IT Systems Design & Architecture Specialist

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 – 2026-0044

Role Background

The NATO Information and Communication Agency (NCIA) is engaged in the development, implementation, and testing of secure protocols that form part of the Command and Control (C2) information exchange specifications for NATO.

In support of these activities, the Command and Control Centre requires the provision of an experienced Secure Protocols Designer/Implementer (hereafter referred to as the “Contractor”) to deliver defined technical outputs and associated documentation in accordance with the agreed scope, quality standards, and timelines.

Specifically, the Contractor shall be integrated within the project teams responsible for the design, documentation, development, and testing of security-enabled communication protocols and their associated software implementations.

Under the overall supervision of the Project Manager (PM) and the technical direction of the Project’s Technical Leader, the Contractor shall contribute to the development, refinement, and maintenance of security profiles for designated NATO standards. The Contractor shall also support the planning, preparation, execution, and assessment of validation and interoperability events.

Role Duties and Responsibilities

Deliverables

D01

Q3:

• Drafted proposal of security profile appendix for the near-real time protocol of the Future FFT standard (ADatP-36) indicating the architectural and the operational aspects together with the process and procedure for the services configuration and validation
• Analysed and report of the level of compliance of the of the standards with the NATO Data Centric Security (DCS) requirements

Q4:

• Plan, execute and document validation tests event for the ADatP-36 security together with NATO nations that has been identified during CWIX2026 event.
• Amended the security profile appendix for the FFT standard (ADatP-36(C)) accommodating any problem identified during the validation event.
• Performed related activity within this scope as deemed appropriate and required to establish the deliverable

D02:

Q3:

• Reviewed the security profile appendix for the STANAG 5659 identifying issues and fragilities and providing solution in line with the NATO Data Centric Security (DCS) policies
• Analysed and produced report of the level of compliance of the of the standards with the NATO Data Centric Security (DCS) requirements
• Amended the security profile appendix of the STANAG 5659 accommodating any problem identified during the internally agreed validation event

Q4:

• Performed related activity within this scope as deemed appropriate and required to establish the deliverable
• Produced final analysis and report of the level of compliance of the of the STANAG 5659 with the NATO Data Centric Security (DCS) requirements

D03:

Q3:

• Updated the services composing the DISG in line with the security profile defined for the ADAtP-36 and STANAG 5659.
• Designed, documented and deployed the infrastructure needed to test the DISG functionalities in conjunction with the STANAG 5659 and the ADAtP-36 standards on NATO NSF network.
• Planned and executed DISG test risk reduction event (On site in NCIA or from remote)

D04:

Q3:

• FFT simulator service maintenance (Apply the changes and resolve the issues described in JIRA). This include the extention the functionalities in compliance with the updated FFT ADatP-36(B) and ADatP-36(C)) (Issues and improvements as described in JIRA)
• Validation and test of the FFT simulator at an internal agreed validation event.

Q4:

• Creation of the related change request and issue list in JIRA

Essential Skills, Experience and Certifications

• At least 1 year of proven experience in the redaction of NATO standards
• At least 1 year of proven experience in the design and test of secure message exchange protocols
• At least 1 year of proven knowledge of, and practical experience in, the operational or technical use of FFT systems supported by NCIA
• At least 1 year of proven experience with the NATO Data-centric Security concept application
• At least 1 year of practical experience in the area of computer networks and messaging security, including DNS, domains, PKI certificates, network designs, OAuth, OpenID
• At least 1 year of practical experience in, modern test engineering and test management methods and paradigms
• At least 1 year of proven up-to-date knowledge of computer system architectures, systems security, client/server, LAN/WAN and network concepts, test techniques, Database Management Systems (DBMS) and data management concepts
• At least 1 year of proven recent experience in planning and execution of validation activities within largescale C2 exercises
• At least 2 year of programming experience in JAVA, JAVA Scripts, Angular, Python
• At least 1 year of proven recent experience with XML and JSON technologies
• Staff provided by the Contractor must have the nationality of one of the NATO nations
• Experience working in the NATO Software Factory (NSF)
• Experience working with STANAGS 4774 and 4778
• Knowledge of NATO FFT, COT, JDSS, NCDF and other military or civilian interoperability standards for messaging and data exchange related to FFT

Language

• Staff provided by the Contractor must have an excellent command of spoken and written English

Desirable Skills, Experience and Certifications

• Experience supporting a recent NATO Interoperability exercises
• Experience interpreting and/or capturing business and user requirements through use cases and developing test cases accordingly;

Desirable Education

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Technology or a closely related engineering field

Working Location

• The Hague, Netherlands

Working Policy

• Offsite

Travel

• Some travel to other NATO sites may be required

Security Clearance

• Valid National or NATO Secret personal security clearance