C3 Policy and Interoperability Consultant

Spektrum supports apex purchasers (NATO, UN, EU, and National Government and Defence) and their Tier 1 supplier ecosystem with a wide range of specialist services. We provide our clients with professional services, specialised aerospace and defence sales, delivery, and operational subject matter expertise. We are looking for personnel to join our team and support key client projects.

Who we are supporting 

The NATO Communication and Information Agency (NCIA) is responsible for providing secure and effective communications and information technology (IT) services to NATO's member countries and its partners. The agency was established in 2012 and is headquartered in Brussels, Belgium.

The NCIA provides a wide range of services, including:

• Cyber Security: The NCIA provides advanced cybersecurity solutions to protect NATO's communication networks and information systems against cyber threats.
• Command and Control Systems: The NCIA develops and maintains the systems used by NATO's military commanders to plan and execute operations.
• Satellite Communications: The NCIA provides satellite communications services to enable secure and reliable communications between NATO forces.
• Electronic Warfare: The NCIA provides electronic warfare services to support NATO's mission to detect, deny, and defeat threats to its communication networks.
• Information Management: The NCIA manages NATO's information technology infrastructure, including its databases, applications, and servers.

Overall, the NCIA plays a critical role in ensuring the security and effectiveness of NATO's communication and information technology capabilities.

The program

Assistance and Advisory Service (AAS)

The NATO Communications and Information Agency (NCI Agency) is NATO’s principal C3 capability deliverer and CIS service provider. It provides, maintains and defends the NATO enterprise-wide information technology infrastructure to enable Allies to consult together under Article IV, and, when required, stand together in the face of attack under Article V.

To provide these critical services, in the modern evolving dynamic environment the NCI Agency needs to build and maintain high performance-engaged workforce. The NCI Agency workforce strategically consists of three major categorise's: NATO International Civilians (NIC)'s, Military (Mil), and Interim Workforce Consultants (IWC)'s. The IWCs are a critical part of the overall NCI Agency workforce and make up approximately 15 percent of the total workforce.

Role Background

The NATO Communications and Information Agency (NCI Agency) located in The Hague, The Netherlands, is providing technical support to the NATO Digital Staff (NDS) to provide technical expertise regarding development of C3 Policies, and Directives and Interoperability Roadmap both supporting implementation of the C3 Policies. Also includedis the support to NDS 2025 POW regarding continuous Policy Gap Analysis. The Chief Technology Office (CTO) has a requirement for a subject matter expert (SME) to prepare the specific deliverables in the NDS 2025 Programme of Work (POW).

Role Duties and Responsibilities

Under the direction of the project manager or assigned task leader, the consultant is required to conduct the following activities:

• Proposing changes to the following set of NATO’s implementation directives: Obtaining SW for NATO, interoperability, development of an API Technical Implementation, and Technical Directive for Interconnectivity of NATO CIS.
• Proposing changes to C3 Policies, implementation Directives and Roadmaps to reflect technology development, improvement to processes related to capability development, and changes to the C3 Policy compliance checklist.
• Engaging with domain experts in NATO, e.g. through surveys and workshops, with the objective to capture and document information needed to prepare the deliverables specified
• Preparing meetings, setting agendas, engaging with representatives, manage action lists, prepare working papers and presentations, and orchestrate required SME expertise.
• Contributing to the activities from the Interoperability Roadmap assigned to NCI Agency through the NDS 2025 POW, including
  • Conducting data collection through interviews with SMEs
  • Maintain all data from SME interviews is maintained in the DIOR Wiki, with potential recommendations managed as DIOR Tasks for processing
  • Preparing an updated version of the IO roadmap for presentation to the DPC
  • Attending IP CaT meetings to progress DIOR development.
• Contributing to the development and maintenance of the wiki-based toolset to monitor and report of status and progress regarding to specified activities from the Digital Interoperability Roadmap.

The following specific deliverables are expected from this statement of work:

D001 : Delivering the plan for capturing the proposed changes for four directives and implementing the changes. Produce a plan for each of the four directives identifying timelines, milestones, stakeholder groups and the propsed approach to maintain traceability. The four directives are:

• Obtaining SW for NATO,
• NATO Enterprise C3 Interoperability Directive,
• API Technical Implementation Directive.
• Technical Directive for Interconnectivity of NATO CIS.

D002: Reporting defining an approach for assessing how Policies and Directives can impact/improve capability delivery.

D003: Q3 Reporting on the assessment of Policy (and Directive) on capability delivery.

D004: Q4 Reporting on the assessment of Policy (and Directive) on capability delivery.

D005: Reporting capturing the planned updates to the Interoperability Roadmap Toolset.

D006: Reporting on attendance of IP CaT Meeting #49

D007: Reporting on attendance of IP CaT Meeting #50

D008: Reporting summarising the completed updates to the Interoperability Roadmap Toolset.

D009: Updating versions of the following Directives (finalized MS Word documents using track changes, with incorporated documentation of changes and traceability to SME inputs)

• Obtaining SW for NATO,
• NATO Enterprise C3 Interoperability Directive,
• API Technical Implementation Directive.
• Technical Directive for Interconnectivity of NATO CIS

Essential Skills and Experience

• Expert knowledge in the area of interoperability,
• Expert knowledge on NATO C4ISR systems, emerging technologies, best practices for software development.
• Expert knowledge of NATO Policies and Directives, with intimate knowledge of the NATO C3 Interoperability Policy and NATO Enterprise C3 Interoperability Directive.
• Demonstrated experience in C4ISR/IT system development throughout the life cycle (management, analysis, design, system engineering, development, integration and implementation).
• Demonstrated experience in managing complex projects related to C4ISR capability development.
• Demonstrated experience producing technical documentation, e.g. reports and specifications.
• Demonstrating experience working in NATO committees and working groups, with focus on capability development and interoperability.
• Demonstrated expertise in using, configuring and updating the Wikimedia Semantic Media Wiki (i.e. Tidepedia)

Working Location

• Remote

Working Policy

• Off-Site

Travel

• Some travel to other NATO sites may be required

Security Clearance

• Valid National or NATO Secret personal security clearance