Who we are

For 75 years, NATO’s mission has been to preserve peace and security in the Alliance for nearly one billion citizens. The NATO Communications and Information Agency (NCIA) and its predecessors have worked tirelessly in providing the means that enable the connectedness and togetherness that keep our Alliance strong. We are the NCIA, a team of 3000 civilian and military staff in 29 locations throughout Europe, North America and Asia.

Our technology and cyber experts allow NATO to conduct critical operations, protect NATO’s airspace, make data-driven decisions, defend against cyber-attacks, secure NATO networks and maintain superiority in space. This is all possible because of our greatest force, our people. In order to keep this edge we aim to hire, train and retain the very best staff.

Our staff members represent both the diversity and unity of our Alliance. When you join the NCIA, you will be part of an organization where you can contribute authentically to the mission and purpose of NATO and help us keep our technological edge.

About the job:

Based in Brussels, Belgium, you will join the NCIA as we embark on a journey to transform our IT services to support NATO’s Digital Endeavour. You will join the Chief Technology Office (CTO), which is the key enabler of NATO’s digital transformation. With the NCIA’s architects and engineers, CTO is the hub for architecting and designing NATO’s ICT technical landscape while driving innovation, standardization, and coherence across the Alliance.

We are looking for a driven and enthusiastic Senior Data Architect who will take on the following roles and responsibilities:

• Derive data architectures from business analysis, including business requirements and business process analysis.
• Provide advice on data modelling and data architecture.
• Provide direction and guidance related to data modelling, data architecture and standards.
• Plan data modelling and design activities, selecting appropriate techniques and the correct level of detail for meeting assigned objectives.
• Provide advice and guidance using the data structures associated components, and data architectures (conceptual and logical) and alignment of physical implementations.
• Manage the investigation of enterprise data requirements based upon a detailed understanding of information requirements.
• Prepare data for analysis and data-driven decision-making.
• Contributes to, leads and provides guidance on the development of solution architectures related to data and Ai products and solutions, ensuring alignment with enterprise architectures and target data ecosystems in specific business, infrastructure and functional areas.

For a full list of duties, please review the job description on the NCIA career site.

Please note that the internal job title for this role is Senior Architect.

About you:

The valuable knowledge and experience that you bring to this role are:

• A Bachelor’s degree at a nationally recognised/certified University in a related discipline and 3 years post-related experience. Or, a secondary level educational qualification and at least 10 year’s post related experience.
• Experience leading the creation and review of IT services, systems, architectures and roadmaps for large organizations.in environments with edge ai solutions implemented or delivered as capabilities.
• Experience in leading and implementing data strategy and future data strategy.
• Experience leading and monitoring the development of data models, ensuring consistency with specified requirements, and alignment with relevant architectures.
• Experience and ability to apply analytical and systems thinking to complex problems.
• Experience and ability to moderate relevant discussions with multi-disciplinary teams.
• Experience in developing and maintaining data models, planning, designing, and requirements specification.
• Experience with the use of architecture modelling tools (with emphasis on data architectures).
• Knowledge in The Open Group Architecture Framework (TOGAF) and ArchiMate modelling language, or equivalent.
• Knowledge in ITIL, COBIT, or equivalent.
• Fluency in English, both written and spoken.

What we offer:

• Genuinely meaningful work as part of the most successful alliance in history;
• Initial 5 year contract with competitive tax-free salary and household and children’s allowances;
• Privileges for expatriate staff including expatriation and education allowances (where appropriate) and additional home leave;
• Excellent private health insurance scheme;
• Generous annual leave of 30 days plus official holidays;
• NATO Pension Scheme;
• Development programs such as professional training, wellbeing, and more

To learn more about NCIA and our work, please visit our website.

The NCIA prides itself on being an equal opportunity employer. We are committed to fostering an inclusive environment of mutual respect and value uniqueness and differences in gender, gender identity, race, ethnic or cultural origin, age, religion, sexual orientation and physical or neurocognitive ability.

Additional details on the conditions of application can be found via the NCIA career site.