The notice is out. EPSO published the notice of open competition EPSO/AST/158/26 in the Official Journal on 6 October 2026 (C/2026/4963). It seeks 964 assistants at grade AST 3 in three fields, and applications close on 11 November 2026 at 12.00 midday, Brussels time. A candidate may apply for one field only.
The competition at a glance
| Item | What the notice says |
|---|---|
| Reference | EPSO/AST/158/26 (field 1: –1, field 2: –2, field 3: –3) |
| Grade | AST 3, assistants |
| Applications | 6 October to 11 November 2026, 12.00 midday Brussels time |
| Identity card or passport | Uploaded by the application deadline |
| Other supporting documents | Uploaded by 11 March 2027, 12.00 midday Brussels time |
| Tests | Held and proctored remotely |
| Places of employment | Brussels, Luxembourg and Strasbourg, according to EPSO's competition page |
Places per field
| Field | Successful candidates sought |
|---|---|
| 1. Data processing, analytics and statistics | 423 |
| 2. Librarianship and information science | 243 |
| 3. Records and archives management | 298 |
| Total | 964 |
The field you choose is not a label on your application. It decides which field-related test you sit, and that test is the only one that ranks you. Choose the field your diploma and your experience actually fit: eligibility is checked per field, against documents.
Am I eligible?
Besides being an EU national with full rights as a citizen, you need two official EU languages: one at C1 or better and a different one at B2 or better. For education and experience, every field offers the same two routes:
- Post-secondary studies of at least two years, attested by a diploma in one of the areas listed for your field, followed by at least three years of relevant professional experience.
- Secondary education attested by a diploma giving access to post-secondary studies, followed by at least six years of relevant professional experience.
Experience counts only from the date of the final decision to award the diploma. If you rely on the first route, you must also prove the standard duration of your programme with a document from the institution that awarded it. A bachelor's degree in any subject followed by a diploma in a listed area — a postgraduate certificate, a master's, a PhD — also satisfies the first route, whatever the length of that second diploma.
The diploma areas the notice lists for each field:
- Field 1, data processing, analytics and statistics: mathematics, statistics, actuarial science or data science; computer science and informatics, including AI; engineering of any kind; economics, business administration or finance; geography, GIS or geoinformatics; physics, chemistry or biology; social sciences with a specialisation in quantitative methods or data analysis; linguistics with a specialisation in corpus or computational linguistics.
- Field 2, librarianship and information science: librarianship; information science or studies; information management; documentation science; information systems and computer science; media studies; book or cultural heritage studies.
- Field 3, records and archives management: archival science or records management; information or documentation science; digital humanities; history; cultural or digital heritage; or business, administration or organisation studies, law, linguistics or literature, international relations or social sciences, provided the studies included a specialisation in one of the five areas before them.
Relevant experience is experience matching the duties the notice describes for your field. For field 1 the notice also lists areas such as programming, data science, statistical modelling, database management, business intelligence and dashboards.
The tests
| Test | Language | Questions and time | Pass mark |
|---|---|---|---|
| Verbal reasoning | Language 1 | 20 questions, 35 minutes | 10/20 |
| Numerical reasoning | Language 1 | 10 questions, 20 minutes | 10/20 combined |
| Abstract reasoning | Language 1 | 10 questions, 10 minutes | |
| Field-related multiple-choice test | Language 2 | 30 questions, 40 minutes | 15/30, then ranked |
| EU free-text essay (EUFTE) | Language 2 | 40 minutes | 5/10 |
Numerical and abstract reasoning share one pass mark: 10 out of their combined 20 points, so a strong abstract score can carry a weak numerical one. EPSO's competition page says all the tests will very likely take place on the same day, and the notice warns that the order may differ from the order above.
What actually decides your place
Only the 30-question field-related test. The reasoning tests and the essay are gates you must pass; they add nothing once passed. The scoring runs in this order:
- The reasoning tests are scored first. Fail them and nothing else you wrote is marked.
- Candidates who passed them have the field-related test scored. Those with at least 15/30 are ranked by that score, highest first.
- From the top of that ranking, EPSO marks the essay and checks eligibility for a limited number of candidates: in principle no more than one and a half times the places in the field — roughly 635 in field 1, 365 in field 2 and 447 in field 3. Ties can raise the number.
- Eligible candidates who passed the essay go onto the reserve list in ranking order until the places are filled. Everyone tied for the last place is added.
The detail most candidates will miss: the ranked test and the essay are both sat in language 2, the language you declared at B2. The reasoning tests are in language 1. Choose your two test languages with that in mind — you declare them in the application form.
The reasoning tests come first, and they are the same at AST as at AD
40 questions in 65 minutes: 20 verbal, 10 numerical, 10 abstract. They are scored before anything else, and failing them ends the competition for you.
Start practising → First 25 questions free · no account needed to tryWhat AST 3 means
AST is the assistants' function group: executive and technical roles, as distinct from the policy-facing administrator (AD) track. On the salary scale in force from 1 July 2025, AST 3 starts at €4,806.17 a month in basic pay, before allowances and before the correction coefficient for the place of employment. Where AST 3 sits on the ladder is set out in our guide to the EU grade ladder, and the difference between the AD, AST and contract-agent routes in AD vs AST vs CAST.
What to do before 11 November
Check your eligibility against the notice, not against this page. Read the list of diploma areas for your field and the examples of minimum qualifications in the notice's Annex III before you apply.
Start on the reasoning tests now. Our guides to verbal, numerical and abstract reasoning cover the formats, and the test-day guide covers the remote, proctored conditions you will sit them in.
Gather your documents. Diplomas with the date of the award decision, proof of the programme's standard duration, and employment certificates with exact dates. They are due by 11 March 2027, and eligibility is checked against them, not against what you declared. See the supporting-documents guide for how that check works.
The rest of the 2026 calendar
Three more competitions are planned before the year is out. Dates are from EPSO's planner of upcoming selection procedures, last updated 22 September 2026.
| Competition | Grade | Fields or languages | Published | Deadline |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lawyer-linguists, Court of Justice — EPSO/AD/431/26 | AD 7 | Bulgarian, German, Greek, Spanish, Irish, Maltese, Dutch, Romanian | 21 October | 25 November |
| Lawyer-linguists, Parliament / Council / Commission — EPSO/AD/432/26 | AD 7 | Spanish, Finnish, Irish, Italian, Latvian, Maltese, Portuguese, Swedish | 4 November* | 8 December* |
| Lawyers — EPSO/AD/433/26 | AD 7 | AI law · criminal law · procurement law · litigation | 9 December* | 20 January* |
* Dates to be confirmed, as marked in EPSO's planner. The other competition open right now is EPSO/AD/430/26 in AI and cybersecurity, at grade AD 8, which closes on 13 October 2026.
Frequently asked questions
When does EPSO/AST/158/26 close?
Applications close on 11 November 2026 at 12.00 midday, Brussels time. The notice was published on 6 October 2026 in the Official Journal as C/2026/4963. Your identity card or passport must be uploaded by the same deadline; the other supporting documents are due by 11 March 2027 at 12.00 midday.
How many places are there, and can I apply for more than one field?
EPSO is seeking 423 successful candidates in data processing, analytics and statistics, 243 in librarianship and information science and 298 in records and archives management — 964 in total. A candidate may apply for one field only.
What experience does grade AST 3 require in this competition?
Either at least three years of relevant professional experience after post-secondary studies of at least two years, with a diploma in an area listed for your field, or at least six years after a secondary-education diploma giving access to post-secondary studies. The experience counts only from the date of the final decision to award the diploma.
Which test decides the ranking?
Only the field-related multiple-choice test: 30 questions in 40 minutes, pass mark 15 out of 30, sat in your second language. The reasoning tests (verbal 10/20; numerical and abstract 10/20 combined) and the essay (5/10) are pass marks only. EPSO marks the essay and checks eligibility for the top-ranked candidates, in principle up to one and a half times the places in each field.
Every figure on this page comes from the notice of competition EPSO/AST/158/26, OJ C/2026/4963 of 6 October 2026, except the AST 3 salary, which is from the scale published in the Official Journal, C/2025/6564, the 2026 calendar, from EPSO's planner as last updated on 22 September 2026, and the places of employment and test-day expectation, from EPSO's competition page. The notice is the only text that binds — check it before relying on anything here.