Deadline Date: Thursday 8 October 2026

Requirement: Senior Contracting Officer

Location: Brussels, BE (See Specific Working Conditions below)

Full Time On-Site: No

Time On-Site: 30%

Total Scope of the request (hours): 418

Required Start Date: 13 November 2026

End Contract Date: 31 December 2026

Required Security Clearance: NATO SECRET

Duties & Role: 

Under the direction of the Principal Contracting Officer, but largely on own initiative, the incumbent of this post will perform the following duties:

• Manages tender, evaluation and acquisition processes.
• Researches suppliers and markets, and maintains a broad understanding of the commercial environment, to inform and develop commercial strategies and sourcing plans.
• Advises on the business case for alternative sourcing models.
• Advises on policy and procedures covering tendering, the selection of suppliers and procurement.
• Negotiates with potential partners and suppliers, developing acceptance criteria and procedures.
• Oversees and measures the fulfilment of contractual obligations.
• Uses key performance indicators to monitor and challenge performance and identify opportunities for continual improvement.
• Develops strategies to address under-performance and compliance failures, including the application of contract terms.
• Reviews and ensures compliance with relevant organizational and legal policies and procedures.
• Works with various complex procurement programs and activities in the organization.
• Builds key relationships and dependencies with other business functions and providers.
• Records documents of purchasing tasks and activities, such as orders, bidding.
• Uses available procurement systems and tools.
• Ensures compliance with procurement regulations and contract specifications.

Specific Working Conditions: Estimated approximately 30% on-site work (participation to meetings, workshops, as required and with 1 day advance notice); remaining 70% can be delivered off-site from any Belgium neighbouring country. The candidate must be able to reach any of the primary work locations (Brussels or The Hague), at its own expenses and within next day from receipt of the advance notice, to deliver on-site support as/when required.

Requirements

Skills, Knowledge & Experience:

• The candidate must have a currently active NATO SECRET security clearance
• A minimum requirement of a Bachelor's degree at a nationally recognised/certified University in a related discipline and 3 years post-related experience or exceptionally, the lack of a university/college degree may be compensated by the demonstration of a candidate's particular abilities or experience that is/are of interest to NCI Agency; that is, at least 10 years extensive and progressive expertise in the duties related to the function of the post.
• A demonstrated passionate interest and experience on leading and optimizing complex Acquisition, Procurement and Contractual matters, acquired in a large International Institution (such as NATO, UN, EU, National MoD(s) etc…) or a large International private company
• Appropriate level experience at a significant level of responsibility (e.g., Contracts Manager, Procuring Contracting Officer) in performing both pre-award and post-award contracting functions for high value contracts for complex systems level acquisitions;
• Thorough understanding of, competitive and sole source procurement principles and practices, negotiation skills, cost and price analysis techniques, contract law, contract administration, industry practices and fundamental logistic principles and their applications;
• Ability to work independently with minimal supervision directly with a project manager on a complex, large systems level acquisition;
• Curiosity, Learning Agility and Collaborative Working: Demonstrates curiosity when approaching unfamiliar or rapidly evolving subjects; learns what is necessary to support sound contracting decisions; and works collaboratively with relevant colleagues to apply that learning.
• Proven ability to communicate effectively orally and in writing with experience in providing presentations and briefs to upper management.
• Experience in use of automated tools (e.g. E-procurement applications,
• Procurement ERPs, automation tools and Procure to Pay processes).
• Language Proficiency: Most of the work of the NCI Agency is conducted in the English language.

Desirable Experience and Education:

• Working in the Public / Private Commercial environment sector;
• Prior experience of working in an international environment comprising both military and civilian elements.
• Knowledge of NATO responsibilities and organization

Highly Desirable:

• Public/Private Practitioner experience/evidences covering: ICT, AI, Cloud capabilities, Secure data environments, Next-generation digital services. If you answered "yes" to the Categories listed, please briefly describe your experience (max 100 words) per Category in your application.