Deadline Date: Monday 2 November 2026

Requirement: Chief Technician (Virtual Infrastructure)

Location: Mons, BE

Full Time On-Site: Yes

Time On-Site: 100%

Total Scope of the request (hours): 222

Required Start Date: 30 November 2026

End Contract Date: 31 December 2026

Required Security Clearance: NATO COSMIC TOP SECRET

Duties & Role: 

As the Chief Technician, IWC play a pivotal role in supporting, contributing to, developing, and managing Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) and related systems (Microsoft and Linux OS). Your responsibilities span the entire lifecycle, including service operation, and project support and execution. Here are the key aspects of the role:

• Daily Operations and Maintenance: Guarantee seamless operation and upkeep of NISC IaaS Services, regardless of whether they are hosted on-premises, in private clouds, or public clouds. Perform system administration tasks for other IaaS-related assigned systems.
• Troubleshooting and Issue Resolution: Identify and troubleshoot issues promptly, assisting in their timely resolution.
• Change Management and Documentation: Follow change management processes diligently. Update network topology diagrams and the Configuration Management Database (CMDB) after installing new components or decommissioning old ones.
• Strategic Support and Coordination: Provide advice and support to the IaaS Service Area Owner (SAO) and Service Delivery Managers (SDMs) throughout the entire capability lifecycle. Foster close and coordinated ties with IaaS management to ensure harmonized efforts and synchronized outcomes across all activities.
• SLA Compliance and Process Development: Monitor compliance with Service Level Agreements (SLAs). Contribute to the development of processes, procedures (SOPs), and Standard Operating Instructions (SOIs) for IaaS services.
• Reporting and Communication: Prepare reports, briefings, position papers, and presentations for senior management during project development and implementation phases.
• Ad Hoc Responsibilities: Undertake ad hoc tasks related to the NISC Business Area's responsibilities.
• Availability and Flexibility: Be prepared to work during scheduled maintenances, service-affecting activities, and contingency situations beyond regular business hours. Be on-call after working hours on weekends if necessary.
• Travel and Deployment: Be ready to travel and work at various locations, including SHAPE/Mons, HQ Brussels, The Hague/Netherlands, or other Data Centers in NCIA's responsibility as required.

Specific Working Conditions:

On-call support: Availability to respond to critical incidents outside normal working hours, if required.

Shift support: Availability to work shifts during special circumstances, such as exercises or crisis situations.

Security and compliance: Compliance with internal security policies, access controls, and applicable standards.

Change management: Infrastructure changes must follow established approval, testing, and documentation procedures.

Technical expertise: Maintaining up-to-date knowledge of Windows, Linux, IaaS, and related infrastructure technologies.

Requirements

Skills, Knowledge & Experience:

• The candidate must have a currently active NATO COSMIC TOP SECRET security clearance
• Higher vocational training in a relevant discipline with 4 years post-related experience. Or a secondary educational qualification with 6 years post-related experience;
• Practical proficiency in both on-premises and cloud technologies (both public and private).
• Familiarity with the operations and standards of Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), including physical and virtual servers, VMware hypervisor, and storage devices.
• Hands-on experience with virtualization using VMWare ESXi, blade and rack-mount servers, and Hyperconverged Infrastructure (vSAN).
• Competence in working with Linux and Windows operating systems, including Active Directory (A.D.), hardening, and patching.
• Deliver global Linux infrastructure support within the IaaS Platforms environment.
• Manage the end-to-end lifecycle—provisioning, administration, and troubleshooting—of enterprise Linux environments (RHEL and Oracle Linux 8–10).
• Resolve complex interoperability issues between Linux host systems and enterprise network storage solutions.
• Design and maintain infrastructure-as-code and automation pipelines using Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform and Bash.
• Manage global Linux fleets via Red Hat Satellite, streamlining server provisioning, configuration drift management, and software updates.
• Execute global OS upgrades and end-to-end patch management, ensuring rigorous assessment, staging, and post-deployment validation.
• Enforce security policies across the IaaS estate, ensuring strict adherence to defense-grade security controls and best practices.
• Administer Linux security postures, including firewall rules, mandatory access controls, and security contexts to maintain zero-trust operational stability.
• Manage the configuration and performance optimization of enterprise load-balancing solutions to guarantee high availability and optimal traffic distribution.
• Practical experience in public and private cloud environments, covering IaaS, PaaS, SaaS, and cloud monitoring and optimization.
• Collaboration and Communication: Exceptional ability to function effectively within a team, provide IT support, and resolve technical issues. Willingness to stay updated on advancements in IaaS technologies.
• Documentation and Process Development: Proficiency in documenting current designs and configurations. Ability to create and maintain Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) and training materials.
• Communication Skills: Outstanding verbal and written communication skills.
• Availability and Incident Response: Willingness to respond to IaaS incidents even outside regular working hours.

Desirable Qualifications:

• Certifications and Training: Industry certifications related to virtualization, Linux operating systems, cloud, and containerization technologies.
• Service Provisioning Experience: Previous work experience in a service provisioning organization.
• Understanding of NATO Responsibilities: Familiarity with the responsibilities and structure of the  North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).