Post Context

ACT contributes to preserving the peace, security and territorial integrity of Alliance member states by leading, at Strategic Command level, Warfare Development required to enhance NATO’s posture, military structures, forces, capabilities and doctrines.

The Capability Development Directorate (CAPDEV) comprises two Divisions—Requirements and Capabilities. The Directorate supports SACT in his Capabilities Requirement Authority (CRA) role. It is responsible for a holistic through lifecycle Capability Development approach that infuses innovation and transformative efforts that are an integral part of the Warfare Development. This includes responsibilities for elicitation, development, capture and collection, quality review, traceability and visibility of capability requirements.

The Requirements Division executes requirements management for NATO capabilities. It develops capability requirements, provides traceability and quality assurance of capability requirements, performs gap analysis and supports interoperability and implementation options across the DOTMLPFI spectrum.

The Operational Analysis Branch supports Requirement Management Teams and Programme Directors to ensure the rationale, overall cohesion and rigorous justification for capability requirements, and for proposed solutions within the Capability Programme Plans. The Branch performs DOTMLPFI gap analysis to assist in the development of capability requirements.

The Section Head in the Operational Analysis Branch will lead, supervise and conduct analysis to identify and develop cost-effective options to conduct Analyses of Alternatives (AoA) and develop and present Courses of Action (COA) in order to resolve issues associated with through the life cycle management of requirements. Section Head is expected to lead Requirements Management Teams as directed by the Branch Head and the ACOS.

Principal Duties:

  • Lead and contribute to Operations Research and Analysis in support of Capability Development within ACT in order to support the development of NATO requirements across doctrine, organization, training, material, leadership, personnel, facilities and interoperability (DOTMLPFI) by using appropriate relevant Operations Research and Analysis methods, to include war gaming, modelling and simulation, problem structuring, decision analysis, mathematical, statistical, social-sciences and other scientific methods, appropriate for high level decision making.  Coordinate and cooperate with entities in the NATO Command (NCS), NATO Agencies, International Staff (IS) and International Military Staff (IMS) at NATO HQ, Centers of Excellence, NATO Science and Technology Organization (STO) and national Defence Science and Technology and Acquisition entities seeking direct support for the development of NATO capabilities.
  • Lead a Requirements Management Team to include direct supervision of an Operations Research Analyst within this team. Determine and apply appropriate Operations Research and Analysis in order to assess alternative options against their impacts on operational effectiveness, affordability and life-cycle cost, suitability and associated benefits, risks, or potential challenges. Assess each option considering the whole DOTMLPFI spectrum. Interact, inform and brief ACT high-level decision makers (OF-6/7) of results and findings.
  • Lead, direct and conduct research to study and establish operational effectiveness, organize and undertake cost-effectiveness and risk-benefit studies and analysis, and where appropriate, interact with appropriate NATO and national research entities and industries, in order to establish the impact of alternatives on operational effectiveness.  Analyze the potential impact of identified risks and propose possible risk-mitigation and risk-avoidance approaches.  Provide rationale and justification for decision makers using the “Adopt, Buy, Create” approach aiming to maximize re-use of existing solutions first, to use proven off-the-shelf solutions and only developing NATO-unique solutions where no affordable alternative exists.
  • Facilitate and lead in the further development of conceptual approaches, clarify the operational context and conclude concepts of operation for further development into DOTMLPFI products.  
    Organize and apply Modelling and Simulation efforts and conduct wargames and other experiments in order to analyse dynamic interactions of the solutions and options with other capabilities. Represent ACT when informing and briefing external decision makers (OF-5/6 and equivalent) of results and findings in appropriate national entities and industries.
  • In the establishment of above duties, lead teams of analysts, undertake line management responsibilities and work with customers to determine the analysis requirements, scope study problems, develop outline project plans and support the planning and execution of projects. Act as Point of Contact for collaborative projects both internally and externally to ACT and act as the interlocutor for the establishment of Modelling and Simulation arrangements and contracts with national and industrial entities. Arrange and provide analytical support throughout ACT as required, where appropriate and within branch competences and capacity.
  • Authority to make decisions within the assigned sub-functional area. Such decisions should be also coordinated within the functional area of the HQ and with the same sub-functional area in lateral, subordinate and superior HQs. Such decisions may affect the commitment of the command within NATO to a course of action

Essential Qualifications / Experience:

  • University Degree  in operations research, military operations research, mathematics, statistics or related numerate discipline, computer science or related discipline  and 4 years post related experience, or Higher Secondary education and completed advanced vocational training  in that discipline leading to a professional qualification or professional accreditation with 5 years post related and 2 years function related experience.
  • 5 years’ experience (depending on educational background/degrees) in the application of Operations Research, Operational Analysis, Business Analysis or related techniques in a military environment.
  • Several years’ practical experience of managing projects concerned with the conduct of studies that address the impact of military capability change.
  • Expertise in applying analytical methods to defence domain issues. Methods may include: war gaming, computer modelling and simulation, mathematical modelling, optimization techniques, process mapping, and soft systems methods or social science techniques.
  • Several years’ practical experience in leading and developing teams of specialist personnel within a research environment.
  • Several years’ experience of working with senior staff to determine their Operational Analysis requirements, scoping their problems for study, developing analysis plans, and delivering high quality outputs that influence senior decision makers.
  • Understanding of analysis conducted in national and international organisations, such as defence research laboratories, academic institutions and defence ministries.
  • Experienced in interpreting information on future trends in order to measure their effect on military capability and technology.
  • Recent technical project experience in a government, international or industrial organization with responsibilities related to Operations Research.
  • Proven ability to communicate effectively orally and in writing with good briefing skills.

Language:

  • English – SLP 3333 - (Listening, Speaking, Reading and Writing)

Desirable Qualifications / Experience:

  • Domain expertise related to the Section's responsibilities, in this instance Risk Analysis.
  • Experience in the management and conduct of Research and Technology programmes.
  • Experience in instructing or teaching analytical methods.
  • Experience in leading and facilitating workshops.
  • Qualification in Project Management.
  • Experience of working within a Military or National Headquarters.
  • Experience of working in a joint military environment.
  • Experience of working in a multinational environment

Attributes/Competencies:

Personal Attributes:

Personal qualities of tact, judgement and adaptability. Good political awareness and motivational and listening skills. A sense of diplomacy and propriety is needed in order to work harmoniously with colleagues and other staff, both civilian and military, from NATO and the NATO nations. Possess the ability to think at an aggregated level. Able to work effectively without assistance in guiding team activities. Must be in good health and be prepared to travel within and outside the United States in support of the listed duties.

Professional Contacts:

Able to liaise effectively both within and outside the HQ with international military and civilian personnel up to the rank/position equivalent to OF-5. Outside contacts include staff officers and scientific staff in NATO HQ, NATO agencies and research centres, and national government agencies and industry.

Contribution To Objectives:

The incumbent provides supporting analytical advice to HQ SACT staff who develop policy and agree future activities in support of Defence Planning. He/She has a strong influence on the way in which NATO's future capabilities are identified and solutions are implemented. The success of the development of cost-effective options is fundamental to the effort of Transformation as it provides the Alliance the necessary means to progress improvements within the nations in order to meet NATO’s present and future missions

Security Clearance

The successful applicant will be required to apply for and receive a NATO SECRET Security Clearance prior to final confirmation of contract and commencement of employment.

Contract

Serving NATO International Civilian staff will be offered a contract in accordance with the NATO Civilian Personnel Regulations.  Newly recruited staff will be offered a three year definite duration contract.

Notes for Candidates

The HQ SACT web site gives full details on the eligibility criteria and application processes to be adopted by all candidates.  However, candidates should particularly note:

Please answer each of the pre-screening questions completely in English. Expressions such as: “please see attached CV, please see annex, please see enclosed document, etc” are not acceptable; this is a cause of immediate rejection of the application.

Particular attention should be given to Education and Experience section of your application form, which should be populated with details of your career to date and educational achievements and certifications as they relate to your application.

The candidature of NATO redundant staff at grade G17 will be considered with priority.

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.

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.

This vacancy will close on 29 April 2026 @ 17:59hrs (EDT)/11:59hrs (CEST).

At Impactpool we do our best to provide you the most accurate info, but closing dates may be wrong on our site. Please check on the recruiting organization's page for the exact info. Candidates are responsible for complying with deadlines and are encouraged to submit applications well ahead.
Before applying, please make sure that you have read the requirements for the position and that you qualify. Applications from non-qualifying applicants will most likely be discarded by the recruiting manager.