Network 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 Background

The NATO Information and Communication Agency (NCI Agency) located in The Hague, The Netherlands, is providing the European and NATO CFBLNet NOC/PoP for European nations and NATO. In the light of these activities, the CFBLNet Service is looking for an experienced Network Operation Centre Service Desk service team member 1st line.

More specifically, the work will be manning as part of a team the CFBLNet services desk and support roll out of and maintenance support of NATO CFBLNet Sites.

Role Duties and Responsibilities

Under the direction of the NCI Agency CFBLNet Service team, the 1st line CFBLNet network service desk team member manning the network services desk. In addition, be part of a team, which roll out and maintain current and new CFBLNet locations within NATO org. This includes the following activities:

• Staffing the CFBLNet Network Operation Centre Service Desk.
• During business hours and CFBLNet schedule initiative hours.
• “Business days/hours” means NCI Agency, The Hague, the Netherlands working days, Monday through Friday, daily from 9:00-17:00 (CET/CEST)
• During Initiatives, the daily service desk manning hours can shift front or backward as required. This is planned in advance. When these are outside business days these will be compensated in duration during following business days.
• Initial response time during scheduled initiatives hours:
  • Initiative hours/days: response within 15 minutes of an acknowledged reported service interruption and services desk call.
• Initial response time during business hours though outside scheduled initiatives hours:
  • Initiative hours/days: response within 30 minutes of an acknowledged reported service interruption and services desk call.
• Support roll out of and maintenance support of NATO CFBLNet Sites.
• Will be part of a team that develops and operates the CFBLNet for NATO and related reference system in support of NATO organisational and national services subscribers.
• Support bug fixing and stability improvements.
• Create and update documentation.
• Investigate which are the best ways to solve a certain problem, documenting and presenting their pros and cons to the team.

Essential Skills and Experience

• (>3Y) Experience working in IT Customer Support Centre
• (>3Y) Excellent working knowledge of networking protocols and technologies including Ethernet, LAN, WAN & Security
  • Ethernet: Excellent understanding of VLANs, Spanning Tree
  • LAN: Excellent understanding of DHCP, NAT, OSPF, HSRP/VRRP, HA technologies
  • WAN: Excellent understanding of Metro Ethernet, MPLS, BGP, QoS,
  • Multicast: Understanding and experience troubleshooting Multicast in WAN-LAN
  • Security: Strong understanding of policy based firewalls, content filtering, Intrusion, Prevention Systems, network monitoring systems, IPSEC and PKI
  • Troubleshooting: Ability to analyze logs and diagnose network issues
  • Work experience in roles requiring the ability to handle multiple incidents simultaneously while adapting to constantly changing requirements.
• (>3Y) Strong working knowledge of Infrastructure, including virtualization, Cisco equipment, VMWare ESX,
• (>3Y) Good working knowledge for system administration on Windows and/or Linux
• Ability to develop and maintain clear and concise technical documentation, including procedures
• Demonstrable ability to work autonomously and proactively and to follow internal processes

Desirable Skills and Experience

• Relevant Cisco, VMWare, ITIL Foundation certification
• Nice to have:
  • Practical skills in writing scripts to support repetitive tasks automation (Terraform, Bash, Python or Ansible)
  • Current knowledge of DevOps principles
  • Familiarity with VMWare NSX-T
  • Experience working with software defined networking solutions
  • Familiar with cloud infrastructure of Azure and/or AWS

Relevant soft skills

• Team player, always willing to help others and to share knowledge.
• Good collaboration skills, with the ability to work in a multinational and diverse team
• Growth mind set, always wanting to improve and to learn.

Language Proficiency

• Business English

Working Location

• The Hague, Netherlands

Working Policy

• On-Site

Travel

• Some travel to other NATO sites may be required

Security Clearance

• Valid National or NATO Cosmic Top Secret personal security clearance