Our Requirement:
Title: Staff Officer (Data Scientist) – NATO 2030
NATO International Civilian Grade: 15
Duty Location: Brunssum, The Netherlands
Requirement filling date: as soon as possible
Closing date for applications: 26 July 2026
Our organisation
Joint Force Command Brunssum (JFCBS) provides a Joint headquarters to plan, prepare and conduct operations to support NATO’s core tasks, at the Joint Operational level, as directed by SACEUR. The Operations Directorate is responsible for directing, monitoring, coordinating and assessing operational functions and advising the Chief of Staff (COS) regarding all regionally focused operational activities. The J3 Division is responsible to Operations Director for the implementation and oversight of operational plans, procedures and techniques to ensure effective Command & Control (C2) of assigned forces in Baseline Activities and Current Operations (BACO) through Crisis up to Maximum Level Effort (MLE). The J3/3 Current Operations Branch provides 24/7 situational awareness by exploiting available operational information and current intelligence to aid timely decisions and effective Command & Control (C2) from Baseline Activities and Current Operations (BACO) to Conflict.
The incumbent develops and manages data integration pipelines from various NATO data sources; to include databases, Application Programming Interface (API), and third-party data providers; into the NATO Maven Smart System (MSS) in support of the planning and execution of JFCBS Operations.
The main duties of Staff Officer (Data Scientist) are to:
üSupport the development of data utilization projects through deep engagement with JFCBS Divisions, identifying relevant user problems and operational workflow degradations. Work independently and/or with NATO MSS Engineers to create applications in order to better support JFCBS personnel's operational workflow. Build and maintain the Decision Advantage Environment (DAE) briefing tool within NATO-MSS.
üEnsure efficient data retrieval and augmentation processes to support Large Language Model (LLM) training and inference. Collaborate with NATO MSS Engineers to optimize data pipelines for LLM performance and accuracy.
üDevelop and maintain semantic and ontology data layers to enhance data integration and retrieval. Ensure data is semantically enriched to support advanced analytics and machine learning models.
üImplement data quality checks and validation processes to ensure data accuracy and reliability from various NATO sources. Adhere to data governance policies and best practice.
üMonitor and optimize the performance of data pipelines and infrastructure. Troubleshoot and resolve data-related issues in a timely manner.
üCreate and maintain comprehensive documentation of data pipelines, processes, and infrastructure. Ensure knowledge transfer and continuity within the team.
The incumbent may be required to undertake deployments in support of military operations and exercises, and/or TDY assignments, both within and without NATO boundaries. Such operational deployment may exceed 30 days duration up to 183 days in any period of 547 days and may be on short notice. For NATO International Civilian Staff, acceptance of an employment contract linked to this post constitutes agreement to deploy in excess of 30 days if required.
Required Qualifications are:
ØEnglish – good – NATO Standard Language Proficiency 3333.
(Listening, Speaking, Reading and Writing) in accordance with NATO standard agreement (STANAG) 6001.
NOTE: The work both oral and written in this post and in this Headquarters as a whole is conducted mainly in English.
ØUniversity Degree or equivalent in relevant field / discipline.
(equivalent is Higher Secondary Education AND completed advanced vocational training in relevant field leading to a professional certification or accreditation).
ØMinimum 12 months of hands-on professional experience working with enterprise data operating systems such as Palantir Foundry.
ØMinimum 2 years of professional experience managing enterprise data within digital transformation and data analytics initiatives.
ØMinimum 2 years professional experience using generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) frameworks, Natural Language Processing (NLP) libraries, and/or retrieval-based solutions (e.g., LLMs, Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG) workflows).
Desirable Qualifications are:
ØProficiency in Python or equivalent coding discipline.
ØExperience with SQL and NoSQL databases (e.g., MySQL, PostgreSQL, MongoDB).
ØExperience with data pipelines for LLM workflows, including data retrieval, augmentation and optimisation.
ØExperience with semantic and ontology data layers and their application in data integration and retrieval.
ØExperience writing and maintaining coding and software documentation.
ØCompletion of relevant courses/training.
The successful candidate possesses following personal attributes:
üExcellent communication skills, both oral and written - able to communicate at all levels;
üGood interpersonal skills including tact and diplomacy;
üAbility to collaborate and work with different stakeholders.
The successful selected candidate must be able to obtain and maintain a security clearance and is required to pass a medical examination before an employment contract offer will be released. The medical examination will take place with our medical consultant, is required to determine if the recommended candidate is fit to perform the duties and is deployable to NATO's areas of operation.
This requirement is in support of the NATO 2030 agenda.
The successful candidate will be offered a 3-year definite duration contract as NATO International Civilian (NIC); remuneration will be exempt from taxation and allowances will be applied whenever applicable.
For serving NATO international Civilians: contract will be offered in accordance with the NATO Civilian Personnel Regulations and the additional Nations’ guidance (MCM-0061-2023 for NATO 2030 Project Linked NICs). The selected staff member will get a definite duration contract regardless of the current contract, with the exception of the case when they have more than 10 years of service, in which case they will receive an indefinite duration contract.
Due date for receipt of applications: Sunday 26 July 2026, 23:59.
Candidates have to apply electronically in NATO Talent Acquisition Program:
https://nato.taleo.net/careersection/2/jobsearch.ftl?lang=en
IMPORTANT:
Please be aware that a Selection Board will only assess the information provided in the job submission form including the answers to the pre-screening questions and description of your work experiences. Your answers must be comprehensive and stand alone; do not rely on attached documents for essential information (Attachments are supporting documents and should not be referred to in the job submission). For example, if a pre-selection question asks you to justify how you meet the minimum experience requirement, you must explicitly detail in the answer box how your experience directly aligns with, or exceeds, the stated requirement. Simply stating you meet the requirement is insufficient; provide concrete examples and quantifiable details. These experiences should also be included in the description of your work experiences.
Only candidates meeting ALL essential required qualifications will be considered and be assessed in competition with other candidates.
Please note that 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.