Principal Assistant

🔍 Belgium

New

📁: Management and Operations Support

📅   : 250935 Requisition #

1. SUMMARY

The mission of the NATO Science & Technology Organization (STO) is to help position the Nations and NATO’s S&T investments as a strategic enabler of the knowledge and technical advantage for the defence and security posture of NATO and Partner Nations.

The Office of the Chief Scientist (OCS) is chartered to provide executive and administrative support to the Chief Scientist in fulfilling his/her roles as the Chair of the STB and the senior scientific advisor at NATO Headquarters.

The Principal Assistant provides direct secretarial and administrative support to the Chief Scientist and is responsible for the administrative and logistical functioning of the OCS. The incumbent provides administrative support to the other Officers in the OCS as directed by the Chief Scientist.

2. QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE:

ESSENTIAL

The incumbent must:

have a post high-school specialized education and training as a multilingual personal assistant. Exceptionally, the lack of a high school degree may be compensated by the demonstration of particular abilities or experience of interest to the Alliance and a vocational training of at least 1 year full time;
possess at least 7 years of relevant experience working as secretary/personal assistant to a high-level manager;
have 3-year experience in working in an international and multicultural environment. This pertains in particular to NATO or comparable organizations.
have a proficient knowledge of software packages, in particular the Microsoft Office suite (including Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, SharePoint);
possess the following minimum levels of NATO’s official languages (English/French): V (“Advanced”) in one; 3 (“Intermediate”) in the other; The work in the STO is mainly conducted in the English language;
Be flexible to work and travel outside normal office hours when required.

DESIRABLE

The following would be considered an advantage:

university studies in international relations or acquired equivalent international experience;
experience in planning, programming and budgeting;
practical experience in Security Matters and Information Management;
excellent drafting and presentation skills;
experience in organizing multinational events;
experience in taking notes and writing meeting reports;
excellent knowledge of both NATO official languages;
knowledge of other language(s);
experience in working in an S&T organisation.

3. MAIN ACCOUNTABILITIES

The incumbent is responsible for:

Monitoring flawless implementation of the Chief Scientist daily programme, suggesting options and alternatives when required;
Ensuring the secretariat of meetings held under the authority of the Chief Scientist, as and when needed, taking notes and drafting reports;
Welcoming and preparing hospitality for the Chief Scientist high-level visitors;
Ensuring that all correspondence prepared for signature by the Chief Scientist is correct from the point of view of protocol, format and tone, and suggesting alternatives where appropriate;
Providing the daily administrative and secretarial support to the Chief Scientist and to the OCS. This responsibility includes initiating, developing and implementing task-related office procedures, standards and practices;
Producing and dispatching rapidly and accurately correspondence/e-mails, often transcribed from rough drafts, dictation or based on verbal instructions;
Organizing travel arrangements for the Chief Scientist;
Maintaining contact with outer offices of senior NATO HQ Staff and of other STO Executive Bodies directorates;
Establishing contacts with or answering calls from all levels within NATO and national ministerial departments;
Providing backup to the Assistant, Resources in particular regarding:
- Managing the workforce of the OCS and coordinating workforce planning and reporting across the STO Executive Bodies,
- Planning and monitoring OCS budget authorization and execution, and
- Acting as OCS Security Officer.
Performing other related functions, as directed by the Chief Scientist.

4. INTERRELATIONSHIPS

The incumbent has by the nature of the post daily interactions with the Chief Scientist, staff of the OCS, and the Assistants and Executive Officers in other STO Executive Bodies as well as the Divisions in the NATO International Staff and International Military Staff. The incumbent also has contacts with the Political and Military National Delegations at NATO HQ, the members of the NATO Science & Technology Board (STB), and a variety of representatives from the academic and industrial community.

Direct reports: N/A.

Indirect reports: N/A

5. COMPETENCIES

Achievement
Flexibility
Initiative
Empathy
Customer Service Orientation
Clarity and Accuracy: Monitors other’s work for clarity
Teamwork
Self-control

6. CONTRACT

Contract to be offered to the successful applicant (if non-seconded): Definite duration contract of three years’ duration; possibility of an indefinite duration contract thereafter.

Contract clause applicable:
In accordance with the NATO Civilian Personnel Regulations, the successful candidate will receive a definite duration contract of three years, which may be followed by an indefinite duration contract.

If the successful applicant is seconded from the national administration of one of NATO’s member States, a 3-year definite duration contract will be offered, which may be renewed for a further period of up to 3 years subject to the agreement of the national authority concerned. The maximum period of service in the post as a seconded staff member is six years.

Serving staff will be offered a contract in accordance with the NATO Civilian Personnel Regulations.

7. USEFUL INFORMATION REGARDING APPLICATION AND 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 (link);
For all other applications: www.nato.int/recruitment

Before you apply to any position, we encourage you to click here and watch our video providing 6 tips to prepare you for your application and recruitment process.

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More information about the recruitment process and conditions of employment, can be found at our website (http://www.nato.int/cps/en/natolive/recruit-hq-e.htm)

Appointment will be subject to receipt of a security clearance (provided by the national Authorities of the selected candidate), approval of the candidate’s medical file by the NATO Medical Adviser, verification of your study(ies) and work experience, and the successful completion of the accreditation and 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 NATO’s sole discretion, and NATO reserves the right to take further steps in such cases as appropriate.

8. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

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.

NATO is committed to fostering an inclusive and accessible working environment, where all candidates living with disabilities can fully participate in the recruitment and selection process. If you require reasonable accommodation, please inform us during your selection process.

Candidates will be required to provide documented medical evidence to support their request for accommodation.

Building Integrity is a key element of NATO’s core tasks. As an employer, NATO values commitment to the principles of integrity, transparency and accountability in accordance with international norms and practices established for the defence and related security sector. Selected candidates are expected to be role models of integrity, and to promote good governance through ongoing efforts in their work.

Due to the broad interest in NATO and the large number of potential candidates, telephone or e-mail enquiries cannot be dealt with.

Applicants who are not successful in this competition may be offered an appointment to another post of a similar nature, albeit at the same or a lower grade, provided they meet the necessary requirements.

The nature of this position may require the staff member at times to be called upon to travel for work and/or to work outside normal office hours.

The organization offers several work-life policies including Teleworking and Flexible Working arrangements (Flexitime) subject to business requirements.

Please note that the International Staff at NATO Headquarters in Brussels, Belgium is a non-smoking environment.

For information about the NATO Single Salary Scale (Grading, Allowances, etc.) please visit our website. Detailed data is available under the Salary and Benefits tab.

NATO does not charge any application, processing, training, interviewing, testing or other fee in connection with the application or recruitment process. For more info please click here.