Inspection colleague with an interest in water supply, physical security and cybersecurity

Would you like to contribute to securing Denmark's water supply through sparring and supervision of waterworks and wastewater plants within physical as well as digital security.

The Danish Environmental Protection Agency is the so-called sector-responsible authority for drinking water and wastewater supply. This means that the Environmental Protection Agency has the overall responsibility for resilience in the water sector, including in relation to cybersecurity and physical security.

The threat landscape against Denmark has changed, among other things as a result of the war in Ukraine and the hybrid warfare Western Europe is subjected to in these years. At the same time, there has been a digitalisation of the Danish water utilities, which opens potential weaknesses regarding cybersecurity. This means that resilience, emergency preparedness and security have become important focus areas in our work with drinking water and wastewater supply.

About the tasks

In the Water Supply, Emergency Preparedness and Inspection unit, we have an emergency response team. In the team, we are in the process of developing our governance framework and practices for our tasks as a sector authority. We do this based on the new legislation implementing the NIS2 Directive and the CER Directive, and based on the Ministry of Environment’s emergency preparedness regulations, which are expected to come into force on 1 January 2027. The emergency response team shall supervise this regulation.

The work is already strongly anchored in the team, but the task is large, and we need more capable people – including colleagues to conduct inspections – both administratively and on-site. Today we are 6 employees handling all aspects of water emergency preparedness. We expect that we will eventually end up with about 10 employees working with inspections. When fully rolled out, we expect to conduct 250 inspections per year.

Two inspection officers with a focus on executing inspections

Inspections of the resilience and security measures of water utilities are a new area for the Environmental Protection Agency. You will be involved in forging new paths and shaping a meaningful inspection, which focuses on dialogue with the utilities to ensure that the correct level of resilience is in place.

You will primarily work with carrying out inspections at the utilities. There will be a lot of preparation and post-processing of each inspection. You should expect to carry out about 25 inspections annually. At the largest utilities, inspections are carried out based on the regulation following the NIS2 Act and the CER Act, and for smaller utilities inspections are carried out under the Ministry of Environment’s emergency preparedness regulations.

To carry out NIS2 inspections we expect that you

• Have broad insight into information security, both at technical and strategic levels.
• Have experience with IT/OT systems in production environments, preferably in the water sector.
• Have experience with conducting audits, e.g. based on ISO 27001, IEC 62443 or similar. It is an advantage if you are a trained lead auditor, alternatively you will become one.

For carrying out CER inspections we expect that you

• Have broad experience with physical security of production units or utilities.
• Have the ability to assess physical security measures and emergency plans based on risk and vulnerability.

For both positions, we expect that you

• Have experience with the use of inspection methodologies and exercising authority.
• Have experience with risk assessments in operating and production companies.
• A general understanding of how utilities are structured and interconnected with regard to the significance for the core task they perform.
• Have a relevant education combined with practical professional experience.
• Have the ability and willingness to understand complex statutory material.
• Be curious and have a flair for dialog-based and value-creating inspections.
• Be a skilled communicator in both writing and speaking and used to engaging digital tools in your everyday life.

Finally, it is a requirement that you can obtain security clearance and maintain the clearance throughout the entire employment period. It is also a requirement that you have a driving licence.

Your colleagues are professionally competent and knowledge sharing is a natural part of the team’s daily life. In addition, we value a pleasant chat over lunch, which also includes non-work topics.

Salary and terms of employment

The place of employment will be in Odense C, our main address is Lerchesgade 35.

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

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

Applicants must be able to obtain the necessary security clearance and maintain it 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. +45 23 66 78 34.

How to apply for the position

You apply for the position online by sending your application, CV and exam certificates, etc. no later than

13 November 2026 .

We plan to hold interviews in week 47.

Prior to any interview you may be asked to complete tests and/or prepare a case.