- International Staff, NATO HQ
- Brussels, Belgium (Remote)
- Full-time
Procurement Officer (+ Reserve List)
- International Staff, NATO HQ
Brussels, Belgium
Full-time
Published:
Application Deadline: October 26, 2025
- International Staff, NATO HQ
Brussels, Belgium
Full-time
Published:
Application Deadline: October 26, 2025
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) and its civil budget. As the custodian of member Nations’ funds, the OFC provides reliable and value adding financial and procurement services in support of IS Divisions and offices, as well as a number of extra budgetary funds (including trust funds) and bilateral arrangements, enabling them to achieve Organization’s objectives. It works to comply with International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS) and other best practices, including the management of enterprise risk.
The OFC’s main goal is to be a proactive financial partner, providing insightful analysis and collaborative guidance that enables the Secretary General and NATO IS organization as a whole to achieve its strategic objectives, maximizing the efficient and effective use of financial resources while ensuring compliance.
The OFC is organised around five functions, with a Front Office overseeing these functions:
The Procurement Service is responsible for end-to-end sourcing, contracting and spend management across a broad portfolio of services and products, in support of the needs of NATO HQ and NASOs. The Service is organized as 2 teams, each led by a Senior Procurement Officer (Team Leader), with delineated category management responsibility.
The Procurement Service is responsible for end-to-end sourcing, contracting and spend management across a broad portfolio of services and products, in support of the needs of NATO HQ and NASOs. The Service is organized as 2 teams, each led by a Senior Procurement Officer (Team Leader), with delineated category management responsibility.
The Procurement Officer, under the supervision of the Senior Procurement Officer (Team Leader) is responsible for overseeing and managing the procurement and contractual aspects related to a portfolio of goods and services required for the maintenance and operation of NATO HQ, while ensuring the required quality and standards as well as legal compliance and adherence to NATO’s financial and procurement regulations. The role of the Procurement Officer is to lead, facilitate and execute the full procurement process from the clarification and definition of the requirements to the contract close-out, in close coordination with the representatives of requesting Divisions, the source selection authority and other relevant stakeholders (e.g., NATO Office of Security and Health & Safety Officer). As the Category Manager for their assigned spend portfolio, they are also responsible for developing an enterprise-wide view and strategy of assigned category by periodically conducting a spend analysis to track changing category spend volumes and characteristics, capturing and developing business requirements to enable best value, and conducting sourcing and contract management processes to ensure the achievement of planned benefits.
The Procurement Officer acts for, or represents, the Head of Procurement and has legal authority to enter into commercial agreements and contracts on behalf of the Organization within the limits specified in their personal delegation and applicable regulations.
For categories with dedicated Buyer support, the Procurement Officer mentors, guides, supports and quality assures work outputs of the respective assigned Buyer. The Procurement Officer retains overall accountability and ownership of respective procurement category.
QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE:
Essential
The incumbent must:
Desirable
The following would be considered an advantage:
MAIN ACCOUNTABILITIES:
Project Management
Formulate procurement strategies and design innovative solutions. Implement strategies and develop plans to accomplish business operations and objectives. Arrange and assign work to use resources efficiently and effectively. Develop source selection plans, assign organisational resources, and optimise processes to fulfil Organizational goals within relevant constraints and in compliance with regulations. Implement and monitor procurement plans from initiation to conclusion, conduct associated procurement actions and monitor benefit realisation. Establish financial/budgetary and administrative criteria for contract funding and control.
Stakeholder Management
Prepare, manage, and facilitate a wide variety of events and procurement actions with industry and or NATO representatives such as requirements workshops, site-visits, presolicitation conferences, bidders’ conferences, solicitations, source selection processes, negotiation sessions, and contract performance evaluation meetings. Work closely with other business functions, Units and/or NATO bodies, to identify and drive best-value opportunities. Develop organisational standards and best practices for professional relationships with internal and external customers. Identify and resolve Organization-wide customer service issues. Model and promote positive customer relationships with internal and external customers.
People Management
Guide, mentor and support as required the assigned staff. Determine direction by influencing groups and direct these groups toward a specific goal or mission. As a skilled conflict resolution practitioner, collaboratively resolve conflicts by managing reactions, perceptions and behaviours.
Expertise Development
Possess and continuously acquire professional procurement skills and/or knowledge of procurement law, policies, regulations, practices and NATO policies and procedures. Acquire knowledge of accounting principles and methods in relation to procurement. Continuously improve knowledge of relevant sources, prices, market factors, cost and production structures, trends, commercial strategies, and product characteristics of commodities/contracts. Stay abreast of relevant best practices and the use of professional tools and systems. Assess vendors’ financial standing and viability. Use a wide variety of price and cost analysis techniques and tools.
Knowledge Management
Research and analyse data, identifying market trends and buying habits, in order to maximise efficiencies. Using available tools, store, administer, and share procurement and contract documentation.
Information Management
Monitor and ensure adherence to established standards. Collect and process procurementrelated information. Perform any other related duty as assigned.
INTERRELATIONSHIPS:
The incumbent reports to the Senior Procurement Officer (Team Leader). They work closely with the other members of the Procurement Service and Sections of the Office of Financial Control, the Budget Planning and Analysis Section and Divisions/Independent Offices across the NATO IS, as well as other NATO entities, and National Delegations. The incumbent interacts with external suppliers on a regular basis and regularly reviews the work of the other staff.
COMPETENCIES:
The incumbent must demonstrate:
CONTRACT:
Contract to be offered to the successful applicant (if non-seconded): Definite duration contract of three years; possibility of renewal for up to three years, during which the incumbent may apply for conversion to an indefinite duration contract.
Contract clause applicable
In accordance with the contract policy, this is a post in which turnover is desirable for political reasons in order to be able to accommodate the Organisation's need to carry out its tasks as mandated by the Nations in a changing environment, for example by maintaining the flexibility necessary to shape the Organisation's skills profile, and to ensure appropriate international diversity.
The maximum period of service foreseen in this post is 6 years. The successful applicant will be offered a 3-year definite duration contract, which may be renewed for a further period of up to 3 years. However, according to the procedure described in the contract policy the incumbent may apply for conversion to an indefinite contract during the period of renewal and no later than one year before the end of 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 also 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 Régulations.
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:
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 (http://www.nato.int/cps/en/natolive/recruit-hq-e.htm).
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:
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.
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) and its civil budget. As the custodian of member Nations’ funds, the OFC provides reliable and value adding financial and procurement services in support of IS Divisions and offices, as well as a number of extra budgetary funds (including trust funds) and bilateral arrangements, enabling them to achieve Organization’s objectives. It works to comply with International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS) and other best practices, including the management of enterprise risk.
The OFC’s main goal is to be a proactive financial partner, providing insightful analysis and collaborative guidance that enables the Secretary General and NATO IS organization as a whole to achieve its strategic objectives, maximizing the efficient and effective use of financial resources while ensuring compliance.
The OFC is organised around five functions, with a Front Office overseeing these functions:
- Budget, Procurement and Reporting;
- Accounting and Finance, including Missions (Duty Travels);
- Treasury;
- Business Management Systems & Control;
- Programmes & Business Support.
The Procurement Service is responsible for end-to-end sourcing, contracting and spend management across a broad portfolio of services and products, in support of the needs of NATO HQ and NASOs. The Service is organized as 2 teams, each led by a Senior Procurement Officer (Team Leader), with delineated category management responsibility.
The Procurement Service is responsible for end-to-end sourcing, contracting and spend management across a broad portfolio of services and products, in support of the needs of NATO HQ and NASOs. The Service is organized as 2 teams, each led by a Senior Procurement Officer (Team Leader), with delineated category management responsibility.
The Procurement Officer, under the supervision of the Senior Procurement Officer (Team Leader) is responsible for overseeing and managing the procurement and contractual aspects related to a portfolio of goods and services required for the maintenance and operation of NATO HQ, while ensuring the required quality and standards as well as legal compliance and adherence to NATO’s financial and procurement regulations. The role of the Procurement Officer is to lead, facilitate and execute the full procurement process from the clarification and definition of the requirements to the contract close-out, in close coordination with the representatives of requesting Divisions, the source selection authority and other relevant stakeholders (e.g., NATO Office of Security and Health & Safety Officer). As the Category Manager for their assigned spend portfolio, they are also responsible for developing an enterprise-wide view and strategy of assigned category by periodically conducting a spend analysis to track changing category spend volumes and characteristics, capturing and developing business requirements to enable best value, and conducting sourcing and contract management processes to ensure the achievement of planned benefits.
The Procurement Officer acts for, or represents, the Head of Procurement and has legal authority to enter into commercial agreements and contracts on behalf of the Organization within the limits specified in their personal delegation and applicable regulations.
For categories with dedicated Buyer support, the Procurement Officer mentors, guides, supports and quality assures work outputs of the respective assigned Buyer. The Procurement Officer retains overall accountability and ownership of respective procurement category.
QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE:
Essential
The incumbent must:
- Possess a university degree in any of the following domains: commerce, trade, purchasing, supply, economics, management, law, business administration or engineering or equivalent;
- Have at least 3 years’ procurement and contracting experience, preferably, in indirect procurement, or public sectors;
- Have significant experience in supplier and proposal evaluation activities and in organising, managing, and leading supplier and proposal evaluation teams;
- Have demonstrable problem solving, facilitation, and conflict resolution skills;
- Possess excellent verbal and written communication skills;
- Possess excellent analytical and critical thinking skills;
- Have expertise in contemporary strategic sourcing processes commonly used by best-in-class organisations, particularly in non-manufacturing and public sectors;
- Have demonstrated experience in using current sourcing and procurement technologies (e.g. e-sourcing, e-procurement, contract management systems, etc.);
- Have advanced knowledge of MS Office;
- Have experience in the use of ERP systems such as Oracle E-Business Suite (EBS), SAP, or other;
- Possess strong negotiation and contract management skills;
- Possess the following minimum levels of NATO’s official languages (English/French): V (“Advanced”) in one; and III (“Intermediate”) in the other.
Desirable
The following would be considered an advantage:
- A post-graduate degree in purchasing, contracting, or supply management;
- Level 4 UNDP/CIPS certification or equivalent or a higher level of qualification granted by a national professional association;
- Extensive experience or formal training in procurement for government or International Organisations;
- Experience in the use of Oracle EBS in general and more particularly with the use of Purchasing, Sourcing, and Procurement Contracts applications of Oracle EBS;
- Experience with the use of MS SharePoint or similar collaboration sites;
- Experience or professional certifications as a project manager;
- Familiarity with NATO procurement procedures and regulations.
MAIN ACCOUNTABILITIES:
Project Management
Formulate procurement strategies and design innovative solutions. Implement strategies and develop plans to accomplish business operations and objectives. Arrange and assign work to use resources efficiently and effectively. Develop source selection plans, assign organisational resources, and optimise processes to fulfil Organizational goals within relevant constraints and in compliance with regulations. Implement and monitor procurement plans from initiation to conclusion, conduct associated procurement actions and monitor benefit realisation. Establish financial/budgetary and administrative criteria for contract funding and control.
Stakeholder Management
Prepare, manage, and facilitate a wide variety of events and procurement actions with industry and or NATO representatives such as requirements workshops, site-visits, presolicitation conferences, bidders’ conferences, solicitations, source selection processes, negotiation sessions, and contract performance evaluation meetings. Work closely with other business functions, Units and/or NATO bodies, to identify and drive best-value opportunities. Develop organisational standards and best practices for professional relationships with internal and external customers. Identify and resolve Organization-wide customer service issues. Model and promote positive customer relationships with internal and external customers.
People Management
Guide, mentor and support as required the assigned staff. Determine direction by influencing groups and direct these groups toward a specific goal or mission. As a skilled conflict resolution practitioner, collaboratively resolve conflicts by managing reactions, perceptions and behaviours.
Expertise Development
Possess and continuously acquire professional procurement skills and/or knowledge of procurement law, policies, regulations, practices and NATO policies and procedures. Acquire knowledge of accounting principles and methods in relation to procurement. Continuously improve knowledge of relevant sources, prices, market factors, cost and production structures, trends, commercial strategies, and product characteristics of commodities/contracts. Stay abreast of relevant best practices and the use of professional tools and systems. Assess vendors’ financial standing and viability. Use a wide variety of price and cost analysis techniques and tools.
Knowledge Management
Research and analyse data, identifying market trends and buying habits, in order to maximise efficiencies. Using available tools, store, administer, and share procurement and contract documentation.
Information Management
Monitor and ensure adherence to established standards. Collect and process procurementrelated information. Perform any other related duty as assigned.
INTERRELATIONSHIPS:
The incumbent reports to the Senior Procurement Officer (Team Leader). They work closely with the other members of the Procurement Service and Sections of the Office of Financial Control, the Budget Planning and Analysis Section and Divisions/Independent Offices across the NATO IS, as well as other NATO entities, and National Delegations. The incumbent interacts with external suppliers on a regular basis and regularly reviews the work of the other staff.
- Direct reports: N/a;
- Indirect reports: N/a.
COMPETENCIES:
The incumbent must demonstrate:
- Achievement: Works to meet standards;
- Analytical Thinking: Sees multiple relationships;
- Clarity and Accuracy: Checks own work;
- Conceptual Thinking: Applies learned concepts;
- Customer Service Orientation: Takes personal responsibility for correcting problems;
- Empathy: Is open to others' perspectives;
- Impact and Influence: Takes multiple actions to persuade;
- Initiative: Is decisive in a time-sensitive situation;
- Teamwork: Solicits inputs and encourages others.
CONTRACT:
Contract to be offered to the successful applicant (if non-seconded): Definite duration contract of three years; possibility of renewal for up to three years, during which the incumbent may apply for conversion to an indefinite duration contract.
Contract clause applicable
In accordance with the contract policy, this is a post in which turnover is desirable for political reasons in order to be able to accommodate the Organisation's need to carry out its tasks as mandated by the Nations in a changing environment, for example by maintaining the flexibility necessary to shape the Organisation's skills profile, and to ensure appropriate international diversity.
The maximum period of service foreseen in this post is 6 years. The successful applicant will be offered a 3-year definite duration contract, which may be renewed for a further period of up to 3 years. However, according to the procedure described in the contract policy the incumbent may apply for conversion to an indefinite contract during the period of renewal and no later than one year before the end of 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 also 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 Régulations.
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 (http://www.nato.int/cps/en/natolive/recruit-hq-e.htm).
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.
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