1. SUMMARY
The Defence Industry, Innovation and Armaments Division (D2IA) leads on the rapid development and delivery of cutting-edge and interoperable defence capabilities, working with innovation ecosystems and industry across the Alliance to meet NATO’s deterrence and defence needs.
Within the Innovation Directorate, the Head, Innovation Policy and Ecosystems is responsible for shaping and coordinating NATO’s overall approach to innovation by identifying and exploring new technologies of highest priority and impact for the Alliance and the tools required to deliver change, in close collaboration with innovation ecosystems across the Alliance.
KEY CHALLENGES
As defence innovation becomes an increasingly decisive factor on the modern battlefield, NATO must continue strengthening its ability to identify, mature and integrate innovation and emerging and disruptive technologies (EDT) into planning and capabilities. This will support the efforts to maintain the Alliance’s technological edge and to strengthen its deterrence and defence. In this context, the incumbent will play a central role in addressing the following three challenges:
1. Continuously align innovation efforts with NATO capability targets and operational requirements, in particular by leveraging technologies that are commercially available today while fostering the development of future technologies;
2. Accelerate the transition of EDTs from identification and experimentation to scalable and sustainable operational deployment; and
3. Foster the growth and facilitate the integration of non-traditional defence suppliers, including startups and SME, in the defence industrial base to increase its capacity and resilience.
As part of this application, you are kindly requested to attach a MS Word document summarizing your views on these 3 key challenges and explain how you would address them if selected for the position. Please limit yourself to maximum 2 x A4 page in total.
2. QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE
The incumbent must:
• possess a university degree in the field of technology, innovation, international security, business administration, or another relevant field;
• have at least 8 years of experience in progressively responsible positions in the field of defence innovation policy and/ or EDT areas, including financing innovation, out of which at least 5 years in team management and coordination;
• be conversant with the Alliance’s political and military consultative processes, and key security policy issues on its agenda, especially those related to EDT and innovation;
• have experience in developing, delivering and coordinating complex policies and strategic initiatives, as well as managing multi-stakeholder groups and engagements; and
• possess the following minimum levels of NATO’s official languages (English/French): V (“Advanced”) in one; II (“Elementary”) in the other.
The following would be considered an advantage:
• have experience in a similar position with a focus on technology and/or innovation, including working experience with academia, government institutions in NATO member countries; and
• have a higher level than II ("Elementary") in the other official NATO languages.
3. MAIN ACCOUNTABILITIES
Vision and Direction: Ensure that the section meets its objectives through successful preparation and execution of policies, projects and programmes with regards to innovation and EDTs. Coordinate the development and delivery of relevant policies and strategies. Establish resilient and robust working relationships with key stakeholders, including NATO’s Strategic Commands, the Defence Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic (DIANA), and NATO’s Science and Technology Organization.
People Management: Manage and oversee the staff of the Innovation Policy and Ecosystems Section and act as a role model of inclusive leadership, promoting resilience, flexibility and innovation. Promote transparency in decision-making, equal access to opportunities for all staff and ensure that all staff under their responsibility are clear on organisational and divisional objectives. Provide regular and fair feedback on performance, informally as appropriate and via the HQ Achievement and Development (ADP) system.
Project Management: Plan, manage and ensure financial accountability for the budget of the assigned funds. Provide input into Medium-Term Financial Plans (MTFP). Provide advice and recommendations on the responsible use of data science and AI for defence and security. Support decision makers in understanding the opportunities and risks of these technologies to support political and operational decision making. Prepare briefing materials for the Office of the Secretary General (OSG), North Atlantic Council (NAC), Committees and other high-level officials, and write speeches and articles in their area of expertise.
Representation of the Organization: Represent NATO at international conferences, seminars and workshops. Organise, prepare and give presentations to senior government official, academia, industry. In close association with the OSG, organise seminars, exercises and consultations involving the NAC as appropriate.
Perform any other related duty as assigned.
4. INTERRELATIONSHIPS
Reporting Line: The Head, Innovation Policy and Ecosystems reports to the Director, Innovation.
Interactions: The incumbent works closely with stakeholders in other Divisions, NATO Military Authorities, and NATO Agencies, as well as with national delegations, officials in Allies and NATO partner countries. They also maintain good working relations within their field of competence, with other International Organisations.
Direct reports: 6
Indirect reports: N/A
5. COMPETENCIES
The incumbent must demonstrate:
• Achievement: sets and works to meet challenging goals.
• Change Leadership: personally leads change.
• Conceptual Thinking: clarifies complex data or situations.
• Developing Others: provides in-depth mentoring, coaching and training.
• Impact and Influence: uses indirect influence.
• Initiative: plans and acts for the long-term.
• Leadership: positions self as the leader.
• Organizational Awareness: understands organisational politics.
• Self-Control: stays composed and positive even under extreme pressure
6. CONTRACT
Contract to be offered to the successful applicant (if non-seconded): Definite duration contract of three years; possibility of renewal for up to three years, during which the incumbent may apply for conversion to an indefinite duration contract.
Contract clause applicable:
In accordance with the contract policy, this is a post in which turnover is desirable for political reasons in order to be able to accommodate the Organisation's need to carry out its tasks as mandated by the Nations in a changing environment, for example by maintaining the flexibility necessary to shape the Organisation's skills profile, and to ensure appropriate international diversity.
The maximum period of service foreseen in this post is 6 years. The successful applicant will be offered a 3-year definite duration contract, which may be renewed for a further period of up to 3 years. However, according to the procedure described in the contract policy the incumbent may apply for conversion to an indefinite contract during the period of renewal and no later than one year before the end of 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 also 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 Régulations.
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
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When submitting your application, please ensure that your Taleo Candidate Profile is updated and that your CV is correctly uploaded in the Taleo attachments section.
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Please note that the competition for this post is provisionally scheduled as follows:
Pre-selection testing beginning of Aug 2026;
Final selection beginning of October 2026 on-site in Brussels, Belgium.
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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 reference documents without proper quotes (plagiarism), or any tools available on internet, including but not limited to translation facilities, or generative artificial-intelligence (AI) 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 tools will be rejected without further consideration, 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.