Head, Industry Engagement Section

NATO; Brussel; Sur place; EUR 100 440 - 114 390; Plein temps

Résumé du poste

NATO International Staff in Brussels is seeking a senior leader to head the Defence Industry, Innovation and Armaments Division (D2IA). The role focuses on developing and delivering NATO’s industry engagement strategy and overseeing the NIAG, including high-level events and robust guidance to ensure relevance and effectiveness.

You will manage multi-stakeholder engagement, provide policy-oriented advice, and lead a small team to drive industry collaboration across NATO bodies.

Qualifications

• University degree or equivalent qualification.
• At least 6 years of professional experience, including managerial.
• Experience organizing multi-stakeholder and high-level events.
• Excellent drafting skills for policy documents and speaking notes for senior management.
• Proficiency in NATO’s official languages (English/French): Advanced in one and Elementary in the other.

Responsabilités

• Project Management: Lead the strategy for NATO’s cooperation with industry and engagement platforms; oversee major events and represent NATO on industry topics.
• People Management: Provide feedback, mentoring and training; promote a positive work environment.
• Policy Development: Advise on NIAG cooperation; coordinate between committees and relevant policy development.
• Knowledge Management: Ensure processes to capture and utilize industry knowledge for better decision-making.
• Perform any other related duty as assigned.

Connaissances

People management

Event coordination

Policy drafting

Strategic thinking

Formation

University degree

Description du poste

Primary Location Belgium-Brussels

NATO Body NATO International Staff (NATO IS)

Schedule Full-time

Application Deadline 31-Aug-2026, 10:59:00 PM

Salary (Pay Basis) 9,604.83

Grade NATO Grade G20

• PENDING BUDGET APPROVAL **

The Defence Industry, Innovation and Armaments Division (D2IA) leads on the rapid development and delivery of cutting-edge and interoperable defence capabilities, working with innovation ecosystems and industry across the Alliance to meet NATO’s deterrence and defence needs.

The Head, IES will develop, lead, and maintain the Alliance’s high-level industry engagement agenda, including organising major events on behalf of the Organization. The incumbent will lead the implementation of the strategy for NATO’s cooperation with industry. Additionally, they will be responsible for the NATO Industry Advisory Group (NIAG), including providing guidance to ensure it is relevant and well-run.

QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE

• possess a university degree or equivalent qualification;
• have at least 6 years of relevant professional experience, including managerial experience;
• have experience in organising and coordinating multi-stakeholder and high-level events;
• have excellent drafting skills and experience in preparing policy documents, background and speaking notes for senior management; and
• possess the following minimum levels of NATO’s official languages (English/French): V (“Advanced”) in one; II (“Elementary”) in the other.

MAIN ACCOUNTABILITIES

Project Management: Lead and oversee the implementation of the strategy for NATO’s cooperation with industry and NATO’s online engagement platform with industry. Oversee the planning and organisation of the NATO Industry Forum, NATO Summit Defence Industry Forum, and other flagship defence industry engagement events. Represent NATO in industry related topics by attending Industry events.

People Management: Promote a positive, productive and inspiring work environment. Provide regular and fair feedback on performance, informally and formally via the HQ Achievement and Development (ADP) system. Provide mentoring, coaching and training opportunities and be available to offer guidance at critical moments.

Policy Development: Provide expert advice and recommendations in the formulation of NIAG cooperation. Oversee the coordination between various committees and bodies in relation to relevant policy development. Keep abreast of industrial developments that could be included into NATO’s work and policy.

Knowledge Management: Ensure that the Section has appropriate means and processes to identify, capture, organize, store, share and utilize knowledge, especially in relation to industry, in order to improve decision-making and efficiency of initiatives and actions pursued by the Section, Directorate and the D2IA Division.

Perform any other related duty as assigned.

INTERRELATIONSHIPS

Reporting Line: The incumbent reports to the Director, Industry.

Interactions: The incumbent liaises with government, military and industry representatives of NATO nations.

Direct reports: 4

Indirect reports: N/A

COMPETENCIES

• Achievement: creates own measures of excellence and improves performance.
• Analytical Thinking: sees multiple relationships.
• Change Leadership: expresses vision for change.
• Impact and Influence: uses indirect influence.
• Initiative: is decisive in a time-sensitive situation.
• Organizational Awareness: understands organisational politics.
• Teamwork: solicits inputs and encourages others.

CONTRACT

Contract to be offered to the successful applicant (if non-seconded): Definite duration contract of three years; possibility of renewal for up to three years, during which the incumbent may apply for conversion to an indefinite duration contract.

Contract clause applicable:

In accordance with the contract policy, this is a post in which turnover is desirable for political reasons in order to be able to accommodate the Organisation's need to carry out its tasks as mandated by the Nations in a changing environment, for example by maintaining the flexibility necessary to shape the Organisation's skills profile, and to ensure appropriate international diversity.

The maximum period of service foreseen in this post is 6 years. The successful applicant will be offered a 3-year definite duration contract, which may be renewed for a further period of up to 3 years. However, according to the procedure described in the contract policy the incumbent may apply for conversion to an indefinite contract during the period of renewal and no later than one year before the end of contract.

If the successful applicant is seconded from the national administration of one of NATO’s member States, a 3-year definite duration contract will be offered, which may be renewed for a further period of up to 3 years subject also to the agreement of the national authority concerned. The maximum period of service in the post as a seconded staff member is six years.

Serving staff will be offered a contract in accordance with the NATO Civilian Personnel Régulations.

We can only accept applications from nationals of NATO member countries.

The final assessments will take place remotely during the last week of October and the first two weeks of November.

More information about the recruitment process and conditions of employment, can be found at our website (http://www.nato.int/cps/en/natolive/recruit-hq-e.htm)

Appointment will be subject to receipt of a security clearance (provided by the national Authorities of the selected candidate), approval of the candidate’s medical file by the NATO Medical Adviser, verification of your study(ies) and work experience, and the successful completion of the accreditation and notification process by the relevant authorities.

NATO will not accept any phase of the recruitment and selection prepared, in whole or in part, by means of reference documents without proper quotes (plagiarism), or any tools available on internet, including but not limited to translation facilities, or generative artificial-intelligence (AI) tools. NATO reserves the right to screen applications to identify the use of such tools. All applications prepared, in whole or in part, by means of such tools will be rejected without further consideration, and NATO reserves the right to take further steps in such cases as appropriate.

NATO is committed to diversity and inclusion, and strives to provide equal access to employment, advancement and retention, independent of gender, age, nationality, ethnic origin, religion or belief, cultural background, sexual orientation, and disability. NATO welcomes applications of nationals from all member Nations, and strongly encourages women to apply.

NATO is committed to fostering an inclusive and accessible working environment, where all candidates living with disabilities can fully participate in the recruitment and selection process. If you require reasonable accommodation, please inform us during your selection process.

Candidates will be required to provide documented medical evidence to support their request for accommodation.

Building Integrity is a key element of NATO’s core tasks. As an employer, NATO values commitment to the principles of integrity, transparency and accountability in accordance with international norms and practices established for the defence and related security sector. Selected candidates are expected to be role models of integrity, and to promote good governance through ongoing efforts in their work.

Due to the broad interest in NATO and the large number of potential candidates, telephone or e-mail enquiries cannot be dealt with.

Applicants who are not successful in this competition may be offered an appointment to another post of a similar nature, albeit at the same or a lower grade, provided they meet the necessary requirements.

The nature of this position may require the staff member at times to be called upon to travel for work and/or to work outside normal office hours.

The organization offers several work-life policies including Teleworking and Flexible Working arrangements (Flexitime) subject to business requirements.

Please note that the International Staff at NATO Headquarters in Brussels, Belgium is a non-smoking environment.

For information about the NATO Single Salary Scale (Grading, Allowances, etc.) please visit our website . Detailed data is available under the Salary and Benefits tab.

NATO does not charge any application, processing, training, interviewing, testing or other fee in connection with the application or recruitment process. For more info please click here .