Chief Technician (Storage and Backup)

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 Duties and Responsibilities

Daily Operations and Maintenance:

• Guarantee seamless operation and upkeep of NISC IaaS Services, regardless of whether they are hosted on-premises, in private clouds, or public clouds.
• Perform system administration tasks for other IaaS-related assigned systems.

Troubleshooting and Issue Resolution:

• Identify and troubleshoot issues promptly, assisting in their timely resolution.

Change Management and Documentation:

• Follow change management processes diligently.
• Update network topology diagrams and the Configuration Management Database (CMDB) after installing new components or decommissioning old ones.

Strategic Support and Coordination:

• Provide advice and support to the IaaS Service Area Owner (SAO) and Service Delivery Managers (SDMs) throughout the entire capability lifecycle.
• Foster close and coordinated ties with IaaS management to ensure harmonized efforts and synchronized outcomes across all activities.

SLA Compliance and Process Development:

• Monitor compliance with Service Level Agreements (SLAs).

Ad Hoc Responsibilities:

• Undertake ad hoc tasks related to the NISC Business Area's responsibilities.

Availability and Flexibility:

• Be prepared to work during scheduled maintenances, serviceaffecting activities, and contingency situations beyond regular business hours.
• Be on-call after working hours on weekends if necessary

Travel and Deployment:

• Be ready to travel and work at various locations, including SHAPE/Mons, HQ Brussels, The Hague/Netherlands, or other datacentres in NCIA's responsibility as required.

Essential Skills and Experience

• Sound practical experience in the implementation, support, testing, operation and maintenance and best practices of storage and backup infrastructure for large-scale distributed deployment;
• Sound practical experience in SAN/NAS network fundamentals (TCP-IP, FC, FCoE, iSCSI, WWNN, WWPN);
• Sound practical experience in VMware virtual environments and vSAN;
• Sound practical experience in one or more of Enterprise Backup software;
• Sound practical experience in deploying, monitoring and troubleshooting Windows Server VMs;
• Central administration of enterprise storage and backup resources including remote sites;
• Central administration of VMware infrastructure including monitoring, patching and troubleshooting;
• Ensuring all required file systems, system data, operating systems and databases are successfully protected;
• Identifying operational problems and contributing to their resolution;
• Ensuring the NCIA, and Information Security principles and practices are applied on system and product solutions under AOR including compliance and hardening.

Education

• Higher vocational training in a relevant discipline with 3 years post-related experience. Or a secondary educational qualification with 5 years post-related experience;

Desirable Experience and Education

• University Degree in a Science, Technology, Engineering or Mathematics discipline;
• Sound practical experience in scripting (Python, Power-Shell, etc.) for Storage/Backup Automation or collect data/event from storages;
• Experience from working in a service provisioning organization;
• Prior experience of working in an international environment comprising both military and civilian elements;
• Knowledge of NATO responsibilities and organization.
• Certification in one or more of enterprise storage, hypervisor or backup products is a plus.

Working Location

• Braine-l’Alleud, Belgium

Working Policy

• On-Site
• Main Duty Location is Braine-l'Alleud but he/she can be requested to travel/work in SHAPE/Mons, HQ Brussels or any other datacenters in other NATO countries if/when required

Travel

• Some travel to other NATO sites may be required

Security Clearance

• Valid National or NATO Secret personal security clearance