Legal & Governance Officer (all genders)

The University Library is offering a full-time position as

Legal & Governance Officer (all genders)

starting as soon as possible.

Key information

Start: at the earliest possible date

Term:

Remuneration bracket: E 13 TV-L BW

Weekly hours: 39,5 hours,

the position is generally suitable for job sharing

Location: Mannheim, City Center, Schloss

Reference number: UB-26/11

The University of Mannheim is renowned for its exceptional research and teaching. The University Library serves as the central information infrastructure and is responsible for coordinating the NFDI consortium It is also a partner in the DFG-funded project ‘Building up EOSC Node Germany’.

At international level, the NFDI Association represents Germany’s national interests within the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC) Association as a mandated member. Since 2025, the NFDI Association has been involved in establishing the EOSC as a federation of distributed systems (EOSC Federation). As part of the ‘Building up EOSC Node Germany’ project, the NFDI Association is working with partners to establish the EOSC Node Germany, which is intended to serve as a central access point for German researchers to the EOSC Federation.

In this role, you will help shape Germany's most ambitious project for the provision of services for research data management and support it with your legal expertise. You will be the central point of contact for legal and governance topics relating to the services in NFDI. You will contribute your expertise in the field of copyright and contract law and take active part in NFDI and EOSC working groups focusing on legal topics.

The working languages in the project are German and English.

Your tasks include:

As a specialist for legal and governance in NFDI, you will:

• identify legal uncertainties in relation to service integration and organizational barriers to cross-consortia and cross-border data exchange


• address legal issues related to the development and operation of the EOSC Node Germany


• consult on any upcoming binding agreements required by the EOSC Federation


• map and harmonize policy requirements across NFDI and EOSC (governance, access, reuse, attribution, ethics, security) while ensuring compliance with German and EU law


• actively participate in the relevant EOSC Working Groups (eg. Working Group Legal & Governance) and ensure alignment with other EOSC Nodes on the common legal topics via projects such as EOSC United and EOSC Mesh


• draft and adopt reusable agreement templates (Data Use Agreements, Service Level Agreements etc.) for NFDI specific use cases


• develop and document guidelines, recommendations and procedures for ensuring legal compliance when operating the research data services


• act as the primary contact for the relevant EOSC working groups and the NFDI office

Your profile:

Required qualifications:

• An academic degree in law, preferably with a specialisation in contract law/ copyright law or a comparable qualification


• Thorough legal knowledge in the field of copyright law


• Knowledge of current topics in the field of digital research infrastructures and science policy


• Very good English skills and good German skills


• Teamwork skills, strong communication abilities, commitment, service orientation and flexibility


• Experience with FAIR data management, research data infrastructures, data science or open science


• Willingness to travel within Germany

Preferred qualifications:

• Knowledge of the EOSC Federation and experience in research data management and related services


• Experience with complex (interdisciplinary and international) collaborative projects

What we offer:

• A challenging and varied role in a university environment with national and international partners


• The opportunity to help shape new structures in the German research landscape


• The chance to excel in a long-term, highly relevant field of activity


• flexible working time model, the possibility of teleworking (up to 50%), 30 days holiday


• An annual salary according to TV-L E13 ( as well as the usual social benefits and advantages of the public service Company pension scheme for the public sector (VBL)


• Access to services offered by the University of Mannheim, such as canteen, further education programmes, and the Institute for Sport


• A workplace in a prestigious baroque palace in the centre of the university campus; city centre location, direct connection to public transport, a few minutes from the main railway station


• Innovative academic working environment


• Flexible work time and workplace models (flexitime, telework)


• Family-friendly higher education institution


• International orientation


• Workplace in a historic palace building

Applications from persons with a disability are given preferential consideration provided that they are appropriately qualified. The University of Mannheim is committed to increasing the quota of women in areas where they are underrepresented and thus encourages women with appropriate qualifications to apply.

at the latest

If you have any questions about the position, please contact Vasilka Paunova (Legal Counsel for ) at

Data protection

Please find detailed information on the collection of personal data from the data subject according to Article 13 GDPR on the university's homepage:

Submitted application documents will only be returned if you enclose a self-addressed stamped envelope. Otherwise, they will be destroyed in accordance with current data protection law after the application procedure has ended. Electronic applications will be deleted accordingly.

If you apply by e-mail, please note that protection of confidential data cannot be guaranteed as unauthorized third parties might gain access to unencrypted e-mails during transmission.