African Union and/or Economic Community of West African States Representative

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 Joint Warfare Centre (JWC) is a NATO establishment focused on improving the Alliance's operational capabilities through training and exercises. Located in Stavanger, Norway, the JWC plays a critical role in preparing NATO forces for future challenges by:

• Training and Exercises
  • Conducting large-scale, joint operational-level training events, simulations, and exercises to enhance interoperability among NATO member nations.
• Doctrine Development
  • Contributing to the development and refinement of NATO doctrines and concepts by providing feedback and insights from exercises and training activities.
• Operational Support
  • Offering expert support to NATO operations, missions, and exercises, ensuring that lessons learned are integrated into future training and planning.

 The JWC supports NATO's overall strategic objectives by ensuring that its forces are well-prepared and capable of responding to various global threats and challenges.

The program 

To deliver each full exercise cycle the JWC relies heavily on an Exercise Control (EXCON) structure. EXCON staff members are drawn from several backgrounds and units including JWC staff, NATO component commands, Training Audience (TA) Headquarters, Partner Nations and other augmenters’ positions. EXCON has both direction and control functions which allow it to establish the conditions needed by the TA to achieve the exercise aim and objectives. EXCON size and structure is flexible and is shaped to the requirement of each phase of exercise delivery. When it is not possible to fill a position from military sources, the JWC has the option to source a contractor to fill a position. Not all contracted positions are required for each phase of each exercise.

Role Background

The 360° real world approach to exercises include the participation of African organizations. Knowledge and experience of these organizations requires participation of these organizations in exercises. When this is not possible, a representative is required for realistic role-play

Role Duties and Responsibilities

• Provide subject matter expertise to realistically represent the African Union (AU) and/or Economic Community of the West African States (ECOWAS) with operational and tactical knowledge to the exercise and to the training audience.
• Develop a basic Concept of Operations for the involvement of the AU/ECOWAS in the conflict, reflecting tasking for interactions with the Training Audience. Coordinated with HICON.
• Coordination with political and military fictitious representatives (e.g. affected nation politicians and senior military figures) to ensure coherent AU/ECOWAS representation in the exercise.
• Provide realistic AU/ECOWAS documents to the exercise and interact with the training audience as the AU/ECOWAS representative, whether face to face, by VTC, phone, email or letter.
• Act as the focal point for the training audience for all political and operational matters relating to the AU/ECOWAS within the exercise.
• Understand and analyse developing training audience plans and documentation and their impacts on AU/ECOWAS matters.
• Be familiar with the latest relevant African Union/ECOWAS publications

Essential Skills and Experience

• Demonstrate experience of working within AU/ECOWAS at a senior level.
• Demonstrate 1 year experience in the last 10 of working with the AU/ECOWAS at a senior level

Desirable Skills and Experience

• Demonstrate 3 years’ knowledge and/or operational experience of the AU and/or ECOWAS within the last 10 years

Education

• A University/Bachelor’s Degree or Staff College (or equivalent higher-level education/experience)

Language

• Business English

Working Location

• Stavanger, Norway
• Remote work may be requested on an ADHOC per requirement basis

Working Policy

• Each exercise support requirement is anticipated to be 5 to 15 working days per event
• On-Site, unless otherwise specified with up to 12-hour days
• If out of normal hours work is required, this will be requested on a per requirement basis

Travel

• Any associated travel costs to and from your home location to participate in the activity will be covered by Spektrum

Security Clearance

Valid National or NATO Secret personal security clearance