Principal Technology Officer

Post Context

NATO Integrated Air and Missile Defence (IAMD) is one of the NATOs continuous missions in peacetime crisis and times of conflict. As the political and technological context changes NATO needs to adapt the way it procures builds and maintains Air Command and Control (AirC2) systems and capabilities.

To this end the eAirC2 programme brings together actors across NATO and industry to deliver the necessary tools and adaptation to achieve this. 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 this programme.

The iPO core functions include programme management system engineering contracting strategies risk reduction sustainment and integration verification and validation activities at federated system-of-systems level.

The iPO brings together numerous stakeholders around a common technical and operational vision in order to pragmatically combine what is technologically feasible what is currently available and what is urgently required in a rapidly evolving domain. The incumbent of this position will spearhead the development integration and deployment of cutting-edge enhanced AirC2 capabilities for NATO.

The role develops and maintains the target architecture of systems technological strategies and aligns stakeholders to evolve systems in a coherent pragmatic and innovative manner adopting modern and agile concepts processes and technologies where possible and adapting them when necessary.

The individual will be responsible for leading the IPOs technical team overseeing the end-to-end technical delivery process and ensuring the alignment of technological solutions with programme objectives and NATO standards.

As decided by the North Atlantic Council the eAirC2 iPOs structure is to be a hybrid composition of posts manned by NATO HQ International Staff NATO International Civilians (NICs) provided by the NATO Strategic Commands in addition to contracted experts from industry. This post is considered to be a NIC post attached to the Allied Command Transformation (ACT).

Principal Duties:

• Lead the iPO Technical element. Provide leadership guidance and vision for the technical elements of the eAirC2 Programme based on extensive stakeholder engagement

• Help cement the technical vision for the eAirC2 programme and advocate and adapt that vision based on stakeholder input and evolving requirements.

• Manage the programme roadmap managing the requirements set and aligning the architecture and the requirements.

• Provide senior guidance on the assessment of different technical solutions to ensure quality performance compliance and evolution towards a common date centric capability. Contribute to trade off analysis of technical capability versus schedule and budget.

• Lead the selection integration and (where if necessary) development and evolution of enhanced AirC2 capabilities; oversee the design and implementation of existing system components and interfaces and ensure interoperability and compatibility with existing NATO systems.

• Conceive and design a target architecture of systems that are scalable reliable interoperable and secure while balancing the requirements with the solutions that exist on the market.

• Develop architectural blueprints and technical specifications and ensure that designs meet NATOs strategic and operational requirements. Compare architecture with the available market solution.

• Collaborate with stakeholders to gather and document technical requirements facilitate technical discussions and workshops and ensure alignment of technical solutions with stakeholder needs. Colaborate with the nations/industry and academia on the technical and innovation landscape.

• Actively engage with nations/key industry partners to monitor and evaluate emerging technologies and trends identify opportunities for innovation and continuous improvement and translating innovation to existing products and capabilities specifically in the areas of data analysis data centric architectures virtualization and zero-trust security environments.

• Represent the eAirC2 iPO and promote and advocate eAirC2s technical vision and roadmap at conferences and workshops.

• Monitor and ensure compliance with NATOs technical standards policies and procedures where possible and recommending adaptation where needed. Conduct regular reviews to ensure adherence to established guidelines. Identify new standardization requirements needed to meet operational objectives and opportunities.

• Prepare and present technical reports status updates and recommendations to stakeholders use technical documentation tools to create detailed reports and presentations and communicate technical concepts and solutions clearly to non-technical stakeholders.

Essential Qualifications / Experience:

• University Degree in management information systems accounting economics finance business administration public administration operations research project management or related discipline and 6 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 6 years post related and 2 years function related experience.

• Proven ability to deliver one or more complex technical projects in a complex multi-stakeholder environment.

• Proven ability to ingest emerging technologies into a complex information system.

• Experience with the acquisition evolution and integration of mission critical technology intensive capabilities.

• Experience in translating operational requirements into technical requirements in a rapidly evolving operational domain.

• Ability to work in team environments (both as a contributor and a leader).

• Proven ability to advocate a technical vision and to gain buy-in and consensus from various stakeholders.

• Excellent analytical problem solving and verbal and written communication skills.

• At least eight years of practical experience (participation and/or advice) in projects on design and/or implementation of Communications and Information Services.

Language:

English SLP 3333 - (Listening Speaking Reading and Writing)

Desirable Qualifications / Experience:

• Masters Degree in Management Engineering or Sciences.

• Qualifications and/or certification in The Open Group Architectural Framework (TOGAF) or equivalent framework.

• Experience building maintaining operating or evolving Command and Control systems

• Experience in military or civilian air domain technologies and standards

• Awareness or experience in current and emerging standards in the area of ADP security and military data exchanges

• Experience with military command and control systems and their use in multinational environments

• Qualifications and/or certification as a Project Management specialist (e.g. PRINCE 2 Practitioner).

Attributes/Competencies:

Personal Attributes:

• The incumbent must have good interpersonal skills and the ability to work well with others to produce coordinated and cohesive addition the post requires clarity of thought the ability to analyse and extract information from a variety of sources and propose sound and well-reasoned solutions clearly and articulately. There is also a requirement for international travel as part of the duties of this post and to work outside normal working hours occasionally. This post will be required to interface with staff at all levels of NATO and Nations representing the iPO at meetings inspections and conferences presenting to those groups if necessary. These contacts will be both formal and informal. This post will be required to interface with others at all levels and to actively participate in identifying solutions and proposals but will not normally be expected to commit the organization without consultation and agreement within the iPO. A good standard of interpersonal skills is required.

Managerial Responsibilities:

• This position leads the Technical Delivery Office in iPO and is responsible for the development and management of capability-level architecture and requirements along with the management and exploitation of the technical data produced. The employee will gain and maintain complete knowledge of the different plans processes governance funding and status associated with development acquisition and implementation of the enhanced AirC2 capability. This will include knowing how to initiate and sustain work within NATOs Science and Technology Research and Development Concept Development and Experimentation and NATO Security Investment Programme.

Professional Contacts:

• This position can only be successful by leveraging a network of other NATO employees in the various headquarters and agencies eventually within national entities and other international organizations. Due to the complexity of NATO policies processes and structures rapid and effective coordination depends greatly on professional contacts and constant coordination and cooperation with senior civilian/military staff in different NATO bodies and committees.

Contribution To Objectives:

• This post has significant impact on NATOs 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 G20 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 NATOs sole discretion and NATO reserves the right to take further steps in such cases as appropriate.

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

This vacancy will close on 28 September 2025 @ 17:59hrs (EDT)/11:59hrs (CEST).