SUMMARY:

The Office of Financial Control (OFC) is responsible for the management of financial and budgetary control systems for several NATO entities, primarily the NATO International Staff (IS) civil budget. As the custodian of member Nations’ funds, the OFC provides reliable and value adding financial and procurement services in support of front-line Divisions, enabling them to achieve their objectives. It works to comply with International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS) and other best practices, including the management of enterprise risk.

The OFC is responsible for procurement, financial operations, budgeting and reporting for: the NATO IS civil and reimbursable budgets (including satellite offices); all NATO-wide pensions and related funds; bodies and projects located at NATO HQ (NHQ) for which OFC is responsible for providing procurement, budgetary, financial and accounting services. The OFC is also responsible for providing procurement, cash management, finance and accounting support to a number of extra budgetary funds (including trust funds) and bilateral arrangements, including the Tax Reimbursement Agreement with the United States (U.S.). The NATO-IS budget includes Brussels Headquarters operations as well as NATO Satellite Offices (NASOs). The Office of Financial Control is organised around five functions, with a Front Office overseeing these functions:

• Budget, Planning and Analysis and Procurement;


• Control, Accounting and Finance including Missions (Duty Travels);


• Treasury;


• Strategic Analysis and Reporting (SAR); and


• ERP Competency Centre.

The ERP Competency Centre (also known as the Management Systems Service) is responsible for providing directorship and oversight over user aspects of design, development, implementation, and operation of the ERP and other financial and procurement systems. Under the direction of the Financial Controller, the ERP Competency Centre functions as the NATO HQ central office for the administration of the ERP and other finance and procurement systems (including system requirements management role, access management, master data management and advanced reporting).

QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE:

Essential

The incumbent must:

• Have a good general education at least to higher secondary level or to secondary level complemented by training in accountancy or finance;


• Have at least 4 years of professional experience in accounting, including accounting in foreign currencies, managing and controlling administrative expenses and cost/budget control experience;


• Have experience in providing first line support to a large user community;


• Demonstrate integrity and act consistently with organisational values;


• Have strong knowledge of standard Information Technology (IT) systems and software (spread sheets, databases);


• Have experience in using an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system or other commercial off-the-shelf accounting and/or procurement software;


• Have strong communications skills;


• Have strong analytical thinking;


• Possess the following minimum levels of NATO’s official languages (English/French): V (“Advanced”) in one; II (“Elementary”) in the other.

Desirable

The following would be considered an advantage:

• Familiarity with the organisation and operation of NATO;


• Experience in providing training to the user community;


• Experience and knowledge of Oracle E-Business Suite applications;


• Knowledge of a specific set of accounting standards (e.g. International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS));


• Ability to draft basic documents and to collect and analyse data.

MAIN ACCOUNTABILITIES:

Expertise Development

Process master data (i.e. supplier (or beneficiary) records, customer records, bank account records, flexfield values for the NATO Accounting Flexfield and account code combinations (a.k.a. AFF) in Oracle E-Business Suite in accordance with procedures applicable to NATOIS and Agencies. The activities for such items are: creation and maintenance including deactivation. Verify the supporting information delivered by the different parties in order to guarantee the integrity of the data entered in the system and that users have appropriate access to the system. Manage users by creating and maintaining users together with the roles and responsibility assignments.

Information Management

Provide first line support to the user community. Gather as much information as possible from the end user (e.g. report name, sequence of steps used by the user) and provide guidance to solve the problem. For more sophisticated problems redirect the issue to Application Delivery and Support team within the Executive Management division. Handle queries relating to Oracle E-Business Suite, transactional data processing, business flows, accounting and system impact, reporting possibilities and tools. Develop and maintain knowledge cross Oracle E-Business Suite modules.

Knowledge management

Ensure accuracy of own input into the management systems and databases and compliance with internal procedures and applicable standards. Cross check with team members. Contribute to documents of a financial, accounting or budgetary nature, including tables of statistical data and the financial statements for NATO-IS and other NATO entities.

Organisational efficiencies

Manage optimised timelines for master data management, user management and system support, finding the appropriate balance between the interests of the different stakeholders. Provide feedback and make suggestions to contribute to the optimisation of processes within the management systems. Propose amendments to procedures as required. Participate in relevant training when necessary. Ensure that the ethical values and interests of the Organization are respected.

Stakeholder management

Build and maintain efficient working relationships within the Office of Financial Control and with other Divisions. Maintain user confidence by respecting deadlines, attending to detail, and maintaining confidentiality when appropriate.

Project Management

Support implementation projects, typically (but not exclusively) involving the development and implementation of business processes to meet internal control related requirements and IT identified needs.

Perform any other related duty as assigned.

INTERRELATIONSHIPS:

The incumbent reports to the Head of the ERP Competency Centre who in turn performs their duties under the authority of the Financial Controller. They are a member of a team and assure the necessary liaison with other Divisions of the International Staff and Agencies.

• Direct reports: N/a;


• Indirect reports: N/a.

COMPETENCIES:

The incumbent must demonstrate:

• Clarity and Accuracy: Checks own work;


• Customer Service Orientation: Takes personal responsibility for correcting problems


• Empathy: Listens actively.


• Flexibility: Acts with flexibility;


• Initiative: Is decisive in a time-sensitive situation;


• Organisational Awareness: Understands the Organization’s structure;


• Teamwork: Expresses positive attitudes and expectations of team or team members.

CONTRACT:

Contract to be offered to the successful applicant (if non-seconded): Definite duration contract of three years’ duration; possibility of an indefinite duration contract thereafter.

Contract clause applicable

In accordance with the NATO Civilian Personnel Regulations, the successful candidate will receive a definite duration contract of three years, which may be followed by an indefinite duration contract.

If the successful applicant is seconded from the national administration of one of NATO’s member States, a 3-year definite duration contract will be offered, which may be renewed for a further period of up to 3 years subject to the agreement of the national authority concerned. The maximum period of service in the post as a seconded staff member is six years.

Serving staff will be offered a contract in accordance with the NATO Civilian Personnel Regulations.

Note: Irrespective of previous qualifications and experience, candidates for twin-graded posts will be appointed at the lower grade. Advancement to the higher grade is not automatic, and will not normally take place during the first three years of service in the post.

Under specific circumstances, serving staff members may be appointed directly to the higher grade, and a period of three years might be reduced by up to twenty four months for external candidates. These circumstances are described in the IS directive on twin-graded posts.

USEFUL INFORMATION REGARDING APPLICATION AND RECRUITMENT PROCESS:

Please note that we can only accept applications from nationals of NATO member countries. Applications must be submitted using e-recruitment system, as applicable:

• For NATO civilian staff members only: please apply via the internal recruitment portal (link);


• For all other applications: www.nato.int/recruitment.

Before you apply to any position, we encourage you to click here and watch our video providing 6 tips to prepare you for your application and recruitment process.

Do you have questions on the application process in the system and not sure how to proceed? Click here for a video containing the information you need to successfully submit your application on time.

More information about the recruitment process and conditions of employment, can be found at our website.

Appointment will be subject to receipt of a security clearance (provided by the national Authorities of the selected candidate), approval of the candidate’s medical file by the NATO Medical Adviser, verification of your study(ies) and work experience, and the successful completion of the accreditation and notification process by the relevant authorities.

NATO will not accept any phase of the recruitment and selection prepared, in whole or in part, by means of generative artificial-intelligence (AI) tools, including and without limitation to chatbots, such as Chat Generative Pre-trained Transformer (Chat GPT), or other language generating tools. NATO reserves the right to screen applications to identify the use of such tools. All applications prepared, in whole or in part, by means of such generative or creative AI applications may be rejected without further consideration at NATO’s sole discretion, and NATO reserves the right to take further steps in such cases as appropriate.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

NATO is committed to diversity and inclusion, and strives to provide equal access to employment, advancement and retention, independent of gender, age, nationality, ethnic origin, religion or belief, cultural background, sexual orientation, and disability. NATO welcomes applications of nationals from all member Nations, and strongly encourages women to apply.

Building Integrity is a key element of NATO’s core tasks. As an employer, NATO values commitment to the principles of integrity, transparency and accountability in accordance with international norms and practices established for the defence and related security sector. Selected candidates are expected to be role models of integrity, and to promote good governance through ongoing efforts in their work.

Due to the broad interest in NATO and the large number of potential candidates, telephone or e-mail enquiries cannot be dealt with.

Applicants who are not successful in this competition may be offered an appointment to another post of a similar nature, albeit at the same or a lower grade, provided they meet the necessary requirements.

The nature of this position may require the staff member at times to be called upon to travel for work and/or to work outside normal office hours.

The organization offers several work-life policies including Teleworking and Flexible Working arrangements (Flexitime) subject to business requirements.

Please note that the International Staff at NATO Headquarters in Brussels, Belgium is a non-smoking environment.

For information about the NATO Single Salary Scale (Grading, Allowances, etc.) please visit our website. Detailed data is available under the Salary and Benefits tab.