Who we are:

For more than 70 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 (NCI Agency) and its predecessors have worked tirelessly in providing the means that enable the connectedness and togetherness that keep our Alliance strong. We are the NCI Agency, 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 NCI Agency, 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 Mons, Belgium you will join the Agency as we embark on a journey to transform our IT services to support NATO’s Digital Endeavour. You will join NATO Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), which is responsible for planning and executing all lifecycle management activities for cyber security. In executing this responsibility, NCSC provides specialist cyber security-related services covering the spectrum of scientific, technical, acquisition, operations, maintenance, and sustainment support, throughout the lifecycle of NATO Communications and Information Systems (CIS).

You will join NATO’s Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT), in the hearth of the action in the cyber world. If your skills in malware reverse-engineering, code de-obfuscation and analysis is going on par with your abilities to lead or be part of a team of expert working in the resolution of complex and widespread cyber incidents, then this job may be for you!

You will belong to a strong international team of experts who are committed to detect, respond to and recover from cyber incidents on the world-wide NATO networks. The engagement and strong social bond in the team are providing a unique, likely unforgettable experience.

We are looking for a driven and enthusiastic Senior Engineer (Cyber Security Operations) who will take on the following roles and responsibilities:

·       provide technical and expert support to the 24/7 Cyber Security Incident Analysis and response processes

·       leading or supporting a Cyber Security Response/Threat Hunting team covering one or multiple physical locations, including NATO Alliance Operations and Missions

·       plan and execute both static and dynamic code and malware analyses/reverse-engineering and capture the results in reports, as well as complex and distributed Digital Forensic Analyses in the form of mobile network, system and memory forensics

·       develop and maintain Digital/Network Forensics and Malware/code analysis capabilities on deployable kits to support Cyber Incident Response and Threat Hunting as well as develop tools, scripting, automation and integrations to automate activities as much as possible, mostly using Python and PowerShell

For a full list of duties, please review the job description here.

About you

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

·       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 NCI Agency, that is, at least 10 years extensive and progressive expertise in duties related to the function of the post

·       At least 3 years demonstrable experience in conducting Digital Forensics and/or Malware Reverse-Engineering or Analysis

·       Very good oral and written communications skills and reporting experience with capacity to communicate to different types of audience (senior executive, middle management, technical and non-technical)

·       Very good abilities to lead a team of technical experts in adverse conditions

·       Very good understanding of the inner working of modern Operating Systems on Windows and Linux environment

·       Very good understanding of communication mechanisms on modern internet-facing systems: REST, SOAP, AJAX, MIME, API calls

·       Very good understanding of modern scripting languages: Python, PowerShell, JavaScript

·       Very good understanding of the TCP/IP stack up to the Application Layer

·       Good understanding of low-level programming language (assembly code) for Intel architecture

·       Fluency in English, both written and spoken

What we offer

·       Genuinely meaningful work as part of the most successful alliance in history;

·       3 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 NCI Agency and our work, please visit our website.

Special Notice:

*The NCI Agency 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.

*All selected candidates are required to complete a Security Clearance, Medical Clearance and Pre-employment Screening process before joining the NCI Agency. This process will require time, so please keep in mind that you will not be able to start working with us right away.

*For information about the NATO Single Salary Scale (Grading, Allowances, etc.) please visit our website. Detailed data is available under the Salary and Benefits tab.

*Please note that all candidates who are not current NATO International Civilians (NICs) or part of a Coordinated Organization (OECD, ESA, CoE, ECMWF, EUMETSAT) will start at increment 1 of the post’s salary grade.

*The NCI Agency will not accept applications 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. All applications prepared, in whole or in part, by means of such generative or creative AI applications may be rejected without further consideration at the sole discretion of the NCI Agency.