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 Senior Infrastructure Engineer – VMware & Data Center will support the operation, maintenance, development, and management of virtualization, storage, backup, and data centre infrastructure within NATO's Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) environment.
The role covers the full infrastructure lifecycle, including design support, implementation, administration, operations, integration, troubleshooting, hardware maintenance, configuration management, and service delivery. The engineer will work with senior technicians, engineers, and IaaS Service Delivery Managers to maintain reliable infrastructure hosting services.
Role Duties and Responsibilities
- Perform daily operation and maintenance of IaaS services.
- Support senior technicians, engineers, and IaaS Service Delivery Managers with infrastructure activities.
- Support the design, engineering, implementation, operation, and integration of infrastructure hosting services.
- Administer and maintain virtual infrastructure.
- Perform system administration for assigned systems.
- Support common user services operating across NATO networks.
- Monitor data centre hardware and perform daily physical equipment checks.
- Replace failing hardware components when required.
- Support the physical security requirements of IaaS data centres.
- Follow established change management processes.
- Update network topology diagrams and the CMDB when infrastructure components are installed or decommissioned.
- Troubleshoot data centre infrastructure and assist with timely incident resolution.
- Maintain accurate records of operational activities and events.
- Support IaaS management and Service Delivery Managers throughout the lifecycle of services, projects, and capabilities.
- Monitor compliance with Service Level Agreements (SLAs).
- Contribute to the development and maintenance of SOPs and Standard Operating Instructions (SOIs).
- Identify operational problems and contribute to their resolution.
- Perform scheduled maintenance and service-affecting activities when required.
- Participate in contingency work and potentially provide on-call support outside normal working hours and on weekends.
- Perform other infrastructure-related duties as required.
Essential Skills
- Strong practical knowledge of data centre infrastructure, operations, technologies, and standards.
- Strong experience with:
- Servers
- Storage systems
- Virtualization
- Backup and restore
- Hands-on experience with VMware vSphere 7 or above.
- Experience with blade and rack-mounted servers.
- Knowledge of VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF).
- Strong understanding of SAN/NAS technologies and networking fundamentals, including:
- TCP/IP
- Fibre Channel (FC)
- FCoE
- iSCSI
- WWN / WWNP
- LIFS
- SAN, Unified and NAS storage
- Knowledge of data centre cabling and physical infrastructure.
- Experience installing, monitoring, and maintaining data centre equipment.
- Practical experience with Active Directory.
- Practical experience with Windows Server.
- Practical experience with Red Hat Linux.
- Experience with IT Asset and Configuration Management.
- Knowledge of infrastructure automation techniques, including VMware Aria and/or Ansible.
- Practical knowledge of ITIL processes.
- Practical knowledge of IT security.
- Strong troubleshooting and IT support skills.
- Ability to document infrastructure designs and configurations.
- Ability to develop and maintain SOPs, operating instructions, and training guidance.
- Good written and verbal communication skills.
- Ability to work effectively within a technical team.
- Willingness to respond to server, storage, and networking incidents outside normal working hours when required.
Desirable Skills
- VMware virtualization training/certification such as VCP.
- CompTIA Server+.
- CompTIA Network+.
- CCNA.
- Data Centre certification.
- Experience working within a service-provisioning organization.
- Knowledge of NATO responsibilities and organizational structure.
Experience
Candidates must meet one of the following:
- Master of Science (MSc) in a relevant subject + minimum 5 years of relevant post-qualification experience, or
- Bachelor of Science (BSc) in a relevant subject + minimum 7 years of relevant post-qualification experience.
Relevant experience should include:
- Data centre infrastructure and operations.
- VMware virtualization, particularly vSphere 7+.
- Server and storage infrastructure.
- SAN/NAS technologies.
- Backup and restore of virtual environments.
- Data centre hardware installation and maintenance.
- Windows Server, Active Directory, and Red Hat Linux.
- IT Asset and Configuration Management.
- ITIL-based infrastructure operations.
- Infrastructure troubleshooting and support.
educations and Certifications
Required Education
Either:
- MSc in a relevant subject + 5 years of relevant experience, or
- BSc in a relevant subject + 7 years of relevant experience.
Desirable Certifications
- VMware VCP
- CompTIA Server+
- CompTIA Network+
- CCNA
- Data Centre certification
Working Location
The Hague, Netherlands
Working Policy
- Full-time on-site.
- Normal office conditions.
- Some work outside normal working hours may be required.
- Scheduled maintenance, service-affecting activities, contingency work, and after-hours/weekend on-call support may be required.
- Travel to other operational centres may be required; the duties specifically mention Mons and Brussels, Belgium, and Lago Patria, Italy.
- The working-conditions section separately states up to 50 TDY within Belgium per year.
- Required start date: 19 October 2026.
- Contract end date: 30 December 2026.
- Total scope: 376 hours.
- Equivalent NATO Grade: G17.
- NATO COSMIC TOP SECRET security clearance is required.
