Information and Knowledge Management (IKM)

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 Communications and Information Agency (NCI Agency) located in The Hague, The Netherlands, is providing technical support to the Digital Standardization and Interoperability Management (DSI) Branch of the NATO Digital Staff (NDS) to provide technical expertise in the field of information, data and knowledge management and to support the NATO Information Management Authority (NIMA) at Alliance and Joint formats.

The NATO Infrastructure Services Centre (NISC) has a requirement for an individual subject matter expert (SME) to provide direct support to the NDS DSI on behalf of the NCI Agency in support of the NDS/DSI Programme of Work (POW) for 2024. The specific expertise of the SME is to be in the area of Federated Information and Knowledge Management.

NATO’s Digital Transformation reuses existing NATO organisational structures/elements, processes and products to the maximum extent possible. In response, NIMA roles and responsibilities are changing and augmenting to support its role as Information Management Authority (IMA) for federated Allied Federated Networks/Allied Federated Services (AFN/AFS). The IMA role and related responsibilities are executed by the NIMA in Alliance format. This work is also focused on providing SME support to the NIMA in Alliance format to support meeting preparation and engagement with IM authorities from Nations, Partners and the NATO Enterprise. This will enhance the scope of the NIMA to include data management aspects and synchronize master data management activities.

Role Duties and Responsibilities

• Propose changes to the governance and management of the IKM domain for AFS, with particular focus on the role of NIMA as an IMA over federated Alliance-wide networks at multiple classification levels;
• Engage with communities of interest, federated partners (allied nations, NATO Enterprise, and others depending on Alliance or Joint formats) to elicit information exchange requirements through surveys and workshops;
• Prepare meetings, set agendas, engage with representatives, manage action lists, contributed working papers and presentations, and otherwise orchestrate SME expertise as directed by the NDS;
• Contribute to techniques and procedures improving the efficiency of federated governance and management of Information, data and knowledge management activities;
• Keep abreast of the latest technological developments in the field of federated Information Management solutions;
• Maintain coherence of governance and management structures and processes used by AFS, Federated Mission Networks (FMN), Allied Reaction Force (ARF), Vigilance and enhance Vigilance Activities (VeVA), the emerging NATO Digital Backbone and policies of participating nations and organizations;
• Contribute to the work of the Digital Policy Committee and its substructure regarding data & information standardization, identification and categorization of datasets valuable to the Alliance and federated master data management;
• Ad-hoc SME support to the NIMA as requested by NDS

The following specific deliverables (D001) are expected:

• Initial analysis and high level description of structures and processes for governance and management of IKM across the federated Alliance
• Report of contribution to the NIMA at Alliance format

Essential Skills and Experience

• Expert knowledge of IKM, Information Architecture and systems engineering
• Expert knowledge of TOGAF, UML and requirements elicitation and analysis.
• Demonstrated experience in designing governance processes, including management of an Information Management Compendium to include governance, standards, guidance, surveys, Information Management Maturity Assessments, catalogues, etc.
• Experience in XML, metadata management, standardization and harmonization
• Experience in project management, presenting IKM strategy, roadmaps, goals and objectives, and managing action plans
• Experience working in NATO committees and working groups, with direct experience with the IKM structures and processes implementing NATO IKM policy/directives.

Working Location

• Remote

Working Policy

• Off-Site

Travel

• Some travel to other NATO sites may be required

Security Clearance

• Valid National or NATO Secret personal security clearance