Vulnerability Management 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 - C005337  

Role Duties and Responsibilities   

• Perform security assessment and technical analysis, including but not limited to: 

• Analyse the results of the vulnerability assessments on a weekly basis; 

• Prepare, for every assessment report, a remediation plan and provide it to the appropriate technical point of contact; 

• Interpret complex technical findings and provide remediation support to system administrators; 

• Assess the technical impact of the vulnerabilities in order to prioritise remediation; 

• Provide technical guidance, on a weekly basis, on the hardening measures required at operating system, database and network level. 

• Build and maintain the vulnerability data architecture and visualisation ecosystem, including but not limited to: 

• Design, build and maintain a relational database or structured data repository aggregating raw vulnerability scan data from the various sources; 

• Automate the ingestion of scan results into the central database (data pipeline); 

• Develop and maintain dynamic dashboards, using data visualisation and analytics platform such as Power BI or Grafana; 

• Create visualisations for vulnerability metrics supporting operational and management reporting; 

• Maintain and update the database and the dashboards on a weekly basis. 

• Perform remediation tracking and site coordination, including but not limited to: 

• Act as the technical point of contact for remediation towards site administrators and system owners; 

• Monitor and maintain the tracking of remediation activities; 

• Produce weekly and monthly reports for the various stakeholders; 

• Chair technical coordination meetings with site administrators to resolve remediation roadblocks. 

• Execute coordination and information gathering activities within NCSC, NCIA and with stakeholders in support of the above activities and provide at the end of the period of performance a closure report summarising at high level the activities carried out. 

Essential Skills, Experience and Certifications  

Experience: 

• At least 5 years of practical experience in vulnerability management, with proven experience within the last 6 months; 

• At least 3 years of experience in testing and validating that contracted deliveries meet the security requirements and fulfil the intended use cases; 

• General knowledge of cyber security principles, best practices, concepts and technology; 

• Knowledge of cyber security architectures, including boundary protection, encryption, identity and access management, monitoring and detection, incident response, vulnerability assessments and risk management; 

• Practical experience with vulnerability scanners and their output formats, such as Tenable Nessus, Qualys or OpenVAS; 

• Demonstrated experience in building and operating data repositories and reporting pipelines for large volumes of security scan data. 

Skills: 

• Database skills: proficiency in SQL (e.g. PostgreSQL, MS SQL) for data modelling, querying and storing large datasets of scan results; 

• BI tools: advanced proficiency in Microsoft Power BI (data modelling, DAX) OR Grafana (connecting to SQL data sources, visualising time-series data); 

• Scripting proficiency in Python (Pandas/NumPy) or PowerShell for parsing scan logs and automating data entry; 

• Ability to take ownership of tasks and strong motivation to accomplish them to the end, working both independently and within a team; 

• Very good communication, analytical and writing skills; 

• Language proficiency in English: meet or exceed the NATO STANAG 6001 Level 3 "Professional Proficiency". 

• Training/certifications: 

• Relevant certifications in cyber security, such as Certified Information Security Manager (CISM), Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) or GIAC Security certifications; 

• Relevant certifications in data analytics or business intelligence, such as Microsoft Power BI Data Analyst Associate (PL-300) or Grafana Certified Professional, are an advantage. 

Desirable Experience: 

• Familiarity with NATO security policy and supporting directives; 

• Experience in working for or supporting a military or governmental organization. 

Education: 

• A minimum requirement of a bachelor's degree at a nationally recognised/certified University in a related discipline and 3 years post-related experience; 

• Or exceptionally, the lack of a university degree may be compensated by the demonstration of a candidate's particular abilities or experience that is/are of interest to NCIA, that is, at least 10 years extensive and progressive expertise in duties related to those in this Statement of Work. 

Working Location  

• Mons, Belgium 

Working Policy  

• On-site 

Travel  

• Travel may be required to travel to NATO/NCIA locations, principally in Brussels, to attend meetings with stakeholders. Such travel is expected to occur no more than once per month, for a total not to exceed 12 meetings per year. 

• Each travel will be a maximum of 2 days in length. 

Security Clearance  

• Valid National or NATO Secret personal security clearance