Since August 2010 Sascha Zirra is Labour Market Expert at the Federal Employment Service. Up to then he was Research Fellow at the Jean Monnet Centre for Europeanisation and Transnational Regulations Oldenburg (CETRO). He holds a PhD in Sociology. His doctoral dissertation, defended in 2009 (University of Oldenburg), focused on «The Europeanization of Domestic Employment Policy. European Coordination and Institutional Reform».

In November 2010 he received the science award of the University Society Oldenburg. He has coordinated a project funded by the German Research Foundation on «The Open Method of Coordination. A way to Modernize national Employment and Social Policies?» and participated in a EU funded project «EUROCAP, Social Dialogue, Employment and Territories. Towards a European Politics of Capabilities» at the University of Bamberg. He has been visiting researcher at Centre d’études européennes de Sciences Po (February to April 2010) and at Sapienza, Università di Roma (January to April 2006).