Provision of Operational Acceptance support to SHAPE

NCIM; Belgique; On-site; EUR 75,000 - 95,000; Full time

Job summary

NCIM is seeking an experienced CIS project analyst to monitor and report on complex projects and services for NATO-related operations. The role involves coordinating across multiple stakeholders, assessing risks, and ensuring acceptance testing is thorough and well-documented.

The ideal candidate will have an MSc in a related field, at least five years post-degree experience, and strong familiarity with ITIL v3, PRINCE2, JIRA, and MS Office tools.

Qualifications

• MSc degree in Computer Science, Engineering or related discipline with at least 5 years of post-degree experience.
• Minimum 3 years of experience in CIS project and service analysis, monitoring and reporting.
• Minimum 3 years of experience in planning and executing acceptance testing activities.
• Minimum 3 years of experience with ITIL v3.
• Minimum 3 years of experience in CIS projects involving core communications and IT infrastructure.
• Knowledge of NATO responsibilities, organisation and operational environment.
• Knowledge of software, system and service lifecycle management and quality management in PRINCE2/ITIL environments.
• Working-level knowledge of Microsoft Office, Microsoft Project, Visio and SharePoint.
• Working knowledge of JIRA.
• Strong analytical, reporting, coordination and problem-solving skills.
• Ability to communicate effectively, including preparing reports and briefings.
• Valid NATO Secret security clearance, maintained per contract requirements.

Responsibilities

• Monitor and analyse CIS projects and services, tracking milestones, requirements, scope, timelines, costs, dependencies and changes.
• Prepare project progress reports, dashboards and dependency matrices for oversight and decision-making.
• Identify and monitor operational risks, project issues and dependencies, recommending corrective actions.
• Maintain project risk registers and conduct risk assessments.
• Develop and maintain Operational Acceptance Criteria (OAC) based on requirements and user needs.
• Plan, coordinate, execute and assess UAT and OAT for CIS systems and services.
• Review test plans, cases and traceability matrices to ensure acceptance requirements are met.
• Conduct service-based testing, operational testing and performance/evaluation testing.
• Establish baselines and assess readiness for site/user/operational acceptance and transition to service.
• Document and track defects, deficiencies and residual risks with corrective actions.
• Support transition of delivered systems into operational use per requirements.
• Coordinate with NCIA Project Managers, ACO stakeholders and other teams.
• Produce and contribute to project review, acceptance and corrective-action reports and dashboards.

Skills

Project monitoring

Risk assessment

UAT/OAT planning

ITIL v3 experience

JIRA

Microsoft Project

Visio

SharePoint

Analytical reporting

Education

MSc in Computer Science or related

Tools

JIRA

Microsoft Project

Visio

SharePoint

Job description

Duties

• Monitor and analyse CIS projects and services, tracking project milestones, requirements, scope, timelines, costs, dependencies and changes.
• Prepare project progress reports, dashboards and dependency matrices to support management oversight and decision-making.
• Identify, assess and monitor operational risks, project issues and critical dependencies, recommending corrective and mitigation actions.
• Maintain project risk registers and conduct periodic risk assessments and reviews.
• Develop and maintain Operational Acceptance Criteria (OAC) based on operational requirements, functionality, performance and user needs.
• Plan, coordinate, execute and assess User Acceptance Testing (UAT) and Operational Acceptance Testing (OAT) for new or modified CIS systems and services.
• Review test plans, test cases, requirements traceability matrices and test documentation to ensure acceptance requirements are met.
• Conduct or witness service-based testing, operational testing and evaluation, performance, availability, failover and end-to-end service testing.
• Establish service baselines and assess readiness for site acceptance, user acceptance, operational acceptance and transition to service.
• Identify, document and track defects, acceptance deficiencies and residual risks, ensuring corrective actions or acceptable workarounds are implemented.
• Support the transition of delivered systems and services into operational use, ensuring they meet agreed requirements with minimal mission impact.
• Coordinate with NCIA Project Managers, ACO Senior Requirements Owners, operational requirements managers and other technical and business stakeholders.
• Produce and contribute to project review reports, operational acceptance reports, test reports, corrective action reports and acceptance dashboards.

Requirements

• Master of Science (MSc) degree in Computer Science, Engineering or a related discipline from a nationally recognised or certified university, with at least 5 years of relevant post-degree experience.
• Minimum 3 years of experience in CIS project and service analysis, monitoring and reporting.
• Minimum 3 years of experience in planning and executing acceptance testing activities.
• Minimum 3 years of experience with ITIL v3.
• Minimum 3 years of experience in CIS projects involving core communications and IT infrastructure.
• Knowledge of NATO responsibilities, organisation and operational environment.
• Knowledge of software, system and service lifecycle management and quality management, preferably within a PRINCE2 and ITIL environment.
• Working-level knowledge of Microsoft Office, Microsoft Project, Visio and SharePoint.
• Working knowledge of JIRA.
• Strong analytical, reporting, coordination and problem-solving skills, with the ability to identify risks, assess dependencies and recommend corrective actions.
• Ability to communicate effectively, both verbally and in writing, including preparing reports and delivering briefings.
• Valid NATO Secret security clearance, maintained in accordance with the contract requirements.

Desirable qualifications

• PMP certification.
• PRINCE2 Foundation or Practitioner certification.
• ISTQB Foundation Level certification.
• Experience with NATO CIS projects involving software applications for the Operational Digital Workplace.
• Experience working in an international environment comprising military and civilian personnel.
• Knowledge of NATO responsibilities and organisation, including Allied Command Operations (ACO) and Allied Command Transformation (ACT).

Location: Primarily on-site at SHAPE Headquarters, Mons, Belgium, with possible activities in The Hague and other ACO locations.

Contract duration: 1 January–31 December 2027, with a possible one-year extension into 2028.