Seeking a coordinator for international affairs to join our InnoCities Coordination Team

We are seeking a person who is passionate about the future of regional innovation policy, sees the bigger picture instead of individual projects, and is enthusiastic about finding the most interesting international comparisons for Finnish urban development.

We at the Regional Council of Pirkanmaa are now searching for a coordinator for international affairs to join the InnoCities national coordination team until October 2027.

The Regional Council of Pirkanmaa coordinates the implementation of ecosystem agreements in cooperation with cities, regional councils, and the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment. The ecosystem agreements are currently implemented by 189 projects in which the EU, cities, the state, and other actors have invested approximately EUR 91 million. We call this entity InnoCities, and we also want to inform international audiences about it.

We have succeeded when ecosystem agreements and InnoCities attract interest among our international references. We still have room for improvement here, so now we are looking for reinforcement to our team.

Your tasks will include:

• Examination of the sustainable urban development  InnoCities entity from an international perspective.
• Production of easy-to-understand and interesting content for European urban developers in cooperation with a communications expert.
• Identification of new actions, changes, financial instruments, and developments that are key to our mission, and planning of further actions together with the team.
• Communication on sustainable urban development with EU offices
• Keeping up to date with and communication of the upcoming programming period and topical debate on EU urban development and regional innovation policy.
• Keeping up to date with and interpretation of funding opportunities that are interesting from the perspective of innovation activities in different European cities for those implementing ecosystem agreements.
• We organise an international benchmark visit for Finnish urban developers once a year. Your work involves planning these visits and implementing the arrangements in cooperation with our development expert and other team members. You will also participate in these visits.
• Background work to participate in various international events a few times a year.
• Other tasks related to the project.

The successful performance of the position’s tasks will require:

• An understanding of the field of international urban activities, regional innovation activities, and European funding
• A master’s degree or on-going master’s degree studies in a field relevant to the position
• Excellent oral and written English skills, other language skills are also useful
• Service-mindedness, good interaction skills and an ability to work with different parties
• Experience in facilitating various types of discussions or workshops
• Self-directed and detail-oriented working methods and a willingness to learn new things and develop oneself as well as common operating methods
• An open-minded and bold approach!

In addition, the following are considered useful:

• You understand/comprehend current trends in innovation policy discussion, such as transformative innovation policy and the role of cities as part of this.
• You have innate Finnish language skills in ordinary work situations and you want to use the language.
  

We will offer you a place in a special team, which is unique by Finnish and European standards, at the core of sustainable urban development, innovation policy, and ecosystem work and a vantage point on the development of these themes. As a team, we work in close and agile cooperation with cities, the state, and other stakeholders. You will become part of a team that is skilled in these themes, and we will welcome your expertise and ideas.

It is possible to work remotely from your home office partly, but we all meet up at our office in the centre of Tampere weekly. The position involves some travel in Finland and travel a few times a year elsewhere in Europe.

The job-specific salary is approximately EUR 3,500–3,700 per month and any work experience supplement, max. 8%. In addition, you will have access to extensive occupational health care, physical activity, culture, and well-being benefits, a lunch benefit, and a public transport commuting benefit.

The employment relationship will comply with the General Collective Agreement for local government employees.

Please submit your application to pirkanmaan.liitto@pirkanmaa.fi by Sunday, October 26th at 11:59 PM.

We will decide on who to invite to an interview and send invitations on 3 November. We will also notify other applicants at this time. According to our original timetable, we will organise interviews on 11 November or 14 November 2025.

We would like for you to step into the position as soon as possible, but no later than on 7 January 2026. The position can be filled as soon as a suitable candidate has been found.

If you would like additional information on the position, please contact Riina Niemi at +358 40 7080 178.

• Friday, 10 October from 8 am to 12 pm
• Monday, 13 October, from 12 noon to 3 pm
• Friday, 15 October from 12 noon to 3 pm
• Monday 20 October from 9 am to 12 noon