Assistant Secretary General (ASG) for Political Affairs and Security Policy (PASP)

1. SUMMARY
The Assistant Secretary General for Political Affairs and Security Policy leads the Political Affairs and Security Policy Division. Within the NATO International Staff the Assistant Secretary General (ASG) is responsible for advising on the political aspects of NATOs core tasks and for the policy development of NATOs partnerships. The Assistant Secretary General (ASG) reports to the Secretary General through the Chief of Staff and advises them on Political Affairs and Security Policy issues.

PASPs broad portfolio is covering the following principal matters:
General political affairs within NATO;
Building relationships with:
opartners in Eastern and South Eastern Europe including Ukraine;
ointernational organisations and institutions in particular with the European Union the United Nations and the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe;
oother Partnership for Peace countries;
oMediterranean Dialogue and Istanbul Cooperation Initiative partners from the Middle East and North Africa;
oPartners across the globe which includes Australia Japan Republic of Korea New Zealand Mongolia and Colombia;
NATOs Open Door Policy;
NATOs policy with regard to Russia;
Arms Control disarmament and non-proliferation policy
NATOs work on both Women Peace and Security (WPS) and Human Security (HS)

The ASG manages a Division of approximately 100 staff members including staff members deployed in NATOs Liaison Offices abroad and is supported by two Deputy Assistant Secretaries General and the Secretary Generals Special Representative for Women Peace and Security and Human Security.

There are six ASGs all of whom report to the NATO Secretary General through the Chief of Staff and are also accountable to the North Atlantic Council. As a member of the Organizations senior management each ASG is also expected to collaborate across the International Staff and beyond and to contribute to overall policy development and delivery including in areas beyond their direct set of responsibilities.

2. QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE

ESSENTIAL
The candidate must:

have a university degree or equivalent level of qualification in a field relevant for this position;

have a strong background developed through at least 15 years of experience in political affairs international relations and security policy;

have significant people management experience (10 years) and the capacity to lead motivate and engage a diverse multidisciplinary team;

have experience working in a multilateral environment or an environment with a variety of stakeholders from multi-cultural backgrounds including the military industry science or technology communities;

have a proven track record of recent experience in progressively senior-level leadership positions;

have experience facilitating high-level dialogue and consensus;

have a proven track record of successfully developing key relationships with NATO partner countries in both bilateral and multinational settings;

have a proven track record of creating a high-level vision and directing organisations to develop and implement the necessary policies;

be an innovative strategic conceptual thinker and be able to design and use complex influencing strategies to fulfil the required objectives;

possess the following minimum levels of NATOs official languages (English/French): VI (Proficiency) in one; I (Beginner) in the other.

DESIRABLE

The following would be considered an advantage:
a higher level of proficiency in NATOs other official language (English/French).

3. ACCOUNTABILITIES

The ASG/PASP is responsible for managing and directing Political Affairs and Security Policy activities at NATO under the direction of the Secretary General and on his behalf the Office of the Secretary General.
The Assistant Secretary General chairs and co-chairs high-level committees composed of NATO Nations and partners. These committees include the Deputy Permanent Representatives Committee the Partnerships and Cooperative Security Committee and Arms Control Disarmament and Non-Proliferation related Committees. ASG PASP will be called upon to represent the Secretary General at high-level meetings and will speak in public fora on behalf of the Secretary General.
In their role as manager of the Division the incumbent will lead and oversee a team of international staff and management. More specifically they will aim to achieve the following objectives:

Vision and Direction: Develop communicate and implement a vision to face the future challenges of the Alliance. Support the team around common objectives ensuring that vision guides its mid and long-term programme of work. Act as a role model of inclusive leadership and promote resilience flexibility and innovation.

People Management: Lead and oversee a large team of international staff promoting integrity professionalism and accountability through a sound and inclusive leadership culture and ensuring the proper management and coherent tasking of human resources.

oTalent development: Adhere to sound management principles with staff and provide in-depth mentoring coaching and training opportunities; be available for guidance at critical moments; ensure that all Divisional staff are clear on Organizational and Divisional objectives; provide regular and fair feedback on performance informally as appropriate and via the performance management system.

oPerformance Management: Participate in a collegial review of performance at divisional level to discuss possible development and mobility opportunities for individuals identify high potentials and help ensure common standards are applied in the process across the Organization; make contract renewal or conversion recommendations with the best interests of the Organization in mind.

oContinual Improvement culture: Serve on internal strategy policy and coordination boards as required. Actively contribute to the improvement of the Organizational policies and processes; Participate in leadership learning and development Programmes related to the successful execution of her/his duties.

4. COMPETENCIES

Candidates must demonstrate the following competencies:

Achievement: Demonstrates decisiveness based on solid considerations and trade-offs.
Change Leadership: Champions change.
Conceptual Thinking: Creates new concepts.
Developing Others: Provides in-depth mentoring coaching and training.
Impact and Influence: Uses complex influence strategies.
Initiative: Plans and acts for the long term.
Leadership: Communicates a compelling vision.
Organizational Awareness: Understands underlying issues.
Self-Control: Stays composed and positive even under extreme pressure.

5. KEY CHALLENGES

Key challenges facing the successful candidate for ASG PASP during the next 3 years will likely include:

Managing and supporting political consultations among Allies and the International Staffs interactions with Allied nations;
Developing policy advice on NATOs cooperative security tasks including engagement with partner nations and international organisations as well as interlocutors across the globe as well as responding to adversaries and strategic competitors;
Overseeing and further developing relationships with partner countries and international organisations; and
Leading managing and integrating a diverse team dealing with complex political issues.

Candidates are asked as part of this application to attach one MS Word document summarising their views on these key (and possible other) challenges and how they would address them if selected for the position. This essay which should be no more than 2 A4 pages long will be evaluated as part of the longlisting assessment.

6. CONTRACT

The successful applicant will be employed for an initial period of 3 years. Exceptionally there may be possibility of a one-year extension thereafter.

7. 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 (for more information please contact your local Civilian HR Manager);
For all other applications: of candidates for NATO posts is based upon the merit principle.

Shortlisted candidates will have to be available for the selection process which is expected to take place in the second half of March in Brussels Belgium.

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Please also note that at the time of the interviews candidates will be asked to provide evidence of their education and professional experience as relevant for this vacancy.

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More information about the recruitment process and conditions of employment can be found at our website ( will be subject to receipt of asecurity clearance(provided by the national Authorities of the selected candidate) approval of the candidatesmedical fileby the NATO Medical Adviser verification of your study(ies) and work experience and the successful completion of theaccreditationand 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 NATOs sole discretion and NATO reserves the right to take further steps in such cases as appropriate.


8. INFORMATIONS COMPLÉMENTAIRES

Experience:

Junior IC