Interoperability Engineer

Who we are:

For more than 75 years, NATO’s mission has been to preserve peace and security in the Alliance for nearly one billion citizens. The NATO Communications and Information Agency (NCIA) and its predecessors have worked tirelessly in providing the means that enable the connectedness and togetherness that keep our Alliance strong. We are the NCIA, a team of 3,300 civilian and military staff in 29 locations throughout Europe, North America and Asia.

Our technology and cyber experts allow NATO to conduct critical operations, protect NATO’s airspace, make data-driven decisions, defend against cyber-attacks, secure NATO networks and maintain superiority in space. This is all possible because of our greatest force, our people. In order to keep this edge we aim to hire, train and retain the very best staff.

Our staff members represent both the diversity and unity of our Alliance. When you join the NCIA, you will be part of an organization where you can contribute authentically to the mission and purpose of NATO and help us keep our technological edge.

About the job:

We’re expanding the highly successful Independent Assurance Branch (IAB) at the NCIA.  The new posts will be part of the Chief Quality Office (CQO) which leads the Agency Quality approach and is the governing authority on the Agency’s Quality Management and Risk Management System. The CQO leads the development and assurance of the QMS related processes and procedures, ensures independent verification and validation of project, programme and portfolio deliverables and service changes. The new Interoperability Engineers that we’re hiring in The Hague, Netherlands will provide interoperability assurance and exercise support services, and are responsible for the NCIA reference environment services and support. 

The IAB plays a crucial role in ensuring that the NCIA delivers systems and services that work seamlessly together for exercises, missions and partners.   IAB independently verifies and validates the readiness of NATO Command Structure (NCS) systems for interoperability. This includes ensuring compatibility with assigned National and Multinational forces involved in NATO-led missions and exercises.  The IO branch oversees various activities, such as:

·       Interoperability assurance of all federated capabilities that are added and or modified within mission networks.

·       The IAB is highly involved in NATO interoperability initiative “Federated Mission Networking” (FMN). The IO Branch is responsible to verify and Validate all NATO capabilities for their “FMN Compliance”

·       Support for the overall FMN Framework by providing tools to prepare, execute, assess and report on Requests for Change (RFC’s) of all FMN Affiliates (NATO and non NATO Nations).

·       Support to nations in setting up, executing and assessing and reporting Interoperability exercises or test events with tooling and Subject Matter Expertise (SME)

·       Support to the NATO Digital Staff (NDS) and Allied Command Transformation (ACT) on Interoperability assessments, standards conformance testing and development of Interoperability test repositories and policy for NATO.

As an Interoperability Engineer, you will play a critical role in designing, implementing, and maintaining systems that ensure different applications, devices, and platforms work together smoothly. You will be entrusted with verifying and validating interoperability solutions, troubleshooting issues, and supporting diverse integration efforts across NATO’s technical landscape.   With responsibilities including:

·       System Design & Integration:  As an Interoperability Engineer, you will design and review system architectures, following established patterns and considering alternatives when needed. Your duties include ensuring software configurations meet standards and collaborating with various stakeholders to define requirements and objectives. 

·       Testing & Quality Assurance:  You will create acceptance criteria, select and implement appropriate manual and automated testing approaches, and prepare test plans to ensure reliability and performance. You will execute tests, provide input to design teams, report on issues and risks, and oversee the work of others throughout the development cycle. 

·       Stakeholder Engagement & Collaboration:  Your role involves managing stakeholder relationships, addressing issues, gathering feedback, and enhancing engagement through effective communication and teamwork to achieve interoperable systems. 

·       Troubleshooting & Support:  You will resolve interoperability issues, provide technical support, and ensure projects comply with NATO standards and organizational requirements. 

We seek candidates with a strong technical background in software development, networking, and system integration/testing. Ideal applicants are adept at problem-solving, thrive in collaborative environments, and are eager to engage with the latest industry standards and best practices. Familiarity with NATO standards and experience in complex, multi-stakeholder projects is an asset. 

For the full and detailed list of duties, please review the job description on the NCIA career site.

About you:

The essential requirements for this post are:

·       A minimum requirement of a Bachelor’s degree at a nationally recognised/certified University in a related discipline and 2 years post-related experience.

·       Experience as test engineer in interoperability events;

·       Experience using, supporting designing, operating, maintaining and testing virtualized environments;

·       Experience using, supporting designing, operating, maintaining and testing cloud-based environments

·       Knowledge of International Software Testing Qualification Board (ISTQB) foundation principles;

One or more of the following would additionally be desirable:

·       Experience with NATO interoperability exercises, like CWIX or Steadfast Cobalt.

·       Experience testing and configuring NATO COI applications;

·       Experience testing and configuring NATO Standards, like MIP, FFT, TDL, NVG, OTH-Gold, APP-11

·       Experience testing and configuring Commercial standards, like BGP, IPsec, SIP, NTP, DNS, SMTP/S, LDAP/S, SAML, HTTP/S, 

·       Experience in evaluation, prioritization and categorization of the level of interoperability required for the following 3 scopes (NATO Enterprise, NATO Alliance and NATO Mission Networks);

·       Knowledge and experience in military organisations as a CIS planner;

·       Prior experience of working in an international environment comprising both military and civilian elements;

·       Knowledge of NATO responsibilities and organization including ACO and ACT.

·       Advanced certification in the area of testing and testing management;

·       Knowledge of the IO Toolset, Tidepedia, and JIRA;

·       Working level knowledge of PowerShell, bash and python;

What we offer:

·       Genuinely meaningful work as part of the most successful alliance in history;

·       3 year contract with competitive tax-free monthly salary of EUR 7,163 and household and children’s allowances;

·       Privileges for expatriate staff including expatriation and education allowances (where appropriate) and additional home leave;

·       Excellent private health insurance scheme;

·       Generous annual leave of 30 days plus official holidays;

·       NATO Pension Scheme;

·       Development programs such as professional training, wellbeing, and more.

To learn more about NCIA and our work, please visit our website.  The NCIA prides itself on being an equal opportunity employer. We are committed to fostering an inclusive environment of mutual respect and value uniqueness and differences in gender, gender identity, race, ethnic or cultural origin, age, religion, sexual orientation and physical or neurocognitive ability. 

Please note that this recruitment campaign is for future requirements that are yet to be approved for CQO.

Additional details on the conditions of application can be found via the NCIA career site.