The Danish Environmental Protection Agency seeks a deputy director with responsibility for Environment and Production

Do you have the leadership strength to create direction, momentum and results in a large and complex agency? Can you lead strong professional environments and translate political priorities and high professional standards into secure operations and concrete results, even when tasks are complex, stakeholders numerous and the framework changing? Then you may be our new deputy director.

The Environmental Protection Agency (Miljøstyrelsen) is seeking a deputy director who will become part of the agency's management and will take on a substantial responsibility for the overall leadership and development of the Environmental Protection Agency.

As a starting point, you will have the overall managerial responsibility for the area of Environment and Production, which among other things handles authority tasks in relation to some of Denmark's largest and most environmentally complex companies. In addition, you will be responsible for other areas and cross-cutting tasks within the Environmental Protection Agency. The final portfolio will be determined as part of the overall task distribution in the management and with regard to the new deputy director's profile and competences.

We are in the process of realizing the strategy Action-Packed Environmental Protection Agency – one cohesive authority. This means, among other things, that we must be able to set a clear direction, prioritize crosswise, ensure stable operations and forward progress and systematically follow up on goals, quality and results. As deputy director you will play a central role in this task.

You must create results through clear leadership and secure operations

As deputy director you will be responsible for ensuring that your areas deliver on their goals and tasks with high professional quality, timeliness and efficient use of resources.

You lead through heads of offices and, together with them, must ensure a strong leadership chain where strategic goals are translated into clear priorities, concrete actions and results. You must have an eye for both long-term development and daily operations and be able to prioritise and create momentum when results, quality or deliverables require it.

You shall, among other things

• Set clear direction and translate political and strategic goals into priorities, actions and results.
• Ensure stable and efficient operations with focus on goals, quality, productivity, capacity, economy and progress.
• Systematically follow up on results and actively use data and management information in leadership.
• Create transparency about tasks and resources and make clear priorities when demands and capacity do not match.
• Ensure that decisions are made in a timely manner, and follow up to ensure they are implemented and create the desired effect.
• Develop the organization, working methods and processes so that we continuously improve both quality and efficiency.
• Lead safely through change while maintaining stability and deliveries in operations.
• Develop strong leadership teams and support the office heads in their responsibility for their own areas.

Environment and Production – a central governmental task

One of your central areas of responsibility will be Environment and Production, which has great political, societal and business significance.

The Environmental Protection Agency is the environmental authority for about 400 of Denmark's largest and most environmentally complex companies. The area is responsible among other things for environmental approvals, environmental impact assessments and environmental supervision and works primarily under the Environmental Protection Act and associated legislation.

The area is also responsible for the EU rules and Danish regulations that govern the companies' environmental approvals and environmental supervision. Experiences from the concrete exercise of authority are actively brought into the development of rules and solutions in collaboration with the Environmental Protection Agency's other areas, and we contribute to serving the political level in close cooperation with the Ministry of Environment's Department.

The area contains strong and specialized professional environmental teams. As deputy director you must be able to set direction for the professionalism without necessarily being a specialist in all areas. You must be able to challenge, prioritise and create the framework for translating complex professional knowledge into robust decision bases, secure exercise of authority and concrete results.

The tasks place high demands on both professional expertise, administrative safety and timeliness. A substantial part of your leadership task will therefore be to ensure coherence between strong professionalism and the ability to deliver.

You must also strengthen the interplay between the agency's framework-setting and realising tasks: between the development of professional solutions, regulation and decision basis on the one hand and the concrete exercise of authority and implementation on the other. The strong interplay between the two is a central part of the Environmental Protection Agency's strategy.

You will be part of the overall management of the Environmental Protection Agency

As deputy director you will be responsible for your own portfolio and at the same time be part of a management team that together has responsibility for the entire Environmental Protection Agency and the agency's results, operations, economy, development and organisation.

We work as one management team. This means that we have different areas of responsibility, but a shared responsibility for the whole. We set common direction, prioritise across and make decisions with a view to what is best for the Environmental Protection Agency and our task execution.

Therefore you must be able to lead strongly down into your own organisation, across the agency and into the overall group. You should bring your own professionalism and judgement into play while being curious about other perspectives and able to change direction when the whole requires it.

Who are you?

We foresee that you have substantial leadership experience from a ministry, an agency, a municipality or another large politically led organisation. It is essential that you have experience in leading other leaders and with responsibility for an organisation or a large organisational area with complex operations and development tasks.

You have strong generalist and administrative competencies, political understanding and a relevant advanced degree.

You should have the ability and interest to quickly grasp complex professional issues and to lead organisations with high specialist expertise. Knowledge of the environmental field, regulation or administration would be an advantage, but the decisive factor is your ability to translate strong professionalism into direction, decisions and results.

We place particular emphasis on the following

• Being an experienced leader of leaders who can set a clear direction and generate followership around it.
• Strong operational leadership and execution power, and persistent follow-up on goals, deliveries, quality and results.
• Ability to create an overview of a large and complex task portfolio and make clear prioritisation of tasks and resources.
• Ability to lead strong professional environments and ensure that specialist knowledge is constructively used in decisions, prioritisations and the exercise of authority.
• Responding to lack of forward momentum and translating problems and uncertainties into decisions and actions.
• Ability to combine high professional and administrative quality with timeliness and the judgement to know when we have enough to act.
• Ability to lead complex and politically prioritised tasks with many stakeholders and different considerations.
• Sense for economy, capacity and efficient resource use and the ability to achieve results within the given framework.
• Take responsibility for the whole and naturally lead and prioritise across organisational and professional boundaries.
• Ability to drive change without losing focus on stable operations and the organisation's ability to deliver.
• Communicate clearly and credibly and build strong relationships both internally and externally.

You must be prepared for a close, committed and engaged collaboration with the rest of the management. Our ambition is to be a single leadership for one cohesive Environmental Protection Agency, where we share knowledge, challenge each other, prioritise across and take joint responsibility for the results.

Salary and terms of employment

The appointment is on a 6-year fixed-term basis in accordance with the "Framework Agreement on Contract Appointments of Chief Executives in the Civil Service" with a base salary according to group 2 of DKK 783,775.00. In addition to the base salary, there are individual allowances, a fixed-term supplement, pension arrangements and a one-off settlement depending on effort and results.

If you are already a civil servant, an appointment as a civil servant may be possible after a concrete and individual assessment in LR 38.

The area of employment for contract managers is the Ministry of the Environment with its associated institutions. If you are appointed as a civil servant, the employment area is the Environmental Protection Agency.

If you are already a civil servant, the application should be addressed to the King.

The place of service is the Ministry of the Environment, Lerchesgade 35, 5000 Odense C.

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

The position is intended to be filled on 1 January 2027 or as soon as possible thereafter.

Want to know more?

If you want to know more about the job, you are welcome to contact Director Jakob Møller Nielsen at tel. 41 72 16 07 or partner at Genitor, Hanne Kristensen, at tel. 25 11 71 37.

How to apply for the position

You apply online by submitting your application, CV, education documents etc. no later than 31 October 2026.

We will conduct testing in the period 3/11 – 12/11 2026.

The first interview is expected to be held on 3/11 2026 and the second on 13/11 2026.

Application deadline: 31 October 2026

Department: Lerchesgade 35 5000 Odense C

Location: Odense