Spektrum have a wide range of exciting opportunities in several global locations. We are always looking to add great new talent to our team and look forward to hearing from you.
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 ID – 2026-0088
Role Background
The NATO Information and Communication Agency (NCIA) located in The Hague, The Netherlands, is the Interoperability Assurance Authority for NATO.
In light of this responsibility, the C2 Service Centre is looking for a service contract which can provide NCIA with testing and quality assurance support for the continued maintenance, validation and evolution of the Networked Interoperable Real-Time Information Services (NIRIS) software.
Role Duties and Responsibilities
- D1- Updated and maintained NIRIS test case baseline.
- Output: Updated, maintained, improved NIRIS test cases covering agreed functional, technical, regression, integration and release-related test scenarios. The deliverable includes the development and maintenance of manual and automated test cases required to support NIRIS baseline development, defect verification, regression testing, release preparation, User Acceptance Testing, and operational validation activities. Test cases shall be developed or updated in accordance with agreed requirements, user stories, defects, change requests, release priorities, and project planning. The test case baseline shall include, where applicable, test cases for agreed NIRIS capabilities such as CESMO integration, historic track data capabilities, RTS subscription mechanisms, interface behaviour, configuration changes, interoperability scenarios, and other functionality included in the agreed release scope.
- Outcome: NIRIS testing remains structured, repeatable, traceable, auditable, and aligned with the agreed requirements, work items, release priorities, and operational use cases.
- D2- Updated NIRIS automated test suite.
- Output: Automated tests developed, updated, maintained, refactored, and executed to support repeatable verification of NIRIS functionality, regression testing, integration testing, interface testing, deployment verification, non-functional testing where applicable, and release validation. The deliverable includes the development and maintenance of automated test scripts, automated test data, test assertions, execution configurations, and supporting automation assets using the agreed tools, frameworks, repositories, and environments. Automated testing shall support the continued evolution and sustainment of the NIRIS software baseline and shall contribute to earlier defect detection, regression stability, and improved release confidence. Where technically applicable, the automated test suite shall be expanded to cover agreed functionality included in NIRIS baseline or release scope, including areas such as CESMO integration, historic track data access, RTS subscription behaviour, interface configuration, message handling, data filtering, and other assigned functional or regression scenarios.
- Outcome: Improved software quality and delivery confidence through repeatable automated testing, earlier defect detection, reduced manual testing effort, and strengthened regression coverage. The automated test suite supports more efficient verification of NIRIS changes across development, integration, release preparation, and sustainment activities. It also improves the ability to identify regressions and provides reusable test evidence for release readiness and governance decisions.
- D3- NIRIS regression and release verification package
- Output: Regression testing, release testing, defect verification, test execution evidence, test conclusions, and release readiness inputs delivered for agreed NIRIS baselines, including planned NIRIS releases such as NIRIS 4.7 and NIRIS 4.8 were included in the agreed scope. The deliverable includes the preparation, execution, and reporting of regression tests, functional verification, integration verification, release candidate testing, defect retesting, and test evidence required to support acceptance and release decisions. It also includes the preparation and coordination of User Acceptance Testing plans where required by the NCIA Point of Contact or delegated staff.
- Outcome: Planned NIRIS baselines are tested, stabilized, verified, and prepared for acceptance and release in accordance with agreed schedules, release scope, and quality expectations. This deliverable reduces the risk of functional regressions, supports informed release decisions, and contributes to the operational readiness of the NIRIS baseline by providing clear evidence of test execution, pass/fail status, known defects, blockers, risks, and limitations.
- D4- NIRIS interface and interoperability test support package
- Output: Interface and interoperability test cases, test execution results, defect reports, configuration observations, test evidence, and event support inputs covering agreed NIRIS interfaces, standards, data providers, consumers, and interoperability scenarios. This deliverable groups testing activities related to supported standards, external systems, data providers, consumers, and interoperability events. This may include, where applicable and agreed within the release or work package scope:
- Interfaces with data providers and consumers.
- Link 16 / JREAP support.
- OTH-Gold support.
- DIS support.
- VMF support.
- AIS support.
- CESMO-related test support.
- OANT/SMAQ integration configuration and analyser limitation testing.
- TDLITS-related test support.
- INTEND-related test support.
- CWIX-related test preparation, execution support, analysis, and evidence collection.
- Customer visit test support.
- Other agreed interoperability, interface, or external validation events.
- Outcome: NIRIS remains verified against agreed external systems, data providers, consumers, standards, and NATO interoperability testing environments. This deliverable supports NIRIS interoperability assurance by verifying data exchange, message handling, interface configuration, protocol behaviour, system integration, and expected operational behaviour in representative test and event environments. It also supports early identification of defects, configuration issues, external dependencies, and interoperability risks.
- D5- NIRIS test data preparation and test-event support package
- Output: Prepared, validated, maintained, and reusable test data, test scenarios, test execution results, and verification support for NIRIS test data generation, setup verification, regression testing, interoperability testing, and test-event preparation activities. This deliverable may include testing and verification support for:
- Test data for setup verification.
- Track generator functionality.
- Basic track data generation.
- Configurable number of tracks.
- Configurable location and movement.
- Test support for standard protocols used by NIRIS.
- Test data supporting interoperability testing and analysis.
- Test data supporting functional, regression, interface, deployment, or release- related testing.
- Test data supporting historic track data verification where applicable.
- Test data supporting CESMO-related testing where applicable.
- Outcome: Reduced dependency on external simulators for basic test scenarios and improved efficiency of NIRIS test-event preparation, verification, and analysis. This deliverable supports repeatable and controlled testing by ensuring that appropriate test data is available for agreed scenarios. It improves the ability to verify NIRIS functionality, configuration, interface behaviour, track processing, message handling, and release readiness in a consistent and reusable manner.
- D6- NIRIS defect verification, test documentation, and improvement package
- Output: Defects identified, analysed, documented, tracked, retested, and verified using the agreed issue tracking and test management tools, together with updated NIRIS test documentation, test reports, verification evidence, release test inputs, and practical test process improvement recommendations. This deliverable includes the preparation and maintenance of test documentation such as:
- Test plans.
- Test cases.
- Test case reports.
- Test execution reports.
- Regression test reports.
- Defect reports.
- Defect verification evidence.
- Test data documentation.
- Interface and interoperability test documentation.
- Release readiness inputs.
- Updates following software, configuration, interface, or requirement changes.
- Lessons learned and test process improvement inputs.
- The deliverable also includes practical improvement recommendations related to test automation, regression scope refinement, test data reuse, defect reporting quality, test execution efficiency, and improved reporting transparency.
- Outcome: NIRIS defects are reported clearly, analysed efficiently, and verified systematically, while NIRIS test documentation remains accurate, current, auditable, and suitable for development, testing, governance, sustainment, release preparation, and operational support. This deliverable improves software quality, supports timely stabilization of the NIRIS baseline, and strengthens the transparency and repeatability of the NIRIS testing process. It also enables better release decisions through clear reporting of test results, open defects, risks, blockers, limitations, and improvement opportunities.
Essential Skills, Experience and Certifications
- At least 5 years of professional experience in software testing and quality assurance, with a focus on complex software systems, networked applications, or distributed environments.
- Proven ability to communicate effectively in English, both orally and in writing, in a clear, structured, and professional manner.
- Demonstrated experience in working within Agile/Scrum environments, including participation in sprint planning, test planning, sprint execution, defect triage, sprint reviews, and release preparation activities.
- At least 3 years of professional experience in designing, writing, executing, and maintaining manual test cases, including functional, regression, integration, interface, and release-related test scenarios.
- At least 3 years of experience in defect identification, defect reporting, retesting, regression testing, and defect verification using issue tracking and test management tools.
- At least 2 years of experience testing RESTful services, APIs, messaging systems, or data exchange interfaces, including verification of request/response behaviour, data processing, data filtering, and error handling.
- At least 2 years of experience testing Web GUI, REST API, and command-line interfaces, preferably for networking products or interface-heavy software systems.
- At least 2 years of experience working with interoperability testing, including testing of data exchange, message handling, configuration, integration with external systems, or multi-system test environments.
- At least 2 years of professional experience working with test automation frameworks, such as Robot Framework, Gauge, Cucumber, Selenium, Playwright, Cypress, or similar.
- At least 1 year of professional experience with scripting or programming languages used to support test automation, test execution, troubleshooting, or environment configuration, such as Java, Python, Linux Bash, Ansible, or similar.
- At least 1 year of professional experience working with containerized or virtualized test environments, including Docker, or equivalent technologies.
- Demonstrated experience using development, testing, and configuration management tools such as Jira, Zephyr, GitLab, CI/CD pipelines, artifact repositories, or equivalent tools.
- Demonstrable experience in preparing and maintaining test documentation, including test plans, test cases, test execution reports, defect reports, verification evidence, regression reports, and release readiness inputs.
- Experience in defining test scenarios, acceptance criteria, validation approaches, or verification evidence for software deliverables.
- Demonstrable ability to troubleshoot and support issue analysis on Windows Server and Linux-based operating systems, including basic knowledge of IP addressing, routing, DNS, HTTP/HTTPS, Active Directory, certificate management, and service configuration.
- Demonstrable knowledge or experience in interoperability and data exchange standards, particularly within defence. Knowledge of Tactical Data Links, including Link 16, Link 22, OTH- Gold, JREAP, VMF, DIS, AIS, CESMO, or similar standards, is highly desirable.
- Experience working with distributed systems and multi-component architectures, including integration and testing across multiple data sources, services, interfaces, or external systems.
- Familiarity with secure testing practices, controlled test environments, information handling requirements, and working within regulated or accredited environments.
- Possession of relevant technical or testing certifications, including ISTQB, TMap, Microsoft, Red Hat, CompTIA, Cisco, or equivalent certifications, is desirable.
Working Location
Working Policy
Travel
- Some travel to other NATO sites may be required
Security Clearance
- Valid National or NATO Secret personal security clearance
We never know what new opportunities might be just over the horizon. If this opportunity isn't for you, please feel free to send us your resume anyway and be the first to know if something suitable for your skills and experience comes up.
