Who we are:

For more than 70 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 3000 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:

Based in The Hague, Netherlands, you will join the Agency as we embark on a journey to transform our IT services to support NATO’s Digital Endeavour. You will join The Joint Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Centre (JISRC). JISRC’s vision is to assure information superiority for NATO. Its Mission is to deliver, support and protect valued ISR capabilities, expertise and services and to maximise operational effectiveness for NATO through a wide range of coherent JISR services, supported by well-trained, highly knowledgeable and uniquely experienced staff, in four key JISR domains: Intelligence Applications, Operational ISR Support, Electronic Warfare/Surveillance Services and Geospatial/Meteorological/ Oceanographic Information Services. JISRC is responsible for the full lifecycle of its services.

We are looking for a driven and enthusiastic Principal Solution Engineer who will take on the following roles and responsibilities:

• Provide organisational leadership and guidelines to promote the development and exploitation of specialist knowledge in the organisation, with particular emphasis on current and future Space domain systems, associated NATO standards, cross‑domain information exchange, and mission‑critical software engineering;

• Lead the development of architectures for complex space and mission‑critical solutions ensuring consistency with operational requirements, NATO standards, and enterprise architectural direction;

• Plan and drive scoping, requirements definition and prioritisation activities for large, complex space domain capability initiatives;

• Produce, or approve network providers' network architectures, topologies and configuration databases for own area of responsibility supporting data flows, data sharing, sensor integration and secure information exchange;

• Plan and manage procurement activities for space domain related software, services and architectural components;

• Oversee and measure the fulfilment of contractual obligations for space domain‑related systems and services.

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

About you:

The valuable knowledge and experience that you bring to this role are:

• A Master’s degree at a nationally recognised/certified University in a related discipline (Aerospace Engineering, Telecommunications Engineering, Computer Science, Systems Engineering or a related technical discipline) and 5 years post-related experience. Or a Bachelor’s degree with 8 years post related experience;

• At least 5 years of experience in systems engineering, solution architecture, or ICT engineering roles;

• Proven experience designing and delivering complex, mission-critical systems (distributed or system-of-systems architectures integrating multiple platform and sensor data sources) in one or more of the following domains:

o Space systems;

o ISR (Intelligence, Surveillance, Reconnaissance) systems;

o Secure and classified network environments;

o Electronic warfare / signals intelligence systems.

• Demonstrated experience in:

o Leading solution architecture across multiple projects or programmes;

o Requirements definition and lifecycle management;

o Systems development and integration;

o Network design (including secure, federated or multinational environments).

• Experience managing multiple internal and external stakeholders across technical and operational communities;

• Experience with procurement processes, supplier engagement, and contract management;

• Experience working within space domain industry, or within a defence organisation managing space data;

• Strong understanding of:

o Security and privacy-by-design principles;

o System interoperability and integration;

o Risk management in mission-critical environments.

• Proven ability to moderate architecture related discussions with multi-disciplinary teams;

• Proven ability to effectively communicate orally and in writing, with good briefing skills;

• Fluency in English, both written and spoken.

What we offer:

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

• 5 year contract with competitive tax-free salary 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.

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