Principal Programme Management Officer

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 eAirC2 programme will be delivered through projects in different NATO organisations. The iPO will have the role of the overall programme responsible body. The role of the iPO Programme Management Office is therefore central to keeping an overall view and have effective interaction and processes to assess the status of the overall eAirC2 programme.

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 provided by the NATO Strategic Commands as well as contracted experts from the that context this post is considered as the Allied Command Transformation (ACT) contribution to the iPO.

This PLN position will provide leadership as Programme Management Officer for tracking status of the programme and projects for the Enhanced Air Command and Control (eAirC2) programme and making information available to the relevant NATO stakeholders.

Principal Duties:

• Lead and supervise the work priorities of iPOs PMO.
• Manage the lifecycle of eAirC2 projects by defining and maintaining an overall programme schedule and critical path and by monitoring and tracking other essential project level information.
• Clearly and regularly communicate the status of iPOs projects (schedule and cost tolerances) programme updates programmatic dependencies challenges and solutions to iPO management and relevant governance bodies.
• Develop effective status reporting functions and analytics to provide transparency to iPOs programme and project teams leadership and governance.
• Identify contribute to and implement programme & project data collection for the eAirC2 programme and management initiatives across iPO with recommendations for best practice data management approaches and implementation to iPO management.
• Analyze current business processes and identify new and innovative approaches to more effectively and efficiently perform programme and project management across the iPOs programme and its projects.
• Provide professional guidance and mentorship to PMO staff and especially to newcomers to ensure rapid immersion in the eAirC2 programme.
• Maintain a comprehensive knowledge and oversight of the planning and execution of all projects for which the iPO is responsible and accountable to governance.

Essential Qualifications / Experience:

• University Degree in a numerate 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 5 years post related and 3 years function related experience.

• 4-6 years experience in the management of large Information Technology programmes in the private or public sectors which may include exposure to programme scheduling risk management reporting and business process improvement and experience in the financial and budgetary aspects of programme management.
• Ability to quickly integrate and work well in team environments (both as a contributor and as a leader).
• Experience interacting/briefing with/to civilian and military senior leadership.
• Excellent analytical problem solving verbal and written communication skills.
• Hold a current certification in programme/project management such as PRINCE2 Practitioner or Managing Successful Programmes (MSP) Practitioner.

Language:

• English SLP 3333 - (Listening Speaking Reading and Writing)

Desirable Qualifications / Experience:

• Experience with programme and/or project management within the context of large multinational investment programmes.
• Demonstrable experience in the development of large investment programmes.
• Demonstrable experience working for NATO or any other military organization in the capacity of a project or programme manager.
• Holds current NATO Secret security clearance or equivalent national clearance of a NATO member state
• General knowledge of the organization and structure of NATO.
• French SLP 1111 (Listening Speaking Reading and Writing).

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 Responsabilities:

• This post requires as well the 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 managerial skills particularly in the areas of programme/project management and resource management of heterogeneous individuals. 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 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 G17 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 23 February @ 17:59hrs (EST)/11:59hrs (CET).