Staff Officer (ACO Industry Engagement)

Post context:

The post is located within the ACO Innovation Management (AIM) Branch of the Resource Management Division in the SHAPE Support Directorate.

The AIM Branch is responsible for signposting coordinating facilitating and monitoring all innovation related activities across ACO. Its remit covers Emerging and Disruptive Technologies Digital Transformation Concept Development Operational Experimentation Wargaming Modelling and Simulation NATO accredited Centres of Excellence and Allied Command Transformation (ACT) Open Innovation.

The Branch maintains links to the ACO Strategic Management system the Lessons Learned process and other related processes. It serves as ACOs focal point for all wargaming matters including the development of tailored wargames for ACO users and acts as the requirement owner for capability development programmes related to wargaming. It also serves as ACOs interlocutor with ACT and other stakeholders on all aspects of the innovation environment.

The Branch acts as the initial ACO Point of Contact for innovation matters and subject to SHAPE Command Group (CG) direction and guidance represents ACO in relevant bodies. It coordinates and facilitates the development of ACO contributions to high level policies direction and guidance and doctrine within the innovation domain. It also prepares SHAPE CG participation in senior decision making and coordination bodies on innovation issues and advises SHAPE CG on the development of ACOs overall approach to innovation.

Furthermore the Branch supports ACO HQs in understanding and benefiting from the innovation environment helping them identify and exploit innovation opportunities. It supports ACOs engagement with innovation stakeholders and maintains awareness of developments in academia as well as in military and commercial innovation. It acts as the proponent for the application of ACO Directives in the innovation space promotes innovation literacy and assists ACO Commanders in fostering and sustaining a culture of innovation.

Principal Duties
The incumbents duties are:

Coordinates engagements between ACO entities and industry within the scope of established mechanisms and in accordance with applicable rules and regulations.

Supports the development and employment of policies strategies doctrine and supplemental documents for the interaction with industry.

Provides situational awareness of developments in policy and high-level direction and guidance assess implications for ACO and provides relevant courses of action.

Acts as the ACO interlocutor for NATO enterprise stakeholders in particular the NATO HQ International Staff (IS) Defence Investment (DI) Division the NATO Industrial Advisory Group HQ SACT the NATO Defence Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic (DIANA) and the NATO Investment Fund (NIF) for industry engagement matters.

Represents ACO at working-level and by delegation from the AIM Branch Head governance meetings/events regarding industry engagements.

Oversees and monitors ACO-wide industry engagement activities and provides respective reports to the SHAPE leadership.

Leads the development of execution of annual ACO innovation talks campaigns.

Facilitates the design and conduct of local ACO HQs industry engagement events.

Staffs the preparation conduct and after-action review of high-profile ACO delegation visits to industry-engagement events.

Coordinates ACOs relationship with DIANA as set forth in the DIANA-HQ SACT-SHAPE letter of agreement and the DIANA charter.

Special Requirements and Additional Duties
The employee may be required to perform a similar range of duties elsewhere within the organisation at the same grade without there being any change to the contract.

The work is normally performed in a Normal NATO office working environment.

The risk of injury is categorised as No risk / risk might increase when deployed.

Essential Qualifications

a) Professional/Experience
Minimum of 4 years experience in a role relevant for the responsibilities of the post.

Thorough understanding of defence industrial matters including applicable principles of technology adoption and procurement/acquisition processes.

Good understanding of Innovation and Emerging and Disruptive Technologies.

Capable of analytical strategic thought and lateral thinking.

Capable of working with little or no established guidance in the context of general policies and goals.

Ability to prioritize tasks and allocate resources in a dynamic context and capacity of delivering under pressure and short timelines.

b) Education/Training
University Degree in business administration public administration or related discipline and 4 years post related experience or Higher Secondary education and completed advanced vocational training in that discipline leading to a professional qualification or professional accreditation with 7 years post related experience.

In case of ambiguity the required job specific experience have priority over the standard education and training levels and experience described here.

c) Language
English - SLP 3333 - (Listening Speaking Reading and Writing)

Desirable Qualifications

a) Professional Experience
Understanding of the NATO Common-Funded Capability Development process.

A broad background that can include previous staff experience in a joint or combined staff in a large HQ Joint Command NATO HQ or MOD.

High level of organisational coordination and communication skills.

b) Education
NATO recognized project and risk management certifications (e.g. PRINCE2 MoR ISO31000).

Holding ISO 56002:2019 Innovation Management certification course.

c. Language
English (Listening Speaking Reading and Writing): 4444

Attributes/Competencies

Personal Attributes: Personal qualities of tact judgment adaptability coupled with motivational and listening skills. A sense of diplomacy and propriety in order to work harmoniously with colleagues and other staff both civilian and military. Able to work effectively to support the team activities. Possess the ability to assess the impact of a wide variety of NATO and national capability developments towards meeting NATOs overall required capability. Ability to use initiative and good judgment to propose optimum options in materializing effectively the delivery capability.

Professional Contacts: This post requires establishing and maintaining professional contacts with relevant innovation stakeholders across the NATO enterprise within SHAPE subordinates ACO Headquarters ACT and NATO Headquarters and within Allied Nations.

Contribution To Objectives: The incumbent supports the delivery of ACOs warfighting functions by progressing ACOs innovation needs as a key enabler of the multi-domain operation fight.

Duration of contract: The successful candidate will fill this post as a Project Linked NATO International Civilian (PLN) with a three-year definite duration contract within the NATO 2030 Agenda. On expiry of this term the PLN will be deleted or absorbed into the ceiling pending approval or will exceptionally be considered for extension.

The salary will be the basic entry-level monthly salary defined by the NATO Grade of the post which may be augmented by allowances based on the selected staff members eligibility and which is subject to the withholding of approximately 20% for pension and medical insurance contributions.

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.

Building integrity is a key element of NATOs 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.

Applicants who prove to be competent for the post but who are not successful in this competition may be offered an appointment in another post of a similar nature which might become vacant in the near future albeit at the same or lower grade provided they meet the necessary requirements.

HOW TO APPLY FOR A NATO CIVILIAN POST AT SHAPE:
Applications are to be submitted using NATO Talent Acquisition Platform (NTAP) ( Applications submitted by other means (e.g. mail e-mail fax etc) are not accepted.

More information to be found on these links:
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Application Process

Shortlisted candidates will be requested to provide original documentary evidence and a set of copies supporting statements in their applications. Appointment is subject to obtaining a NS security clearance and a medical certificate.

Remarks:
a)Only nationals from the 32 NATO member states can apply for vacancies at SHAPE.
b)Applications are automatically acknowledged within one working day after the absence of an acknowledgement please make sure the submission process is completed or re-submit the application.
c)Qualified redundant staff of the same grade interested in this post should inform this office via their HR/Personnel Office by not later than vacancys closing date.
d)Candidates individual telephone e-mail or telefax enquiries cannot be dealt with. All candidates will receive an answer indicating the outcome of their application.
e)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 NATOs sole discretion and NATO reserves the right to take further steps in such cases as appropriate.
f) As part of the recruitment process the organization may review publicly available information to assess potential conflicts of interest reputational risks or behaviors inconsistent with the organizations values.