- SACT Representative Europe
- Brussels, Belgium (Remote)
- Full-time
Deputy Programme Manager
- SACT Representative Europe
Brussels, Belgium
Full-time
Published:
Application Deadline: February 26, 2025
- SACT Representative Europe
Brussels, Belgium
Full-time
Published:
Application Deadline: February 26, 2025
POST CONTEXT:
NATO Integrated Air and Missile Defence (IAMD) is an essential and continuous mission in peacetime, crisis, and times of conflict. Modern, fit for purpose Air Command and Control (AirC2) is critical to conduct NATO IAMD. Effective AirC2 is essential for air operations, and requires integration of sensors and effectors to enable centralised planning and decentralised execution.
The Enhanced AirC2 (eAirC2) Independent Programme Office (iPO) has been set up in NATO Headquarters as an independent entity responsible for the management and execution of the eAirC2 Programme. The iPO core functions include programme management duties, system engineering activities, contracting strategies, risk reduction, sustainment and integration, verification and validation activities at federated system-of-systems level.
The incumbent will handle the iPO business and support the overall management and strategic execution of the AirC2 programme. This role is essential to successful stakeholder engagement, ensuring seamless communication, coordination, and alignment of the iPO with NATO’s strategic goals and operational requirements. The individual will also support the Senior Programme Manager through operational oversight, facilitating the smooth execution of the programme.
As decided by the North Atlantic Council, the eAirC2 iPO’s structure is to be a hybrid composition of posts manned by NATO HQ International Staff, NATO International Civilians provided by the NATO Strategic Commands as well as contracted experts from the industry. In that context this post is considered as the Allied Command Transformation (ACT) contribution to the iPO.
PRINCIPAL DUTIES:
QUALIFICATION AND EXPERIENCE:
Essential
Language
Desirable
ATTRIBUTES AND COMPETENCIES:
Personal Attributes
Managerial Responsibilities
Professional Contacts
Contribution Objectives
SECURITY CLEARANCE:
The successful applicant will be required to apply for and receive a NATO SECRET Security Clearance prior to final confirmation of contract and commencement of employment.
CONTRACT:
This position is linked to a specific NATO project and is for a limited duration of 3 (three) years only.
Serving NATO International Civilian staff will be offered a contract in accordance with the NATO Civilian Personnel Regulations. Newly recruited staff will be offered a three year definite duration contract.
NOTES FOR CANDIDATES:
The HQ SACT web site gives full details on the eligibility criteria and application processes to be adopted by all candidates. However, candidates should particularly note:
EQUALITY AND DIVERSITY:
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.
NATO Integrated Air and Missile Defence (IAMD) is an essential and continuous mission in peacetime, crisis, and times of conflict. Modern, fit for purpose Air Command and Control (AirC2) is critical to conduct NATO IAMD. Effective AirC2 is essential for air operations, and requires integration of sensors and effectors to enable centralised planning and decentralised execution.
The Enhanced AirC2 (eAirC2) Independent Programme Office (iPO) has been set up in NATO Headquarters as an independent entity responsible for the management and execution of the eAirC2 Programme. The iPO core functions include programme management duties, system engineering activities, contracting strategies, risk reduction, sustainment and integration, verification and validation activities at federated system-of-systems level.
The incumbent will handle the iPO business and support the overall management and strategic execution of the AirC2 programme. This role is essential to successful stakeholder engagement, ensuring seamless communication, coordination, and alignment of the iPO with NATO’s strategic goals and operational requirements. The individual will also support the Senior Programme Manager through operational oversight, facilitating the smooth execution of the programme.
As decided by the North Atlantic Council, the eAirC2 iPO’s structure is to be a hybrid composition of posts manned by NATO HQ International Staff, NATO International Civilians provided by the NATO Strategic Commands as well as contracted experts from the industry. In that context this post is considered as the Allied Command Transformation (ACT) contribution to the iPO.
PRINCIPAL DUTIES:
- Perform programme management functions for eAirC2 Programme. Lead development of Integrated Master Schedule, and its subsequent maintenance, covering all aspects of the iPO responsibilities and showing external linkages to other significant influences and dependencies. Monitor and track progress against assigned programme tolerances, and guide the development of mitigation options when tolerances are at risk;
- Practice stakeholder engagement to ensure seamless communication and coordination, develop and implement stakeholder engagement strategies, facilitate regular meetings and workshops with stakeholders to gather input and provide updates. Create and distribute stakeholder communication materials, such as newsletters, briefing notes, and reports, and ensure that stakeholder concerns and feedback are addressed promptly and effectively;
- Ensure alignment of the iPO’s activities with NATO’s strategic goals and operational requirements. Conduct regular reviews to ensure that programme activities are aligned with NATO’s objectives. Provide recommendations for strategic adjustments as needed, and develop strategic plans and action items to align iPO operations with NATO’s broader mission;
- Support the Senior Programme Manager through operational oversight. Monitor programme progress and report on key milestones and deliverables, and coordinate with internal teams to ensure that programme activities align with timelines and budgets. Facilitate cross-functional meetings to ensure cohesive programme management;
- Conduct regular audits and reviews to ensure adherence to established guidelines, and maintain documentation of compliance activities, and provide regular updates to the Senior Programme Manager;
- Owns the iPO’s risk portfolio and its connected processes associated with programme and individual project tolerances, develop contingency plans to address potential issues, and monitor the effectiveness of risk mitigation measures and make necessary adjustments;
- Prepare and present reports on stakeholder engagement, and programme alignment with NATO’s strategic goals. Use communication tools and platforms to ensure that stakeholders are informed of programme status and developments and provide regular briefings to the Senior Programme Manager and other key stakeholders on programmatic and operational matters;
- Provide training and support to Programme Office members on best practices for stakeholder engagement. Develop training materials and conduct training sessions and ensure that all team members are aware of and adhere to NATO’s standards and policies.
QUALIFICATION AND EXPERIENCE:
Essential
- University Master Degree (or equivalent) in management information systems, accounting, economics, finance, business administration, public administration, operations research, project management or related discipline and 10 years post related experience;
- 10 years managerial experience in leading facets of capability delivery in accordance with industry, nations or NATO life cycle model(s);
- 8 years managerial experience that includes holding a position of responsibility involving the exercising of discretion, judgment, initiative and strategic and lateral thinking;
- 8 years managerial experience including a high degree of external coordination on NATO Common Funded Capability Delivery affecting the overall use and effectiveness of capabilities by the warfighters;
- 8 years experience in related staff positions in defence-related environment, e.g. in a military headquarters, agency or national MODs;
- Experience and understanding of strategic political/military operations and the associated staff work. Proven professional contacts at higher levels, including working with NATO Nations where negotiations and discussions involve significant diplomacy and persuasion;
- Extensive knowledge of NATO Common Funded Capability development and delivery policies, processes, procedures and directives enabling problem-solving with no clearly defined or established guidance;
- Extensive knowledge of best practices in industry for Project, Programme and Portfolio Management.
Language
- English – SLP 4343 - (Listening, Speaking, Reading and Writing).
Desirable
- Expert-level certification in programme, project or risk management, such as: Projects in Controlled Environments (PRINCE2) Practitioner, Managing Successful Programmes (MSP) Practitioner and Management of Risk (MoR) Practitioner. Equivalent certifications will be acceptable;
- Previous military service or extensive experience working with the military in a capability development environment (i.e. MOD or equivalent);
- Detailed knowledge of NATO Capability Development Processes;
- Possess a deep understanding of the organization and structure of Alliance, NATO Headquarters and NATO Command Structure.
ATTRIBUTES AND COMPETENCIES:
Personal Attributes
- The incumbent must work harmoniously in a multi-national environment while representing and projecting the needs of NATO’s eAirC2 capability delivery in a firm but tactful manner;
- The incumbent must be skilled in public speaking and negotiation methods to coordinate positions and gain multinational agreements at senior level and during exceptionally sensitive discussions;
- The incumbent must exercise sound thought, judgment, initiative, adaptability and flexibility, particularly when dealing with organizations and agencies in a multi-national and multi-cultural environment;
- The incumbent must exercise tact and diplomacy when dealing with working groups, committees, contractors, and consultants to achieve the goals and objectives of NATO’s eAirC2;
- The incumbent may be expected to work extended hours and to travel as part of the appointment;
- This post requires a very high level of work maturity and intellectual capacity to deal with the complexities of programme management within capability development. The requirement is for deep, extensive knowledge of NATO’s capability development stakeholders and recent experience in the development of capabilities.
Managerial Responsibilities
- This post has managerial (reporting) responsibilities for the eAirC2 iPO programme personnel;
- This post requires an ability to understand and develop budgets, resource proposals and inform programmes of work, which calls for delegated responsibility over external work teams. This requirement calls for leadership skills, particularly in the areas of programme management, and resource management. The scope of influence for the incumbent requires a significant amount of supervision, assessment and coordination.
Professional Contacts
- This position can only be successful by leveraging a network of other NATO employees in various headquarters and agencies, eventually within national entities and other international organizations and industry partners. This focusses on building relationships with Management Layer entities: ACT (for consistency with MDO/DT/NWCC etc. initiatives plus adjacent programmes (other AirC2 and IAMD elements, AFSC, core services, FMN etc.), ACO/AIRCOM and the user community, Implementing Entities (during the process of selection as well as once selected) and other NATO HQ staff elements.
Contribution Objectives
- This post has a significant impact on NATO’s ability to implement and maintain enhanced AirC2 capability. This work contributes significantly to the objectives of the iPO Senior Programme Manager.
SECURITY CLEARANCE:
The successful applicant will be required to apply for and receive a NATO SECRET Security Clearance prior to final confirmation of contract and commencement of employment.
CONTRACT:
This position is linked to a specific NATO project and is for a limited duration of 3 (three) years only.
Serving NATO International Civilian staff will be offered a contract in accordance with the NATO Civilian Personnel Regulations. Newly recruited staff will be offered a three year definite duration contract.
NOTES FOR CANDIDATES:
The HQ SACT web site gives full details on the eligibility criteria and application processes to be adopted by all candidates. However, candidates should particularly note:
- Please answer each of the pre-screening questions completely in English. Expressions such as: “please see attached CV, please see annex, please see enclosed document, etc” are not acceptable; this is a cause of immediate rejection of the application;
- Particular attention should be given to Education and Experience section of your application form, which should be populated with details of your career to date and educational achievements and certifications as they relate to your application;
- The candidature of NATO redundant staff at grade NG22 will be considered with priority;
- 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;
- This vacancy will close on 26 february 2025 @ 17:59hrs (EDT)/11:59hrs (CEST).
EQUALITY AND DIVERSITY:
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.
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