ICES Hiring 2 Officers in Copenhagen — Apply by Nov 22

The International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) is hiring two Science Professional Officers — one at P1 grade and one at P2 grade — for its Secretariat in Copenhagen, Denmark. These are full-time, four-year posts with UN-grade salaries that are exempt from Danish income tax, and applications close on Sunday, 22 November 2026, at 23:59 CET. That is 04:29 IST on Monday, 23 November — so from today, Friday 13 November, there are just nine days left to apply.

For fisheries and marine science graduates in India, this is one of the most attractive international openings of the year: a job at the heart of the organisation that writes the scientific advice behind Europe’s fish stock decisions, with a contract that runs to 2031 and a start date in early 2027.

The vacancy at a glance

Item	Detail
Organisation	International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES)
Posts	Science Professional Officer (P1) and Science Professional Officer (P2) — 2 posts
Location	ICES Secretariat, Copenhagen, Denmark
Advertised	30 October 2026
Application deadline	Sunday, 22 November 2026, 23:59 CET (04:29 IST, 23 November)
Contract	Full-time, 38 hours a week including lunch breaks; four years, with possibility of extension
Preferred start	Between January and March 2027
Salary	P1 / P2 grade, based on the United Nations common salary system; exempt from Danish income tax
How to apply	CV and cover letter through the ICES recruitment portal (links below); contact HR@ices.dk
Application fee	None

What is ICES — and why this job matters

ICES is an intergovernmental organisation that builds and shares scientific knowledge of marine ecosystems and turns it into advice on conservation, management and sustainability. Its network spans more than 4,000 scientists from over 350 marine institutes, and its Secretariat has been based in Copenhagen since 1902.

If you follow European fisheries, you already know ICES by its work: every year it publishes the catch advice that sets fishing opportunities for stocks such as mackerel, herring and cod across the Northeast Atlantic. That advice is built by expert groups drawn from its member institutes — and the Science Professional Officers are the people who keep those projects moving.

The two new officers join ICES’s project team at a time when the organisation is involved in a growing number of European and international research projects on biodiversity, climate change, sustainable fisheries, pollution, ecosystem restoration, digital innovation and the link between science and policy. In plain terms: the job is coordinating the science that decides how much fish Europe catches — and doing it from one of the world’s most liveable capitals.

The two posts: P1 vs P2

Both posts sit in the same project team, but they are pitched at different career stages. The P1 officer coordinates and delivers defined activities on ICES projects, working day to day with the senior officers who lead the work. The P2 officer leads ICES’s work across a portfolio of projects — managing budgets, assigning roles, supervising junior staff and helping decide which projects and partnerships ICES takes on next.

	Science Professional Officer (P1)	Science Professional Officer (P2)
Role	Coordinate and deliver project activities and outputs	Lead ICES’s work across a project portfolio
Reports to	Project leads / senior officers	Head of the Science Department
Team	Works with project leads and the ICES network	May supervise the day-to-day work of junior (P1) staff; no line management
Budgets	Tracks spending and flags problems to the project lead	Develops and manages budgets; accountable for delivery
Strategy	Supports proposals and partnerships	Advises the Head of Science on strategy, risks and ICES’s scientific independence
Grade	P1 (UN common salary system)	P2 (UN common salary system)

What you will actually do

As a P1 officer, you will lead or coordinate assigned work packages, tasks and project activities within agreed objectives, timelines and budgets; research and draft parts of project deliverables, reports and presentations; organise workshops; keep communication flowing between project partners, the ICES scientific network and stakeholders; track progress and spending against project plans and raise risks early; and help share project results through workshops, training and accessible materials.

As a P2 officer, you will take a leadership role in the project team: assigning roles within projects, guiding junior staff, steering the strategic direction of the project portfolio, leading work packages and major ICES contributions, preparing deliverables and workshops, managing budgets, connecting project work with the ICES scientific network, representing ICES at consortium meetings and conferences, and developing new proposals and partnerships.

Both roles involve travel to consortium meetings, workshops and conferences, and presenting project work to scientific, policy and stakeholder audiences.

Who can apply: eligibility

Requirement	P1	P2
Education	Master’s degree or equivalent experience in natural or marine sciences, environmental or fisheries science, social sciences, economics, public policy, or research/project management	Same Master’s requirement
Experience	At least 2 years in project coordination, project management, international collaboration or a related area	At least 5 years in research, research management, project management, policy or international collaboration
Team	Experience supporting collaborative projects	Experience supervising a small team and guiding others’ work
Budgets	Tracking spending against task budgets	Setting and monitoring project budgets
Language	Excellent written and spoken English	Excellent written and spoken English
An advantage	Horizon Europe or other EU programme experience; coordinating a project task or deliverable; knowledge of the European marine research and policy landscape	A PhD; Horizon Europe experience including leading a work package; knowledge of ICES and its Science and Advisory committees; proposal development experience

ICES says explicitly that there is “no single route into this role” — the door is open to people from fisheries science, marine science, environmental science, economics, social science, public policy and project management backgrounds. What matters is a track record of delivering collaborative projects on time, with partners in more than one country. Experience with Horizon Europe or other EU research programmes is an advantage for both grades.

Pay, tax and perks — the part that makes this stand out

UN-grade salary: pay is set at the P1 or P2 grade, based on — but not identical to — the United Nations common salary system.
Tax-free in Denmark: ICES Secretariat staff enjoy privileges and immunities under the Host Agreement between the Government of Denmark and ICES, and their salaries are exempt from Danish income tax.
UN-like benefits: for staff recruited internationally, benefits similar to those paid by UN organisations are available — including installation and repatriation allowances, dependents’ education allowances and home leave.
Generous pension: the employee and ICES both contribute to a tax-free pension scheme.
Four-year security: a four-year contract with the possibility of extension, and a preferred start between January and March 2027 — this is a career move, not a short consultancy.
Family-friendly workplace: ICES states it offers flexible working arrangements and actively encourages applications from women, people from underrepresented member countries and people with disabilities.

No salary figure is published in the vacancy — the grade is stated, and the exact figure follows the UN-based scale. Do not expect a number in the advert; the value here is the grade, the tax exemption and the four-year term.

How to apply — step by step

Pick your grade. With 2–4 years of project coordination experience, the P1 post is the natural fit. With 5+ years, team supervision and budget responsibility, aim for P2. You may apply for either — the adverts are separate.
Prepare a CV and a cover letter. Both are required. Tailor the cover letter to ICES’s actual work: name a project theme from the advert — sustainable fisheries, biodiversity, climate change, ecosystem restoration or digital innovation — and show a concrete example of a collaborative project you delivered, with the partners, the timeline and the outcome.
Submit through the ICES recruitment portal. The P2 post is listed on ICES’s recruitment portal at icesny.hr-on.com/show-job/361307; the P1 post is listed at impactpool.org/jobs/1245133. Full details of both posts are also on DevNetJobs (P1) and DevNetJobs (P2).
Check the deadline in your timezone. The portal closes at 23:59 CET on Sunday, 22 November 2026 — that is 04:29 IST on Monday, 23 November. Submit well before the final evening; late applications are not accepted.
Questions? The vacancy lists HR@ices.dk as the contact for the recruitment.

There is no application fee, and ICES — like other international organisations — does not charge candidates at any stage of recruitment. Apply only through the official portal and the listings above, never through an agent asking for payment.

Why this matters for Indian fisheries professionals

Indian fisheries graduates rarely see a door like this. Most international fisheries jobs advertised to Indians are short consultancies or field posts. These two ICES posts are different in three ways: they are permanent-grade staff appointments, they sit at the centre of the science-to-policy pipeline rather than at its edges, and they explicitly welcome applicants from outside the usual European circuit — ICES says it especially encourages applications from member countries underrepresented in its Secretariat.

The experience bar is also realistic. A Master’s plus two years of project coordination is within reach of many young professionals who have worked on ICAR, state fisheries or NGO projects — the P1 post does not demand a PhD, a publication record or prior European experience. What it demands is evidence of delivering collaborative work on time. For a fisheries graduate who has coordinated a hatchery programme, a stock survey or a multi-institute project, that is a story worth telling in the cover letter.

And the timing is kind: a January–March 2027 start gives a selected candidate two to four months to wind down current work and relocate. But the window is short — nine days from today — so the application needs to go in this week, not next.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need to be a Danish or EU citizen?
No. ICES recruits internationally, and the vacancy makes no nationality restriction. Staff recruited from outside Denmark receive the international benefits package described above.

Is a PhD required?
No. A Master’s degree — or equivalent experience — is the requirement for both grades. A PhD is listed only as an advantage for the P2 post.

Can I apply for both P1 and P2?
The two posts are advertised separately with different requirements. Apply for the grade that matches your experience; applying for both is not prohibited, but each application is assessed on its own merits.

What is the salary?
The vacancy does not publish a figure. Pay is at the P1 or P2 grade based on the UN common salary system, exempt from Danish income tax, with a tax-free pension and UN-like allowances for internationally recruited staff.

Where is the job based?
At the ICES Secretariat in Copenhagen, Denmark. The role involves travel to consortium meetings, workshops and conferences, but the duty station is Copenhagen.

When will I hear back?
The vacancy does not state a timeline. With a preferred start between January and March 2027, shortlisting is expected soon after the 22 November deadline.