Application Delivery Analyst (COTS Applications)
JOB DETAIL
*Pending budget approval*
1. SUMMARY
The Executive Management (EM) Division, International Staff (IS), has the lead role in the overall management of the NATO Headquarters (HQ). Within EM, the Information, Communication and Technology Management (ICTM) Directorate provides support and services mainly to the North Atlantic Council (NAC), its Committees and to the IS through two pillars: Information, Communications and Technology (ICT) management and Archives Information and Knowledge Management (AIM). Member and Partner Nation Delegations as well as other NATO bodies residing at NATO HQ also benefit from some of the services and products provided by ICTM.
Within ICTM, the Application Delivery and Support (ADS) teams provide technical management, guidance, advice and resources to application-related projects executed by ICTM, as well as technical support for in-service applications managed by ICTM. They also coordinate on application management issues with other ICT providers in NATO, including the NATO HQ IT infrastructure services provider (NATO Communications and Information Agency – NCI Agency) and external suppliers. The ADS Team 2 (ADS2) is mainly responsible for implementation and support of various Commercial-Off-The-Shelf (COTS) applications, supporting various divisions of the NATO HQ.
The incumbent will be working on delivering and implementing COTS applications, and their day-to-day operational maintenance and support. S/he will implement applications based on agreed timelines and project plans, guided by a project manager or their supervisor. For day-to-day maintenance and support, s/he will meet established Service Level Agreements (SLA’s) by identifying and correcting system faults, or will provide adequate workarounds to provide time needed to implement a permanent fix. S/he will implement minor changes to the systems as approved and agreed through ICTM processes, and will decommission obsolete systems. In addition, s/he will do the overall management and planning of activities on applications and systems assigned to them. S/he will liaise with the stakeholders to analyse, communicate and validate requirements in support of changing and/or new business needs.
2. QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE
ESSENTIAL
The incumbent must:
- possess a university degree in information technologies, computer sciences or another relevant discipline, or equivalent level of qualification;
- have knowledge and practical experience in business and technical requirements gathering, technical application systems design and data analysis, software configuration, documentation, acceptance testing, user training, and other IT-operational disciplines based on e.g. ITIL;
- have at least 3 years of technically broad experience with requirements analysis, management, installation, configuration and/or support of Commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) applications in a Microsoft Windows environment;
- have extensive experience with supporting applications that use technologies like Active Directory, IIS 10, Apache Tomcat; Windows 2016 server or newer, and Windows security policies;
- have an in-depth understanding of the concepts of Web development, IT infrastructure and technologies in general, and security/security devices in particular;
- have extensive experience with troubleshooting complex IT systems, including the frontend, backend, and infrastructure;
- have extensive experience with planning and managing complex technical tasks and activities including many stakeholders;
- have experience in customer-facing roles and ability to translate business needs into implemented technical solutions;
- have excellent analytical and problem-solving skills;
- possess the following minimum levels of NATO’s official languages (English/French): V (“Advanced”) in one; I (“Beginner”) in the other.
DESIRABLE
The following would be considered an advantage:
- a higher level in NATO’s official second language;
- have more than 3 years’ experience with supporting applications that use technologies like Active Directory, IIS 10, Apache Tomcat; Windows 2016 server or newer, and Windows security policies;
- experience with implementing AI powered applications on on-premise servers;
- knowledge of IT infrastructure and networking and cyber security technologies such as load-balancing, web application firewall, border protection system (firewall), IP configuration, and DNS;
- experience with the support of desktop applications on Windows 10 and Citrix thin clients;
- experience with supporting Linux based servers;
- hands-on experience in development, deployment, and/or support of applications using C#.Net, ASP.Net, and MS SQL Server;
- having made use of a recognized system development methodology, and be capable of developing and interpreting specifications based on various modeling techniques;
- knowledge and experience in testing, release management, configuration management and other IT operational disciplines based on e.g. ITIL;
- experience in writing technical documents to a high standard;
- ability to communicate technical decisions and issues in an easily understandable manner.
Expertise Development
Analyse, select, design, implement, test, and document various software and hardware solutions to meet existing and emerging NATO business needs. Configure enterprise scale, commercial off the shelf (COTS) tools and development environments to support the implementation of solutions. Work with business analysts and/or functional specialists to identify applicable system platforms, components, solution alternatives and dependencies. Identify and set up needed and appropriate tools, development and testing environments, and hardware platforms. Consider IT security from the start of the design of the developments. Use programming expertise, COTS tools, development environments, Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), etc. to develop and implement solutions to meet defined business and technical requirements, whilst using configuration management, change management and release management standards. Follow internal test guidelines to ensure required quality of all delivered solutions, including developing and executing test plans for unit/module testing, integration testing, user acceptance testing, and other types as appropriate. Modify systems and applications accordingly based on test results. Conduct life-cycle application support activities to include troubleshooting and issues resolution of system issues. Develop relevant expertise and attend training as required and appropriate. Organize and perform user-training sessions. Mentor and assist other team members to enhance and develop skills and knowledge.
Project Management
Participate in and contribute subject matter expertise to project planning sessions with Project Managers, Business Analysts, Product Owners, Technical Analysts and other team members to analyse business and technology requirements and outline/select the proposed technical solution. Estimate size, duration and resource requirements for assigned tasks using a structured project management framework, and manage tasks in a structured manner according to NATO HQ standards and practices.
Information Management
Produce and maintain required documentation for each solution/system developed or integrated to include application specifications, administrative guides, troubleshooting and support guides, and briefings and other end user documentation. Work with information management and security staff to ensure that applications comply with relevant policies and procedures regarding access and use of information.
Stakeholder Management
Work with clients and other members of the International Staff (IS), as well as NATO-internal and external partners and suppliers to capture and analyse business requirements. Consult with technical analysts and other application development/package integration team members to analyse technology requirements, and define and execute the proposed technical solution.
Knowledge Management
Gather and maintain business and technical information in support of project and task planning, decisions as well as operational support requirements. Coordinate sharing, distribution and retention of information in alignment with ICTM and NATO HQ information management processes.
Perform any other related duty as assigned.
4. INTERRELATIONSHIPS
The incumbent reports to the appropriate Team Lead in ADS2. During the execution of specific project-related activities, s/he may report to the relevant project manager. S/he will interact with other members of the ADS teams as well as business analysts, project managers, internal and external project team members, as well as members of the NCIA CIS Support Unit Brussels teams supplying and supporting the infrastructure. Furthermore, the post interacts on a daily basis with internal customers (NATO HQ and possibly NATO-wide communities) and external vendors.
Direct report: N/a
Indirect report: N/a
5. COMPETENCIES
The incumbent must demonstrate:
- Achievement: Works to meet standards;
- Analytical Thinking: Sees multiple relationships;
- Clarity and Accuracy: Checks own work;
- Conceptual Thinking: Applies learned concepts;
- Customer Service Orientation: Takes personal responsibility for correcting problems;
- Empathy: Is open to others’ perspectives;
- Impact and Influence: Takes multiple actions to persuade;
- Initiative: Is decisive in a time-sensitive situation;
- Teamwork: Solicits inputs and encourages others
7. USEFUL INFORMATION REGARDING APPLICATION AND RECRUITMENT PROCESS
Please note that we can only accept applications from nationals of NATO member countries. Applications must be submitted using e-recruitment system, as applicable:
- For NATO civilian staff members only: please apply via the internal recruitment portal (link);
- For all other applications: www.nato.int/recruitment
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More information about the recruitment process and conditions of employment, can be found at our website (http://www.nato.int/cps/en/natolive/recruit-hq-e.htm)
Appointment will be subject to receipt of a security clearance (provided by the national Authorities of the selected candidate), approval of the candidate’s medical file by the NATO Medical Adviser, verification of your study(ies) and work experience, and the successful completion of the accreditation and notification process by the relevant authorities.
NATO will not accept any phase of the recruitment and selection prepared, in whole or in part, by means of generative artificial-intelligence (AI) tools, including and without limitation to chatbots, such as Chat Generative Pre-trained Transformer (Chat GPT), or other language generating tools. NATO reserves the right to screen applications to identify the use of such tools. All applications prepared, in whole or in part, by means of such generative or creative AI applications may be rejected without further consideration at NATO’s sole discretion, and NATO reserves the right to take further steps in such cases as appropriate.
