EPSO AD7 ICT 2026: the 4 fields, the 782 posts, and how to choose before June 10

EPSO published the EPSO/AD/429/26 notice in May 2026 — an AD7 (administrator grade 7) competition for ICT profiles in the European institutions. 782 posts split across 4 specialist fields. Applications close 10 June 2026, 12:00 Brussels time. Testing in autumn 2026.

Unlike AD5, this is not a graduate-entry route. It requires 5-9 years of documented professional ICT experience. It’s a lateral entry channel for senior engineers who want to swap the bank / consultancy / scale-up for the EU institutions.

This post breaks down the 4 fields: what each one does, which professional profile fits, how many posts, and how to decide before the deadline.

Official numbers (non-negotiable)

Source: Official Journal of the European Union C/2026/2425, published by EPSO on 6 May 2026.

• Competition: EPSO/AD/429/26
• Grade: AD7
• Total posts: 782, split:
• ICT Infrastructure: 204 posts
• ICT Project Management: 228 posts
• Clouds and Networks: 166 posts
• Data Science: 184 posts
• Application window: 6 May → 10 June 2026, 12:00 Brussels
• Supporting documents: due 1 October 2026
• Testing: autumn 2026 (specific dates not yet published)
• Languages: language 1 (any EU official, C1) + language 2 (EN, FR or DE, B2)
• Experience required: 5-9 years professional ICT, varies by field

Test structure

Five blocks, in this order:

1. Verbal Reasoning (in language 1) — 35 min, text comprehension.
2. Numerical Reasoning (in language 1) — 25 min, charts and tables.
3. Abstract Reasoning (language-independent) — 25 min, visual patterns.
4. Field-related Test (in language 2 = EN/FR/DE) — field-specific MCQ. Real technical knowledge.
5. EUFTE (in language 2) — 35-min essay on EU policy.

No separate Digital Literacy test (unlike AD5). No SJT (Situational Judgement Test). The Field-related Test replaces both.

Field 1: ICT Infrastructure (204 posts)

What you do: design and operate the ICT infrastructure of EU institutions. Data centres, servers, storage, perimeter security, campus networks in Brussels/Luxembourg/Strasbourg, corporate identity, virtualisation, high availability, business continuity.

Professional profile that fits: - System Engineer / SRE / Infrastructure Engineer with 5-9 years in mid-to-large enterprises. - Cloud admin who also has on-prem infrastructure experience — EU institutions run hybrid for sovereignty reasons. - Identity/IAM specialist. - Senior DBA with architectural vision. - Cybersecurity engineer at the infrastructure layer.

Tech that shows up in the Field-related Test: - Virtualisation (VMware, Hyper-V, KVM) - Linux server administration - Active Directory / LDAP / federation - Storage (SAN, NAS, replication) - Backup and disaster recovery - ITIL v4 (process management) - ENISA framework for critical infrastructure

Pick Infrastructure if: your career has been on-prem or hybrid, and you prefer thinking about SLAs and physical architecture over application code.

Field 2: ICT Project Management (228 posts)

What you do: run ICT programmes and projects in EU institutions. Multi-year roadmaps, external vendor management (institutions contract out heavily), inter-DG coordination (DG DIGIT, DG CONNECT, DG TAXUD…), project budget management, reporting to management.

This is the largest field (228 posts) for a reason: the Commission and agencies need professional PMs who can speak ICT with technicians and speak EU administrative language with management.

Professional profile that fits: - Project Manager / Programme Manager ICT with 5-9 years, ideally PMP or PRINCE2 certified. - Senior Scrum Master / Agile Coach. - Digital transformation consultant. - Solution Architect who has delivered end-to-end. - Delivery Manager with vendor-team experience.

Frameworks and topics in the Field-related Test: - PMI / PMBOK 7 - PRINCE2 - Agile (Scrum, SAFe, Kanban) - Portfolio management (PfMP) - EU public procurement (Directive 2014/24/EU) — important: EU ICT projects flow through public procurement and the test asks about it. - Risk management ISO 31000 - Stakeholder management

Pick Project Management if: your market value is running teams and translating between technical and management. It’s the field with the most posts, which mathematically lowers the cut. It does not ask you to write code; it asks you to deliver programmes.

Field 3: Clouds and Networks (166 posts)

What you do: design and operate the cloud and network layer of EU institutions. Cloud migration (always under digital sovereignty constraints — GAIA-X, EU Cloud Strategy), multi-cloud operations, inter-institution WAN, connectivity with Member States, network security.

Professional profile that fits: - Cloud Engineer / Cloud Architect (AWS, Azure, GCP, OVH). - Senior Network Engineer (CCNP / CCIE level). - DevOps / Platform Engineer. - Cloud-native SRE. - Cloud security engineer (Zero Trust, SASE).

Tech and topics in the Field-related Test: - Cloud providers (AWS, Azure, GCP) — service comparison. - Kubernetes / containers - IaC (Terraform, Ansible) - EU Cloud Strategy 2020 — explicit EU policy. - GAIA-X — European federated cloud project. - DORA (Regulation (EU) 2022/2554) — digital operational resilience. - NIS2 (Directive (EU) 2022/2555) — network and information systems security. - Networking: BGP, MPLS, SD-WAN, IPv6.

Pick Clouds and Networks if: your last decade has been cloud-native or WAN/backbone networking, and you’re interested in the political angle of European cloud (digital sovereignty).

Field 4: Data Science (184 posts)

What you do: work with the massive data EU institutions collect and produce. Eurostat. Commission (sectoral reports). European Central Bank (financial data). European Environment Agency. Frontex. EUDAT. Model building, data pipelines, strategic dashboards for Commissioners and Directors-General.

Professional profile that fits: - Data Scientist / ML Engineer with 5-9 years. - Senior Data Engineer (pipelines, lakehouse). - Applied statistician with public-sector experience. - BI Engineer / Analytics Engineer with modelling vision. - Research engineer (applied econometrics, epidemiological models, quantitative climatology).

Tech and topics in the Field-related Test: - Python (pandas, scikit-learn, PyTorch, TensorFlow). - Advanced SQL, dimensional modelling. - Supervised / unsupervised ML, NLP, intro computer vision. - Data engineering: Airflow, dbt, Spark. - AI Act (Reg. (EU) 2024/1689) — heavily tested: risk classification of AI systems, requirements for high-risk, regulatory sandboxes. - GDPR (Reg. (EU) 2016/679) — for anything touching personal data. - Data Governance Act (Reg. (EU) 2022/868). - Data Act (Reg. (EU) 2023/2854). - Applied statistics (Eurostat methodology).

Pick Data Science if: your career has moved Excel → SQL → Python → models, and you’re excited about applying that to public-policy problems (climate, migration, single market) instead of e-commerce conversion rate.

How to choose your field (decide before June 10)

Three honest questions:

1. What have I done in the last 24 months, not the last 24 years?

The Field-related Test measures current operational knowledge, not university degrees. If your CV says “ML Engineer” but the last 2 years you were a PM for a team of 12, Project Management fits better than Data Science.

2. Where is the competition mathematically smaller?

The 228 Project Management posts vs the 166 Clouds and Networks posts do not translate 1:1 into a posts/candidates ratio. But a field with more posts and a broader profile (PMs exist in every industry) probably attracts more candidates in absolute terms. Data Science and Clouds have narrower profiles, fewer candidates, fewer posts.

Without official cohort 2026 numbers published yet, the useful heuristic is: the posts/candidates ratio is usually lower (better) in the field where you yourself would be an unusual candidate. Where you feel “one of many”, don’t pick. Where you feel “I’m a rare match here”, pick.

3. Where will I study 200 hours with interest, not resignation?

The Field-related Test requires field-specific preparation. 100-200 hours studying the field (plus generic Verbal / Numerical / Abstract / EUFTE). If the idea of reading DORA and NIS2 bores you, don’t pick Clouds & Networks no matter how well your CV fits. EPSO does not forgive grudging preparation.

Preparation strategy (May → autumn 2026)

Block 1 — before 10 June (application deadline): - Pick your field. Apply. Upload CV and forms. - Start Verbal / Numerical / Abstract: same as AD5, big calibrated question bank exists. 50 questions/day all summer and by September the reasoning is rock-solid.

Block 2 — summer 2026: - Study the field-specific key documents (AI Act, DORA, EU Cloud Strategy, depending on field). - Start writing EUFTE essays with ICT-policy prompts (digital regulation, technological sovereignty, algorithmic governance). - Brush up language 2 if rusty — Field-related and EUFTE are in EN/FR/DE.

Block 3 — September-October 2026: - Prepare supporting documents (1 October deadline). - Full mock exams (5 blocks back-to-back). - Iterate EUFTE: 8-10 graded essays until the structure becomes automatic.

Block 4 — testing autumn 2026: - EPSO will publish specific dates during summer. Book. - Last week before: rest, not marathon.

How to train it

PassEPSO has an AD7 ICT vertical under construction with: - Verbal / Numerical / Abstract bank shared with AD5 (operational). - Field-related bank specific to the 4 fields (under construction with official sources: AI Act, DORA, NIS2, GAIA-X, EU Cloud Strategy, PMI / PRINCE2, ENISA frameworks). - EUFTE with ICT-policy-specific prompts (10 starter prompts, expanding). - Pricing: Free / Starter €39 / Advanced €59 / All-In €99.

Access the AD7 ICT vertical →

The PassEPSO Team. Preparation platform for EPSO AD5 / AD7 2026. Official source: EPSO/AD/429/26, Official Journal of the European Union C/2026/2425. Field breakdown: 204 ICT Infrastructure · 228 ICT Project Management · 166 Clouds and Networks · 184 Data Science. Total 782 posts. Application deadline 10 June 2026 12:00 Brussels.