Experienced generalist for the Danish Environmental Protection Agency's work on water supply as critical infrastructure

Would you like to work with the political, economic and administrative aspects of ensuring resilience in the water sector against cyber attacks, sabotage and other incidents? Then this position is right for you.

The Danish Environmental Protection Agency (Miljøstyrelsen) is the so-called sector-responsible authority for drinking water and wastewater supply. This means that the agency has the overarching responsibility for the resilience of the water sector, including with regard to cyber security and physical security.

The threat landscape against Denmark has changed, in part as a result of the war in Ukraine and the hybrid warfare Western Europe is exposed to in these years. At the same time, there has been a digitalization of Danish water utilities, which opens potential weaknesses in relation to cyber security. This means that resilience has become an important focus area in our work with drinking water and wastewater supply.

About the tasks

In the Water Supply, Preparedness and Inspection unit we have an emergency response team. In the team we are in the process of developing our governance framework and practice for our tasks as the sector authority. We do this based on the new legislation that implements the NIS2 directive and the CER directive, and based on the Ministry of the Environment's own emergency regulation, which is expected to come into force on 1 January 2027.

NIS2 sets requirements for securing networks and information systems for utilities, while CER sets requirements for the resilience of utilities to physical threats and disturbances. The Ministry of the Environment's own emergency regulation will primarily regulate small and medium-sized water utilities that are not covered by the NIS 2 Act and the CER Act.

The work is already deeply anchored in the team, but the task is large, and we need more good people.

We are looking for a colleague to take the overarching tasks the team has in relation to aligning the Ministry of the Environment's work with the political desires and appropriations in the area. Externally, this would involve tasks such as serving the minister and coordinating responses to questions from the press or the Folketing (Parliament), as well as clarifying budgetary matters with the Ministry of the Environment's department.

It could also be contributing to clarifying role distributions with municipalities and generally making our role visible and communicating our expectations to companies in the water sector regarding their responsibility for security, preparedness and handling of incidents.

Internally, this would involve ensuring input from the team's more specialized colleagues is obtained, including coordinating across – for example – as input to our governance framework for how we as the sector authority will administer under the NIS2 Act, the CER Act and other emergency legislation for the water sector.

Your profile

We are looking for someone with experience in government administration – ideally at the interface between the ministry and the agency – who has tried working with parliamentary budget proposals, responses to parliamentary questions and similar tasks at the intersection of the professional and the political.

If possible, you also have experience in municipal administration, financial management or emergency preparedness and security. This can be from the administrative or the operational perspective. It is also an advantage if you have experience from work in the utilities sector.

You have a relevant education, for example in social sciences or security and risk management or catastrophe and risk management. Relevant education or another advanced education in combination with concrete experience in preparedness and security will qualify you.

We also expect that you

• Have political acumen and understanding of the interaction between the agency, the department and the minister.
• Are a skilled and precise communicator, both in writing and speech, who can translate complex material clearly to different relevant actors, for example utilities, stakeholder organizations and the Folketing (Parliament).
• Can involve and establish dialogue with relevant actors, and ensure close and good cooperation in case handling.
• Are structured, independent and thorough in your task execution, so that the tasks are top quality.
• Have digital skills, and are used to navigating and involving digital tools in your daily work.

You should be able to thrive in the interplay between long-term work with strategic directions and occasionally delivering faster, focused work processes.

We offer

You join an already well-functioning team and receive peer-to-peer sparring. Your colleagues are professionally skilled and knowledge sharing is a natural part of the team's daily life. You will work in a busy, professional, social and outward-facing environment with a nice way of interacting. We emphasize that it is enjoyable and motivating to go to work, and that we are busy with the right things. In addition, we value a friendly chat over lunch, which also includes non-professional topics.

About us

In Water Supply, Preparedness and Inspection we work to ensure that citizens are supplied with clean and sufficient drinking water, and that wastewater is handled responsibly – also in emergency situations. The work on water supply and wastewater management is an extremely societally important task both in everyday life and in crisis situations, and there can be great attention, both politically and among the population.

In the office we are about 40 colleagues divided into a number of teams spread over two team leaders (who have personnel responsibility) and a functional leader (without personnel responsibility) who ultimately reports to one head of office.

Salary and terms of employment

Salary and terms of employment are in accordance with the applicable Central Collective Agreement between the Ministry of Finance and a number of academic organizations for academics in the state (Academic Collective Agreement).

The employing area is the Ministry of the Environment with its associated institutions.

The workplace will be in Odense C, our main address is Lerchesgade 35.

Applicants must be able to obtain the necessary security clearance and maintain this throughout the entire employment period.

Further information

If you want to know more, you are welcome to contact team leader Emil Skøtt Dalsgaard at

tel. 2366 7834.

How to apply for the position

You apply online by sending your application, CV and exam certificates, etc. no later than November 13, 2026 .

We plan to hold interviews in week 47.

You may be asked to complete tests and/or prepare a case prior to any interview.