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 Innovation Branch science and technological trends, and contributes to the development of innovative, cost-effective and interoperable capability solutions to current and anticipated capability shortfalls and priorities, thereby contributing to NATO’s military advantage against potential opponents.

The Project Initiator is to facilitate dialogue with the other branches. They will particularly be tasked with detecting problems that could be addressed through an innovative project and additionally managing these projects.

Principal Duties:

  • Support and contribute to the internal innovation network in HQ SACT in order to cultivate an innovation mindset within the HQ SACT. Support to Section Head of managing the internal innovation network.
  • Identify and analyze problems that could be addressed and solved through an innovative project. Identify projects inside and outside of HQ SACT which could be supported by the Innovation Branch to the benefit of NATO (problem detection).
  • Observe and analyze solution in the technology field and on the market (tech/market watch function) which are potential relevant for Problems of ACO, ACT in the areas of warfighting and warfare development. Distribute technology watch and market survey products. Detect opportunities to leverage solutions coming outside of NATO Command Structure, for example with Industry, Academia, national innovation facilities (opportunity detection).
  • Consult and support Branches in HQ SACT and Commands in ACT at the initiation of new projects. Identify solutions by the Innovation hub, industry engagement, Science and Technology, Modeling & Simulation, data science, and possibly prototype for the supported branch.
  • Transfer Problem Statements and possible solutions to a Project Proposal. Develop the format of such projects to fill the needs of user in NATO and the wide contribution of possible solutions from outside the NATO Command Structure. Organize project resources and personal involved in the project, including managing the finances and budget of the project.
  • Foster collaboration with research centers to exploit opportunities and potential innovation sprung from those entities Contribute to the solution development by leading, managing or participating in solution design and development projects in collaboration with Academia, industry and the public entities.
  • Ensure the coherence of the projects he/she manages with the user requirements and the capability development process.
  • Translate Capability Requirements into research, technology development and analysis effort requirements.
  • Assist in conducting Open Innovation events within ACT and across NATO, through supporting collaborative initiative such as workshops, demonstrations, innovation challenges or courses.
  • Promote and support his/her assigned projects, and related activities and events inside and outside ACT.
  • Execute tasks and duties as directed by the Section Head Matchmaking and OCAI or his superiors with regards to any other projects, activities, and outputs related to the Branch core tasks in the field of Science and Technology.

Essential Qualifications / Experience:

  • University Degree  in management information systems, accounting, economics, finance, business administration, public administration, operations research, project management or related discipline  and 2 years function related experience, or Higher Secondary education and completed advanced vocational training  in that discipline leading to a professional qualification or professional accreditation with 4 years post related experience.
  • Two years experience in the organization of and participation in S&T projects that are related to the assessment and development of military capabilities.
    Knowledge of S&T activities conducted in defence research laboratories, academic institutions, industry and/or government.
  • Knowledge of a wide variety of S&T applications to the military capabilities and related technologies.
  • Practical experience with PC office automation products.

Language:

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

Desirable Qualifications / Experience:

  • Multinational staff experience.
  • Participation in the management and conduct of science and technology applied to the military environment projects.
  • Basic accounting skills.

Attributes/Competencies:

Personal Attributes:

  • Personal integrity & sense of responsibility.
  • Professionalism and ability to structure, organize and prioritize work.
  • Ability to take initiative and to work independently.
  • Excellent analytical and problem-solving skills. Must be able to capture complex problems, breakdown thoughts and ideas to their individual elements, recognise connections between these elements, and provide verifiable descriptions of implications.
  • Ability to work under time pressure and deal with multiple tasks simultaneously.
  • Excellent oral and written communication skills. Ability to work harmoniously and communicate strongly and coordinate in the diverse international environment – horizontally and vertically.
  • Must be able to mediate amongst stakeholders and resolve conflicting points of view to achieve solutions.
  • Must be a strong negotiator able to construct common learning processes within a group.

Managerial Responsibilities:

  • Responsible for daily work priority setting and results of work may affect higher level work prioritization. Work involves synchronization with other work strands and cross-functional planning.

Professional Contacts:

  • The incumbent must develop and maintain professional contacts across the Command and externally on functional matters.  Must be able to liaise effectively both within and outside the HQ with military and civilian personnel. Must be adept at relationship building, negotiation and conflict resolution to achieve results.

Contribution To Objectives:

  • The incumbent provides essential input to the identification of innovative solutions to meet capability requirements to enable the execution of the capability delivery process in NATO. The incumbent has experience/knowledge of requirements and the application of innovation techniques and S&T to meet those requirements. The delivery of the incumbent’s outputs directly impacts SACT’s ability to meet strategic intent.

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 G15 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 23 November 2026 @ 17:59hrs (EST)/11:59hrs (CET).

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.