Network Engineer

Spektrum supports apex purchasers (NATO, UN, EU, and National Government and Defence) and their Tier 1 supplier ecosystem with a wide range of specialist services. We provide our clients with professional services, specialised aerospace and defence sales, delivery, and operational subject matter expertise. We are looking for personnel to join our team and support key client projects.

Who we are supporting 

The NATO Communication and Information Agency (NCIA) is responsible for providing secure and effective communications and information technology (IT) services to NATO's member countries and its partners. The agency was established in 2012 and is headquartered in Brussels, Belgium.

The NCIA provides a wide range of services, including:

• Cyber Security: The NCIA provides advanced cybersecurity solutions to protect NATO's communication networks and information systems against cyber threats.


• Command and Control Systems: The NCIA develops and maintains the systems used by NATO's military commanders to plan and execute operations.


• Satellite Communications: The NCIA provides satellite communications services to enable secure and reliable communications between NATO forces.


• Electronic Warfare: The NCIA provides electronic warfare services to support NATO's mission to detect, deny, and defeat threats to its communication networks.


• Information Management: The NCIA manages NATO's information technology infrastructure, including its databases, applications, and servers.

Overall, the NCIA plays a critical role in ensuring the security and effectiveness of NATO's communication and information technology capabilities.

The program

Assistance and Advisory Service (AAS)

The NATO Communications and Information Agency (NCI Agency) is NATO’s principal C3 capability deliverer and CIS service provider. It provides, maintains and defends the NATO enterprise-wide information technology infrastructure to enable Allies to consult together under Article IV, and, when required, stand together in the face of attack under Article V.

To provide these critical services, in the modern evolving dynamic environment the NCI Agency needs to build and maintain high performance-engaged workforce. The NCI Agency workforce strategically consists of three major categorise's: NATO International Civilians (NIC)'s, Military (Mil), and Interim Workforce Consultants (IWC)'s. The IWCs are a critical part of the overall NCI Agency workforce and make up approximately 15 percent of the total workforce.

Role ID – 2024-0280

Role Background

The NATO Communications and Information Agency (NCI Agency) is dedicated to acquiring, deploying, and defending communication systems for NATO’s political decision-makers and Commands. It operates on the frontlines against cyber-attacks, collaborating closely with governments and industry to prevent future debilitating attacks. The NCI Agency plays a crucial role in maintaining NATO’s technological edge and ensuring the collective defence and crisis management capabilities of the Alliance. In pursuit of our mission, we require specialized advisory services to enhance our interim workforce capacity

NCSC is looking for a contractor to support the work of Enable Branch: to ensure the availability, performance, and security of NATO’s data and communication networks across multiple sites. Focus will be on delivering key networking solutions and providing technical expertise in compliance with NATO’s operational requirements and security standards

The project envisions a highly secure, efficient, and reliable network infrastructure capable of supporting the organization’s current and future operational needs. Expected benefits:

• Enhanced network performance, with reduced downtime and faster data transmission speeds.


• Improved network security, significantly reducing vulnerability to cyberattacks and data breaches.


• Increased scalability of the network, allowing for seamless integration of new technologies and expansion of operations.


• Greater operational efficiency and user satisfaction, resulting from consistent and reliable network connectivity2

Role Duties and Responsibilities

• Network Infrastructure Design: Guidance on designing and optimizing the organization’s network architecture to ensure scalability, security, and reliability.


• Network Security: Advisory services on implementing advanced security protocols to safeguard data and protect against cybersecurity threats.


• Cloud Integration: Expert support in integrating cloud-based solutions with existing network infrastructure, ensuring seamless communication and data flow.


• Performance Optimization: Enhancing network performance by identifying and resolving bottlenecks, improving speed, and reducing latency.


• Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity Planning: Assistance in developing strategies for network redundancy and recovery in the event of outages or disasters.


• Network Automation and Monitoring: Implementation of automation tools for efficient network management, as well as real-time monitoring systems to ensure optimal performance and quick issue resolution

Incident management

• Continuously monitoring the incidents in the ITSM tools


• Analyze the incident and apply the troubleshooting process to find the root cause


• Create a fixing plan, test and implement the fixing solution


• Document the full process of incident management

Change management, implementation and design

• Provide impact analysis for area of responsibilities regarding the CR process


• Participate in change management weekly meetings if required (eg TRB) and other ad hoc meetings to provide technical support from design and implementation perspective to the change management board


• Prioritize and implement the approved CR in sync with team activities and priorities


• If is required, he will create design documents or update the current SIS / design documents

Real-time Network Monitoring

• Continuously monitor the network assets, using existing tools, to identify any hardware, software, performance or security issues


• Once an issue is identified and some services are impacted, the issue will be tracked / documented in ITSM tools


• Create and implement a fixing plan


• If is the case, provide feedback for monitoring optimization

Maintenance

• Check and validate the hardware and software maintenance requirements for all managed assets


• Create hardware and software maintenance plan


• Perform the planned hardware and software maintenance


• Monitor the assets where the maintenance was done to identify any post maintenance issues or outages

Network and Security Assessment

• Perform Network and Security Assessments for a minimum 2 devices per week


• Highlight any vulnerabilities, misconfiguration or non-best-practice found


• Provide solutions to mitigate above issues or to perform a security hardening


• Test and implement the approved solutions

Essential Skills, Experience and Certifications

• Minimum 5 years of network and security design and implementation


• Minimum 5 years of experience of working with Cisco IOS and NXOS switches, routers, firewall and IPS


• Minimum 5 years of experience of working with Palo Alto and Juniper Firewalls and Threat Prevention Systems


• Minimum 5 years of experience of working with network management and monitoring tools (Panorama, Junos Space and SolarWinds)


• Minimum 5 years of experience of working with and network automation tools (Ansible and Python).


• Minimum 5 years of experience in a military or NATO environment with different level of network and information classification


• Experience of deploying and maintaining IEE 802.1X networks with cisco ISE, including device administration via TACACS/RADIUS and device posture and profiling


• a valid network design certification


• a valid certification on network or security technologies for Cisco, Juniper and Palo Alto. At least one should be expert level (CCIE or JNCIE) and one professional level (PNCSE, CCNP or JNCIP)

Education

• A bachelor degree from a nationally recognized or certified institution in a technical field

Desirable Skills and Experience and Education

• A master degree from a nationally recognized or certified institution in a technical field


• Experience of working with web proxies (eg Broadcom Proxies)


• Experience of working with VMware server virtualisation


• Experience of working with VMware NSX network virtualisation


• Experience of working with Linux servers


• Experience of working with Windows servers


• Any valid certification for above technologies or cybersecurity domain


• knowledge and basic experience of following cybersecurity tools: FPC & TAPs, OVA, OCF, SIEM (Splunk)

Working Location

• Mons, Belgium

Working Policy

• On-site

Travel

• Some travel to other NATO sites may be required

Security Clearance

• Valid National or NATO Top Secret personal security clearance