1. Post Context/Post Summary
Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE) is the strategic level command responsible for the planning, preparation, conduct and execution of NATO operations, missions, activities and tasks as directed by Council in order to achieve the strategic objectives of the Alliance.
The Command Group (CG) provides direction, guidance and leadership to perform core functions and achieve objectives, setting procedures and maintaining standards, whilst providing coordination aligned to delivery of the mission.
The Office of the Chief of Staff (OCOS) advises SACEUR/DSACEUR and synchronises SACEUR’s guidance across the Headquarters, ensuring that all functions are executed in alignment with SACEUR’s priorities.
The Office of Organisational Advisory and Change Management (OACM) provides a holistic, cross-functional, objective analysis and advisory capacity, as well as a HQ organisational change, project and programme management capability. It provides oversight and an assurance capability to ensure that the necessary management functions are developed and implemented to support business continuity, internal control and data protection.
The NATO Senior Mentor OPR / Programme Officer is responsible for planning Senior Mentor support to operations planning, education, training and exercises. He/ she provides the statements of work for each Senior Mentor, in addition to planning their travel and accommodation, and managing the budget.
2. Principal Duties
- Oversee day-to-day management of the Programme and assist with information sharing and overall planning matters for the Office and senior Programme management.
- In collaboration with relevant offices, participate and give advice toward the shaping of various administrative, Human Resources (HR) and Information, Communication and Technology (ICT) related matters and integrate them into future plans.
- Manage the recruiting and selection of applications for the Programme. Provide preliminary analysis and advice to DSACEUR and COS SHAPE to support mentor selection.
- Provide advice and guidance on the role, rotation and employment of mentors in conjunction with the LSM.
- Contribute to the structure and development of policy efforts for the Programme.
- Coordinate internal policy matters and initiatives in collaboration with relevant SHAPE Branches and contacts.
- Advise the DSACEUR and COS SHAPE on policy, suggesting potential opportunities for development and areas of overlap.
- Take onboard the full range of management issues for the Programme, in coordination with the SHAPE Directorate and Offices and ACO / ACT Agencies as relevant.
- Represent the Programme at meetings and carry out appropriate liaison with other Directorates, Divisions, Branches and other NATO authorities, as necessary.
- Facilitate dialogue and communicate on a daily basis with NATO mentors and resolve issues for the Programme, informing key staff on a variety of management and development issues.
- Serve as Programmes central point of contact for all elements concerning the employment, selection and management of NATO mentors.
- Ensure the proper application of NATO procedures and processes within the Programme.
- Facilitate and enable information and data sharing.
- Identify relevant topics and implement standard methods and regular maintenance to ensure accurate and accessible information.
- Work with the Fund Manager and Budget Officer in the timely preparation, execution and follow-up of the Programme budget allocations in accordance with existing practice and budgeting procedures.
- Guide and oversee the work of the Assistant and any staff supporting the Programme. Provide them mentoring, coaching and training opportunities and provide regular feedback on performance.
- Recommend opportunities to improve staff performance, motivation, development, and engagement.
- Provide content for and bring tasks to management meetings and annual conference.
- Review and prepare correspondence, documents or reports on problems or questions on matters with which the Programme is concerned, in coordination with the relevant offices.
- Ensure that knowledge is maintained and available.
- Monitor compliance and progress of all tasks issued by the DSACEUR, the LSM, SEC Head and the SHAPE Command Group.
- Follow-up to ensure deadlines are met and proper directions are obtained.
- Perform any other related duty as assigned.
3. Special Requirements and Additional Duties
The employee may be required to perform a similar range of duties elsewhere within the organisation at the same grade without there being any change to the contract.
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.
4. Essential Qualifications
a. Professional Experience
• Have at least 2 years’ relevant professional military experience in national and multinational operations, planning and training;
• Possess relevant experience in policy, administration and/or financial management;
• Possess relevant experience in prioritising, multi-tasking and in dealing with a large amount of issues and tasks;
• Have at least 2 years’ experience in managing, co-coordinating and engaging a team;
• Have strong written and oral communication skills, including the ability to draft and edit documents for a senior audience;
• Have a good knowledge of various software packages, in particular the Microsoft Office suite and Microsoft SharePoint or similar (training in specific NATO systems will be provided, as necessary).
b. Education/Training
University Degree in business administration, economics, public administration, operations research, business process engineering or related discipline and 2 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 4 years post related and 2 years function related experience.
In case of ambiguity the required job specific experience has priority over the standard education and training levels and experience described here.
c. Language
English - SLP 3333 - (Listening, Speaking, Reading and Writing)
5. Desirable Qualifications
a. Professional Experience
• Relevant professional experience in NATO positions with a focus on planning, operations and training;
• Programme and project management expertise in public/private sector environments;
• Experience of working in a major international organisation or international environment;
• A good understanding of the complex issues relating to defence industrial production, interoperability, and innovation, particularly from a NATO perspective;
• Knowledge of NATO structure, practices and procedures.
6. Attributes/Competencies
• Professional Contacts: The incumbent will be expected to control his/ her own work priorities and due to the pivotal coordination function of this post will also affect the direction and work priorities of the Branch. The post is intrinsically involved in directing, planning and co-ordination with many external interlocutors. The incumbent must have excellent tact and diplomacy as he will negotiate with subordinate commands as well as nations/partners in the development of exercise plans, requiring considerable briefing skills in order to persuade and gain consensus. He is required to brief and staff complex issues up to four-star Flag & General officer level on a routine basis, and to interact on a daily basis with Flag & General Officers.
• Contribution To Objectives: The work involves responsibility for analysis and research affecting major exercises and tasks affecting plans and organisation of the Division.
The incumbent will be required to make decisions obligating financial resources.
The work of the incumbent significantly impacts both directly and indirectly the outputs and objectives of SHAPE.
The incumbents’ subject matter expertise on Education, Training, Exercise and Evaluation development will guide and direct the objectives of numerous products and supporting areas both within and outside the command.
REMARKS:
Duration of contract: Serving staff members will be offered a contract according to the NATO Civilian Personnel Regulations (NCPR). Newly recruited staff will be offered a definite duration contract of three years normally followed by an indefinite duration contract.
The salary will be the basic entry-level monthly salary defined by the NATO Grade of the post, which may be augmented by allowances based on the selected staff member’s eligibility, and which is subject to the withholding of approximately 20% for pension and medical insurance contributions.
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.
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.
Applicants who prove to be competent for the post but who are not successful in this competition may be offered an appointment in another post of a similar nature, which might become vacant in the near future, albeit at the same or lower grade, provided they meet the necessary requirements.
We believe that all people are capable of great things. Because of this, we encourage you to apply even if you do not meet all of the criteria listed within this job description.
HOW TO APPLY FOR A NATO CIVILIAN POST AT SHAPE:
Applications are to be submitted using NATO Talent Acquisition Platform (NTAP) (https://nato.taleo.net/careersection/2/jobsearch.ftl?lang-en). Applications submitted by other means (e.g. mail, e-mail, fax, etc) are not accepted.
Shortlisted candidates will be requested to provide original documentary evidence and a set of copies supporting statements in their applications. Appointment is subject to obtaining a NS security clearance and a medical certificate.
Remarks:
a) Only nationals from the 32 NATO member states can apply for vacancies at SHAPE.
b) Applications are automatically acknowledged within one working day after submission. In the absence of an acknowledgement please make sure the submission process is completed, or, re-submit the application.
c) Qualified redundant staff of the same grade interested in this post should inform this office, via their HR/Personnel Office by not later than vacancy’s closing date.
d) 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.