, including the ability to state clearly when information is missing or unverified;
• Structured and precise drafting skills; capacity to write for readers who are not IT specialists;
• Interest in how a technology is actually used by colleagues in daily work, and willingness to take user constraints and habits seriously;
• Very good command of English (working language of the project). 

Advantageous

• Exposure to public sector or large-organisation IT, including the realities of legacy systems, phased change and service-level expectations;
• Awareness of EU digital sovereignty policy and of cloud certification schemes;
• Experience of testing, documenting results, or working to defined acceptance criteria;
• Knowledge of French and/or German.

The European Parliament is dedicated to fostering an inclusive and equitable workplace. We welcome all candidates, regardless of their geographical, racial or ethnic origin, political or religious beliefs, age, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, socioeconomic background, civil status, or family situation.