Senior Engineer

NATO offers you more than a job. It gives you a mission: building peace and security for one billion people in Europe and North America. The NATO Communications & Information Agency is leading NATO’s Digital Endeavour. We are NATO’s technology and cyber leaders, helping NATO Nations to communicate and work together in smarter ways. Our work is challenging and meaningful, and you will develop and apply your expertise as part of a dynamic international team of civilian and military professionals. Come and be part of the most successful alliance in history.

This is a position within the NATO Communications and Information Agency (NCIA), an organization of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

The NCIA has been established with a view to meeting to the best advantage the collective requirements of some or all NATO nations in the fields of capability delivery and service provision related to Consultation, Command & Control as well as Communications, Information and Cyber Defence functions, thereby also facilitating the integration of Intelligence, Surveillance, Reconnaissance, Target Acquisition functions and their associated information exchange.

We are looking for a talented Senior Engineer (Quality Assurance) who is a flexible, highly motivated individual willing to take on challenging initiatives, capable of working both independently and with others in a team and able to follow through to deliver results. If you have the relevant experience in the areas below and you enjoy working in a multicultural environment, this post is ideal for you!

The Independent Verification and Validation (IV&V) service line is responsible for the agency-wide governance of all verification and validation aspects across the full service and capability life-cycle; and, for the provision of IV&V services and facilities to support other service lines and programme offices in IV&V-related activities such as quality and change management. The IV&V service line supports other agency service lines with independent verification (executed on service line facilities or a common NCI Agency facility) and validation on IV&V facilities. The Independent Verification and Validation, Test and Evaluation section is responsible for the testing of all projects, services, exercises and interoperability events. It also provides additional system administration services, in conjunction with the facilities section, in support of test and reference environments.

Role Responsibilities

Under the direction of the Manager Quality Assurance (QA), you will provide support to projects, services and exercises by:

• Reviewing and approving project, services, and exercise quality plans delivered by contractors or planners;
• Participating in all QA and Quality Control (QC) activities required by the project, service, exercise quality plan;
• Reviewing contractor quality assurance reports for projects and services;
• Participating in planning and execution of QA events throughout the projects, services and exercise;
• Ensuring the project, service meets the stated product (quality characteristics), process, service and project criteria;
• Producing assurance reports for all formal IVV events and exercises;
• Assuring accuracy of project requirements traceability matrix;
• Measuring requirements compliance;
• Assisting TVV Managers with assessment of TVV and exercise results and the development of recommendations to the Project Manager (PM);
• Provide support to RFC Evaluation by conducting all quality control steps required of Agency change management processes;

In addition, you will:

• Perform audits of Agency projects, processes, service operations and IVV processes;
• Provide quality assurance services to Operational Acceptance activities;
• Provide training to Agency PMs and management related to Independent Verification, Validationand Assurance;
• Assist with the maintenance of the Quality Assurance Handbook;
• Ensure that IVV product assurance activities comply with the applicable ISO standards;
• Provide training to QA staff, at A-2 level, based on the Quality Assurance Handbook;
• Measure and report on Agency quality metrics and KPIs, no less than once-per-month;
• Work with Agency Risk Managers to help reduce overall Agency risk by developing a plan to assure risk reduction measures;
• Support Section Head in implementing requirements of the Agency Quality System;
• Provide recommendations and guidance to Section Head regarding delivery of quality assurance services;
• Ensure that test management tools used for IVV requests, RFC tracking, project, service tracking, exercise/interoperability tracking are used consistent with SL Directions and process/procedural guidance;
• Advise TVV Managers on issues related to quality assurance;
• Deputize for higher grade staff, if required;
• Perform other duties as may be required.

Person Specification

Qualifications required

A Master of Science (MSc) degree at a nationally recognised/certified University in a related subject (Quality Management, Computer Science or Engineering) and 5 years post-related experience; or a Bachelor of Science (BSc) degree at a nationally recognised/certified University in a related subject and 7 years post related experience. Exceptionally, the lack of a university/college degree may be compensated by the demonstration of a candidate’s particular abilities or experience that is/are of interest to NCI Agency; that is, at least 12 years extensive and progressive expertise in the duties related to the function of the post;

Experience Required

• Recent experience in the planning and execution of quality assurance activities;
• Experience with ITIL v3;
• Quality assurance certification at foundation/practitioner level;
• Knowledge of software/system/service life cycle management and quality management preferably in a Prince 2 and ITIL environment;
• Working-level knowledge of MS-Office, Project, Visio and SharePoint;
• Ability to communicate effectively, orally and in writing with good briefing skills.

The following will be considered as an advantage:

• Advanced certification in the area of quality assurance;
• Prior experience of working in an international environment comprising both military and civilian elements;
• Knowledge of NATO responsibilities and organization, including ACO and ACT.

Language Skills
A thorough knowledge of one of the two NATO languages, both written and spoken, is essential and some knowledge of the other is desirable. NOTE: Most of the work of the NCI Agency is conducted in the English language.

Competencies or Personal Attributes
Adapting and Responding to Change - Adapts to changing circumstances; tolerates ambiguity; accepts new ideas and change initiatives; adapts interpersonal style to suit different people or situations; shows an interest in new experiences.

Working with People - Shows respect for the views and contributions of other team members; shows empathy; listens, supports and cares for others; consults others and shares information and expertise with them; builds team spirit and reconciles conflict; adapts to the team and fits in well.

Achieving Personal Work Goals and Objectives - Accepts and tackles demanding goals with enthusiasm; works hard and puts in longer hours when it is necessary; seeks progression to roles of increased responsibility and influence; identifies own development needs and makes use of developmental or training opportunities.

Coping with Pressures and Setbacks - Maintains a positive outlook at work; works productively in a pressurised environment; keeps emotions under control during difficult situations; handles criticism well and learns from it; balances the demands of a work life and a personal life.

Learning and Researching - Rapidly learns new tasks and commits information to memory quickly; demonstrates an immediate understanding of newly presented information; gathers comprehensive information to support decision making; encourages an organisational.

Delivering Results and Meeting Customer Expectations - Focuses on customer needs and satisfaction; sets high standards for quality and quantity; monitors and maintains quality and productivity; works in a systematic, methodical and orderly way; consistently achieves project goals.

Travel
Business travel to NATO and national (NATO and non-NATO) facilities as well as frequent travel between the NCIA offices. You may be required to undertake duty travel to operational theatres inside and outside NATO boundaries.

Contract

NCI Agency normally offers contracts of employment of a definite duration, not exceeding three years. Contracts may be for less than three years as required to support short-term projects, meet uncertainty with respect to the business outlook, staff performance and other factors.

Definite duration contracts may be extended for further periods. When extending contracts, the following is taken into consideration:

• Renewal is in the interest of the Agency;
• Staff member's desire to remain with the Agency;
• The financial situation provides sufficient funding for the post held;
• The skills, competencies and behaviours, potential and work experience of the staff, versus the requirements of the Agency's work and/or availability of funding;
• Staff member has served the Agency with performance to the required standard as defined by the Agency;
• Staff member's deployability to operational theatre.

Serving civilian members of NATO will be offered a contract in accordance with the NATO Civilian Personnel Regulations.

The first six months of definite duration contracts are a probationary period. During this period the staff member's work is assessed to ensure that he/she has the ability to carry out the duties of the post. At or before the end of the probationary period, the staff member will be notified in writing that the appointment is confirmed or terminated or, in exceptional cases, that the probationary period is extended.

What do we offer?

• Excellent tax-free salary (7,132.26 Euro Monthly), including (where eligible) expatriation household and children's allowances and additional privileges for expatriate staff.
• Education allowance for children (where appropriate) and an excellent private health insurance scheme.
• Generous annual leave and home leave (if eligible).
• Retirement Pension Plan.

Click on the 'more information'-button above for more information about this vacancy and about the work of NCI Agency.

Please note that due to the Agency’s transition into a new structure in the near future, this post may be subject to transfer to one of our other locations, as well as to a change of reporting lines. The final decision will be made at the time of a firm offer. The Agency’s recruitment team advises you that due to the large volume of applications it receives the screening process may take up to 2 months after closing date.

We appreciate your patience.