Chief Technician (Virtual Infrastructure)

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 - C005520 

  Role Duties and Responsibilities   

• As the Chief Technician, IWC play a pivotal role in supporting, contributing to, developing, and managing Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) and related systems (Microsoft and Linux OS). Your responsibilities span the entire lifecycle, including service operation, and project support and execution. Here are the key aspects of the role: 

 Daily Operations and Maintenance:  

• Guarantee seamless operation and upkeep of NISC IaaS Services, regardless of whether they are hosted on-premises, in private clouds, or public clouds. 
• Perform system administration tasks for other IaaS-related assigned systems. 

Troubleshooting and Issue Resolution:  

• Identify and troubleshoot issues promptly, assisting in their timely resolution. 

Change Management and Documentation:  

• Follow change management processes diligently. 
• Update network topology diagrams and the Configuration Management Database (CMDB) after installing new components or decommissioning old ones. 

Strategic Support and Coordination:  

• Provide advice and support to the IaaS Service Area Owner (SAO) and Service Delivery Managers (SDMs) throughout the entire capability lifecycle. 
• Foster close and coordinated ties with IaaS management to ensure harmonized efforts and synchronized outcomes across all activities. 

SLA Compliance and Process Development:  

• Monitor compliance with Service Level Agreements (SLAs). 
• Contribute to the development of processes, procedures (SOPs), and Standard Operating Instructions (SOIs) for IaaS services. 

Reporting and Communication:  

• Prepare reports, briefings, position papers, and presentations for senior management during project development and implementation phases. 

 Ad Hoc Responsibilities:  

• Undertake ad hoc tasks related to the NISC Business Area's responsibilities. 

 Availability and Flexibility:  

• Be prepared to work during scheduled maintenances, service- affecting activities, and contingency situations beyond regular business hours. 

• Be on-call after working hours on weekends if necessary. 

 Travel and Deployment:  

• Be ready to travel and work at various locations, including SHAPE/Mons, HQ Brussels, The Hague/Netherlands, or other Data Centers in NCIA's responsibility as required 

   

Essential Skills, Experience and Certifications  

• Higher vocational training in a relevant discipline with 4 years post-related experience. Or a secondary educational qualification with 6 years post-related experience; 

• Technical Expertise: 

• Practical proficiency in both on-premises and cloud technologies (both public and private). 

• Familiarity with the operations and standards of Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), including physical and virtual servers, VMware hypervisor, and storage devices. 

• Hands-on experience with virtualization using VMWare ESXi, blade and rack-mount servers, and Hyperconverged Infrastructure (vSAN). 

• Competence in working with Linux and Windows operating systems, including Active Directory (A.D.), hardening, and patching. 

• Deliver global Linux infrastructure support within the IaaS Platforms environment. 

• Manage the end-to-end lifecycle-provisioning, administration, and troubleshooting-of enterprise Linux environments (RHEL and Oracle Linux 8-10). 

• Resolve complex interoperability issues between Linux host systems and enterprise network storage solutions. 

• Design and maintain infrastructure-as-code and automation pipelines using Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform and Bash. 

• Manage global Linux fleets via Red Hat Satellite, streamlining server provisioning, configuration drift management, and software updates. 

• Execute global OS upgrades and end-to-end patch management, ensuring rigorous assessment, staging, and post-deployment validation. 

• Enforce security policies across the IaaS estate, ensuring strict adherence to defense-grade security controls and best practices. 

• Administer Linux security postures, including firewall rules, mandatory access controls, and security contexts to maintain zero- trust operational stability. 

• Manage the configuration and performance optimization of enterprise load-balancing solutions to guarantee high availability and optimal traffic distribution. 

• Practical experience in public and private cloud environments, covering IaaS, PaaS, SaaS, and cloud monitoring and optimization. 

• Collaboration and Communication: 

• Exceptional ability to function effectively within a team, provide IT support, and resolve technical issues. 

• Willingness to stay updated on advancements in IaaS technologies. 

• Documentation and Process Development: 

• Proficiency in documenting current designs and configurations. 

• Ability to create and maintain Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) and training materials. 

• Communication Skills: 

• Outstanding verbal and written communication skills. 

• Availability and Incident Response: 

• Willingness to respond to IaaS incidents even outside regular working hours. 

• Desirable Qualifications: 

• Certifications and Training: 

• Industry certifications related to virtualization, Linux operating systems, cloud, and containerization technologies. 

• Service Provisioning Experience: 

• Previous work experience in a service provisioning organization. 

• Understanding of NATO Responsibilities: 

• Familiarity with the responsibilities and structure of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
•  
• Working Location  

•  Mons, BE  

 Working Policy  

•  On-site 

Travel  

•  Some travels might be required 

Security Clearance  

•  NATO Cosmic Top Secret